Contraction only increases the relative talent of the remaining teams and leaves a lot of entertaining basketball players without a high-paying job.

Does it make any difference if you’re #8 in an 8 team conference in a 16 team league? If a team sucks they suck. You would get a better quality of play, but a lot less content and a lot less interest in the NBA.

More teams is better for a national audience- your team lost to one of the teams that went to the finals- there’s a connection there. If you were close to beating that team, it gives you hope.

Most fans in most cities have to learn to live with some disappointment. That’s part of what it is top be a fan, and part of what makes winning so sweet. The belief that it’s only entertaining if the team wins a championship is garbage.

A team has to be working towards getting better in a tangible way- as long as we see promise turn into performance, and the team’s talent level increases either by new additions or organic growth from the young players, enough so there’s a realistic shot that at some point they can contend for a title, then I can be satisfied as a fan.

The only thing that really disgusts me is a stupid team, that doesn’t play smart, continually shoots itself in the foot, in managed by an incompetent who doesn’t understand match-ups defensive strategy or a workable NBA offense. I bailed on the Sixers last season. The team bailed on me. y disappointment comes from thinking they were on an upward trajectory until last season.

The worst aspect of the Sixers over the past few seasons has been the multiple coaches. With a good coach, I think we would feel some continuity, and have a better idea of who we’re hoping will come through as a player. My hope is that Collins sticks around for a while and shows that Thad Young is an all star, Mareese Speights is an all-star and that Jason Smith is an adequate Center, because his system allows them to be effective.

The Sixers aren’t as bad as they appear, their back-court and small forwards are NBA quality players. Jrue, Lou and Andre can score with anybody. Defensively and on the boards, I’m worried. Where’s the shot-blocker, where’s the post defender, where’s the post-up scoring and 2nd chance shot maker? In other words, if we had a younger Garnett and Perkins, how would you feel about the Sixers now?

The difference between the really good teams and the rest of them is that the good teams have multiple solid front-court players- dominant ones actually. I thought Carlos Boozer was a decent PF, but he was just too small against better teams in the playoffs. Having him on your team, means loosing his production against a team with a bigger better PF/C combo.

That is why I was so focused on Derek Favors this offseason- if I see a player that I think can hold his own with Dwight or Pau or a healthy Yao. He’s a key piece. 2 of those and the Sixers are a serious contender, IMO.