Philadelphia 76ers Case Study

Since 2007, no team that went on to win the NBA championship finished worse than seventh in defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) during the regular season.

Surprisingly, it was the Mavericks that met the injured players monetary demands and agreed to a four year, $70 million contract in July. This is a risky move for a player that just suffered such a serious injury, but the Maverick's feel that Matthew's upside and history of toughness makes the deal worth the risk.

The 76ers will already improve with a lottery pick(Jahlil Okafor) starting for them next year. Jahlil Okafor was the third pick in the 2015 NBA draft and many consider him to be a potential All-Star. Pairing him with Nerlens Noel, who had an impressive rookie season, would give the Sixers a formidable frontcourt. They have the potential to be the next dynamic front court duo, similar to Tim Duncan and David Robinson.

We’re deep into the dog days of summer, and the NBA offseason is officially cooling down. The NBA Draft has come and gone, big free agents have drawn their battle lines and people are almost done having a heart attack about Timofey Mozgov getting $16 million per season from the Los Angeles Lakers. With nothing but the always-exhilarating Summer League games ahead of us, here are the biggest winners and losers of the NBA offseason.

Seahawks is also currently facing an issue because Kam Chancellor, its safety player, has held out from participating in the team’s training camp. Chancellor is reportedly looking for a salary

According to CBSSports, the Los Angeles Lakers could throw in a package of guard Jordan Clarkson, guard Lou Williams and forward Luol Deng as trade offers to the New York Knicks for Carmelo Anthony. This is not bad for a return for the Knicks acquiring one young and two veteran players that are solid contributors.

I preferred the Sixers come out of the draft with a guard with the potential of D'Angelo Russell or even Mario Hezonja

Hopefully, someone will listen to at least one of these ideas. No one listened the last time I had ideas about the Clippers, and the end result was giving DeAndre Jordan a max contract. (Seriously, how do you sign a guy who is a liability in crunch time because of his free throw shooting to a max contract?)

However, Isaiah is suffering from and a non-fixed hip Injury. Therefore, if Boston wanted Kyrie that bad they had to come off more assets in the deal. Also, former Cavs Star Kyrie Irving requested a trade earlier in the year and was said that he basically did not want to play the shadow of former teammate LeBron James and that he wants to go somewhere else where he can be the number one man on the team. Everyone was shocked to hear about the news considering the fact that LeBron James led them to go to 3 straight finals since he has been back in Cleveland. Other stars in the NBA had words about the request saying that it was “crazy” and that anyone would be lucky to be guaranteed a shot in the finals every year. Why would Irving want to leave a situation where he could play with the league's best player LeBron James? On the other hand, stars Isaiah Tomas and Jae Crowder are more than happy to join King James and the Cavaliers at another chance at a ring. This next season will continue to get more exciting to closer it gets. The Pre-season starts in October and everyone can’t wait to get a sneak peek and see the new teams in action for the first

Hall of Fame basketball center Bill Russell was born in Monroe, Louisiana, in 1934. Russell led the University of San Francisco to consecutive NCAA titles before starting his pro career with the Boston Celtics in 1956. Over the course of his 13-year career, Russell steered the club to 11 titles. He retired in 1969 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame six years later. His early childhood was shaped by poor health, as the sickly Russell battled several different illnesses.

For more than a week there has been talk all over the league about Dez Bryant and the Cowboys possibly reaching a long awaited agreement that would make the Dallas Cowboys organization happy but most importantly make Dez feel like he is wanted and appreciated. July 15th is the last day to reach an agreement on a long term contract. Once this day passes they wont be able to start up talks again until January 3 2016 when the 2015 regular season ends. Most are saying that both sides will most likely remain at a stand still until the deadline approaches. Well folks, here we are. The deadline is days away and there have been no credible sources have

We do know that Bennett is done after an even more miserable sophomore year in Minnesota. The Wolves will shave off some of Bennett’s $5.8 million salary for this season, and they clearly couldn’t give Bennett away. They peddled him everywhere, including to teams with cap space to absorb him in exchange for a token top-55-protected second-round pick Minnesota would never see, per several league sources. No one bit. The Wolves probably could have dumped him on Portland or Philadelphia by attaching a second-round pick, and most second-round picks aren’t worth $5.8 million. But Minnesota’s upcoming second-rounders will be high, and if Glen Taylor is willing to eat most of that $5.8 million to preserve the 37th pick, that’s good for the franchise. Knowing Philly, it’d have demanded more than one second-rounder to get him, anyway. Such a deal would have netted a nice trade exception, but a lot of those expire unused.

The Bullets had first crack at offers, ranging in the high 8 figures and actuals would change as the bidding continued, but the Bullets were not the only ones looking to Howard. The Miami Heat was also interested and would come into the play with their own offers to be considered by Howard. During these proceedings, Alonzo Mourning and many others were working their own deals with the Heat as well as the Bullets. During this time Pat Riley indicated to Mourning that he would eventually be the highest player in Miami. This statement would result in a complete unraveling of the most promised line up of players for this NBA team and a potential of huge success.

One way that the NBA Draft can affect a team is the following season. Teams who have the number one pick usually don’t do well the following year, it usually takes two or three years to turn the team around. In the last three seasons, the team with the number one pick hasn’t made the playoffs in the following season. In 2012, the New Orleans Hornets select Anthony Davis. The next season, the Hornets did not make the

Even though the New Orleans Pelicans signed Anthony Davis to 5 year / 145 million dollar extension this past off-season. The Pelicans should strongly consider trading Davis within the next 2-3 seasons because Davis has missed at least 15 games in each of his first three seasons due to a number of injuries, which include sprained right shoulder, sprained MCL and a fractured left hand. If Anthony Davis continues to sustain injuries that force him to exit or miss games he will not be able to lead the Pelicans to any real team success. Real team success for the Pelicans would be winning 50-55 regular season games and making it pass the first round. For the Pelicans to achieve this goal they would need Davis 75 to 80 games without missing big portions of games to attend to an injury. Since the Pelicans do not have another impact player on their roster that can help them tread water until Davis.