Sixers' Dispiriting Rebuilding Effort a Plan the NBA Should Hope Never Succeeds

Let's just imagine what would happen if by some dumb luck or alien invasion the Philadelphia 76ers actually succeed.

In this scenario, the 76ers' horrible commitment to losing to get future high draft picks (and treating the people they do have as disposable assets instead of human beings) works out somehow, and an even worse stage arrives.
Other NBA teams copy them.
Gone would be a functional NBA. Instead, we'd have scads of clubs intentionally being noncompetitive, refusing to pay for established professionals and making a farce of the league.
And people would copy them, rest assured, because that's what happens if anyone succeeds with something—whether it's the Spurs resting their players to the dismay of the league office or taking the shine off the second round with the draft-and-stash usage of international leagues.
As it stands now, though, the Sixers are just hurting themselves and only their small slice of integrity of the league. Could be a lot worse, I guess.
Then again, if the 76ers somehow succeeded and we saw full-out tanking commitments being made by numerous franchises, maybe the NBA Board of Governors would be moved to eliminate the current draft system. Now that would be a worthwhile silver lining!
 

NBA Expert Picks and Best Bets: Kobe Bryant makes last Philly stop

BEST BETS
Herbert: Sixers (+1.5) over Lakers: Philadelphia is going to get a win eventually, and this is its best chance. While Los Angeles has more proven players, the Sixers are actually significantly better defensively. Philly keeps losing to teams in the final minutes, but I don't trust LA to remain composed if it's close.
Moore: Suns (-3.5) over Nets: The Nets have been playing better but it's hard to expect them to actually get on any kind of substantive roll. The Suns are off a rest day after a big win vs. the Raptors. I don't love this one, but it's a better bet than the rest.
Kostos: Lakers (-1.5) over Sixers: You really think Kobe is going to allow his team (however putrid they might be) to lose to the Sixers? Not a chance. Kobe will burn the arena to the ground before the Lakers lose this game.

 

Fake NBA Team Beats Fake NBA Team For Sad First Win

The Los Angeles Lakers’ 2-14 unstoppable suck came up against the Philadelphia 76ers’ 0-18 unmovable wall of shit in Philadelphia Tuesday night. Something had to give, and on this night it was the Lakers, who despite the better record are probably the worse team, and lost 103-91.

The Lakers’ peak came just 76 seconds into the game. That’s when Lower Merion, Pa. native Kobe Bryant—who was feted on the jumbotron before the game—hit his third three in four tries, sending the somewhat pro-Kobe crowd into delirium. Would this be his night, in the city of his birth, that the Black Mamba finally found his form?
No, it would not be, because this is his form now. Kobe finished 4-17 on three-pointers, meaning after the initial flurry he shot 1-13. He became just the third player ever to take so many three-pointers and make so few of them. He was a one-man tank job.

And it’s not just the numbers. It was also the open three he completely airballed that let us know the hot start was over. It was the ball he dribbled off his foot into T.J. McConnell’s arms on the Lakers’ last chance to steal the game. It was whatever the fuck this is:

 
As for the 76ers, what is there to write about a team that has as many as five players who aren’t NBA quality, at least according to one NBA executive? Robert Covington—who is shooting 36% and turns the ball over on a full quarter of his possessions—went off for 23 points (guess who he was being guarded by). McConnell made a couple of nice plays at the end of the third quarter to extend the lead. Nerlens Noel worked his ass off.
The funniest part of the victory, of course, is that in notching their first win since last March, the 76ers actually lost. This is a phenomenon we examined when these two teams played last season. The 76ers own the Lakers’ 2016 first round draft pick, but it is top three protected. Since the 76ers are one of the few teams that could conceivably be worse than the Lakers, ideally they’d finish with a crappier record and increase their odds of getting the pick. After all, the 76ers have put a flagrantly underwhelming product on the court for the past three seasons specifically to accumulate a collection of high draft picks.


It was a strange experience, as the 76ers broadcast got hyped when it became clear that they were going to win. Which totally makes sense—it is their job to promote the team, and to the 76ers fan watching it must have been nice to finally get a win—but it was also weird to see them treat the team like they’d just won a playoff series, rather than notching a routine victory, something everybody else in the league first did weeks ago.
The spectacle of sad basketball had a fitting ending, with a gaggle of anonymous 76ers players lining up to hug Kobe Bryant, who they are all much better than now.

