NBA Tanking Teams WIll Complicate Philadelphia 76ers 2016 Draft

With a rapidly improving Philadelphia 76ers team, it will not surprise if they pull ahead of the languishing Los Angeles Lakers. But could teams like the Phoenix Suns sink too? What about the Brooklyn Nets, the Minnesota Timberwolves, or even the Sacramento Kings? Could this be one more year of  the Philadelphia 76ers 2016 draft finding the team picking at three?

The Philadelphia 76ers started the season at 1-30. Nothing was certain for the team then. Could the team win ten games? Would the team win five games? Could the team find any hope of success when it seemed as though introductions would be needed throughout the year just to familiarize returning Philadelphia 76er players with the shell of a roster. For the early part of this season, the present was so dismally dark that even the bright hope for the future was dimming.

And then…

You know the story. Well, maybe you do but then again may you don’t. A picture is needed here, one that is worth a thousand words:

Since the arrival of Jerry Colangelo, Ish Smith, Mike D’Antoni, success – albeit in moderate portions – success has followed along behind.  Success breeds success. While it’s a phenomenon that is not quite familiar to the fans of the Philadelphia 76ers, they were as prepared as any fan-base for the trials and tribulations of the rebuild.  In fact, former players of the team even were in support of it.  Julius “Dr. J.” Erving was interviewed and described the plan as a seven year rebuild.   Normally outspoken Charles Barkley has never had much affection for “number guys” like Sam Hinkie, but he recently came out to project the Philadelphia 76ers – currently the worst team in the NBA – as a 2016 season playoff team.

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The Philadelphia 76ers could be a team on the rise, they certainly have been patient enough.  And with a mid-season burst, they are now hopeful.  Improvement is not unexpected, and we’ve examined the layers of NBA draft safeguards the Philadelphia 76ers have built into this draft.  It’s not enough to eliminate any chance of bad luck, but it certainly would lessen the pain of improving just enough to lower their eventual chances in the upcoming draft.

Despite the light of hope, the Sixers fans have walked for years through the trials of a team years away from improving.  When a team is locked into high paying contracts, misses on draft picks or free agency deals, the NBA rolls on without them.   Teams who stumble in the NBA fall, and then fail.  Failure breeds a myriad of demons to the professional athlete. Consider this description of the D’Angelo Russell, the second pick just half way through his first NBA season.

Next: Lakers Lament

Los Angeles Lakers Lament

They were not a good team in 2014-2015, winning 21 of 82 games to finish with the fourth worst record in the league.  They were even better in 2013-2014, winning 27 of 82 games in that season. But they scored on the second pick in the 2015 NBA draft.  So how bad could things get?  Well, when you disbelieve in developing your young players and choose to focus all energies on the farewell tour of one of the NBA elites?  It can get pretty dismal indeed.  Projected to take the center from Duke, Jahlil Okafor, they slipped up everyone in the NBA by selecting point guard D’Angelo Russell.  The surprise was such that they may have suffered a setback to the team’s recovery in that process.

You see, the Lakers are stuck between a perception of being better than they are, and worse than they ought to be.  I won’t debate the “right way” to acclimate a rookie to a team with a high profile history needing to develop his skills rapidly.  I will merely sit back and enjoy the job Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown does for this team.  Learning means making mistakes.   Mistakes means pain of some sort.  Pain motivates.  Motivation drives focus and renewed practice.  Focus and practice drives progress.  What of the results for Russell?

Keep in mind the Los Angeles Lakers are one such team caught in the deathly vise grip of high paid players past their prime, missing on top draft picks, and failure to recognize they need to begin player development yesterday. It’s far too early to consider Russell or anyone from the 2015 a “bust”, but there is plenty of evidence to believe the pairing of Russell on the Lakers team is not a natural fit. The result? The Los Angeles Lakers have flirted with consistently bad so far this season, with no hope or catalyst of improvement.

They will likely be overtaken by the improving Sixers and have the highest chance of the lottery of getting the number one pick of the 2016 draft.  If they do, there is a pretty good case that they will be selecting phenom Ben Simmons.

