Zo Plays Sixers Stay or Go, Spike Says No to LeBron
Free agency is just around the corner (still a month and a half away).
Let’s play a little Sixers free agency Stay or Go, shall we?
Buddy Hield
Had a fun month post trade then went glacier cold at the worst possible time then had a remarkable game 6 effort. I teeter back and forth because you can never have enough shooters especially on this team, but for me, it was too little too late, he couldn’t do a damn thing with Donte DiVincenzo chasing him around and Daryl Morey himself admitted it was not the most fruitful of trades in the end.
Verdict: Go
Nic Batum
Couldn’t ask a player to do more. I think he actually is leaning more toward retirement but if he doesn’t I’d want him back in a heartbeat.
Verdict: Stay
Kyle Lowry
Another one of the same. Completely unfair to ask him to play 30+ minutes a night anymore, but at a smaller clip and in a reserved role, I don’t think you could find better.
Verdict: Stay
Robert Covington
Injury train hit him hard this year and he never really got a chance to get going on the offensive end. My biggest fear is that knee may never be the same again as it has continued to plague him.
Verdict: *Nino Brown & G-Money crying on the rooftop in New Jack City* he goes
De’Anthony Melton
Another victim of the injury bug but such promise from the moment he got here last season, and if he comes in at a reasonable number he’s exactly the kind of player you want with Maxey, Embiid and (Jimmy, Bron, Spyda, etc.)
Verdict: Stay
Kelly Oubre Jr.
He came here on the promise of playing for league-wide respect and he did just that. I actually think his ask will be too rich for the Sixers’ blood but if he’s willing to knock off a few mil I think Morey and Co. will oblige.
Verdict: Stay
Kenyon Martin Jr.
Weird because he flashed some potential but that was kind of it. Assuming he has one or two fans on the coaching and developmental staff I could see him sticking around, and he’s got athleticism and defensive tenacity that at least keeps you interested.
Verdict: Stay
Mo Bamba
The goddamn search continues, sorry man.
Verdict: Go
Tobias Harris
Fuck outta here
SPIKE’S CORNER - LEBRON DOESN’T CARE ABOUT WINNING ANYMORE
LeBron James has been on a mission for a number of years to earn some sort of respect that he already basically has. When you’re generally considered to be the second best or best professional basketball player of all-time, I’d say that you’re largely appreciated properly. He is constantly suggesting that we are ignoring his impact and talent both in the present and historically, as if we are not talking about it almost every waking moment.
To become the consensus best of all time, he’s tried the compiling method of records and stats, because it’s impossible for him to achieve the singular dominance and greatness that most people (myself included) believe that Michael Jordan achieved. There is nothing he could ever do at this point to reach that for anyone who has Jordan as their No. 1, but I give LeBron credit for trying.
He seems to be past all of that now though, as LeBron’s recent power plays suggest he is no longer interested in winning very much, and more concerned with hooking up his family and friends. It’s so blatant and embarrassing, that you almost have to nod and smile.
After another disappointing season (all but the Mickey Mouse title in 2020 have ended this way), the Lakers fired their head coach, Darvin Ham. The leader in the clubhouse to get this job is currently none other than JJ Redick, LeBron’s podcast partner. Putting my hate for JJ aside, he is woefully unqualified for the job, given that he has a total of zero days of service as a professional or college coach at any level. There are exceptions (like Steve Kerr), but this is like when people bring up that one Pistons team that won the title when you say every team needs a superstar to win. The exception sort of proves the rule. Even if his basketball IQ is as high as he thinks it is, and he trades his backwards hat for a suit, it doesn’t change the fact that the Lakers, in a win-now situation, are better off hiring an actual coach to do the job. It doesn’t seem like LeBron cares that much about the coach unless he needs someone to blame for underachieving again.
LeBron has also been angling for the Lakers to draft (or obtain in trade) his son Bronny, who is eligible for this year’s NBA Draft, even though just about nobody thinks he’s ready to play in the NBA right now (if ever). This will create a situation (Bronny doesn’t even want to play with him, mind you) in which other teams will take advantage of the position that the Lakers are in. A team that drafts before the Lakers at No. 17 could leak that they are interested in Bronny to see if they can get an extra asset out of the Lakers in a move-up trade. At the very least, it could cost the Lakers the No. 17 pick to obtain Bronny, which prevents them from either using the selection to get a player who could help immediately, or trading that pick for a win-now player.
James has even recently resumed doing his normal public pressure bit, where he goes to a Cavs game for no reason at all other than to pressure the Lakers into doing whatever he wants – or else he’ll just leave and go back home, like he did following Miami’s finals flame-out in 2014.
When you’re turning the head coaching job of your team into a favor for your friend, using first-round picks on roster spots for your son, or creating public spectacles to public goad your front office into giving you what you want, your primary goal is no longer achieving at the highest level. LeBron’s primary goal has long been to feed his own ego, by surrounding himself with whatever and whoever he wants, at whatever cost to his teammates’ chances at winning or the franchise’s current or future health. If I was a Lakers fan I’d be at best embarrassed, and at worst aghast.
LeBron is not a Sixers player, but I am largely pointing this out to anyone who annually talks about James joining the Sixers, which technically he could do this summer if he turns down his player option for next year. Let’s forget for a moment that he’s not coming to the Sixers. There’s just no chance of it happening. But if it was an option, understand that the franchise, the team we root for, would no longer be about the team itself, no longer about Embiid or Maxey, and honestly, no longer about a championship.
The entire thing will be about LeBron, which is no way for us to go through life. We’ve been through too much, come too far (I guess arguably not that far), for this to end with a passive aggressive LeBron sounding thud where we are all just supporting characters in his quest for attention. We at least deserve something weirder, even if there is no championship. I’d honestly rather have Marcus Morris (he looked pretty good the other night)!