Ryan Suter scores in third as Wild beat Blackhawks

CHICAGO (AP) — Defenseman Ryan Suter drove to the net and poked in a rebound with 7:56 left in the third period, lifting the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night.
After Chicago's Corey Crawford made an acrobatic right pad save on Mikael Granlund on a breakaway, Granlund missed on a rebound attempt. Suter then cruised to the net and buried a loose puck that was dangling near the goal line.
Chicago forward Patrick Kane scored a power-play goal at 5:21 of the second period to extend his point streak to 20 games. Kane has 12 goals and 20 assists during the longest such run for a U.S.-born player.
The dynamic winger can match Hall of Famer Bobby Hull's franchise record from the 1971-72 season with a goal or an assist Thursday night at Ottawa.
Jason Pominville also scored for Minnesota, which ended a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in its last seven games.
Minnesota's Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves in his 14th start in 15 games. Crawford finished with 34 stops.
 


Dubnyk returned to the net after Darcy Kuemper made 40 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to Dallas on Saturday when the Stars rallied from a 3-0 deficit.
Kane broke the record for a U.S. player when he got to 19 games with a goal in Chicago's 3-2 overtime loss at Los Angeles on Saturday. He has at least one point in 23 of the Blackhawks' 25 games this season.
The Wild dominated the first period, outshooting Chicago 14-8 and taking a 1-0 lead on Pominville's wraparound goal 4:09 in.
After Crawford stopped Jared Spurgeon's shot from the slot, Granlund fired the rebound to the left of a wide-open net. But Pominville picked up the puck behind the goal line and curled it in around the post before Crawford could react.
Dubnyk robbed Chicago captain Jonathan Toews twice on prime chances in the first. He made a point-blank pad save on rookie Marko Dano's rebound attempt just 15 seconds into the second.
But Kane's 15th goal of the season tied it at 1-1 five minutes late

Sefko: Wesley Matthews has nothing but love for the organization that took a chance on him, however...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Wesley Matthews holds no animosity toward the team he spent five years with before signing with the Mavericks.
OK, maybe there's one point of contention he's had a tough time getting over.
He didn't like feeling as if the Portland Trail Blazers looked at him as an add-on to the nucleus of LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard.
Matthews said before his first game back in Portland that he thought the Blazers didn't show him the proper amount of respect when it came to negotiating a new contract. That's part of the reason he ended up in Dallas.
"Nothing but love," Matthews said when asked his feelings about the Blazers and Portland. "They embraced me. They took a chance on me when people thought they were kind of crazy to do so. They stuck with me. They grew with me. I grew with them. I got nothing but love for the franchise and the fans and the city."

 
However.
"I'm still upset that after everything that I've done individually didn't warrant me having a separate conversation not tied to LaMarcus Aldridge," Matthews said. "L.A. is my boy and everything, but I still feel like I did enough myself as a player to warrant a conversation."
Or at least an honest assessment of what direction the Blazers were headed.
Matthews instead kind of had to draw his own conclusion that the team was not all that concerned about re-signing him, at least not in the price range the Mavericks were willing to go to.
All of that, of course, is history.
For now, Matthews is more concerned about getting his game and his team back on track. The Mavericks had lost four out of five going into Tuesday's visit with the Blazers.
He's also shooting the ball far below his standards. He has no doubt that his 3-point percentage will climb back to the range it's been at his whole career (39-percent). But being stuck below 32-percent after nearly a quarter of the season doesn't sit well with him.
And there are those around the league that note that it still looks like Matthews, who had a ruptured Achilles in March, still seems to be lugging the right leg around a little bit.
To those who know him best, that's not necessarily a sign that the leg isn't 100 percent.
"I always thought he ran a little funny anyway," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "He looks like the same Wes to me. Since he had that, I think people think he drags his leg. But I think he had a funny gait when he ran anyway. If you didn't know, you'd probably think that."
Matthews only knows that his play has "definitely not been up to the standard I know I'm capable of. I have to remind myself that I'm human. I missed a lot of basketball."
That said, he was ecstatic to be back in Portland to give fans a chance to shower him with love and respect.
He also wanted to do something to erase the last memory fans had of him.
"The last thing they remember of me is being on the ground," he said. "I'm excited to be up and playing, even if I'm in a different jersey, and let them see me."
Sure enough, when he was announced in pregame introductions, he received the sort of reception that is reserved for local heroes.
He got a standing ovation that lasted several seconds. The Blazers did a classy job of giving the crowd plenty of time to show their feelings for Matthews.
Then, as he said a few minutes earlier, "we got a job to do. We need a win."

