Say what you will about the Jazz letting Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap walk for nothing, or about the team taking on the contracts of Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush as a means of both surpassing the NBA's salary floor and adding future draft picks to the mix.īut the cupboard is still far from bare in Salt Lake City. The Utah Jazz certainly belong in that category, albeit with a more concrete (and optimistic) outlook. You may or may not have noticed a bit of a trend developing here, what with the teams at the bottom of the power rankings all having spent their summers blowing up their rosters and going gung-ho after Andrew Wiggins. In 2007, C's GM Danny Ainge used the fifth pick (Jeff Green) to acquire Ray Allen from the then-Seattle SuperSonics, thereby laying the foundation for Kevin Garnett's arrival.Ĭ's fans can only hope, then, that the next round of pain will yield plenty more gain. But while "tanking" hasn't seemed to work well for the C's before, each of the team's previous attempts has yielded something good.īoston missed out on Tim Duncan in 1997 but was bad enough that year to snatch up Paul Pierce in 1998. Indeed, folks in Beantown would do well to hold their noses in anticipation of the stench. In the meantime, the label of "Best Player in Boston" will bounce between Jeff Green, Avery Bradley and Kris Humphries. Their best player (Rajon Rondo) is working his way back from a torn ACL and may well be dangled as trade bait before the campaign is through. Their new coach (Brad Stevens) is younger than one of the stars ( Kevin Garnett) they shipped to the Brooklyn Nets this summer, along with their franchise stalwart ( Paul Pierce). Speaking of teams dressing down for ping pong balls in the 2014 draft lottery, the Boston Celtics have set themselves up to stink in a big way this coming season. Landing another young star in the 2014 NBA draft to play alongside rookies Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams and (if they're not promptly shipped out) Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner would give the Sixers a strong nucleus to build around.įor now, though, it's all about the race to the bottom in the City of Brotherly Love. If anything, immediate failure appears to be an integral part of Philly's long-term plan. Piling up losses won't hurt Brown's standing with the Sixers, though. His reputation as a preacher of fundamentals and a developer of talent figures to be tested in Philly, with a roster that's been strip-mined this summer by new GM Sam Hinkie. Sure, it's great that the former San Antonio Spurs assistant and coach of the Australian national team has landed the top job with one of the NBA's more venerable franchises.īut Brown's first foray into the head coaching ranks will be a trial by fire. At long last, the Philadelphia 76ers have settled on their next head coach.
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