Cole Miner

Okafor can be salvaged. He just can't play center in this league though. He can't rebound and defend the rim well enough. Switching him to the 4 is inevitable. He has some range to his shot already. He has good handles so he can drive from the perimeter. Unlike Noel. Has a face up game as well. You can hide his defense at the 4 easier as well. Like Love, Dirk or Randolph. Since defending the 4 requires significantly less decision making. Man on man he isn't really all that bad defensively. His length is troublesome and he knows how to use it. Basically if you look at how Favors is used next to Gobert that is Okafor's eventual fate offensively. I thought this was predictable prior to the draft as well. Which was part of the reason I wanted Porzingis not Okafor. I gained a little faith in the team when they decided to move some picks to bring Ish Smith back. Showed that they were finally going to get serious about developing these guys. Some fans were whining about giving up the picks. We have 3 or 4 first round picks next year plus Saric and Embiid. There isn't an unlimited number of roster spots. I thought they were content with just letting Noel sink. I even said it myself I think he is already the odd man out. Glad to see that is still open to debate. It figures the pick that Hinkie nailed in this draft was Richaun Holmes. Another big. Holmes has more potential as a two way player than Okafor. Our team had a major issue with overall experience in the organization. Hinkie as President and GM in his first job as top dog. The owner that is new to the NBA. Brett Brown in his first job as a head coach. All the assistant coaches are younger without much NBA experience. On top of that the team is the youngest team in league history. The totality of that is just asking for problems. Hiring Jerry Colangelo was needed badly. Now Hinkie can turn to someone with a lifetime of experience. Adding D'Antoni files a major hole on the coaching staff. Real NBA experience. Ish Smith's strength is pick and rolls so bringing him back to play with D'Antoni is a great fit. Carl Landry is playing now so you have a player in his 30s that has been around for a while. Filling a hole on the roster. You can't have every person in the organization learning on the job from the top down. There has to be some guidance.

Damn it Thaddeus I really need Dallas to keep winning.

Can't watch that game yet. After reading the first line, not knowing what is happening in the game, I was expecting the last line of this to read "how are the Warriors still winning?"

Ask them if a terrorist attacked the team bus and killed all the players. So that they had to sign a team full of d-league players to replace them. Would we be able to tell the difference?

Doing better than I expected. Still have had the easiest schedule up to this point. Also are 2-8 against .500 teams so wouldn't be surprised if there is a collapse.

Didn't know there was a video for this song. Italo disco Sometimes I see your claws that look like fingers Just like a shadow standing behind. Sometimes I can see visions like a dreamer Set all my feelings far. You live for fame you never care about me Tust like a shadow standing behind. You live for fame you're living for the people Set all my feeling far. Hold me hold me tight I feel so lonely. Hold me hold me tight you'll be a dove fly away. Hold me hold me tight it's time to stay now Another chance one more. Queen of witches cry You and your chaines that won't let go. Oh passion-fruit sweet love but your pink poison kills my life. Queen of witches cry Say you with your lies that won't let go. Master of the game give me a smile to hide the pain. Sometimes I see your claws that look like fingers . . . Hold me hold me tight I feel so lonely. . . . Just give me one more. Queen of witches cry . . . Queen of witches cry Say you with your lies That won't let go. Master of the game give me A smile to hide the pain. Queen of witches cry You and your chaines That won't let go. Oh passion-fruit Sweet love but your pink Poison kills my life. Oueen of witches cry You and your chaines That just won't let it go. Oh passion-fruit Sweet love but your pink Poison kills my life.

