Aside from looking at a calendar, the best way to tell it's NBA Draft time is by reading the comments here and gauging a new level of chippiness. Happens every year, but as the blog has gotten bigger and we blog lords here have gotten more comfortable waving our opinions around like hot sausages, this year seems to be especially chippy. The main complaint I've heard is that I'm too negative. Whiny, even. I don't give the Sixers front office enough (read: any) credit and I should change the way I write because we're Sixers fans and we should root for them.
I'd like to answer that with two points. The first being this: What I say doesn't matter. I have no stake in the Sixers organization, we don't talk regularly, Doug Collins hasn't texted me in ages, and even if he did, he wouldn't be taking my advice on anything outside of what movies he should go see. So whatever I have to say is for your (and my, I suppose) benefit only. If you, the reader, feel like you don't gain anything from what I write, I urge you to not read it. Criticism is great, but if reading the words that I type with my fingers makes you want to go on a human-filleting rampage, please stop now. It's a waste of your time and you don't need that. The internet's a big place -- find somewhere else to diddle.
Now, having said that, the second part is that I don't think the Sixers front office is stupid. Doug Collins, Rod Thorn, Adam Aron, Josh Harris, Courtney Witte, Tony DiLeo -- all of them. They're not stupid. They are learned men. I'm not better than they are. I don't have a savvier basketball mind and I won't be taking over for them ever. We simply have different philosophies and, more specifically, responsibilities. My responsibility is to my fellow writers and you guys, to write good stuff so you keep commenting and coming back and have fun, etc. It is not to make money, it is not to sell tickets, and it is not to appease any financial higher-ups that will throw me under the bus if I'm not doing well (sorta). Their responsibility is to do those things. If they don't, they'll be fired. It is, as they say, a business.
I can spend all day and all night ranting about how they should tank and regardless of what happens, it will not affect my livelihood one bit (unless I tear off a limb in frustration, which tends to happen on occasion). If Collins decides to tank, he could be fired tomorrow. His job as set down by himself and the owners is to win games. It's a WIN NOW league and if you're not doing that, you're gone. They have to sell tickets, they have to generate excitement, they have to make fans happy. I don't have to care about those things because I don't matter. So when I Tweet things like "If the Sixers pass on PJIII for Arnett Moultrie as some mocks guess, I will immediately turn into a fish and commence blogging under the sea," it's my opinion that Perry Jones is the better player. But I fully acknowledge that he's a risky pick and Moultrie is the safer one. It won't be my ass on the line if Jones blows as a pro and the Sixers get crappier. It'll be the people that matter.
I want the Sixers to win a championship. I'm heavily invested in this team (not financially) and what I write about is usually with a future championship in mind. This Sixers front office doesn't think that way, or at least that's not how I perceive them to think. They want to win games and get fans excited and yada yada yada -- not, in my opinion, what it takes to seriously contend in this league. Nothing I say or do will change that. But that doesn't mean I think they are dumb people.