EMB Blog: 2023 Camps and Preseason - NO POLITICS

[eagle45]

1 minute ago, BDawk_ASamuel said:

The weird part is that they can put all of the rigged talk to bed if they just did a live selection order show, instead of doing the drawing behind closed doors. Why they don't opt for that, I have no idea and only leads more credence to it being rigged. 

I think all leagues should make teams earn the #1 pick.  

There does need to be an equalizing force in leagues that generate life cycles for teams (The NBA is the worst for this, NFL the best).  Hard to stay at the top, but teams in decline get opportunities for re-birth.  That's necessary...BUT...remove the incentive to be THE worst team in the league.  Remove the incentive to lose all your games at the end of the year.

One option is to flip the draft order of the non-playoff teams.  If you are THE worst team in the league, screw you...you pick 15th.  Claw your way back and then you get to pick top 3 once you just miss the playoff cut.  You barely miss the playoffs on a technicality on conference record?  That sucks...but here's the #1 overall pick.  Keep everyone playing hard all year long.

[BigEFly]

1 hour ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

Rambo fielded 13 kicks and 1 punt his entire college career

Better than 0. My point is I want a RS (both punts and kicks) that offers something else.  Boston Scott, the KOR, played on coverage teams but not particularly great at it but a decent back up RB too.  Pascal could play WR, albeit more as a blocker than because of great hands and routes and played coverage teams on STs and up back on KORs. Covey was basically PRs.  He got a few snaps at WR but not good at getting open, just not much of a receiving threat.  Quez, I believe has played some gunner, sucked at KORs but is our #3 WR.  

Right now, the competition for #4/5 WR is Allen (returned kicks as freshman in college) but inexperienced and out of practice WR last year, Ward, meh WR, reliable hands but not dynamic as a PR, Cleveland, JAG WR but big enough to play coverage teams with 10 KORs in college, Covey, decent college WR but nothing last year in the NFL, dynamic RS in college against mediocre college competition, kind of meh in NFL and a munchkin, Zaccheaus, kind of a JAG at Atlanta, decent college WR, returns as a freshman in college but not good, short but stout enough, Haselwood, no returns in college, presumably big enough to play cover teams, Ngata, actually returned kicks as a freshman in college and I think played on some coverage teams early, big enough to block.  Interestingly, Quez was an experienced RS from college and not bad at it.  So, of course, we have to look at potential for STs for Rambo.  

At RB, Scott has the current KOR duties and has been the back up RB.  Neither Gainwell or Swift have ever done returns.   Penny was actually a good KOR in college but that same competition made Pumphrey look good.  

The DBs?  Only ones with any returns was McCollum, minimal meh, Edmunds with 1 PR,  McPhearson, 4 PRs meh, Evans KORs, actually decent, and believe it or not Reed Blakenship as a PR early in his career (I am not surprised).  If he isn’t starting, I love the idea of Reed as the upback.  You know he will relish the blocks and dare anyone on a short kick to tackle him.  (DBs have to play cover teams if they are not starting.) 

So here is the dilemma.  Do you play Covey again for PRs only basically?  Assuming healthy Swift and Penny, do you sit Gainwell because Scott can handle KORs?  Who plays the up back on KORs (Goedert did some early in his career so think RB and TE are options as well as a larger WR that can also block - knocks out Covey, Rambo, probably Ward and possibly Zaccheaus and Watkins.)  Wouldn’t one player who is good at both returns and offers more (blocking, good back up receiver/RB/Db , playing coverage teams etc.) be ideal and offer the team more flexibility with the roster? That player has to have a back up(s) just in case.  

 

[NCiggles]

16 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

The Red Sox had The Curse Of The Bambino; the Flyers have The Curse Of The Bob

The Flyers 2011 offseason was an absolute clusterf*** of terrible moves and decisions.  Bobrovsky had an excellent 2011 season as a 22 year-old goaltender, went 28-13-8, .915 SV%, ran out of gas a bit in the playoffs only to have Peter Laviolette bench him for The Sieve Twins (Leighton and Boucher).  After the season the Flyers trade 25 year-old Mike Richards, 26 year-old Jeff Carter to free up cap room to sign Ilya Bryzgalov -- to fix a "problem" in goal that didn't even exist.  Laviolette botches his goaltender, so that Ed Snider can order Paul Holmgren to make outlandish moves that never should have been made.  The Richards and Carter trades in isolation weren't "bad" trades (I'll take Voracek over Jeff Carter 8 days every week) but all of the splash moves really screwed up the organizational culture.

Bobrovsky moves on to be a perennial all-star in net, Richards and Carter won multiple Stanley Cups in LA, while Bryzgalov was terrible and a dead cap hit for years and years, and the Flyers have been pretty bad for the majority of the 10 years since.

