Philly has the best collection of young talent in the league. Embiid's a stud. Ben Simmons is for real (when he returns) Okafor will bring a nice haul in a trade at some point. Noel will net you a solid role player and Stauskas finally looks like a NBA player. Got a few moves to make but watch out world in about a year. I have them in the playoffs next season.

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Coaching

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I think Brown is a decent coach but he has been dealt a bad hand. They have tanked for years but I think they are ready to compete now.

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Given their injury history, I better trust the Twolves and Bucks

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

In 5 years I can see the Wolves and Sixers being the best in both conferences. Obviously injuries can change all of that.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Yeah that is the one thing you worry about. Each of their top picks has already had a major injury.

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the Sixers won't draft you unless you enter the league on IR.

It does seem like they draft for the express purpose of winning the 2050 championship but I think with Embiid and Simmons you have two franchise type talents. They have good trade bait and actually solid role players now. I think they are ready to compete but it's all predicated on what they do with Okafor and how much do they want to lose this year. I think one more tank (this season) and they are set.

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how long are these minutes restrictions in place for, the whole year ? i wonder if they build up some wins and actually have a shot at the playoffs if there will be pressure to loosen them

They have a very long ways to go in terms of filling out that roster but yeah I agree, if you draft in the top 3 for 8 straight years you should eventually be good.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

And best collection of young talent in the league is by far the T Wolves.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

This thread is about trolling Timberwolves fans, and questing for the one thing LTG lusts for more than anything else... Debate.

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Actually it is not. I could care less about the TWolves to be honest. I like their players actually. I watch and like basketball and Embiid looks like a stud. I think that Philly is about to turn the corner. Embiid is much better than I thought coming out of college. I watch their games because of Okafor but I think he has to be moved. Embiid is better.

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They have to improve their guard play. I think it is clear they want to build around Embiid and Simmons. Haven't seen much in Saric for all the hype he got. They have tradeable assets and I think they should tank this year in order to get a high pick. This will be a good draft. They will be ready to take off after that.

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Cubs model works fine for me in this case. I think they agree too. Their best players are either on minutes restrictions or out with injuries.

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Just might be a good time to revisit this.

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Embiid and Simmons are great building blocks, but if any team can rival the T'wolves collection of young talent it's the Jazz.

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Sixers talent is better than the Wolves right now and the Jazz talent isn't really that young. Their core is in their mid to upper 20's. Guys like Hood and Favors are good role players and that's it. None of the guys on their team will be top 20. Embiid will be a top 5 player in a couple of years.
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Philly is for real and once they move Okafor and Noel they will be even better.

As far as Embiid and Towns I take Embiid. He is that good.

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I still cannot get my head around a league where so many top prized draft picks end up being essentially worthless. In this case the college and pre draft talk about Okafor versus this reality now is incredible.

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Elections have consequences.

Simmons is still an unknown because of his injury. trust me, i'm looking forward to seeing what he can do on the court. but i'm not going to tout them as anything but a young team right now with a clear star.

they will have some great trade bait though.

I think the NBA in particular depends a lot on physical traits. You have people of average height and athleticism succeeding in other sports, but the NBA is a tough league if you're not either really tall or really athletic to start.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

I understand that. But with a talent pool of everything in college ball and now the entire world of athletes it is the weirdest of league drafts. With all those bodies to scout or discover basically anything out of the top 5 are "guys" or worthless and some in the top 5 are too.

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Elections have consequences.

There are a ton of worthless guys to be sure, but are the numbers any different than other leagues (besides football, where guys off the street can enter the HoF) once we adjust for total number of players, etc? Typically the best teams are led by a lottery pick or maybe more, and bolstered by quality supporting players who were mid round or late picks.

I should have also said earlier that while you have to be tall and or really athletic to qualify as a top NBA pick, or even a NBA pick it all, it's a whole different ballgame when it comes to leveraging those traits when trying to master the actual game. I think that's where you see failure: tall and athletic dudes just not being good players. Tyrus Thomas is an example close to home. There are several failed Tyrus Thomas types who just didn't know how to play, or how to play in ways that optimized their height and athleticism. It's sort of like drafting a QB with the right height, arm strength, accuracy, only to find out that he just doesn't know how to play the position.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

I get what you are saying about the top guys Mike but Okafor isn't a bust. He probably has the best low post game in the league. If he doesn't have the best then he has one of the best. The problem for him is that Embiid is just better.

If Okafor is moved he will be a starting Center. He will possibly make an All Star game or 2.

As far as top guys not panning out there may be something too it but no one has as many flops as the NFL. They also have more players than anyone but lets just look at the top 10 guys for both. NFL probably has more top 10 guys fail than anyone. Baseball guys flop too.

The NBA is the hottest thing smoking when you factor in the global market. The value of NBA teams has skyrocketed over the past 5 years. I'm biased because it's my favorite sport but the interest in the league is there right now.

They do have to get the one and done thing together. It is a pockmark on the NBA house

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well hey, you know after all of their crazy-high picks (*rimshot*) you figure this is supposed to happen.

i saw a tweet yesterday that pointed out that the sixers have won 7/9, ben whatshisface... simmons? (dude from LSU) hasn't even played a minute yet, and oh yeah the sixers are going to have 2 lottery picks in next year's draft (tho i assume this has the currently 14-26 sixers missing the playoffs to achieve that?)

that last bit leads to what i figure is a pretty good question: if you're a sixers exec/fan, do you want this young nucleus to keep on keeping on like they have in their recent 7-2 run (then they can even get ben simmons back and quite possibly even get better) and ultimately surge up to a #5-8 seed in the easy right FK'N now, knowing that they still have a lottery pick next year no matter what? or do you ultimately hope/want the kids to kind of cool down and keep it on the low so you can have 2 cracks at the lottery in the next draft and THEN it's ok to go out and play 7-2 type basketball more often than not?

as i ponder this "issue" here i can't help but hear dan bernstein's voice in my head saying "you're not going to beat lebron. how does losing another lottery pick get you closer to a championship?" (with the obvious answer being that it might be worth it to give this young/burgeoning nucleus/team some proper "WE CAN DO IT" confidence ASAP as opposed to prolonging the sucktitude just a little bit more to try and grab as many high picks as you can while you can because the cubs unilaterally proved that tanking = cromulent idea)

btw has anyone seen that nerlens noel dude lately? i always kinda wanted to buy a used car from him someday tbh

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They should go for it all. By the time they're ready to compete LBJ will be done.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Yep. This is a solid draft. If they get another type 5 pick trade Okafor and Noel for something decent they should be ready. Saric looks like a player now too. This team is set up nicely.

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Starting to look pretty solid, could win the East next year.

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It is crazy because they still have lot of missing parts. Covington and Sergio Rodriguez aren't really good but they are finding a way to win. Embiid missed last night I think but they managed to beat the Clippers anyway. I like the fact they stuck with Brown through the "process" also. Good to see they didn't throw the coach under the bus for having such a crappy team. That would have been the easy thing to do.

I'm going to be interested in seeing what they do going forward.

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