Post by cityofchamps on Dec 24, 2014 14:13:58 GMT -5
I know that a lot of people consider the Philadelphia 76ers a standing joke (and let's face it, they are at the moment) due to Sam Hinkie tearing down the roster from what it previously was and restarting it from scratch. But let's look at the bigger picture here. Is tanking really all that bad considering what the NBA has done to itself recently with teams trying to create "Big 3s" by spending millions of dollars overpaying for players who aren't worth it?
The NBA has become about as big of a farce as the MLB with the big market teams like Miami and New York being able to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars trying to buy a Championship. It started with Boston bringing in Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in to play with Paul Pierce. I think that kind of mindset destroys the spirit of competition just as much if not more than "tanking" like the 76ers are doing at the moment. You would never see Michael Jordan teaming up with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird on a team because they didn't like each other. They enjoyed beating the best competition, not joining them.
I see Sam Hinkie doing what he thinks is best for the team's future as well as the future of Basketball in Philly. Looking back, the 76ers basically had a team that wasn't going anywhere. They had a few good players in Jrue Holliday and Thaddeus Young that made them good enough to be in the playoff hunt, but they weren't a place where people wanted to go. They weren't a team that had the attractiveness of a Chicago, Miami, LA, or New York. They were never going to win bidding wars for Free Agents, which made it basically impossible for them to improve any more than what they were. So Hinkie did what he felt was best by starting over from scratch and creating a team nucleus based off what he wanted it to be rather than what he had.
My point is that the 76ers shouldn't have to be penalized for what they are doing simply because it is more "blatant" than what people are used to. What they are doing is just another way of what the other big teams are doing. Instead of buying already great talents, the 76ers are developing a team of some of the best college prospects out there.
The NBA has become about as big of a farce as the MLB with the big market teams like Miami and New York being able to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars trying to buy a Championship. It started with Boston bringing in Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in to play with Paul Pierce. I think that kind of mindset destroys the spirit of competition just as much if not more than "tanking" like the 76ers are doing at the moment. You would never see Michael Jordan teaming up with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird on a team because they didn't like each other. They enjoyed beating the best competition, not joining them.
I see Sam Hinkie doing what he thinks is best for the team's future as well as the future of Basketball in Philly. Looking back, the 76ers basically had a team that wasn't going anywhere. They had a few good players in Jrue Holliday and Thaddeus Young that made them good enough to be in the playoff hunt, but they weren't a place where people wanted to go. They weren't a team that had the attractiveness of a Chicago, Miami, LA, or New York. They were never going to win bidding wars for Free Agents, which made it basically impossible for them to improve any more than what they were. So Hinkie did what he felt was best by starting over from scratch and creating a team nucleus based off what he wanted it to be rather than what he had.
My point is that the 76ers shouldn't have to be penalized for what they are doing simply because it is more "blatant" than what people are used to. What they are doing is just another way of what the other big teams are doing. Instead of buying already great talents, the 76ers are developing a team of some of the best college prospects out there.