Post by Nate The Great on Apr 21, 2024 4:48:25 GMT -8
1. You received a lot of criticism for your Iverson trade but remained quiet about it for the most part. Care to address it?
I think the Rockets GM had the best thing to say about it. I'm paraphrasing but basically he said sometimes you get frustrated with a situation and just do something right away to just blow shit up... and that's what I did. Could I have gotten more for him yeah definitely but after a couple years with the core we had, I was honestly aggravated with the situation. Even though we had won a title, I felt like we should have been way better throughout the years with that core. You see Marbury on LA, Iverson on CLE now, and you're telling me we could never win 50 games in a season with other good pieces around them over those years. Add in the fact I had to stress over being close to the hard cap every season, and then having no other assets besides futures. I grew aggravated with the situation and just took a drastic measure to just completely start fresh. I was able to tank last season, and honestly just take a mental break from the league which I think was needed for me in order to refresh and look at things through a different lens.
2. Any regrets so far since the league has started?
Of course there are some trades I regret over the years, but they all led to an eventual title so I ain't really stressin it like that. But I will say if I knew going in from day 1 that the contract year would've been abolished to start, I probably wouldn't have went win now after season 2. I don't really like flirting with that CY line and being in a year 2 or year 3 but I would have been more than happy building around TMac and Dirk, and seeing what else I could do around that duo for years to come. That's why I'm gonna take a different approach this time around since now we have the 4 full seasons. I can be a little bit more patient and I think that's gonna be a difference maker for us moving forward.
3. You were able to sign Hedo and KMart to huge deals on day 1 of free agency. You were the clear cut winner of the day. What was the thought process going into this off season?
For what it's worth, we wouldn't have been able to do this if we still had AI and the other long term contracts on the payroll. We were able to go into this off season with close to $40 million in salary cap, and the idea was to target Hedo, KMart, and Hughes. I honestly thought all 3 were a possibility but ultimately Hughes went to Charlotte. Getting Hedo while owning the Kings pick this season is a huge win for us, and I think Hedo is a perfect fit for our team for the foreseeable future. Him and Iggy should form a formidable duo and I'll probably experiment with rotating them between SG and SF to see where each player performs better. KMart was just a no brainer best big available and I initially did intend to keep him around long term but being able to move him for Chris Bosh was a deal we couldn't pass up.
4. Speaking of Bosh, how did that deal come along? He didn't play at all his first season so what are you expecting out of him this year?
We inquired and came to an agreement rather quickly. KMart makes more sense for them right now, and I think adding a former #3 overall pick who is only 21 years old with a ton of room for development was an easy decision for us especially with where we are as a team right now. Iggy is 21, Mo is 22, Hedo is probably our oldest core guy at 25, and inserting Bosh into that just makes way more sense. And it probably makes us worse as a team for right now giving us the realistic possibility of maybe adding a top 5-10 pick this upcoming draft with our pick that we were able to reacquire via Utah. Maybe we get lucky with the SAC pick too, who knows. Another thing I liked was getting that $22 million dollar expiring in Kenny Anderson. We could actually use a veteran presence at PG this season, while now becoming a free agency player yet again next season. Overall I think the deal made a ton of obvious sense for us.
5. What are your expectations for the upcoming season team wise? Playoff bound or expecting another season in the bottom of the standings?
I think we will be better than we were last season but realistically somewhere between 30-35 wins in my opinion. Mo, Iggy, Hedo, and Bosh will definitely play significant minutes, but we're also hoping Zaza can take some strides and show us that he can maybe be a core piece to this team for the future. It's an exciting time for Sixers fans right now. There's a lot of potential on this team and we think highly of a lot of the young guys we got on this team right now.
6. What are your plans for the remainder of the off season without divulging too much information?
We still wanna hopefully bring in some more pieces in free agency but now with the intention to maybe be a seller and try and grab some more draft pick capital depending on who we're able to sign. We still see some really good players remaining and definitely intend on getting some stuff done. Resigning some of our own guys for future trades is a possibility as well but we'll look to do that in days 4 and 5.
7. Anything you would like to see different about the league? Complains, compliments, or concerns?
Nah this league is dope as hell and wish I would have been here from day 1. Activity level is legit and everyone seems invested. Spencer does his thing and it's a fun thing to check in on daily. I will say despite his criticisms from others, the DLeague thing that LB used to do in his leagues was dope. Any guy drafted non lotto, you sit him out year 1 and were able to do a free +2 in 2 categories along with a +3 potential. I think that would be a cool thing to do here especially with the lack of legitimate talent past the lottery in most of these drafts. Maybe come up with a different reward system but the idea in general wouldn't be a bad addition to the league.
