kudos to d'angelo russell...

[mscott59]

... for going #2 in last night's nba draft to the l.a. lakers. what a rocket ride for this kid to go from louisville, to columbus, and now hollywood in the space of a couple years. wish we could have gotten to watch this kid play a little more here, but hope he finds great success on the next level. thought his color choice last night was a nice tribute, and how about nba commish adam silver rolling out the 'the' on the announcement?

[Buckeye Dale]

Jun 26, 2015 8:00:36 GMT -5 mscott59 said:

... for going #2 in last night's nba draft to the l.a. lakers. what a rocket ride for this kid to go from louisville, to columbus, and now hollywood in the space of a couple years. wish we could have gotten to watch this kid play a little more here, but hope he finds great success on the next level. thought his color choice last night was a nice tribute, and how about nba commish adam silver rolling out the 'the' on the announcement?

Liked your post (but beat you by about 3 minutes)

[snap infraction]

Jun 26, 2015 8:00:36 GMT -5 mscott59 said:

... for going #2 in last night's nba draft to the l.a. lakers. what a rocket ride for this kid to go from louisville, to columbus, and now hollywood in the space of a couple years. wish we could have gotten to watch this kid play a little more here, but hope he finds great success on the next level. thought his color choice last night was a nice tribute, and how about nba commish adam silver rolling out the 'the' on the announcement?

the worst case scenario for the 76ers came true.  again.  last year, we all wanted wiggins.  cleveland wanted embiid so it was looking good and parker was locked with milwaukee.  and then embiid's injury was discovered shortly before the draft, cavaliers chose wiggins instead and we were left with embiid, who was the best player available.  embiid may be a freakish talent but no one knows if he'll ever be healthy enough.  

this year, russell was the perfect fit for the sixers.  he could shoot and distribute the ball...something the 76ers desperately need...but besides his skill set, he had the perfect personality for the city.  he may have been full of it in his interviews, but i got the sense that he genuinely wanted to come here and play with the other young guys.

of course, while the 76ers were getting bashed by every national media outlet for their tanking approach, the lakers/knicks were also tanking but with no scrutiny.  of course the lakers tanked enough to keep their pick this year (76ers own their first round pick but it's top 5 protected, top 3 next year).  and of course, the lakers jumped both the sixers and knicks despite having more regular season wins than both teams.   this didn't matter though b/c okafor was going to be selected by the lakers, right?  i mean, the lakers have a cherished history of winning titles with hall of fame big guys.  okafor, before towns came on strong at the end of the college basketball season, was the consensus #1 overall pick.  he put up better college numbers as a freshman than duncan did as a senior.  but then golden state goes on this ridiculous run showing everyone how you can win playing with smaller players.  then the bloggers and other writers started this narrative that the nba is now a shooters league.  a low post player like okafor is not necessary especially when he can't defend as well.   deangelo became the trendy pick b/c his game resembled curry's a bit.  

maybe it will work out for the 76ers in the end.  we are in for another season of purposely losing as many games as possible. this would be the fourth losing season in a row.  but we use the season to pad okafor or embiid or noels stats like we did with michael carter williams.   we then package that player along with one of the 38 first round picks we have next year for an all star wing player somewhere.  or maybe we draft skal labissiere next year and have 4 talented centers.  this doesnt' include dario saric, he's a top young power forward in turkey right now who won't come over to the 76ers for at least one more year.    i have to stay optimistic.  

tldr:  sixers added more talent but delayed building their team by one more year.  

[mscott59]

Jun 26, 2015 8:22:42 GMT -5 snap infraction said:

Jun 26, 2015 8:00:36 GMT -5 mscott59 said:

... for going #2 in last night's nba draft to the l.a. lakers. what a rocket ride for this kid to go from louisville, to columbus, and now hollywood in the space of a couple years. wish we could have gotten to watch this kid play a little more here, but hope he finds great success on the next level. thought his color choice last night was a nice tribute, and how about nba commish adam silver rolling out the 'the' on the announcement?

the worst case scenario for the 76ers came true.  again.  last year, we all wanted wiggins.  cleveland wanted embiid so it was looking good and parker was locked with milwaukee.  and then embiid's injury was discovered shortly before the draft, cavaliers chose wiggins instead and we were left with embiid, who was the best player available.  embiid may be a freakish talent but no one knows if he'll ever be healthy enough.  