We have the bottom 2 players in offensive real plus minus. 411 Trey Lyles, PF UTAH 20 11.7 -3.36 0.41 -2.95 0.02 412 Randy Foye, SG DEN 23 19.9 -3.53 -2.21 -5.74 -0.76 413 Stanley Johnson, SF DET 25 21.3 -3.61 -1.25 -4.86 -0.58 414 Bismack Biyombo, C TOR 25 22.0 -3.62 1.66 -1.96 0.38 415 Kyle Singler, SF OKC 18 11.3 -3.63 1.07 -2.56 0.07 416 Noah Vonleh, PF POR 25 14.3 -3.66 0.29 -3.37 -0.06 417 Justise Winslow, SF MIA 22 28.5 -3.93 0.40 -3.53 -0.15 418 Emmanuel Mudiay, PG DEN 23 29.1 -4.59 -1.75 -6.34 -1.40 419 Jahlil Okafor, C PHI 23 32.6 -5.38 -1.32 -6.70 -1.61 420 Nerlens Noel, PF PHI 21 29.8 -6.16 1.74 -4.42 -0.51 None in the bottom 10 defensively thankfully 411 Nick Young, SF LAL 21 19.9 0.66 -3.10 -2.44 0.18 412 Ryan Anderson, PF NO 21 32.4 1.46 -3.22 -1.76 0.61 413 Louis Williams, SG LAL 22 26.9 1.37 -3.30 -1.93 0.46 414 Jamal Crawford, SG LAC 24 25.8 -0.52 -3.31 -3.83 -0.28 415 Greivis Vasquez, PG MIL 16 22.6 -0.91 -3.37 -4.28 -0.25 416 Andrew Wiggins, SG MIN 22 34.9 -0.11 -3.51 -3.62 -0.23 417 Damian Lillard, PG POR 25 36.8 5.68 -3.56 2.12 3.06 418 Gary Neal, PG WSH 20 22.0 -0.21 -3.59 -3.80 -0.19 419 Darren Collison, PG SAC 19 28.0 0.61 -3.75 -3.14 -0.01 420 Marco Belinelli, SG SAC 24 26.2 -1.24 -3.78 -5.02 -0.78 Two in the bottom 10 overall 411 Rashad Vaughn, SG MIL 18 8.6 -2.85 -1.67 -4.52 -0.13 412 Terry Rozier, PG BOS 14 6.7 -2.24 -2.43 -4.67 -0.10 413 Nik Stauskas, SG PHI 23 25.1 -2.19 -2.67 -4.86 -0.60 414 Stanley Johnson, SF DET 25 21.3 -3.61 -1.25 -4.86 -0.58 415 Marco Belinelli, SG SAC 24 26.2 -1.24 -3.78 -5.02 -0.78 416 Ty Lawson, PG HOU 23 26.8 -3.31 -1.90 -5.21 -0.85 417 Derrick Rose, PG CHI 19 32.7 -2.89 -2.37 -5.26 -0.85 418 Randy Foye, SG DEN 23 19.9 -3.53 -2.21 -5.74 -0.76 419 Emmanuel Mudiay, PG DEN 23 29.1 -4.59 -1.75 -6.34 -1.40 420 Jahlil Okafor, C PHI 23 32.6 -5.38 -1.32 -6.70 -1.61

Agree and it was one of the reasons I wanted us to take Porzingis on draft day. Him and Porzingis would have been awesome together. Noel was at like 14/10/2/2/2 before the injury against Orlando. I just think he is going to end up being the odd man out. Saric is now hitting his 3s at a high enough rate to be an ideal starting 4. He is 41% on them overall this year and .50% on them in the Euroleague games. Plus he is a play maker which is desperately needed. Noel just seems like the perfect guy to go. Like you said he needs to play center. Where there is better competition with Okafor and Embiid. He will be in the final year of his rookie deal next year so a decision will have to be made on his contract soonest. Plus Okafor hurt his trade value with the off court shenanigans. Embiid's upside is far too high to move him. Plus the Sixers have so many picks already it just makes no sense taking back 200,000 dollars for something you've already invested a million in. Which still has potential to reach that million mark value wise. Even if the odds are smaller now. Sixers don't need to rush or anything. Let him get healthy and get in the 14/10/2/2/2 range again. Can afford to wait until the off-season. I do think the Boston offer from last year, Smart and the 16th and 28th picks looks better now than it did at the time.

Noel fell off a cliff after getting hurt in that Orlando game. I don't think he is all that mentally tough a player. Frankly he seems to have some of the same bad traits as Hibbert between the ears. His stone hands have to be mental. They were gone by the end of last season. Start of this season I was worried we might trade him. Now I'm worried he is destroying his trade value before he can be dumped.

