Draft lottery question

[UNO Gracias]

It'll be easier when Hill leaves.

I think Hill waits to see what GH does before he makes up his mind. If he bolts though, yeah, that whole sand castle will come crashing down.

[NMThreeMVP]

I think Hill waits to see what GH does before he makes up his mind. If he bolts though, yeah, that whole sand castle will come crashing down.

You have to remember that they negotiated with Hill up until the deadline to extend him and couldn't get a deal done. If someone blows past the last number Jazz offered him during the season, he won't wait on anyone because Jrue, Lowry, and Teague are on the free agent market, and a few others could be available on the trade market including...... ISIAH THOMAS. Jazz may want to wait on Hayward, because Hill is more valuable to them if Hayward stays than if Hayward leaves, but they're not going to commit huge dollars to Hill if the franchise is taking a step backwards. They'll want to refocus on developing young players.

At least that's my take.

[NMThreeMVP]

This is true. A friend of mine pitched to KD's team this last January. I had the honor of creating their pitchbook, and financial models. In this regard, I think your young superstars are smarter than the old guys. KD, Lebron, Baron Davis, Steph, Melo, they are all very into reinvesting their money, and they are involved in some great projects across the board. I heard Kevin Looney is also in on a VC that is a spin off of Google.

I knew a couple of years ago that LeBron was going back to Cleveland because I heard from a mutual friend that as soon as his wife found out they were having a girl, she started pushing hard to go back to Cleveland. I'm pretty sure I posted and eluded to that here as soon as Miami loss in the Finals.

I say that just to remind people that NBA players are young men trying to make career decisions that make sense for them personally. There's no way for us to evaluate that as fans, yet we subjectively call them cowards or quitters when they do something that isn't in our interest as fans. We want to see Durant struggle and then overcome the Warriors. That's all about US, not him. Playing for the Warriors allows him to play a better style of basketball, prolong his career, and pursue off court goals. I applaud anyone who makes a winning decision in life!

I think AD will make a similar decision in a couple of years when it comes to resigning in New Orleans. He'll assess the value of the mega max deal he can get offered and what that means for his family. People worry about the superstars Demps surrounds him with on the court, but fans should me concerned with whether or not he's surrounding himself with good local people off the court and who can expand his social, political, and business network.

If we really want to keep AD, we'll do like Maroon 5's PJ Morton says, and make sure he we find him a New Orleans girl!

[luckyman]

Who expected them to make a meteoric rise by now? When Hinkie was canned people were talking about how he left them in lottery winning shape (a losing team) for multiple years as all he had was a young inexperienced team, with marginal talent playing big minuets. Nobody was expecting them to be the Thunder or even the Wolves. They will improve next year, and continue upwards the year following. Embiid has the makings of a great talent.

You are right though, we are still talking major "ifs" but they are about our team, and what it will take for them to be competitive next year.

Literally NOBODY is wondering "if" the Pelicans will be competitive this year. Where are you getting this from? Most are predicting playoffs and many are only wondering if they secure a top 4 seed.

As for the 76ers, this is a rinse and repeat. Nobody questions Embiid's talent. The question is can he stay on the floor or not. Nobody knows how well Simmons will play and mesh with Embiid and Saric. They still need back court help. Still need to trade Okafor for crumbs. Still lots of ??????

Your opinion on them continuing an upward trajectory is just that. They've spent more that enough years in the top 5 lottery though. Something is going to have to change for them soon.

[UNO Gracias]

They have spent the past 5 out of 6 years missing the playoff (with mediocre talent, or inexperienced talent) and grabbing top 3 lottery picks. We on the other hand have spent the last 5 of 6 years missing the playoffs with AD and a cast of miscast toys. We aren't in their boat though, we have a generational talent (and a top 10 player) and are cash strapped, they have some of the best talent to come out of the draft over the last 3 years, and have cash for days. Certainly the 76ers have a lot of ifs surrounding their program, but so do we (will we have an offense that can maximize our talent, will we lose Jrue, will we find a legit pg, can we round out our roster). We should be a playoff team next season, but we should have been a playoff team the last two years, but it didn't happen. I'm not holding my breath just yet.