this year, russell was the perfect fit for the sixers.  he could shoot and distribute the ball...something the 76ers desperately need...but besides his skill set, he had the perfect personality for the city.  he may have been full of it in his interviews, but i got the sense that he genuinely wanted to come here and play with the other young guys.

of course, while the 76ers were getting bashed by every national media outlet for their tanking approach, the lakers/knicks were also tanking but with no scrutiny.  of course the lakers tanked enough to keep their pick this year (76ers own their first round pick but it's top 5 protected, top 3 next year).  and of course, the lakers jumped both the sixers and knicks despite having more regular season wins than both teams.   this didn't matter though b/c okafor was going to be selected by the lakers, right?  i mean, the lakers have a cherished history of winning titles with hall of fame big guys.  okafor, before towns came on strong at the end of the college basketball season, was the consensus #1 overall pick.  he put up better college numbers as a freshman than duncan did as a senior.  but then golden state goes on this ridiculous run showing everyone how you can win playing with smaller players.  then the bloggers and other writers started this narrative that the nba is now a shooters league.  a low post player like okafor is not necessary especially when he can't defend as well.   deangelo became the trendy pick b/c his game resembled curry's a bit.  

maybe it will work out for the 76ers in the end.  we are in for another season of purposely losing as many games as possible. this would be the fourth losing season in a row.  but we use the season to pad okafor or embiid or noels stats like we did with michael carter williams.   we then package that player along with one of the 38 first round picks we have next year for an all star wing player somewhere.  or maybe we draft skal labissiere next year and have 4 talented centers.  this doesnt' include dario saric, he's a top young power forward in turkey right now who won't come over to the 76ers for at least one more year.    i have to stay optimistic.  

i thought about you when the lakers surprised a lot of people w/their pick. me included. but remember, every time the lakers have won w/a legendary big, they've had a legendary guard playing too. they traded for wilt to play w/west (and goodrich, and baylor), they traded for kareen to play w/magic (who also had worthy), they traded for shaq to play w/kobe. so the lakers' history of bigs have always involved trades/free agency. so you have to think they'll go that route again. sixers now drafting 3 straight bigs in the draft is odd, but what can you do? okafor was the best guy out there, embiid's injury makes him a question mark... maybe they can pick up rando?

[snap infraction]

Jun 26, 2015 8:29:55 GMT -5 mscott59 said:

Jun 26, 2015 8:22:42 GMT -5 snap infraction said:

the worst case scenario for the 76ers came true.  again.  last year, we all wanted wiggins.  cleveland wanted embiid so it was looking good and parker was locked with milwaukee.  and then embiid's injury was discovered shortly before the draft, cavaliers chose wiggins instead and we were left with embiid, who was the best player available.  embiid may be a freakish talent but no one knows if he'll ever be healthy enough.  

this year, russell was the perfect fit for the sixers.  he could shoot and distribute the ball...something the 76ers desperately need...but besides his skill set, he had the perfect personality for the city.  he may have been full of it in his interviews, but i got the sense that he genuinely wanted to come here and play with the other young guys.

of course, while the 76ers were getting bashed by every national media outlet for their tanking approach, the lakers/knicks were also tanking but with no scrutiny.  of course the lakers tanked enough to keep their pick this year (76ers own their first round pick but it's top 5 protected, top 3 next year).  and of course, the lakers jumped both the sixers and knicks despite having more regular season wins than both teams.   this didn't matter though b/c okafor was going to be selected by the lakers, right?  i mean, the lakers have a cherished history of winning titles with hall of fame big guys.  okafor, before towns came on strong at the end of the college basketball season, was the consensus #1 overall pick.  he put up better college numbers as a freshman than duncan did as a senior.  but then golden state goes on this ridiculous run showing everyone how you can win playing with smaller players.  then the bloggers and other writers started this narrative that the nba is now a shooters league.  a low post player like okafor is not necessary especially when he can't defend as well.   deangelo became the trendy pick b/c his game resembled curry's a bit.  

