Some good comments in this thread. A lot people brought their A game stuff. I like that.
I'm a little torn here. Part of me understands this type of move. Sell MCW at his highest value, especially if you think he's not part of the long-range plan. But like Selmore said, eventually you have to still building your team. What if Embiid becomes the stud? And they draft a really good player in the top 4-5 this year, and he's close to a stud. Then, why can't MCW be your third option? Not bad for a third option, right? I'm not sold on MCW. Maybe, he's just a solid player in this league, or maybe he develops and improves, thus becoming better than just a solid player.
I liked McDaniels, too. Not sure if their was a dynamic in play here that forced a trade. Maybe, some bad blood from the contract negotiations. Hey, maybe they try to get him back in the offseason.
Reading a lot of comments from many different people. Man, it's from one end of the spectrum (loving it) to the other end (hating it). Understand why people are upset. They feel that the process is starting all over again. I'm not sure that's true. Heard a few insiders suggest that 2016 is the year they make the real moves. Whatever that may be? I guess within FA.
Still, I always come back to this. There eventually has to be an end game in play here. I just don't believe that owners of a professional franchise are going to allow a GM field a team in the lottery every year until they land some mega-star. That's just so low percentage and goes against a lot of the norms in sports. Ultimately, the ascend upward has to begin. They have to know that too many moves like today's with MCW will alienate fans even more than they already are.
I'm little disappointed because I enjoyed watching this team lately. They were mostly competitive and played hard on a nightly basis. Now two of those guys are gone, so who knows what the rest of the year holds. Again, I got the sense that people were beginning to get excited about things. Now, people unable to see a possible bigger picture will just start the bitch-fest, while it gives the doubters from the start even more amo. Oh well, nothing I can do about it except hope that it works out. Again, I have to believe that there is a timetable here. No GM gets more than 5 years without seeing significant improvement. We're coming to the end of year two here, so the wheels will have to get turning sooner or later.
As for the possible picks this is what I think happens with those. The Sixers own pick should without a doubt fall in the top 4 before the ping-pong balls get thrown in the canister. I'm pretty sure they'll acquire the MIA pick and it will either be the 15/16 pick. I can't see them finishing any better than the 7th/8th spot in east. Getting the Lakers pick this year is going to take a lot of luck. I see no way the Lakers catch ORL for 5th worse record (2.5 back). So, for the Sixers to get that pick, then that means two teams from 5th-14th have to have their balls come out in the lottery. Remember they only pull three balls. And something like that could hurt the Sixers pick. So, they'll probably get it next year. I don't think the LAL will be a playoff team in west, but they might sign a guy or two, Kobe could be healthy, Randle back, and a top 4-5 pick from this year. I see that landing in the 10-13 range. I do think there is a 50/50 chance they can get the OKC pick this year because I'm sensing an OKC run over final 29 games. But even they go a very good (22-7), then you would need CLV to go (17-10) or WAS (17-11) for all of them to end with 50 wins and have it come down to tiebreakers.