SPORTS  |  LIFESTYLE  |  ATTITUDE  |  AUTHENTIC
YDKJ
  • HOME
  • About
  • Contact
  • Photos

NBA  |  Sixers would be wise to think value, not splash in offseason

5/16/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
​by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

Musta missed the memo. Kawhi Leonard is a top-5 player in the NBA, huh?

Coulda fooled me.

Not for nothing, but the post-“bounced by Boston” craze circling the 76ers and the “positively imperative” moves-making mania, headed by the talking heads on sportstalk radio, heightened by the team's brass, and forever fueled by a panic-stricken and, frankly, pretty ill-informed fan base (thanks in large part to those aforementioned talking heads), is outta control here.

Sorry, get the desire masquerading as need for a marquee acquisition, come free-agency or wheeler-dealer insanity (trading Dario Saric, Markelle Fultz and a first-rounder … or even Ben Simmons – really?!!) when it comes to landing the likes of Leonard, but settle down, people.

Professed experts and Johnny Come Latelies, one and all.

If you ask me, the club is OK as is. Just needs some tweaking with the hands on deck. Specifically the main guys, Simmons and Joel Embiid.

One needs to work on an outside shot – first and foremost the willingness to take one; he already has a solid stroke – and the other a serious reality check. Yo, Joel, the fans over-valuing your game is one thing. You, dude, need to grasp what you can do … and dribbling more than once is beyond your scope, as is planting yourself outside the arc at the top of the key, thinking you can “run the show” or shoot it into oblivion.

Hey, Simmons has the innate skills to handle things out there … and he struggles to do it. You don't have that ability, brother. At all. Never will. Give it a rest, even before your adoring and ever-excusing faithful does. It'll do all parties involved good.

But the real issue here is in valuing property, or commodity. Make fun of his geekiness all you want, but Sam Hinke grasped that with players and draft picks. Meanwhile, forced-down-the-Sixers-throat GM Brian Colangelo gave a crash course in stupidity on that front just a year ago when he traded two first-round picks to move up two spots in the NBA Draft to select Fultz at No. 1.

Forget the 1-for-1 silliness most whine about when seeing how ineffective Fultz has been while the Celtics, their comrade in trading arms, have received major contributions from Jayson Tatum, the guy they chose at No. 3 … and would have chosen at No. 1 had they stayed there.

It matters, sure. But the real issue is, the Sixers lost another asset in the deal … that they didn't need to – a future first-rounder. Here's the point on this one point: Imagine that Fultz, shockingly, turns out to be better than Tatum over the long haul. Wonderful, right? OK, great. The bad news: It's impossible for him to be better than Tatum AND another asset, though. Not unless the Celtics totally blow it with their selection, or back luck follows the three-leaf clover crowd.

Which brings us to Leonard and his blatantly overrated status.

Time to slow the roll with that, or give up puffing from the ganga pipe.

The guy is solid NBA player who, maybe, has been the best player on his own team one season in his seven-year career. Yes, he's an elite defensive player whose efforts on that side of the ball have earned him top honors in the league twice already. He's also a 16.3 points per game performer who has never played a season injury-free and is coming off a ridiculous pout-fest that saw him skip 73 games with the Spurs this past regular season, not to mention their five-game series loss to Golden State in the playoffs.

Top 5? Heck, he comes to Philly and he's immediately No. 3 in the lineup – that is, unless Colangelo turns out to be brain-dead enough to move Simmons in a deal for Leonard.

LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, John Wall, Giannis Antetokoumpo, Anthony Davis … hmmm, by my off-the-cuff count, Leonard would be lucky to check in as a top-10 guy – without even considering Embiid or Simmons.

Just stop the insanity, and start valuing reality.

Make a play for LeBron? Hell, yeah. Trade a bunch of assets for Leonard? Get a grip.

Sixers need to think value, not splash – especially one that wouldn't be nearly as big as it is being pitched.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    NFL
    MLB
    NBA
    NHL
    NCAAFB
    ​NCAABB
    Eagles
    Phillies
    76ers
    Flyers
    Temple
    Villanova
    La Salle
    ​Saint Joe's
    ​Penn State

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    January 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Best of 2018

    Picture

    Best of 2017

    Picture

    Best of 2016

    Picture

    Best of 2015

    Picture

    RSS Feed

Picture
Your source for insight ... or insanity

GET TO KNOW YDKJ

ABOUT    |    CONTACT   |    BLOG    |    PRIVACY POLICY

​© COPYRIGHT 2018   YDKJ   |   Terms & Conditions
Picture