maybe it will work out for the 76ers in the end.  we are in for another season of purposely losing as many games as possible. this would be the fourth losing season in a row.  but we use the season to pad okafor or embiid or noels stats like we did with michael carter williams.   we then package that player along with one of the 38 first round picks we have next year for an all star wing player somewhere.  or maybe we draft skal labissiere next year and have 4 talented centers.  this doesnt' include dario saric, he's a top young power forward in turkey right now who won't come over to the 76ers for at least one more year.    i have to stay optimistic.  

i thought about you when the lakers surprised a lot of people w/their pick. me included. but remember, every time the lakers have won w/a legendary big, they've had a legendary guard playing too. they traded for wilt to play w/west (and goodrich, and baylor), they traded for kareen to play w/magic (who also had worthy), they traded for shaq to play w/kobe. so the lakers' history of bigs have always involved trades/free agency. so you have to think they'll go that route again. sixers now drafting 3 straight bigs in the draft is odd, but what can you do? okafor was the best guy out there, embiid's injury makes him a question mark... maybe they can pick up rando?

nooo rondo.  don't like his attitude or his game.  i thought he was overrated with boston. 

lakers gonna try to get love and try to get competitive in the west immediately.  russell alone won't do it.  

[mscott59]

Jun 26, 2015 10:00:38 GMT -5 snap infraction said:

Jun 26, 2015 8:29:55 GMT -5 mscott59 said:

i thought about you when the lakers surprised a lot of people w/their pick. me included. but remember, every time the lakers have won w/a legendary big, they've had a legendary guard playing too. they traded for wilt to play w/west (and goodrich, and baylor), they traded for kareen to play w/magic (who also had worthy), they traded for shaq to play w/kobe. so the lakers' history of bigs have always involved trades/free agency. so you have to think they'll go that route again. sixers now drafting 3 straight bigs in the draft is odd, but what can you do? okafor was the best guy out there, embiid's injury makes him a question mark... maybe they can pick up rando?

nooo rondo.  don't like his attitude or his game.  i thought he was overrated with boston. 

lakers gonna try to get love and try to get competitive in the west immediately.  russell alone won't do it.  

of course russell can't do that alone. he needs people to facilitate to. as a cavs fan, russell going to l.a. concerns me some because i think love will find the lakers much more attractive today than he might have if they'd taken okafor, as opposed to leaning heavily toward staying w/lebron in cleveland. a columnist for the l.a. times (plaschke?) thinks kupchak is targeting the big up in portland... can't remember his name... too

[Walter]

Jun 26, 2015 10:52:08 GMT -5 mscott59 said:

Jun 26, 2015 10:00:38 GMT -5 snap infraction said:

nooo rondo.  don't like his attitude or his game.  i thought he was overrated with boston. 

lakers gonna try to get love and try to get competitive in the west immediately.  russell alone won't do it.  

of course russell can't do that alone. he needs people to facilitate to. as a cavs fan, russell going to l.a. concerns me some because i think love will find the lakers much more attractive today than he might have if they'd taken okafor, as opposed to leaning heavily toward staying w/lebron in cleveland. a columnist for the l.a. times (plaschke?) thinks kupchak is targeting the big up in portland... can't remember his name... too

For my two cents, I'll add this, and this is pure speculation on my part, but I think it's true.
Jerry Buss and family liked the titles with the low post game of Shaq and Phil Jackson, but IMO, they always wished that the team was more up tempo, more Showtime...more Magic and Coop and less Phil and Shaq.

I think that's why they hired D'Antoni, (a disaster), it's why they tried to trade for Chris Paul (thanks Commissioner Stern...for nuttin', and it why they finally even tried to make it happen with a worn out Steve Nash.

The team hasn't had an all star point guard/ball handler/assist leader for at least a decade, maybe longer all the way back to Magic, even while they were winning rings. I think they saw the GState experiment as certification that their yearning for Showtime redux had finally matched a current trend.

Second, according to some on talk radio, the Lakers apparently felt that there were enough big 4s and 5s available that were a bit quicker than Okafor that they could pass on Okafor and still get a solid paint presence and add some speed in transition.

