NBA 2015-2016 Season thread

What? 8th. Name them first 7. Besides towns and porzingas I can't see a reason to pass on Oak. He needs to improve on D for sure but it's on him. I'm not going to write him off half way thru his rookie year. Key word is upside. Al Jefferson is his floor not his ceiling.

Sixers work with Okafor off the court. Brown describes his coachability as "willing in all capacities." Brown finds the visual learning approach to be effective, from showing how to defend the pick-and-roll to improving footwork and handwork.

"It's a late night text, it's a quick edit in pre-practice, it's a conversation in the hallway, it's on the court, it's all the time, it's just relentless," Brown said. "It has to be."

For every point he scores, each one he gives up is just as important. In his rookie season, Brown wants to lay the foundation for Okafor to become a multi-dimensional weapon.

"Maybe he can be considered for something great," Brown said. "It's not going to happen unless you have the total package. His teams won't win. He won't get to the level that he needs to get to and I think can get to."

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Btw. I really think they should play Jah at 4. I don't know why they haven't tried besides the fact that they want him to improve under the net on defense? We aren't trying to win anyway so let's see what it looks like with Noel at C and Jah at 4.

He's a non-stretch 5 who can't defend in the modern NBA. Staps, KAT, Turner, Deangelo, and Booker are obvious. Winslow, Mudiaye, Jokic are all debatable. I like WCS as well, he is probably more valuable defensively than Okafor will ever be offensively. Stanley Johnson, Cameron Payne, and Lyles have been good too.

Damn this a good draft class. I'm probably overstating how little value he has, but he's just so bad defensively and he has attitude issues, and he's not even close to the athlete Cousins is with a similar bunch of issues.

He's been fine on the team. Had some dumb off court stuff but he's not a bad teammate or anything. I don't think he will ever be a great defender but I think he can be good if he chooses to work at it. 76er coaches have been pretty good with improving young players. I'm going to withhold judgment till this time next year. It's so hard to gauge this team with them actively trying to tank.

Convo_sl said:

76er coaches have been pretty good with improving young players.

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It's still true. That's not to say half of them should even be on an NBA roster, most have improved and they play hard. I'm hoping Sauce comes around but it's not looking good.

Gilgamel_sl said:

He's a non-stretch 5 who can't defend in the modern NBA. Staps, KAT, Turner, Deangelo, and Booker are obvious. Winslow, Mudiaye, Jokic are all debatable. I like WCS as well, he is probably more valuable defensively than Okafor will ever be offensively. Stanley Johnson, Cameron Payne, and Lyles have been good too.

Damn this a good draft class. I'm probably overstating how little value he has, but he's just so bad defensively and he has attitude issues, and he's not even close to the athlete Cousins is with a similar bunch of issues.

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You're definitely overstating how little value he has. The Al Jefferson comparison is warranted but he is definitely more skilled than Jefferson was at that age, and Al Jefferson gets something of a bad rap because of the situations he's been in his whole career. He's usually been the best / second best player on bad teams. That doesn't mean he couldn't be a very productive starter / player on a good team (a team with at least a couple players better than he is). Look at Z-BO. The league had mostly given up on him until he found a good situation in Memphis on a team that fit his playstyle.

The fact that Ainge almost gave up that pick tells you how much value he has. I don't think he gives it up for anybody else from last year's draft other than Towns or Porzingis. Okafor is extremely, extremely skilled for a guy of that size at that age, and it would have been interesting to see him on a team with good coaching and chemistry. He would have immediately become the most valuable piece on that team. That trade really makes some sense to me from both sides actually, I wonder who really said no. The Celtics need to land some very good talent with those Nets picks coming up to have a better shot at attracting FA's with their cap space, and the sooner they get that talent the better. The potential of next year's Nets pick landing 1 or 2 is what makes it so valuable since Simmons and Ingram look like they could both be stars. If that pick lands #1 or #2 the Celtics are in business, but if not it's much more of a crapshoot as to what they get out of it. Okafor is a player with a lot of proven talent, not up to the level of player that Ingram or Simmons will likely be, but he'd give the Celtics some guaranteed value out of that pick. On the Sixers side, Okafor is their most valuable piece right now, but he probably won't be as valuable of a piece as Ingram or Simmons will be, and they still have Embiid sitting in the wings as a potential surprise. In giving up Okafor for the Nets pick they would have increased their already decent chances of getting either Ingram or Simmons, and would have even had an outside chance to get both. They probably decided in the end they'd rather hold on to a known quantity in Okafor rather than having the possibility of ending up with neither #1 or #2.