Getting rid of Bobrovsky was idiotic.  The Flyers view was that Bobrovsky fell apart in the playoffs and he was benched but the answer wasn't to sign Bryzgalov who was a known head case.  While you can say the return on Carter and Richards wasn't bad, you can't say the same for Bobrovsky.  They got nothing of value for him.    

[BDawk_ASamuel]

8 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

So here is the dilemma.  Do you play Covey again for PRs only basically?  Assuming healthy Swift and Penny, do you sit Gainwell because Scott can handle KORs?  Who plays the up back on KORs (Goedert did some early in his career so think RB and TE are options as well as a larger WR that can also block - knocks out Covey, Rambo, probably Ward and possibly Zaccheaus and Watkins.)  Wouldn’t one player who is good at both returns and offers more (blocking, good back up receiver/RB/Db , playing coverage teams etc.) be ideal and offer the team more flexibility with the roster? That player has to have a back up(s) just in case.  

 

Covey wasn't a world-beater last season, but I thought he did a decent job and most importantly he was reliable not turning the ball over. With this offense, that's really the most important thing. I don't know how much of an increase in production we would get from another guy at this point who isn't a specialist. If they go into this season with him again as PR, I'd be fine with that. 

[LeanMeanGM]

I think this team is too deep to have a dedicated PR only guy who is just "fine" but provided nothing else on offense. In an ideal world, you bring in a guy like Zaccheus who can give some offense as the #4 WR while also handling PR. But we are kind of past that point now so it's kind of moot. 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

 that morey press conference just makes you believe the sixers are doomed and screwed. I don’t know how else to interpret it. 

[paco]

48 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I think you might as well keep on going at this point.  It's very unlikely any good comes of it...but the draft picks are ruined for the next 4-5+ seasons.  Might as well have a competitive but not good enough team in the interim.

 

I had to look it up.

 

 

[LeanMeanGM]

7 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

 that morey press conference just makes you believe the sixers are doomed and screwed. I don’t know how else to interpret it. 

Yep. All while during the PC Harden report comes out he's opting out and wants a 4 year max while Morey basically said that's what they are going to do to bring him back. Just awful. 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

2 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Yep. All while during the PC Harden report comes out he's opting out and wants a 4 year max while Morey basically said that's what they are going to do to bring him back. Just awful. 

What it’s like to be a sixers fan 

[paco]

[RLC]

45 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

Getting rid of Bobrovsky was idiotic.  The Flyers view was that Bobrovsky fell apart in the playoffs and he was benched but the answer wasn't to sign Bryzgalov who was a known head case.  While you can say the return on Carter and Richards wasn't bad, you can't say the same for Bobrovsky.  They got nothing of value for him.    

The Flyers WON both the Carter and Richards trades. That's not why they're in the position they're in now.

[bpac55]

As reliable as Covey was last year, he's such a wasted roster spot.  He offers nothing on offense.  Nothing as a gunner on ST.  He's 100% a return specialist.   

However, you could argue the same about Rick Lavato.  Long gone are the days of the LS also being TE3, LB or C.   Mike Bartrum actually had 4 TD receptions here.

I'd love to see a WR5 that can also be the returner.  

[bpac55]

1 minute ago, RLC said:

The Flyers WON both the Carter and Richards trades. That's not why they're in the position they're in now.

I don't know if I would call those trades wins.  Those trades just helped keep the Flyers in mediocrity.

A few weeks back, one of the Flyers blogs had a huge breakdown and assessment of all of the moves made since the Carter and Richard trades and it's just a bunch of yuck.

[RLC]

2 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

I don't know if I would call those trades wins.  Those trades just helped keep the Flyers in mediocrity.

A few weeks back, one of the Flyers blogs had a huge breakdown and assessment of all of the moves made since the Carter and Richard trades and it's just a bunch of yuck.

Couturier & Voracek >>>>> Carter.
Simonds & Schenn >> Richards.

I mean, those are home runs. The problem was during the 2011-2018 run the Flyers had no goalie or defensemen. But they had a top 5 forward core in the entire league during that run.

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

1 minute ago, RLC said:

Couturier & Voracek >>>>> Carter.
Simonds & Schenn >> Richards.

I mean, those are home runs. The problem was during the 2011-2018 run the Flyers had no goalie or defensemen. But they had a top 5 forward core in the entire league during that run.

What you didn’t love luke schenn human traffic cone as a dman?

[Alphagrand]

3 minutes ago, RLC said:

The Flyers WON both the Carter and Richards trades. That's not why they're in the position they're in now.

Nobody is arguing the Carter or Richards trades in isolation; that's been pointed out twice already.  The issue was tearing down the existing roster construction that went to the finals in 2010.

They abandoned the potential Bobrovsky had and mortgaged heavily on bringing in Bryzgalov -- a 9 year/$51M contract which wasn't possible without trading away a big portion of the existing lock room leadership -- then jettisoned Bryzgalov after two years, taking a massive cap hit over the remainder.  All in an effort to solve a problem where none existed.  I would argue firing Laviolette solved the existing problem.

