The fact that they are beating the piss out of teams that are contenders in this league?
And how does this help them become a championship contender? How is that proof that it "beating the piss" out of those teams will catapult them into that stratosphere?
How? Well in order to become a contender you have to prove you can compete. Right now they are proving they can compete. Where is the proof? How about the fact that they continue to beat good teams?
How would getting anyone in the draft make them a championship contender all the sudden? If you want to spin it back into your court. I dont see any player who would fall under their range that would do them more good then finally getting some confidence, swagger, and a winning mentality. That is a stone cold fact that it benefits them. Your 'maybe they could have got a decent player' is more of a stretch.
Because, bottom line, that's all that matters. I'm not in this for the Sixers to get back to respectability. I want them to build towards a championship. While this winning streak is fun, and entertaining, and exciting, I don't think that does that.
They are building towards a championship. It's more then just getting players and I know I don't need to explain that to you. If you think what they are doing right now is not making steps in that direction, you are wrong. Getting young guys to gel together and learn the feeling of winning is VERY important. You think confidence is overrated and I think you are VERY VERY wrong on that.
Quick, outside of the Pistons, find me an NBA champion in the last 25 years that didn't draft an all-league caliber player in the top 5. I'll give you a hint. There is one. They drafted an all-league caliber player, but it was outside of the top 5. That is the only team.
The Lakers didn't draft Shaq or Kobe in the top 5. Houston looks to be doing very well and they don't have a top 5 drafted player going into the draft either.
BTW...the Sixers never would have got the top 5 pick had they tanked the season when Rick and yourself brought it up.
Wasn't Charles Barkley at top 5 pick? What did he do for the 76ers in terms of championships?
Now let's look at championship contenders over the last 10 years:
2 years ago when PHX was a contender they had no Amare Stoudamire and they could have won it that year.
The Pacers could have won the championship on the back of a #11 pick in Reggie Miller.
The draft isn't a guarantee that you'll become a championship contender, but it is virtually guaranteed that without a top 5 pick, you don't have a shot.
The Lakers 3 rings at the begging of this decade disagree with you. Shaq WAS a top 5 pick however the Lakers did not pick him.
The Bulls gelled like crazy last year. How is it helping them this year? How about the Bucks? They had a 10 game improvement in 2005-2006, went 40-42, and lost in the first round. Was that gelling a turning point that catapulted them into contender status?
Come on...are you going to ignore them switching the roster up, injuries, losing a coach, trade rumors for key players as if those had NOTHING to do with anything?
Great. We'll win 42 games this year (versus 35 last year), and get bounced in the first round. I'm jumping for joy. Bring on the parade!
You should jump for joy because you have players who are coming into their own and learning what it takes to battle against solid teams. If they tanked this season and never learned they had it in them to compete it doesn't matter if they picked up a Kevin Love or a Lopez brother would it?