Next: Suns Fire Head Coach

Phoenix Suns Fire Head Coach Hornacek

When a team is swept by the worst team in the NBA (at the time), there is an automatic “oops, how bad IS this team?” reaction. And so, the Phoenix Suns have made this list of falling teams in the NBA just from that condition alone.

But this team has more problems, plenty of them.  They finished with a 48 win out of 82 games in the 2013-2014 season, falling slight to just 39 wins in the 2014-2015 season.  Neither season was bad enough to panic, but was far too impressive for the team to be thinking NBA draft lottery.   So the team did what many teams do, they tried to improve their roster through their meager NBA draft and by trading players.

To pursue LaMarcus Aldridge, a player they wanted desperately, the team traded Reggie Bullock, Danny Granger and Marcus Morris to the Detroit Pistons to free up salary dollars.  But the team neglected the impact such a trade would have on Marcus’ twin brother:

But there’s more.  The team was so disappointed after the first loss to the struggling Philadelphia 76ers, that they fired assistant coaches  Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting.   The move was believed to “shake up” the team into playing more effectively.  At the time, the team was sitting at a 12 win 20 loss record.  It did shake up the team, badly.  Now nearing panic level, the team was in no position to absorb a loss to a key player.  So that’s what they faced next:

The Phoenix Suns, who had began the season with a 7-5 start, began to free fall.  After the first loss to the Sixers which prompted the team to fire two assistant coaches, the team plummetted through a 2 win 15 loss streak.  A month after losing the the Philadelphia 76ers, the Suns traveled to Philadelphia desperate for a win.  The team and the coach failed to find that win, and with the stage already set by the previous loss to Philadelphia, the front office had no choice but to fire the head coach.

With a new coaching staff, the future is awfully murky for the Suns, but it would not surprise me in the least if the team went into player development mode now. Having shut down point guard Eric Bledsoe for the season and now at a point of no return, they will likely simply ride out the descent and see what they can patch together in the off-season.  In one of the strangest twists of irony, the Philadelphia 76ers may be one of the most significant contributors  to a tanking Phoenix Suns.

Next: Timberwolves Are Taking Their Time

Minnesota Timberwolves are taking their time

They started the season with 4 win 2 loss burst that had many declaring that the Minnesota Timberwolves days of rebuilding were coming to a close.  They finished the 2013-2014 season with a 40 win effort, and followed that up by plummeting to the bottom of the NBA in the 2014-2015 season to land the top draft pick of 2015, Karl Anthony Towns. But the team had traded one of their top players, Kevin Love to join returning LeBron James in Clevelance in exchange for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett.   Once more playing a role, the Philadelphia 76ers were involved with that trade, contributing Thaddeus Young and a $6,300,000 trade exception to the Timberwolves.   The Sixers netted guard Alex Shved, forward Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, and a protected first round draft pick of the Miami Heat.  The only element of the trade remaining in the Sixers possession is the Miami draft pick.

Minnesota did not keep their players either.   Bennett was waived by the Timberwolves, and immediately signed on with the Toronto Raptors.

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves reversed course. Having giving up the rights to a first round pick for Thaddeus Young, the team subsequently opted to bail on the season for a full out tank and traded Young to the Brooklyn Nets for one-time Timberwolf Kevin Garnett.  Timberwolves president Flip Saunders then signed Garnett to a two year extension.   With Wiggins on the roster, the team added Towns to anchor the front court.   With Wiggins and fourth year Ricky Rubio in the backcourt, the team has a good core of young players to move forward.

But the Timberwolves should be better than their current record of 14 wins and 35 losses.  At just 16 games into the season, the team was playing at a .500 clip and the early success baited NBA fans into believing the team had assembled a winner.  But the team has only generated 6 wins since that time, while losing 23 games over that same 29 game period.  With the Timberwolves sputtering, and the Sixers improving,  it’s not unrealistic to see a Sixers team overtaking the Timberwolves before season’s end.