All star voting is up. Went with James, George, Drummond, Lowry, Butler in the East. Curry, Westbrook, Green, Leonard and Durant in the West. No real tough choices. Though I would have liked to have thrown Batum a vote.

It happened recently. LeBron James took himself out of the game.

Wallace comes from trading Thompson to Sacramento. As bad as things are right now the trade with the Kings with the pick swaps is looking good. They are 7-15 and Cousins is playing terrible since he is clearly hurt. Odds of them digging out of this hole are slim. Right now the Kings are giving the Sixers an extra 8.8% chance at the top pick. Check out the Kings groups. They are demoralized right now at having 0 shot at Simmons. One other thing. I keep seeing how we have 2 or 3 players. Keep your eyes on Michael Carter Williams KJ McDaniels Jerami Grant folks. He hasn't found his consistency yet but he is turning into a player. I still get floored by how explosive he is and he already plays very good defense. He has been a lot better since someone got it through his head he doesn't always have to try for the monster dunk around the rim. Covington is our best player but Grant for sure has a spot in this league. Yeah saying 3 or 4 instead of 2 or 3 still isn't saying much. I think I know how this story ends. Could be but it's not a perfect comparison. McDaniels only signed a 1 year deal. So the team was forced to act sooner on him. Got Canaan and a 2nd round pick for him. That second round pick is Holmes and Holmes>McDaniels. Grant is further along than both of those guys offensively and just 21. McDaniels and MCW were drafted older. Which could also be a factor. Not certain it is but it is something to think about at least.

I'm sure if Tommy Dreamer fans existed and hijacked the shows, and hurt the push of their new chosen one, he would fail the test too.

Wallace comes from trading Thompson to Sacramento. As bad as things are right now the trade with the Kings with the pick swaps is looking good. They are 7-15 and Cousins is playing terrible since he is clearly hurt. Odds of them digging out of this hole are slim. Right now the Kings are giving the Sixers an extra 8.8% chance at the top pick. Check out the Kings groups. They are demoralized right now at having 0 shot at Simmons. One other thing. I keep seeing how we have 2 or 3 players. Keep your eyes on Jerami Grant folks. He hasn't found his consistency yet but he is turning into a player. I still get floored by how explosive he is and he already plays very good defense. He has been a lot better since someone got it through his head he doesn't always have to try for the monster dunk around the rim. Covington is our best player but Grant for sure has a spot in this league. Yeah saying 3 or 4 instead of 2 or 3 still isn't saying much.

I can't wait until we play the Warriors. Go for 101 Curry.

I didn't think a consensus top 5 was possible last year. Durant, Davis, Harden, Curry, Westbrook and LeBron all had strong claims. Even harder this year. George and Leonard are both playing at an MVP level. Draymond Green is in the conversation as well.

He is in the argument for best player in the league so no. He is one of the 3 best defenders in the league and shooting like Kyle Korver.

Spurs defense is the best watch in the league right now. Leonard would have been only the 9th player to pull off a 5x5. Would have been the 16th time overall. He is pretty close to 50/50/90 on offense right now too.

Speaking of Okafor the early returns defensively are pretty shocking.

Gram Parsons- Brass Buttons- Easily my favorite country song. I suppose that isn't saying much. There are only a handful of country artists I like. I've listened to his albums a few times. I don't recognize anything by name. Which just shows how much this song stood out. Papa Chubby- I've Been Lovin' You too Long- This is good. Have only one of his albums. Never got around to listening to it. It is rare that I haven't listened to a blues artist. Will have to go through them all now. Bessie Smith- Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out- This song is a style I don't listen to a whole lot. I prefer guitar blues. The songs sound quality is outstanding for a 1920s song. Joe Smith- Drowning in the Sea of Love- Over produced 70s song. With the big Philly soul trademarks with the all the strings. Didn't inspire a 2nd listen. Ian Dury- Reasons to be Cheerful Part 3- Love this song. I prefer listening to this one on youtube. Since it has the video for the song. Bobby Brown- Roni- Haven't listened to this one in ages. Glad I got the slow song. Not in the mood for new jack swing. I'm not really a huge Brown fan though. Of the New Edition members Johnny Gill is my favorite. Stevie Ray Vaughan- Tightrope- Really good song about his drug use. Too bad he didn't get to enjoy being sober longer. Joy Division- Wilderness- Happened to listen to this song and others by them yesterday. Probably went a year without putting them on. I have bad tendency to play a song or group I like too much. End up sick of it. Toto- Rosanna- This is great song. It has the added bonus of being famous among musicians for the drum beat. The Rosanna shuffle. Steve Lukather plays 2 great solos as well. I like the closeout solo better. Barbara Lewis- Baby I'm Yours- Getting some good ones tonight. In the running for my favorite ballad of the 60s sung by a female.