[snap infraction]

Jun 27, 2015 18:14:34 GMT -5 Walter said:

Jun 26, 2015 10:52:08 GMT -5 mscott59 said:

of course russell can't do that alone. he needs people to facilitate to. as a cavs fan, russell going to l.a. concerns me some because i think love will find the lakers much more attractive today than he might have if they'd taken okafor, as opposed to leaning heavily toward staying w/lebron in cleveland. a columnist for the l.a. times (plaschke?) thinks kupchak is targeting the big up in portland... can't remember his name... too

For my two cents, I'll add this, and this is pure speculation on my part, but I think it's true.
Jerry Buss and family liked the titles with the low post game of Shaq and Phil Jackson, but IMO, they always wished that the team was more up tempo, more Showtime...more Magic and Coop and less Phil and Shaq.

I think that's why they hired D'Antoni, (a disaster), it's why they tried to trade for Chris Paul (thanks Commissioner Stern...for nuttin', and it why they finally even tried to make it happen with a worn out Steve Nash.

The team hasn't had an all star point guard/ball handler/assist leader for at least a decade, maybe longer all the way back to Magic, even while they were winning rings. I think they saw the GState experiment as certification that their yearning for Showtime redux had finally matched a current trend.

Second, according to some on talk radio, the Lakers apparently felt that there were enough big 4s and 5s available that were a bit quicker than Okafor that they could pass on Okafor and still get a solid paint presence and add some speed in transition.

you better sign some guys who can rebound b/c someone needs to rebound the 35 shots a game kobe is going to take this season.  

[Walter]

Jun 29, 2015 7:50:41 GMT -5 snap infraction said:

Jun 27, 2015 18:14:34 GMT -5 Walter said:

For my two cents, I'll add this, and this is pure speculation on my part, but I think it's true.
Jerry Buss and family liked the titles with the low post game of Shaq and Phil Jackson, but IMO, they always wished that the team was more up tempo, more Showtime...more Magic and Coop and less Phil and Shaq.

I think that's why they hired D'Antoni, (a disaster), it's why they tried to trade for Chris Paul (thanks Commissioner Stern...for nuttin', and it why they finally even tried to make it happen with a worn out Steve Nash.

The team hasn't had an all star point guard/ball handler/assist leader for at least a decade, maybe longer all the way back to Magic, even while they were winning rings. I think they saw the GState experiment as certification that their yearning for Showtime redux had finally matched a current trend.

Second, according to some on talk radio, the Lakers apparently felt that there were enough big 4s and 5s available that were a bit quicker than Okafor that they could pass on Okafor and still get a solid paint presence and add some speed in transition.

you better sign some guys who can rebound b/c someone needs to rebound the 35 shots a game kobe is going to take this season.  

Talk radio is abuzz today over rumors of LaMarcus Aldridge in LA and still have enough cap room to sign someone like Tyson Chandler.

[snap infraction]

Jun 29, 2015 15:12:47 GMT -5 Walter said:

Jun 29, 2015 7:50:41 GMT -5 snap infraction said:

you better sign some guys who can rebound b/c someone needs to rebound the 35 shots a game kobe is going to take this season.  

Talk radio is abuzz today over rumors of LaMarcus Aldridge in LA and still have enough cap room to sign someone like Tyson Chandler.

not going to be enough in the west.  lamarcus has been linked to the spurs for months now.  even if he signs with LA, russell will need time to learn the nba game while kobe hasn't been kobe in years.  

[Walter]

Jun 29, 2015 15:42:26 GMT -5 snap infraction said:

Jun 29, 2015 15:12:47 GMT -5 Walter said:

Talk radio is abuzz today over rumors of LaMarcus Aldridge in LA and still have enough cap room to sign someone like Tyson Chandler.

not going to be enough in the west.  lamarcus has been linked to the spurs for months now.  even if he signs with LA, russell will need time to learn the nba game while kobe hasn't been kobe in years.  

Alas....I agree....

[snap infraction]

Jun 29, 2015 19:01:50 GMT -5 Walter said:

Jun 29, 2015 15:42:26 GMT -5 snap infraction said:

not going to be enough in the west.  lamarcus has been linked to the spurs for months now.  even if he signs with LA, russell will need time to learn the nba game while kobe hasn't been kobe in years.  

Alas....I agree....

well this is vital as philly as the lakers first round pick (as long as it doesn't fall in the top 3).