Sixers said no. My guess is Boston offered players with pick too. Before the info dropped, sixers management had already assured Oak he wasn't going to be traded. He dropped 31 last night.

Also. No idea how Embiid and Oak workout but that's another reason id like to see Oak at the 4. Noel should always just play center. He's a great rim protector already. We kind of got unlucky with these drafts. But I can't get mad bc I know they tried to move up. They never said it but it's been basically confirmed they offered 3 first rounders for Wiggins.

Okafor at the 4 is hard in today's nba. Z-Bo is basically Al Jefferson. I'm not saying he's useless, just that a back to the basket big who cannot rim protect or anchor a defense makes it a lot harder to be an above average NBA team.

@RocketsBros: The D-MO trade is sounding like it is going to be voided.

Sounds like Boston went really hard for Jah. There is a thought here that the Sixers may be inclined to make that move depending on where Boston's lottery pick is. I think they do it for sure if they get 2nd pick and we get one. Drafting Simmons and Ingram would be insane.. Plus if the lakers fall to 4th, we get that pick as well. And the later picks from OKC and Heat. As much as it sucks not winning, the lottery is pretty damn interesting to watch.

Also.. Boston tried to get Beal from the wizards and were shot down.

Gilgamel_sl said:

He's a non-stretch 5 who can't defend in the modern NBA. Staps, KAT, Turner, Deangelo, and Booker are obvious. Winslow, Mudiaye, Jokic are all debatable. I like WCS as well, he is probably more valuable defensively than Okafor will ever be offensively. Stanley Johnson, Cameron Payne, and Lyles have been good too.

Damn this a good draft class. I'm probably overstating how little value he has, but he's just so bad defensively and he has attitude issues, and he's not even close to the athlete Cousins is with a similar bunch of issues.

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btw.. not that I even agree with this list, but why Booker over Jah? His knock has been defensive as well..His coach called him out on it since it's been so bad. Don't think I'd pass on a gifted big man for him. I doubt any team would and I'm betting Jah holds more value right now.

Convo_sl said:

Sounds like Boston went really hard for Jah. There is a thought here that the Sixers may be inclined to make that move depending on where Boston's lottery pick is. I think they do it for sure if they get 2nd pick and we get one. Drafting Simmons and Ingram would be insane.. Plus if the lakers fall to 4th, we get that pick as well. And the later picks from OKC and Heat. As much as it sucks not winning, the lottery is pretty damn interesting to watch.

Also.. Boston tried to get Beal from the wizards and were shot down.

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Why? Beale gives you like 20 games a year.

Blitz_sl said:

It's been voided on health.

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You dont say... I mean I am not surprised that it was voided, but I do not get how Detroit pulled the trigger to begin with. It hasn't been a secret that D-Mo's back has been bad...

Slaythe_sl said:

All the skill in the world doesn't change the fact that he'll never be able to guard a pick and roll and that his offense comes exclusively from isolation post ups. He's a poor rebounder for his position (and was in college) and he doesn't draw contact with his post moves. You're combining literally the worst qualities for an NBA big man on defense with one of the most inefficient methods of scoring. He's 20. Can he develop a 17 footer and turn into ZBo or Al Jefferson? Maybe. But neither of those guys have ever done anything but anchor playoff teams while on max contracts. Okafor is 20...maybe you surround him with super athletes and it works out, but it seems to me like a very difficult team to build and pretty much the opposite of what every other successful team in the NBA is doing today.

The most telling thing to me though is we're talking about a Sixers team largely devoid of talent that plays significantly better on both sides of the court when Jahlil sits. He's one of the worst players in the entire league as far as net production goes. I think he has bust written all over him.

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Actually, Noel and Jah have been playing much better together. Brett Brown is a huge +/- guy and just brought this up. The first 1/3 of the season they were -25 per possession, they currently are -8 for the 2/3 of the season. They have improved together and individually. Right before the All Star break Oak had like 36 rebounds in 3 games, so it's not like the skill doesn't exist. He's averaging 17 and 7 on a team that just doesn't have a lot of NBA level players. He's improving.. I know you guys can't watch the sixers game but it is happening..

This is the most the last place team has ever been talked about in any sports thread on this forum.

I can't believe it's possible - and maybe even likely - the 76ers end up with less wins than TWO teams have losses.

Hell yea. I work with a lot of Sixer fans, and you know what we say to each other after a loss? Good loss!! We want Simmons! Who cares about winning now when you have a team like GS out there? I'd rather be in our shoes, lining up to get a shot at a guy who could really be a game changer.

Hasn't Philly been saying that for like the last 10 years? Have they just abandoned the whole basketball thing and are content with just trying to win the lottery every year?