Seriously what are the 76ers doing?

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

What a garbage dump Hinke has made the 76ers. I assume they are doing this trade for cap space and the draft pick.

What are they going to do with that cap space!!!! The only players that would sign with the 76ers at this point would be role players who want to be grossly overpaid. No way any superstar level talent, or close to it, would sign with the 76ers.

The draft pick, which should be around the mid to late first, doesn't make sense for a team like the 76ers. Those picks are great for cap strapped teams who need cheap role players. Why do they need that with all their cap space and no superstar talent on the roster?

I think they will be like 20mil under the min, and yes they have until the end of the year to get there, but still how do they possibly make that up? Not only that, the cap will go up, AND Lexi and Luc's deals are expiring, so that's even MORE money to make up.

No team is just going to give them a superstar to fill that space.

[Lipoli390]

Good question, Alex. I don't think the care about getting up to the minimum this season. Either way, they pay the same. As for what they intend to do with all this cap space down the road, it's a bit of a mystery. I suspect they are trying to set themselves up to sign a package of top free agents a la the Heat signing LeBron and Bosh. Who might they have in mind? Here are some possibilities:

1. LaMarcus Aldridge
2. Paul Millsap
3. Eric Bledsoe
4. Rajon Rondo

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I think a lot of people are scratching their heads at Philly right now, Alex, but I don't think Hinkie is too concerned about losing Thad Young. I really think they know Thad was leaving next year anyway, and believe Noel can play forward next to Embiid eventually. They are going to need wings to play with their two bigs and MCW, but I think Philly may become an attractive destination for a wing who wants to play with those three guys. Not to mention they will pick up more young talent with a couple draft picks in 2015...one of them almost certain to be top three. Philly will struggle for a couple more years, but they may be building something that will be fun to watch in 2-3 years.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Good question, Alex. I don't think the care about getting up to the minimum this season. Either way, they pay the same. As for what they intend to do with all this cap space down the road, it's a bit of a mystery. I suspect they are trying to set themselves up to sign a package of top free agents a la the Heat signing LeBron and Bosh. Who might they have in mind? Here are some possibilities:

1. LaMarcus Aldridge
2. Paul Millsap
3. Eric Bledsoe
4. Rajon Rondo

Why would any of those guys sign with the 76ers when they could get similar deals from other teams who are in much better spots?

[Monster]

The Sixers are playing the game that some fans of a lot of teams always ask for bottoming out to become good and the Sixers are doing that to the most extreme way you can. The cap space could be to add more picks by taking on players facilitating trades etc. If they don't get up to the minimum by doing any of those trades who cares they pay that money anyway and its split between the players on the roster giving them a neat bonus for playing on a terrible team.

What about the Miami pick and any random picks they might aquire? Maybe they get a eurostash guy in those spots or maybe some other sneaky good player or maybe just a young cheap role player. Idk they could also use those picks to move up. This whole tank and stockpile young talent might not work but I almost applaud them for going all the way on it. They have made some really good moves getting good talent with their picks like MCW the Noel deal getting Saric and a future first rounder. I'll be interested to see what Noel looks like this year.

This whole strategy has been helped along by having guys like Noel, Embiid and Saric falling to them and them being able to defer that talent to later.

I don't think they end up signing a player with the cap space for at least another year but maybe they end up being able to sign a guy like Lance this year to a big contract because you have some nice young pieces and you have an opportunity for that player some other teams might not. Part of me hates this whole tank and stock and part of me applauds it considering the way the league is set up right now.

[ace [enjin:6598567]]

How does this not make sense? Thad was going to opt out and leave because he's tired of tanking. They get expiring deals and an extra pick in a deal that helps them get worse and obtain a better 2015 pick.

Also, they don't need to get to the salary floor. If they are under it, the difference in money just gets distributed to the guys on the roster. It's a nice salary bump for the guys on vet/rookie mins.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

What's funny is I'll take Minnesota's team now and in the future instead of Philly's future. I like our potential much better than theirs. Thanks to Flip.

[KiwiMatt]

LMAM is from Cameroon as is Embitt. Philly wanted him as a mentor. He's an expiring and serviceable player in the right situation. Shved's a throw in expiring, a cheaper and better fit than Barea. The MIA 1st is obviously worth more to them than we think. I guess you can never have enough 1st round picks, unless you're Glen Taylor and sell them for cash.

[Coolbreeze44]

LMAM is from Cameroon as is Embitt. Philly wanted him as a mentor. He's an expiring and serviceable player in the right situation. Shved's a throw in expiring, a cheaper and better fit than Barea. The MIA 1st is obviously worth more to them than we think. I guess you can never have enough 1st round picks, unless you're Glen Taylor and sell them for cash.

Spot on Kiwi

[repplile [enjin:8691898]]

I too like our roster going forward a lot better than the 76ers. They do have a lot of draft picks yet to make and will have cap space going forward so there is the potential for improvement. That said their roster right now is pathetic, and losing is a habit you don't want to establish. Even the current wolves squad compares favorably to the future 76ers imo.

Future 76ers:
1. MCW, Wroten
2. McRae
3. Saric, McDaniels, Grant
4. Noel
5. Embiid

Current Wolves:
1. Rubio,
2. Martin, LaVine
3. Wiggins, Shabazz, GRIII
4. Young, Bennett
5. Pek, Dieng

The problem with tanking is that you want to be actively building toward something rather than waiting for future success. Even if Saric does come over eventually and Embiid ends up healthy next year, they're still waiting several more years for rookies that might not pan out while ingraining losing habits into their existing young players. Their current roster without Young may very well have no players above the league average at their positions and is bereft of veteran players to mentor all the young guys.

Contrast that to the wolves current approach which is to buoy their young high-upside picks with talented young veterans at other positions along with competition at their own positions. I think this will aid in the kids' development. Plus the veterans are going be valuable trade pieces down the road if the young guys pan out or insurance in case they don't. The 76ers method is much much riskier and there's not a dramatically higher ceiling. I think there's a reason teams have not taken that approach in the past.