Should be an interesting race to see what happens first. Sixers win or Warriors loss. Would take a miracle to win tonight. We have the worst team in the league for getting shots blocked. Okafor in particular is getting blocked 2.2 times per game. Whiteside should feast. According to ESPN's BPI rating the Sixers have a less than 50% shot of beating the Lakers at home in 6 games. Things are that bad. It sucks because last year we had a run of games, most of you will remember it, when he started pulling out wins. Come from behind wins playing tough defense against good teams. Everything seemed set. We had a first round pick in the draft coming up and Joel Embiid on the way. I can't believe how far backwards things have gone from that point. I realize it all centers around Embiid and that was the risk. Far too much is at stake from that damn Lakers pick too though. It doesn't really have anything to do with MCW. I doubt any team is clamoring to have him start at PG. We got the pick from Phoenix though. The option to move MCW for Brandon Knight straight from Milwaukee was there too. Lakers have Kobe coming off the books. They keep their pick this year and they can add a lottery pick and a couple free agents and that pick could lose all value. Good luck getting Brandon Knight value from it when it is a mid or late first. I spent a ton of time watching college basketball and international basketball last year. My goal this year is to watch zero outside of watching Saric ocassionally. Don't feel like reliving the lottery and draft day disappointment. I doubt it will be in question this year anyway. Simmons was just too well rounded coming out of high school. Sixers have had the 2nd hardest schedule behind New Orleans according to SOS. Detroit is 3rd if you want another reason for optimism Fowler. Minnesota is 4th and Clippers 5th. Easiest are Cleveland, Golden State, San Antonio, Dallas and Orlando. Using opponent win percentage New Orleans had hardest followed by Clippers, Minnesota, and Detroit and Philly tied. Easiest using WP% is Dallas followed by San Antonio, Orlando, Atlanta and Milwaukee. Golden state is 15 and Cleveland 19th which just shows how much impact their margin of victory has on SOS rating. Spurs margin of victory is so large that even with the 2nd easiest schedule they have the 2nd highest SRS behind Golden State. Not bad at all.

I thought last year having Mbah a Moute and Ish Smith was ideal. I hated when we were playing Jason Richardson as well though. Veterans with games that benefit the man pieces you are trying to develop is logical. Ish and Noel were a great fit. I agree about guys that shouldn't be in the league. I look at the team moving forward this way best case scenario. PG- unknown/Marshall/McConnell SG- unknown/Stauskas/Thompson SF- unknown/Covington/Grant PF- Noel/Saric/Holmes C- Okafor/Embiid/Wood Some of those guys I'm not sold on. I thought Marshall's 8.8 assists per year with the Lakers was D'Antoni fools gold. McConnell has been a pleasant surprise but he will be turning 24 soon which is old for a rookie. Not much physical upside. Thompson seems like a spot up shooter only. Stauskas might be a bust relative to where he was picked. Which I thought was too high at the time. I think the team should continue rotating guys out looking for new Covingtons. That is the one advantage to going completely young. Developing guys like Canaan or Sampson just seems counter productive. Thompson I can understand since he shot 40% from three his first 2 seasons. Even in his case I think converting him into a pick should be the goal. Same with Wroten. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if we move Covington this year. He has value to some good teams. He could be a difference maker on a team like Memphis. I've never been opposed to some veteran stability. I just don't want to be the team that is throwing big money at Eric Gordon. I think the Lakers are actually a very good example of doing it the wrong way by adding Lou Williams and Huertas on top of having Nick Young and Kobe. The worst possible environment for Russell IMO. They should be developing a two man game with Randle/Russell and Randle/Clarkson.

