Hawk fans, this is the way to "tank" !

[Gray Mule]

We've had some Hawk fans who have mentioned, in fact would encourage it.

There is an NBA team that was, before the season, expected to end up in last

place and have trouble having many more victories than our season when our

total wins was 13.

Talk about having "tank" as part of their team name, surely they did. Well, after

having the Chicago Bulls over to their gym for a game, the 76ers are now 3-0 for

the season. They are winning against teams that were supposed to be superior.

I'm happy that our Hawks are playing some very good basketball. Some of these

teams are going to exceed expectations including Atlanta.

GO HAWKS !!

[ATLHawks3]

They're tanking the wrong way. Lol.

[Wretch]

What the Sixers are doing is playing leapfrog...not tanking. They've already gone through the down cycle and they've stockpiled young talent. Unlike us, they're a young team and they might just be on the rise. We will see them in a couple of weeks and we'll get a good indicator of where they are. If they keep this up (and if we can't do better than what we did last year), they will effectively leapfrog us in the pecking order of the East.

Regardless, it is only a matter of time before at least one of these "lottery failure" teams, that people are so afraid of us emulating, lands a franchise changing talent and becomes the next team on the rise.

I love turnaround stories, so I will be watching them closely. :)

[Jody23]

It's only been three games for the Sixers. Just three games.

[Guest]

I hear ya GM. I think it's awesome that the Suxers came out at 3-0 including win against the Heat and Bulls. Having said that, I still think they will finish with a very bad record, somewhere around 18-24 wins. But nobody in the world predicted a 3-0 start for them, not their fans, not Dr. J, not Moses, Mo Cheeks, or Bobby Jones. We shall see what happens in the next few weeks. Great start though.

[Gray Mule]

It's only been three games for the Sixers. Just three games.

That's true. Only three. But, think of this. If they are to win only thirteen

games this season, as we did a few years ago, they already have three.

Now, they have seventy nine games to win the other ten.

Pretty cool way to start, wouldn't you say?

Hawks, on the other hand, must live on the road a lot to open the season.

We've already had, and won, our home game for a while. Going to visit

the LA Lakers tonight

GO HAWKS !!

[cam1218]

Philly is a surprise at 3-0 but it's to early to really tell if it means anything.

I remember in 2006 when we started 4-1 a lot of people I knew were jumping on the Hawks bandwaggon in the first week of the season, thinking we turned a corner and were finally good or something. We wound up finishing with the 4th worst record in the league.

Edited November 3, 2013 by cam1218

[Guest Zone]

I think Philly legitimately has a good coach now in Brett Brown. It's like night and day the vibe that team gives off compared to the Sixers of last year. They'll ultimately start to lose for drafting purposes but Brown might be the real deal.And god forbid if Michael Carter Williams ends up being as good as he's been playing. A core of Williams, Nerlens, and the two players they'll get from next years draft could be scary in the future. Hopefully all this works out for Philly in the end.

[Guest]

Philly started the 2006-2007 season 3-0. By the end of December they were 5-19.

There's plenty of time for them to come down to earth.

But in the meantime hats off to the efforts of the coaching staff and players who are surprising everyone thus far!

[Peoriabird]

What the Sixers are doing is playing leapfrog...not tanking. They've already gone through the down cycle and they've stockpiled young talent. Unlike us, they're a young team and they might just be on the rise.

There is less than a 1 year difference between the average age of the Sixers and us. And the averages don't include Muscala and the Bebe

[uga2006]

They drafted a guy who people thought was average and is playing like a superstar. I don't think Carter-Williams will end the season scoring 20 but the assists, rebounding and defense is for real. I watched Syracuse a few times and he was easily the best player on the floor every time he played. Now he's a 6'6 PG in the NBA where he can dominate the small guys. He's always been a streaky shooter so he will have some games where he scores 5-7 points but the guy is the real deal.

[Wretch]

There is less than a 1 year difference between the average age of the Sixers and us. And the averages don't include Muscala and the Bebe

My apologies.

If you take the average age across all players, you will find a similarity. However, I don't think anybody considers the Sixers to be a savvy veteran team with heavy playoff experience (which WE most certainly are). My point is simply this - we are not at the same stage of development.

We are leaning on a core who has been pushing to break out of the 2nd round. Most of whom (Korver, Lou, Teague, Horf, Millsap) are battle-tested, playoff ready, seasoned vets that have pretty much hit their ceiling. The Sixers are a cellar dweller, and at best a FRINGE playoff team, with a slightly younger core, that is leaning on a promising ROOKIE talent.

They are a young rising team (perhaps, we don't know yet) leaning on a promising rookie.

We are a veteran team trying to stay competitive and rise out of the middle of the pack.

Similar in age? Sure.

Similar in stage of development? Not even close.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Philly is a surprise at 3-0 but it's to early to really tell if it means anything. I remember in 2006 when we started 4-1 a lot of people I knew were jumping on the Hawks bandwaggon in the first week of the season, thinking we turned a corner and were finally good or something. We wound up finishing with the 4th worst record in the league.

Started 4-1 ... then lost their next 4 by a combined 13 points ( 2 OT losses ). They had an 8 - 9 record in early December until multiple injuries started happening and the wheels fell off in December and early January. Also remember that JJ got shut down in early March of that season.Instead of a 30 win team, I think they were a 38 win team if all the injuries didn't happen. But if we made the playoffs that year, we would've lost our 1st round pick to Phoenix. So we end up with the 4th worst record in the league .. but get in the top 3 in the lottery. And we select the guy who is our current franchise player with that pick. Edited November 3, 2013 by TheNorthCydeRises

[cam1218]

Instead of a 30 win team, I think they were a 38 win team if all the injuries didn't happen. But if we made the playoffs that year, we would've lost our 1st round pick to Phoenix. So we end up with the 4th worst record in the league .. but get in the top 3 in the lottery. And we select the guy who is our current franchise player with that pick.

I was thinking about that when I was posted. We were really lucky that year that we wound up getting to keep our top 3 protected pick (and even luckier we got Horford out of it). Can you imagine if we wound up picking number one and selected Oden?

The thought of having drafted Oden at 1, Marvin at 2, Shelden at 5 and Childress at 6 makes you cringe.

Edited November 3, 2013 by cam1218

[MaceCase]

Who is to say that Oden wouldn't have been a healthy player without Portland's curse/medical staff? That franchise has really suffered the price over Walton's deal with a shaman for the 77' championship.

[Admin]

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