But as the Sun-Times learned this week, even if Karnisovas didn’t like what he would have seen from Boylen he would likely be handcuffed from making a change. According to several sources, there is strong growing momentum that financial concerns the Reinsdorfs have about the 2020-21 NBA season will keep Boylen in his current seat, as well as most of the coaching staff. So that “players first’’ motto that Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley were touting several months ago? Well, money just pushed it aside and cut in the front of the line. A small slap in the face to several Bulls players, and definitely a large slap to a very vocal Bulls fan base.

Playing the strapped-for-cash card when the franchise is valued at $3.2 billion is a hard pill to swallow. Somewhat of a jagged one at that, considering Karnisovas seemed poised to move on from Boylen and several members of the staff his first month on the job in the wake of getting some negative feedback from key Bulls players. Karnisovas and Eversley were even in the process of using back channels to reach out to Philadelphia assistant coach Ime Udoka and Toronto assistant Adrian Griffin as possible replacements, according to multiple NBA scouts.

What changed? The fact that chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a July USA Today story his financial losses with the Bulls, White Sox and United Center were somewhere in the “nine figures’’ range obviously painted an ugly picture.

I get it, though. The Jazz COULD bust their asses these last 4 games and possibly catch Denver at #3...but why bother when there's no difference anymore between #3 and #6, or #4 and #5? Might as well give their starters some rest and let the Rockets and Thunder pass them. I'd much rather take the Nuggets and Clippers route to the WCF rather than Rockets/Thunder and Lakers. Unless the Rockets work their way up to 3rd, finishing 6th is a better spot for Utah than 4th or 5th.

If your only goal is to make it out of the first round, what are you doing as a franchise?

The Bucks happened to draft the best player in the NBA. The Raptors traded for a disgruntled superstar against his will and happened to catch lightning in a bottle during their one season with him before he bolted (and got lucky when their Finals opponent lost 2 all stars to injury). Neither of those are very duplicative paths to a championship.

#11 - Well yes, but it's not something a team can just consciously choose to do to improve.

The Raptors traded for a disgruntled superstar against his will and happened to catch lightning in a bottle during their one season with him before he bolted (and got lucky when their Finals opponent lost 2 all stars to injury).

Samuel H. Quinn @SamQuinnCBS
Bol Bol can't move laterally like, at all, and it doesn't even matter because he basically blindfolds shooters on the rare occasions in which he needs to defend the perimeter.
pic.twitter.com/kQCIHOWzT2

Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn
Philadelphia’s All-Star F Ben Simmons will undergo surgery to remove a loose body in his left knee, sources tell ESPN.

Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn
While the Sixers haven't ruled Simmons out for the season, sources say it would take a deep run into the playoffs to keep the door open on the possibility of a return --- and that's still an iffy proposition. For now, the Sixers need to prepare for a postseason without Simmons.

Is this Michael Porter's "crash back to earth" game?

Katy Winge @katywinge
Michael Porter Jr highlights for your viewing pleasure. Loved his growth this game: 2 pts in the first half, finished with 23.
pic.twitter.com/jrAR4oLuv0

You can't stop TJ Warren, you can only hope to contain him.

The Lakers are... kind of bad.

Nick Friedell @NickFriedell
The Suns are the hottest team in basketball — 5-0 in the bubble — and just a half game behind the Trail Blazers for the ninth spot in the West. Devin Booker believes his team has finally turned the corner.
espn.com/nba/story/_/id…

I don't have a strong sense of how all the teams are treating the games, but, as 28 gets at, it's all small sample size theater, right? People are normally less inclined to make grand pronouncements based on five-game stretches, but these five games have this very large and very unusual spotlight on them. Whether or not they should be further discounted (and they probably should, a bit, since some of the seeding is already settled — plus "home court" means less than it ever has, weakening the incentive to jockey for position among some of the teams), it's just five games.

Eric Koreen @ekoreen
Nick Nurse steps on to his zoom singing “Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty and then asks @Rachel__Nichols how often she watches The Jump after it’s done.

Marc J. Spears @MarcJSpears
Sixers center Joel Embiid has left the bench. Appeared to have hurt bus left foot. Sixers GM Elton Brand went to check on him. pic.twitter.com/QHgsCqKEkJ

Just a question. Is it remotely plausible that Phil ownership shuts down Embiid, fires the coach once the playoffs end and starts fresh for next season?

