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The Sixers clearly aren't contending anytime soon, and the championships for the next five years are clearly the Heat and L*kers to lose. The only things for Sixers fans to hold onto are the few bright spots, the glimmer of hope that the front office has learned from their mistakes, and the small chance that they're one of the teams in contention when the Heat/L*kers era comes to a close.
So just how bright is the Sixers future and how does their current situation compare to other teams in the league? Let's find out.
Before summer's end we'll compare the Sixers roster, salary cap and front office to the rest of the NBA. I'll provide the essential links and my take, then hand it off to you guys with a poll and a chance to voice your opinion in the comments. At the end we'll see how many teams we'd trade places with, given the chance.
First up: Denver Nuggets.
Roster
Salary
Front Office
Sixers
MAIN OWNERS: Comcast Corporation
CHAIRMAN: Ed Snider
PRESIDENT / GENERAL MANAGER: Ed Stefanski
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT / ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER: Tony DiLeo
Nuggets
MAIN OWNER: Stan Kroenke
VICE PRESIDENT OF BASKETBALL OPERATIONS: Mark Warkentien
VICE PRESIDENT OF PLAYER PERSONNEL: Rex Chapman
My take:
The Nuggets have the advantage in the front office, as most teams will during this exercise. They have a legitimate superstar in his prime in Carmelo, who is an unrestricted free agent after this season. They also have a couple solid pieces (Nene, J.R. Smith, Afflalo and Ty Lawson), but all but Ty Lawson will become free agents over the next two years.
They Nuggets have two options: they could re-sign Melo and continue to build around him, or they could start fresh no later than two years from now, with only three four current players scheduled to be on their payroll (Lawson, Balkman, Birdman and Al Harrington), and presumably a few rookie contracts.
Compare that to the Sixers who have a legitimate chance to begin building a powerhouse in 2013 if they play their cards right between now and then, and already having two legit pieces in place, both on their rookie contracts (Jrue and Turner).
This is a toss-up for me and if it came down to talent and salary cap alone I'd chose the Sixers. The largest difference is the confidence, or lack thereof, I have in Snider, Stefanski and company. However; taking everything into account, I'd still chose the Sixers future over the Nuggets.
Your thoughts?