I think the Rockets GM had the best thing to say about it. I'm paraphrasing but basically he said sometimes you get frustrated with a situation and just do something right away to just blow shit up... and that's what I did. Could I have gotten more for him yeah definitely but after a couple years with the core we had, I was honestly aggravated with the situation. Even though we had won a title, I felt like we should have been way better throughout the years with that core. You see Marbury on LA, Iverson on CLE now, and you're telling me we could never win 50 games in a season with other good pieces around them over those years. Add in the fact I had to stress over being close to the hard cap every season, and then having no other assets besides futures. I grew aggravated with the situation and just took a drastic measure to just completely start fresh. I was able to tank last season, and honestly just take a mental break from the league which I think was needed for me in order to refresh and look at things through a different lens.
2. Any regrets so far since the league has started?
Of course there are some trades I regret over the years, but they all led to an eventual title so I ain't really stressin it like that. But I will say if I knew going in from day 1 that the contract year would've been abolished to start, I probably wouldn't have went win now after season 2. I don't really like flirting with that CY line and being in a year 2 or year 3 but I would have been more than happy building around TMac and Dirk, and seeing what else I could do around that duo for years to come. That's why I'm gonna take a different approach this time around since now we have the 4 full seasons. I can be a little bit more patient and I think that's gonna be a difference maker for us moving forward.
3. You were able to sign Hedo and KMart to huge deals on day 1 of free agency. You were the clear cut winner of the day. What was the thought process going into this off season?
For what it's worth, we wouldn't have been able to do this if we still had AI and the other long term contracts on the payroll. We were able to go into this off season with close to $40 million in salary cap, and the idea was to target Hedo, KMart, and Hughes. I honestly thought all 3 were a possibility but ultimately Hughes went to Charlotte. Getting Hedo while owning the Kings pick this season is a huge win for us, and I think Hedo is a perfect fit for our team for the foreseeable future. Him and Iggy should form a formidable duo and I'll probably experiment with rotating them between SG and SF to see where each player performs better. KMart was just a no brainer best big available and I initially did intend to keep him around long term but being able to move him for Chris Bosh was a deal we couldn't pass up.
4. Speaking of Bosh, how did that deal come along? He didn't play at all his first season so what are you expecting out of him this year?
We inquired and came to an agreement rather quickly. KMart makes more sense for them right now, and I think adding a former #3 overall pick who is only 21 years old with a ton of room for development was an easy decision for us especially with where we are as a team right now. Iggy is 21, Mo is 22, Hedo is probably our oldest core guy at 25, and inserting Bosh into that just makes way more sense. And it probably makes us worse as a team for right now giving us the realistic possibility of maybe adding a top 5-10 pick this upcoming draft with our pick that we were able to reacquire via Utah. Maybe we get lucky with the SAC pick too, who knows. Another thing I liked was getting that $22 million dollar expiring in Kenny Anderson. We could actually use a veteran presence at PG this season, while now becoming a free agency player yet again next season. Overall I think the deal made a ton of obvious sense for us.
5. What are your expectations for the upcoming season team wise? Playoff bound or expecting another season in the bottom of the standings?
I think we will be better than we were last season but realistically somewhere between 30-35 wins in my opinion. Mo, Iggy, Hedo, and Bosh will definitely play significant minutes, but we're also hoping Zaza can take some strides and show us that he can maybe be a core piece to this team for the future. It's an exciting time for Sixers fans right now. There's a lot of potential on this team and we think highly of a lot of the young guys we got on this team right now.
6. What are your plans for the remainder of the off season without divulging too much information?
We still wanna hopefully bring in some more pieces in free agency but now with the intention to maybe be a seller and try and grab some more draft pick capital depending on who we're able to sign. We still see some really good players remaining and definitely intend on getting some stuff done. Resigning some of our own guys for future trades is a possibility as well but we'll look to do that in days 4 and 5.
7. Anything you would like to see different about the league? Complains, compliments, or concerns?
Nah this league is dope as hell and wish I would have been here from day 1. Activity level is legit and everyone seems invested. Spencer does his thing and it's a fun thing to check in on daily. I will say despite his criticisms from others, the DLeague thing that LB used to do in his leagues was dope. Any guy drafted non lotto, you sit him out year 1 and were able to do a free +2 in 2 categories along with a +3 potential. I think that would be a cool thing to do here especially with the lack of legitimate talent past the lottery in most of these drafts. Maybe come up with a different reward system but the idea in general wouldn't be a bad addition to the league.
