The Minnesota Timberwolves Chris Finch might deserve it thus far for dramatically exceeding expectations and seemingly making a very tough fit in Gobert work with their personnel, which a lot of people weren’t expecting to see this year.

I don’t know that Nick Nurse would win the COY award in the traditional sense of exceeding expectations more than any other coach, but I’d like to see him win it as a giant fuck-you to the basketball terrorist known as Doc Rivers.

That said, it’s a long season, and a lot of things could be different in a couple of months.

Raymond felton. Because he’d eat his opponent.

This is a really tough question. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t expect much from a young player like Springer so quickly, but Joel vouching for him so heavily speaks a lot.

Personally, I’d be more inclined to first see if moving Melton for Caruso in some 2 or 3 team trade would be possible. Melton is a better scorer than Caruso, but Caruso is a better defender and ballhandler, which are skills that the Sixers need more.

The problem with Melton is that while he’s a solid player who is worth keeping, he’s a free agent at the worst time for the Sixers (in a year where they might have genuine cap room to play with). Unless the Sixers made a mid-season move that eliminated their offseason cap flexibility, it’s going to be really hard to justify keeping Melton if it limits their offseason flexibility so drastically because Melton is going to command 20 million+ in an era of inflated salaries. In comparison, Caruso is locked up for another year at a steal of a contract.

So if this could be arranged, you could have at worst a primary SG rotation of Caruso, Springer, Beverly (with others contributing spot minutes) and still retain all of the Sixers draft assets for a big-time deal, while still retaining enough cap flexibility to potentially go after a big piece in the offseason.

I’m a little out of the loop on Bronny James. What’s his current health situation and what are people projecting for his future? Is he still expected to enter the next draft after his recent health scare? Drafting him might be the best path to getting LeBron.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of LeBron James at all; of all of the people with legitimate GOAT claims, he’s the biggest fakest douchebag of them all. But I acknowledge that even a 40 year old LeBron would be phenomenal on this team. He wouldn’t need to carry any sort of scoring load and could have his minutes managed to preserve him. His strength as a passer would be highlighted well on this team. And a rested LeBron could still be a great defender in the guts of the playoffs.

I miss the short shorts of the 80s.

There’s too many variables to predict what’s going to happen, including not knowing what teams will flame out and are willing to sell at the trade deadline, and how willing the Sixers ownership is to spend money to win.

But one path that might be interesting is using the Sixers stockpile to trade for 2 underpaid players who are both very productive and potentially great fits: Markkanen and Caruso. Them being underpaid is the key. With the right series of deals, I think the Sixers might have the ability to go into free agency this summer with a core of Embiid/Markkanen/Caruso locked up, still have enough salary cap space to be players for other good talent, and also extend Maxey of course.

This comment is pretty racist.

Not my easiest fap.

Furkan Aldemir.

A team can never have enough Furkans.

It’s not really their fault, as both are still capable of being productive players, but either Westbrook or Harden probably need to be benched at some point for the good of the Clippers. They both need the ball in their hands to be effective, and this won’t work well with them together. Westbrook isn’t a good enough shooter to play off ball. While Harden is a good enough shooter, he isn’t able/willing to move off ball and be the catch and shoot guy that would make that lineup really work. Because of the stars having egos and pride, Ty Lue has to try and make the lineup work, but I think they’ll abandon the effort at some point.

If I was a Clippers fan, I’d try and be patient and focus on gaining data about the roster and giving the coaches time to figure out how to use them. The Clippers look subpar now, but that team could be really cooking by the playoffs, assuming they’re healthy and don’t dig themselves too deep of a hole. If the Clippers want to win, the smartest thing for the Clippers right now might be to commit to giving Harden whatever he wants financially now to get him to agree to sacrifice on the court for the good of the team. (Balmer is rich as fuck, so while it would be a stupid business move, it’s something that they can easily do.)

As a Sixers fan, I’m happy with how the trade worked out, how the team looks right now, and the flexibility this gives Morey to evaluate the roster and find the right fit at the deadline for a really good playoff run.

What do you call this pose?

Are you trying to channel Harrison Bergeron? Nothing is ever going to forcibly make the NBA competitive landscape completely equal.

Every NBA city has different competitive attributes for free agents. Some cities are cold (Chicago, Milwaukee, Boston, Toronto). Some cities are warm and have beaches (Miami). Some have lots of fun for young adults (wherever the best strippers are, IDK ask Harden). Others are better for raising families (Orlando? Utah? OKC?). Some have better tax incentives (teams in states without income tax). Others have better career incentives (you’d probably want to live in LA if you want to be an actor, or maybe GS or NY if you want to be in tech or finance). Others have a richer NBA history (Boston, Lakers). Some cities are good at throwing batteries (Philly).

Why not let players choose what matters to them rather than somehow trying (and failing) to force some arbitrary matter of equality?