4-on-4: Sixteen Roundtable
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Sixteen Wins A Ring Roundtable. The 4-on-4 will feature a rotating panel answering topical NBA questions.
Four staff members from 16 Wins A Ring answering four NBA related questions — welcome to the Sixteen Roundtable.
Imagine the Sixteen Roundtable as your weekly dose of hot takes, hypotheticals, and compelling questions being answered by a collaboration of hoop junkies from 16 Wins A Ring. Moving forward, the Roundtable will run every Sunday, featuring new questions as well as new voices. Make sure to give each of our staff members for this week’s edition a follow!
Adam Joseph: Editor-In-Chief (@AdamJosephSport)
Tim Tompkins: Podcast Host for DriveAndDish (@RadioTimNBA)
Vijay Vemu: Staff Writer (@VJVemu)
Chris De Silva: Staff Writer (@cdesilva23)
Edition #01
- The Spurs are currently half a game behind the Warriors in the win column. With one more game against the Warriors at home, is there any chance they leap Golden State for the 1 seed?
Adam: Absolutely. It’s the Spurs. they just had Tim Duncan retire, one of the greatest players of all time and they’re a still a top team. Kawhi Leonard is a top-5 player, and the role players know what they need to do. The Warriors won’t look horrible forever, but the holes left by Kevin Durant’s absence might be too much for them to overcome.
Tim: Absolutely. They have the tie breaker now. For the Spurs, they close out the season with two games vs the Grizzlies, Thunder, Warriors, and one game vs the Cavaliers. It’s a tough schedule, but there’s no easy way to a championship. For the Warriors, they haven’t been stellar without Durant. Can Curry step up and play MVP level basketball through the rest of the season? That might determine it for Golden State.
Vijay: I do think that the Spurs will leap Golden State for the 1-seed. With the Durant injury, the Warriors have realized the implications of what happens when one of their most important players goes down. This probably makes Steve Kerr more wary of playing guys heavy minutes down the stretch considering the Warriors already clinched a playoff spot. Plus, even if Golden State falls to the 2 seed (which likely means a playoff series against the Thunder), they will still be favorites to advance to the Western Conference Finals. So in short, I think the Spurs leap the Warriors for the 1 seed.
Chris: Make no mistake about it, the race for the 1-seed in the Western Conference is absolutely up for grabs. Yesterday’s game would have been a blockbuster had both teams been healthy, but with Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard both missing and others missing due to rest, the advantage goes to the Spurs. However, even if the Warriors had won that matchup, they haven’t looked quite like themselves since Durant’s injury and the Spurs are playing some of their best ball at the right time.
2. Now that the trade deadline has passed, which trade surprised you the most and why?
Adam: The one sided nature of the OKC-Bulls trade. Oklahoma City had a dire need to add shooting and veteran presence and they got it for spare parts. Cameron Payne may well end up being a star, but he was never going to be one in Oklahoma City. Sam Presti worked his magic.
Tim: I’m going to go with a non-trade for this one. The Raptors and Wizards both made moves to position themselves as the number two team in the East. The Raptors locked up their defense with Tucker and Ibaka. The Wizards added that bench scoring they needed on an expiring Bogdanovic. The Celtics? Ainge basically said “ Nah, we’re good rolling with IT and a $30M dollar Al Horford. No reason to trade one of our 12,000 assets for a rebounding/shot blocker like Nerlins Noel for pennies on the dollar”
Vijay: I think the DeMarcus Cousins trade along with the OKC-Bulls trade surprised me the most. The Nerlins Noel trade was a shocker as well, but given how Noel felt about not playing a lot with the 76ers, you could see the trade coming a mile away. But, the reasons why the two trades I mentioned were a shocker was because of the return the Kings and Bulls received. Both teams should have certainly asked for more, especially Chicago considering they had to add a pick to move both Doug and Taj. They should have tried to receive a pick instead.
Chris: It has to be the biggest trade: that of DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans. All season, in fact, for the last two to three years, we heard of the Lakers and Celtics as potential landing spots for Cousins, should he be traded by the Kings. But, then for Cousins to be traded right as the All-Star game came to a close was really amazing. All of this is before you realize exactly what he was traded for. The fact that the Kings accepted the Pelicans offer of Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, and a first round pick tells you how toxic the situation with Cousins had become there.
3. Some people feel like Joel Embiid should still win ROY despite playing just 31 games because of the absurd impact he was having. Others believe he shouldn’t win due to missing too many games. What’s your stance?
Adam: Embiid should win and transcend history. If not, Malcolm Brogdon has the best case for me. Otherwise, can’t nobody win? There’s nobody outstanding outside of Embiid, who has frankly been out of this world when he’s on the floor. I wish it were Embiid or nobody, but it isn’t.
Tim: There’s no denying that Embiid was the most impactful “rookie” this year, but I don’t believe he should win the award. I simply have a problem with players studying the game for two years on the bench while being paid, coming in off injury, and still being considered rookie. Also, did everyone forget about Malcolm Brogdon? He’s been solid all year.
Vijay: Even though sample size is important when evaluating a rookie, I think with Joel Embiid that argument goes out the window. Embiid averaged 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and shot an eFG% of 50.8 which is very impressive for a player in his rookie year. He was so good and effective on the floor for the 76ers in the 31 games he played in. His impact is all over the floor with his ability to protect the paint on one end and him stretching the floor with his three point shooting on the other end. I would give him ROY award despite him not playing the majority of the season.
Chris: I understand the qualms people have with Embiid playing just 31 games, I do. But this isn’t an award for durability, it is the award for the best rookie season and that by far and away has been Embiid’s. Before his injury, Embiid actually lead the Sixers to their first winning month in four seasons and despite his awful supporting cast, the Sixers actually outscored opponent’s while Embiid was on the floor. If there was a close second in the ROY race, I would understand giving it to the other player. But, this year Embiid has been head, shoulders, knees, and toes above the rest of the rookie class and deserves the right recognition for it.
4. Mark Cuban recently advocated for the draft to be a free agency setup where teams get rookie caps slotted by where they finish at the end of the season. If Adam Silver tasked you with creating a new NBA lottery proposal, how would you do it?
Adam: Adam Silver would change regulations to prevent tanking (as impossible as it seems) then have the order completely fixed based on the standings. I love the way it is now, and i love the current lottery system. I love the drawing of the order! So I’d be loathe to change it.
Tim: The NBA should reward teams for not tanking post trade deadline. The teams gunning for that coveted 8th seed (8–10) should be incentivized to win, not for intentionally losing.
Vijay: I would make the NBA lottery system the way the NFL does it where it is based on record. The reason why many people don’t like the lottery system is because of the randomness and although I personally like that part of the system, it does set up some tough situations for teams that are at the bottom of the league. If the NBA does choose to change it, make it how the NFL does it when it comes to draft order.
Chris: The lottery is a tough one because the system at the moment is good in that it’s a lottery. So even the worst placed team could possibly not get the top pick. I think if there’s a change to be made it could potentially be stripping team’s of picks if they are bottom five in three consecutive seasons. That way it would incentivize teams to win. But it’s difficult to see how that would work.