Next: Brooklyn Nets

Brooklyn Nets Becoming Have Nots

This is a team falling on the basketball court, but whose first round pick is solely and unprotected in the hands of the Boston Celtics. OUCH!  But it was not always this way for the Brooklyn nets, whose 44 wins in the 2013-2014 season were good enough for the playoffs, and whose 38 win performance last season returned them to the playoffs.  So perhaps, it was forgiveable for the team to trade their first round draft pick without anticipating its true value.

Brooklyn packaged the pick unprotected in the trade for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry.  In fact, at the time, the trade was believed to put the Nets over the top.

"“Today, the basketball gods smiled on the Nets. With the arrival of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, we have achieved a great balance on our roster between veteran stars and young talents. This team will be dazzling to watch, and tough to compete against. We are excited to welcome Kevin, Paul and Jason to Brooklyn. All three players have championship pedigree and posses the veteran qualities that will make us a stronger team.” – Nets Principal Owner Mikhail Prokhorov announcing the trade"

Ah, the plans of men. None of the coveted players remain on the Nets roster less than three years after the deal that sent three first round picks to the Boston Celtics. Pierce left after a year. Garnett was a pale shade of himself, and Terry was traded to the Sacramento Kings.

"“Not having the picks, you’ve got to figure out other ways to get it, second-round picks. If you don’t have picks, you just get young guys.We took our shot and it didn’t work. And now to see some of these guys develop and to get it back and for us to have the cap space [next summer], we can do it pretty quickly. We want to win but we knew we may take a step back when some of the decisions were made. But what I like is we’ve put ourselves in the position to beat a Golden State, we just didn’t make the right plays. That’s just learning how to win. We’re talking the steps.” – Nets general manager Billy King bravely facing future"

As the Brooklyn Nets get weaker, the Boston Celtic become stronger. Not only do the Celtics own the Nets first round picks in 2016 and 2018, but they have a right to swap first round picks in 2017. If the Nets cannot find talent deep in the draft and in the development league, they risk not only falling further than the Philadlephia 76ers this season, but may struggle to turn the corner for many years to come.

Next: Sacramento Kings

Sacramento Kings Lose Even When Trading With Sixers

The Sacramento Kings languish from their inability to draft well.  But the situation became even more complicated because they don’t trade very well either.   When a team ends a season with just 28 wins, as the Sacramento Kings had done in the 2013-2014, they had best be in a development cycle of playing young talented players to improve the roster with experience on the NBA court, or outright tanking by surrendering promising roster talent and accumulating draft picks.

The Kings did neither.

They followed up that 2013 season with a 29 win season in 2014-2015.  Finally, the team is on pace this year to win approximately 29 wins.  But the nice thing for the Philadelphia 76ers is that they can swap picks with the seemingly perennial bottom flirting Kings this year.

As stated, when a team is struggling, they either develop young talent or accumulate enough draft picks to select young talent from the draft.  But the Sacramento Kings opted to clear salary cap space to pursue free agents, and the Philadelphia 76ers were more than happy to oblige them, for a fee. That fee is an extensive array of draft picks and swaps. But for the 2016 NBA draft, the right to swap first round picks with Sacramento is very much in play.

Right now the Kings are powered by the play of center DeMarcus Cousins and small forward Rudy Gay. In fact, their starting five is capable of at least .500 level play. But their bench is barren.  And its that bench that makes a difference to a team in the second half of the season.  There’s not much coming off for the Kings, and with that lack of “oomph” could place them at risk of falling below the Sixers before season’s end.  The curious event in that case is that it gives the likelihood of a  swapped draft pick that much more probability of happening.

Next: Ish Smith Can Dish

The Philadelphia 76ers expected success to happen at some point this season, and have plenty of picks to insulate the team from too much adversity of they somehow climb in the league standings.   But if the Lakers, Suns, Nets, Kings and Timberwolves all encounter complete futility through season’s end, the Philadelphia 76ers may be leaning on the picks of other teams much more than originally anticipated.

Tank away Sacramento.  But all you other NBA teams?  Find a way to win, at least for this year.