Saturday, January 22, 2011

Frustration

I’ve been away with work and family, so I didn’t have anything in depth about Thursday night’s loss in Charlotte, except how do the Sixers get beat up by three, count ’em, three marginal players?! Augustin, Mohammed, and Henderson all gave the Sixers fits on Thursday night. How is this team supposed to stop Garnett, Rondo, and Allen if they have to play Boston? Or Rose, Boozer, and Deng against Chicago? I haven’t even brought up Miami, what the hell would happen against Miami? I’m trying my damnedest to get behind this playoff push, but I keep getting hung up on one thing… that it’s a really stupid idea.

The reason it is stupid is because there is nothing to be gained, by playing veterans more to gain these empty victories you stunt the growth of your young talent. There is even a negative financial impact of the Sixers making the playoffs. The Sixers can not win a playoff series, so what is gained by making the playoffs? Two extra home games that will boost your season’s revenue by about 10%. (The extra two games would equal 4.87% of your regular season schedule, with higher ticket prices and the games probably being sellouts you could probably get twice what you normally make for two games during the regular season.) . By shedding some of your assets and trading veteran players who would be under contract for next season ( for example, Iguodala, Lou, Nocioni, or Brand) for a combination of youth, draft picks, and expiring contracts, you would both lower your overhead for next season, thus recouping any money lost by missing those two home playoff dates, and you would acquire pieces that will increase your chances of future success. Putting a quality team on the floor is what will fill the arena every night, not just when LA, Boston and Miami come to town.

I could go on all day about playing the youngsters, and about landing a top talent in the draft. (My current uneducated opinion is that I want Perry Jons or Enes Kanter) But I won’t, at least not today. Tomorrow we play Utah and I’ll be down at the WFC and back to kool-aid drinking and bandwagon driving. I’ll see everybody tomorrow.

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