37--So you think that's a bad idea? FWIW I think that is what Philadelphia should do.

   41. the virus could be killed by injecting 57i66135 Posted: August 09, 2020 at 08:56 PM (#5968691)
clutch loss.

Lot of jokes online about SVG auditioning for the Sixers job during the broadcast the other night. Although I imagine the Pelicans job is going to look pretty appealing, too.

horforf and harris have two of the worst contracts the NBA has seen this decade

It is weird to me that Philly chose Horford and Harris over Jimmy Butler.

I feel like multiple teams were willing to give Horford this kind of deal though, right?

Harris I think was acknowledged as one of those huge overpays that happens when that kind of FA comes up and it's basically them or a MLE player for that slot for the next few years

given the player power and movement (a good thing), I don't think you can ever completely avoid it.

To me the initial trade for Harris deserves at least as much criticism. They went in heavy on a guy that three other teams saw a lot of and were more than happy to move on from.

5064. the virus could be killed by injecting 57i66135 Posted: June 30, 2019 at 08:24 PM (#5857471)
three things:
1: at least reddick is gone. NOP is actually pretty good landing spot for him.
2: that harris contract is beyond a mozgov level disaster.**
3: anyone who gave me #### about A: wanting to sign thad young instead of harris, and B: thinking thad young was worth 10-15MM per year, needs to lick my ####### toes.


** the problem with harris is really just that he's not a good defender. he's okay, and he's versatile, but he can't shut down a spencer dinwiddie or a gordan shunmgharf, to say nothing of a kemba or a kawhi or a giannis. for 180MM, you need to be a harden/okafor level scorer, a CP3/jokic level playmaker, or a butler/george level two-way contributor. harris isn't A or B or C, so you can't ####### pay him 35 ####### million ####### dollars per ####### annum./

5092. the virus could be killed by injecting 57i66135 Posted: June 30, 2019 at 09:13 PM (#5857504)
sixers starting lineup:

simmons - 6'11
richardson - 6'6
harris - 6'9
horford - 6'10
embiid - 7'2


i....don't hate it.

5098. the virus could be killed by injecting 57i66135 Posted: June 30, 2019 at 09:21 PM (#5857510)
i just can't back giving tobias harris that kind of money.

do the other stuff, but give me bogdonavic or ross or lamb or barnes or jeff ####### green instead of harris for 30+ ####### million ####### dollars.

5064. the virus could be killed by injecting 57i66135 Posted: June 30, 2019 at 08:24 PM (#5857471)
three things:
1: at least reddick is gone. NOP is actually pretty good landing spot for him.
2: that harris contract is beyond a mozgov level disaster.**
3: anyone who gave me #### about A: wanting to sign thad young instead of harris, and B: thinking thad young was worth 10-15MM per year, needs to lick my ####### toes.


** the problem with harris is really just that he's not a good defender. he's okay, and he's versatile, but he can't shut down a spencer dinwiddie or a gordan shunmgharf, to say nothing of a kemba or a kawhi or a giannis. for 180MM, you need to be a harden/okafor level scorer, a CP3/jokic level playmaker, or a butler/george level two-way contributor. harris isn't A or B or C, so you can't ####### pay him 35 ####### million ####### dollars per ####### annum./

Don't ever change.

They're one in the same. You don't make that trade unless you're planning to max him and run with a big 4.

The Sixers seem to have regarded Embiid + Simmons as a championship core. I think that is wrong. Those guys both could be part of a championship core, but probably not on the same team. I think that filling pieces around them before they really understood their offensive identity was a mistake.

i think they were 90+% of the way there with simmons/butler/embiid. they needed to upgrade at backup center (demarcus cousins? willie cauley stein? nerlens noel? dakari johnson?) for the 15 minutes per playoff game where embiid was off the floor. they needed to upgrade their backup PG, so they could put a microwave scorer on the floor when things stagnated (derrick rose? trey burke? shabazz napier? alec burks?). they needed to upgrade jj redick (mattisse thybulle was a damn good get). they needed a PF who had a pulse (bobby portis, julius randle, noah vonley, thad young, marvin williams).

Embiid + Simmons lineups this year: +0.8 points per 100 (Embiid +4.9 overall, so worse than Embiid's average)
Embiid + Simmons lineups last year: +7.8 points per 100. (Embiid lineups +10.4 overall)

I think that this problem is sort of persistent, even as Simmons has improved

The problem is that it's impossible to get fair value for Simmons

“fair value isn't a huge issue when you're making a trade for stylistic purposes”
It isn’t?

