Tony Cutillo
The City of Brotherly Love has been in dire need of competitive professional basketball for a long time … and now it seems to be impacting our judgment. We’ve just come out of another interesting NBA Draft and have already watched future talent in the Summer League show they will be ready to take center stage over the course of a few years. However, until the Sixers’ top two investments can make it on the court together for more than a few games, we’ll continue to sit idly with angst and anticipation. All this adds up to the perfect time to add the best player in the world, which just happens to be LeBron James.
The Philadelphia 76ers are sitting at the poker table with all cards on deck. Us fans suffered through the missed draft picks, pop-up injuries and schoolyard players that we were supposed to buy into as NBA performers for the last few years. Let’s also not forget the history of the franchise with the big misses, such as Shawn Bradley, Andrew Bynum, Elton Brand and Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson. All of these misfits and misfortunes were wiped away by the man, who some proclaim as a basketball god, Sam Hinkie. Whether or not you like the man or his system, it seems to have worked out pretty well for his first time at the helm of a team. He made a mockery of NBA executives and their rules in a confident manner … something that had Adam Silver furious enough to basically “Pete Rose” him from the NBA.
It was known right from the start that his main objective was to stockpile assets for future moves and adjustments. These assets have turned into young budding stars like Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz, Dario Saric and a litany of draft picks waiting to don the 76ers colors. Our path is aligned, but is still missing the one constant that could take us to the Promised Land. This all points to the land owned by King James.
Over the course of a few weeks, the city of Philadelphia has voiced their opinions and concerns for bringing in LeBron James. Let me just say that again … CONCERNS FOR LEBRON JAMES. Did you ever think the Philadelphia 76ers would even be mentioned in the same breath as the King? We have an opportunity to be in the market for the best player in the NBA, we literally at least have a seat at the table, and people say they will pass on him? PASS? Are we all looking at the same big picture?
For all the people who have talked about the ridiculous notion of wanting to win organically, please stop and put a little more thought into this scenario. If James was added to this roster, we would be in the NBA Finals next year. The East is up for grabs with the main reason being James could be wearing another uniform – if not next year, then almost certainly the year after. Why not let that uniform have a 76ers logo on it?
LeBron is the ultimate competitor and wants to win now. He is already faced with the fact that the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t have enough to win it all this season and with all the rumors swirling regarding player movement, this upcoming year looks to be in jeopardy as well. It doesn’t take a Zoltar machine to realize he will be wearing a different uniform in the very near future. Only a select few teams will be able to land him and the 76ers are on that list.
And the people who think James would just demolish this roster just to bring his own guys in … did you ever stop to think that maybe his guys are already on this roster?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJyI8G_h6dy/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWdRuedAvgt/
Forget all the internet trolls and adolescent fun being brought to you by a host of professional athletes. This is a real situation and not something others refer to as “clickbait.” A scenario like this is exactly why Hinkie decided to rip apart the 76ers’ roster for a few years. He knew there would be a day when we’d have the assets to make a splash. In my opinion, that time is now. What better way than to jump into the waters owned by King James!?
Good to see fellow Philly Influencer brethren and FOX 29 Sean Brace feel the same way.
Over the weekend on @FOX29philly, I had to come at #Sixers fans that say you want nothing to do with LeBron?! Say What?! @PHL_Influencer pic.twitter.com/UoITluDJhC
— PhillyInfluencer_com (@Sean_Brace) July 23, 2017
As always you can stop by my Facebook page (FantasySportsAddiction) or tweet me (@TCutillo23) for questions or some nice fantasy debates. I can also be heard weekly via the internet stream live at WengRadio every Monday at 4:00pm EST for a weekend sports wrap. But most importantly, you can catch me here at Pi!
Follow Philly Influencer on Twitter (@PHL_Influencer), Facebook and Instagram.