He's an mvp candidate. Flashback to

You picked the wrong game. I thought that was the 2nd worst game we've played since 2013-2014. Behind the debacle in Los Angeles when the Clippers were up like 50 in the 3rd while the Sixers were shooting 15%. We had 18 or 19 turnovers at the half last night. I ended up on basketball-reference looking for the record during the game. The most in the database, going back to 85-86, was 40 by the 1989 Spurs. So still a ways to go after finishing with 29. 56 in the last 2 games. This season was pretty clearly going to be ugly. After the terrible luck last season draft wise and Embiid on the shelf again. We had the Lakers pick top 3 protected, they picked 2nd. We had the Heat pick top 10 protected they picked 10. The OKC pick top 18 protected they picked 14. Who would have picked OKC of all teams to miss the playoffs? I know people are judging the Embiid pick harshly and it was a risk. Remember though Simmons and Rose were saying on the draft preview that they think he should still go first overall even with the back and foot injury. Upside is just too high. I thought some Sixers fans were overrating the team coming into this season. That is just the fans who thought they could improve to 30 wins. I just wasn't seeing it. I thought Evilwaldo that posted here a couple times had more realistic expectations than what I had seen elsewhere. Though I don't agree that it costs Hinkie his job. Sixers fans undervalued Mbah a Moute's impact defensively last year. I can understand why though. It only shows up once you starting going through the synergy numbers. Add losing him to trading MCW and McDaniels and defensively the team was going to take a step backwards; remember that was how we were winning games during that run of games last year when we were showing signs of competence. I think most fans believe it was a mistake to not stick with Ish Smith short term. Our best offensive player from last season was Covington and he is just coming back from injury. Wroten and Marshall are set for December. There are going to be some major growing pains. Noel has to adjust to a new position. It is questionable if that will be the right move long term. Might end up having to look to move him or Okafor. Right now though it is just trying to find the best players and it is too early to worry about fit. There are warning signs though. Stauskas just hasn't found his shot and I'm starting to think I was to quick defending him believing he would find it. Just not sure I trust him between the ears. He shows a lot of talent driving and has played surprisingly well defensively but none of that matters if he is missing open 3s. I honestly think he might have broken a record for most missed open 3s in a game against Milwaukee; silver lining though is it shows that the attention Okafor demands will result in open shots. Frankly he has been better than I expected though I'm still not convinced I was wrong in thinking Porzingis was a better prospect. I think more people have come over to my side on that one actually. Hinkie has one more off-season for sure IMO. I don't think management is getting caught off guard by this at all. He'll have 3 or 4 first round picks unless something freak happens with OKC or Miami. Plus Saric and Embiid. I think it is safe to say this will be the point where some tangible progress will have to be made. No one will be expecting a good team next season. Just the foundation of one in place. That is still a ? right now. It did suck losing another season. Like you said last night was not fun. We've played 12 games and 3 of them were borderline unbearable. The game against the Jazz, OKC, and Indiana. Noel was playing alright before hurting his wrist against Orlando. Total disappearing act last night though. If Noel or Okafor or off the game is tough to sit through. I know Noel's FG% looks bad but a lot of that are circumstances out of his control. Sixers guards have this really really bad tendency of giving Noel and Okafor the ball just as the clock is expiring. Last week Noel and Okafor were 2nd and 3rd in the league for FGA with the clock expiring. Just bad decision making. We played Cleveland tough twice. The Mavs and Spurs game could have been worse. Especially the Spurs since they rested their best player. That just isn't enough though right now. The team is just hard to watch. Mainly because of how many players on the team just have a low basketball IQ. Okafor gets double teamed and only Stauskas knows to try and move into a position where he can see you to pass out of it. The crowd at the homes games is depressing. The energy level is so low right now. That wasn't the case last year. I don't know when it is going to get better. I seriously think there were hotter crowds in Utah during summer league. Right now we've lost 22 straight. With a 6 game road trip about to start. @Charlotte, @Miami, @Minnesota, @Boston, @Houston, @Memphis. Charlotte is probably our best shot since they are inconsistent. Chances of breaking the record look good I'd say.

It is what happened with my grandparents. Grandmother died, grandfather died of a heart attack hearing she died.