Yes. There are a couple of self-evident truths in the NBA. One is that you absolutely need a top-10 player in the league to really compete for a championship. The other is that those guys are overwhelmingly found in the top 5 of the draft. The third is that, historically speaking, seasons belonging to top-10 players…

That’s a pretty big leap from “we should bring in smart basketball people” to “we’re going to sign some decent pros,” but all right. For what it’s worth, they also has Ish Smith on the team for the latter third of last year’s season.

White men stump for Trump over Sanders or Clinton, but YOUNG white men — the primary viewership demographic for South Park — support either of Hillary or Bernie over Trump. Young people in general overwhelmingly report “unfavorable” opinions on Trump. “Slightly smarter-than-average suburban teens” are not the source…

Also, regarding the Bynum/Embiid comparison, that’s fair. The flip side, I suppose, is that Andrew Bynums don’t often become available, aren’t often cheap, and don’t offer the same kind of long-term team control that a high first round pick does. So if trading for Bynum and drafting Embiid are equally savvy moves, and…

Fair enough. I suppose I subscribe to the school of thought that a team’s ONLY goal should be to win a championship. Playoff appearances, division titles, and general competency are great, but ultimately unsatisfying if they’re not just stepping stones on the way to a title. And no league makes it more difficult to…

It’s the opposite of irresponsible. Great NBA teams HAVE to build through high draft picks — top 3 picks, really — if they can’t sign those franchise guys in free agency, which the Sixers can’t. The risk is that if you only kind of hit on a guy, you’re good enough to draft at the bottom of the lottery, where that…

Is the post corrected? I believe the sentence should read, “...the Sixers will potentially be forced to spend more than anticipated on the player they received in return for trading the 10th overall pick they used on Payton (who, not for nothing, was a fun li’l guard for the Magic this past season that shot 42.5% on…

I just...isn’t the night that a team earns the third overall pick in a loaded draft the wrong night to choose to rip a plan that is predicated on building around high picks? Are teams like the Kings somehow more admirable because they apparently (?) were trying to win, and nonetheless bungled their way into the sixth…

So is the point that he shouldn’t be popular? Or just that he is a bad writer? Why write a 1,500-word post attacking the straw man that thinks Simmons is a “good” writer in the purely classical sense? Is anybody actually making that argument?

I mean, it all depends, right? If your definition of a great writer is someone who writes in grammatically correct English, or someone who writes on an intellectual enough plane to satisfy a certain readership, then yeah, I guess you could call Simmons a shitty writer. But if your definition of a great writer is…

As someone who has smoked quite a few things in his day, I can tell you that soaking the wood isn't really a necessary step and doesn't add anything. Wood isn't really very good at retaining water; that's why they make boats out of it. And the wood won't catch fire enough, sitting on the coals, to require pre-soaking.

A…

Either way, those are both extremely strong arguments for expanding the use of body cameras.

That's definitely true, but if you already have that guy, you have two distinct advantages: he already has roots in your city, and you can also offer him a longer, more lucrative extension than any other team can. Plus, because at that point he's only a restricted free agent, you can match an offer any other team…

It depends on what your definition of competitive is. If competitive is "playoff team," then no, you're right, this wasn't worth it. I'm confident the Sixers could've used their cap space to cobble together a playoff team in the absolutely awful Eastern conference (or at least come close enough to make the season…

And, for the record, here's a list of unrestricted free agents signed during the 2014 offseason with an AAV that's at least equal to McGee's $12 million next season:

It's the Thunder's pick, Albert, not the Nuggets' pick, technically. So yes, they should receive it this year if the Thunder manage to make the playoffs (half a game out of the 8-seed right now), or presumably next year at latest.

Hinkie rides again! The Sixers dealt the rights to a 27 year-old Turkish kid they drafted in 2005 to the Nuggets for Javale McGee and a top-18 protected 2015 first rounder (the Thunder's). This is why it makes sense to stay so far below the cap: would the Sixers be better off having spent $10 million on a veteran…

Boy, is this dad going to be unhappy when the doorbell rings and he finds that the Phillies have sent him Ryan Howard.

This is wrong on multiple levels. First of all, they only beat the Bulls because Chicago's best two players, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, missed almost the entirety of that series. But more importantly, look at that roster! There wasn't a single beta dog on that roster, let alone an alpha dog. Of the last 28 NBA…

Just know that in Philadelphia, the fans are overwhelmingly pretty thrilled with their strategy, and excited about Hinkie's plan. Even the local sports talk radio mooks are content to let it play out. It's not treated as a "slap in the face," it's treated as the first time this team has had a real plan since before…