In any case, I’m (sincerely) sorry that your org has squandered its advantages in the way it has. The process more or less worked (yes there were missteps, but it allowed for that), but Colangelo and Brand have been subpar.

They've permanently crossed over from 'Hinkie died for this!' to 'Hinkie died for this?'

If you're the Sixers and the Nuggets came to you this summer and offered Murray and MPJ for Simmons and Zhaire Smith, what do you say?

If you're the Sixers and the Nuggets came to you this summer and offered Murray and MPJ for Simmons and Zhaire Smith, what do you say?

Words I never thought I'd type: stiggles is being too pessimistic about the Sixers. They need to make moves, sure, but they have two guys that are miles better than the best two guys on most other teams. I have no idea what those moves are, admittedly (I don't think eschewing actual perimeter players in the modern NBA was ideal, so maybe start there?). They probably need a different GM. They almost certainly need a different coach (how are they not way better defensively? 7th in DRtg when you're all in on defense doesn't cut it). But they're still likely going to enter next season in the top 4 of the conference with two young stars. It's way too early for this kind of pessimism.

so many shitty MFers. too many, in fact.

- The Sixers hit on one or two non-lottery picks or undrafted guys, along the lines of Gilbert Arenas (31), Draymond Green (35), Gary Trent (37), Monta Ellis (40), Michael Redd (43), Danny Green (46), Kyle Korver (51), Manu Ginobli (57), Isaiah Thomas (60), Kendrick Nunn (undrafted), Wesley Matthews (undrafted), or Jeremy Lin (undrafted)

- The Sixers find a trade partner for one of their bad contracts. Given the lack of ancillary assets, this would more or less have to be for a better-fitting terrible contract, though.

- Horford rediscovers his 3pt touch and builds a bit of chemistry with Embiid in a high-low two man game, partially recouping his value to/fit with the team

You keep pointing blame at the Sixers for not keeping Butler; did he really want to stay?

Cleveland would take Harris for Love.

How many future firsts would it take to get Chris Paul?

Morey may have made the worst trade in recent league history. It's really unbelievable.

This could probably rid you of Harris

PG Rozier
SG Richardson
SF Thybulle
PF Simmons
C Embiid

might be good actually, and you only have to carry Batum for one year

when hitting on [second-round] picks becomes plan A, that's a horrible sign for the future.

My brother claims that the Nuggets are trying to lose on purpose to fall to the 4-seed, and thereby set up a second round match-up against the struggling Lakers (rather than the Clippers), and this is why they've benched Jokic in the 4th quarter of their last two close losses.

1) do you think that's what's happening?
2) *should* they be doing it? not, like, ethically. but strategically. do they have a better shot of beating the Lakers than they do of beating the Clippers?

My point was not that mining non-elite prospects was a good plan A, my point was that the Sixers maintain more upside risk than you're letting on. And if the last decade has taught us anything, it's that there is no such thing as an untradeable contract, although it may take a few rounds of asset flipping to make a given #### into shineola.

1. No. They might be tanking because they want the Thunder instead of the Jazz in the first round.
2. No, that would be stupid. The Nuggets don't have anyone who can guard LeBron or Anthony Davis. It's frankly questionable if the Nuggets would even be favored in a matchup against the 5 seeded OKC Thunder. I can't imagine purposefully tanking so you can get LeBron in the second.

Also I think it's broadly a terrible idea to tank to position for a 2nd round matchup that might never happen.

I mean, the big variable is what the Sixers could get for Embiid or Simmons. That's what still gives you a chance to be a real contender.

Also I think it's broadly a terrible idea to tank to position for a 2nd round matchup that might never happen.

trading one of your all-stars (who are still in their mid-20s, btw) isn't a "chance", it's a desperation heave.

It's also the fastest route to a coherent, good roster, isn't it?

I still think it may be that Simmons and Embiid are better apart than together.

What would you need from trading Simmons to play Embiid surrounded by shooters? What would you need from trading Embiid to have the pieces to play Simmons like Giannis?

Obviously there are lots of ways to #### up such a trade, but leaning into being a team that is one of the two stars surrounded by good defense and shooting isn't necessarily a bad idea. Slow it down with Embiid or run-and-gun with Simmons, whichever you prefer.

Should Bucks fans be concerned?

Should Bucks fans be concerned?