Wesley Matthews returns to Portland with Mavericks

 

PORTLAND, Ore.

Wesley Matthews returned to Portland on Tuesday night for the first time since leaving the team as a free agent last summer.
Matthews was the center of attention for the Dallas Mavericks' first game against the Trail Blazers this season. The 28-year-old shooting guard was a fan favorite during his five years in Rip City, known for his hard-nosed determination.
Asked before the game if there was anything he missed about Portland, Matthews said the familiarity.
"The community was always awesome to me, the fans were awesome to me, the organization. And just how weird you guys are," Matthews said, drawing laughs from the crowd of reporters surrounding him.
Last season the Blazers appeared to be a team that could make a run in the playoffs, with a talented starting five that included Matthews, Damian Lillard, Robin Lopez, Nicolas Batum and LaMarcus Aldridge.
But late in the season — during a game against the Mavericks — Matthews crumpled to the court with a torn Achilles tendon. The Blazers not only missed his defense and perimeter shooting, they also missed his spirit and ability to bring the team together.
Portland was ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the Memphis Grizzlies, and every one of the starters, except for Lillard, went elsewhere in the offseason.
Matthews signed a four-year, $70 million deal with the Mavericks. He received a maximum contract after DeAndre Jordan suddenly changed his mind and returned to the Los Angeles Clippers, the team that drafted him, after agreeing to terms with Dallas.
The Mavericks also signed Zaza Pachulia and Deron Williams in the offseason. Both are starting along with Matthews, who has worked his way back quickly from the Achilles injury.
"People that know him know that he's a beat-the-odds kind of guy," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said.
But Matthews isn't where he'd like to be yet. He's averaging 11.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists, down from the 16.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists he averaged last season with the Blazers.
"I almost forget what I went through. I almost forget that it's a process. I almost forget that it's a blessing that I'm playing basketball, that I was playing as early as I was," he said. "Sometimes I take that for granted and I press and I press. And that may be part of the reason why I'm shooting the way I'm shooting."
Matthews didn't expect to have any emotion when passing the spot on the court where he fell last spring.
"I think one of the best things about me in this whole process coming back, I never second-guessed. I never thought, what if? I never thought, oh my God, this could have happened," he said. "I just kept going."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/article47472550.html#storylink=cpy

Kirby Smart to Georgia: Latest Contract Details, Comments and Reaction

 

The Georgia Bulldogs reportedly have found their next head football coach.

Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday that Georgia will hire Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart to lead its football team. Towers added “an announcement could come as soon as Sunday or Monday.”
Smart was a defensive back for the Bulldogs from 1995-98 and was an All-SEC performer as a senior. He also served as the running backs coach at Georgia in 2005 and was the 2012 AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year and the 2009 Broyles Award winner as college football’s top assistant coach.
Smart helped the Crimson Tide win three national titles and has led the defense since 2008. Alabama is set to play Florida in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game, and Georgia is not expected to formally make an announcement until after that contest.  
ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach said Smart “has not signed [a] memo of understanding,” but he will become the Bulldogs' new head coach “barring a last-minute development.”
Towers pointed out Smart has three years remaining on his four-year deal with Alabama, but it includes a buyout "thought to be in the range of $500,000."
Smart will replace Mark Richt, whom the Bulldogs parted ways with after 15 seasons, 145 wins and two SEC titles. While Richt has an impressive resume, his two conference championships came in the first half of his tenure, and he failed to take advantage of a weaker SEC East division in recent seasons.
Smart is familiar with the SEC and has reached the mountaintop as an assistant at Alabama, but Paul Myerberg of USA Today implied he would have liked to see Georgia go a different direction after Richt's