That is franchise-altering incompetence.  That's what's being pointed out.  

[RLC]

Mike Richards had serious substance abuse issues. He couldn't be on the team anymore.

[bpac55]

4 minutes ago, RLC said:

Couturier & Voracek >>>>> Carter.
Simonds & Schenn >> Richards.

I mean, those are home runs. The problem was during the 2011-2018 run the Flyers had no goalie or defensemen. But they had a top 5 forward core in the entire league during that run.

I was looking more big picture.  Individually, the trades were nice but for the franchise, they did nothing to move them forward. 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

4 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

Nobody is arguing the Carter or Richards trades in isolation; that's been pointed out twice already.  The issue was tearing down the existing roster construction that went to the finals in 2010.

They abandoned the potential Bobrovsky had and mortgaged heavily on bringing in Bryzgalov -- a 9 year/$51M contract which wasn't possible without trading away a big portion of the existing lock room leadership -- then jettisoned Bryzgalov after two years, taking a massive cap hit over the remainder.  All in an effort to solve a problem where none existed.  I would argue firing Laviolette solved the existing problem.

That is franchise-altering incompetence.  That's what's being pointed out.  

Can thank snyder for the bryz move. That was all him saying he was fed up with "not having” a goaltender for years. Meanwhile Bob was young and going to get better. 

[devpool]

1 hour ago, eagle45 said:

I am not a conspiracy theorist on anything.  Not my thing.

But the NBA draft lottery?  Well, sign me up for that one.  I absolutely believe it's rigged.

Sixers get the short end of the statistical stick in the draft lottery every year of the process until the one year the bend the knee to the NBA, fire Hinkie, and put a league plant in charge of the team...then they win the draft lottery.  OOK.  

NHL lottery is extremely sketchy as well. Penguins got gifted Crosby and malkin when they were threatening to move. Edmonton won like 6 times. Chicago (Original 6 team) loses toews and kane this year, and even after covering up sexual abuse in the organization they get gifted bedard. 

The idea of a lottery is great, but leaves too much room for rigging

[bpac55]

It's a shame Bryz was such a bust.  His mask and pad set up was next level.  Love the blacked out look and goalie masks with black cages.

Boucher and Beezer not far behind

 

[Alphagrand]

22 minutes ago, RLC said:

Mike Richards had serious substance abuse issues. He couldn't be on the team anymore.

I heard an urban legend that Philly police told Ed Snider he needed to get Ken Linseman out of town, or he was going to get charged in a drug dealing sting operation.  Linseman couldn't be on the team anymore.  Richards probably just needed rehab. 

[Iggles_Phan]

1 hour ago, Alphagrand said:

The Red Sox had The Curse Of The Bambino; the Flyers have The Curse Of The Bob

The Flyers 2011 offseason was an absolute clusterf*** of terrible moves and decisions.  Bobrovsky had an excellent 2011 season as a 22 year-old goaltender, went 28-13-8, .915 SV%, ran out of gas a bit in the playoffs only to have Peter Laviolette bench him for The Sieve Twins (Leighton and Boucher).  After the season the Flyers trade 25 year-old Mike Richards, 26 year-old Jeff Carter to free up cap room to sign Ilya Bryzgalov -- to fix a "problem" in goal that didn't even exist.  Laviolette botches his goaltender, so that Ed Snider can order Paul Holmgren to make outlandish moves that never should have been made.  The Richards and Carter trades in isolation weren't "bad" trades (I'll take Voracek over Jeff Carter 8 days every week) but all of the splash moves really screwed up the organizational culture.

Bobrovsky moves on to be a perennial all-star in net, Richards and Carter won multiple Stanley Cups in LA, while Bryzgalov was terrible and a dead cap hit for years and years, and the Flyers have been pretty bad for the majority of the 10 years since.

The Flyers curse goes back much further than that.  Remember... 1975 was the last cup.  That's nearly 50 years ago.  Now, they had some really good teams since then, and likely would have won a cup in 1985 and 1987 if not for going up against perhaps the greatest hockey dynasty the NHL has ever seen, and second only in world history to the Red Army team of the 60s and 70s.   

But, the curse was real.  They had a very talented young goaltender for the '85 run in Pelle Lindbergh.  But he gets drunk and drives into a retaining wall at high speed, killing himself.  In '87, they have another talented goalie, Ron Hextall, this time it's a rookie who wins the Con Smythe Trophy for playoffs MVP on a team that lost in the Stanley Cup Finals (a rare occurrence and even rarer for a rookie), but the next year, he tears his groin and frankly, never gets back to that same level of play.  Either one of those teams likely win it all, if not for the Edmonton machine.

Then the 90's role around and they make the move for Lindros.  They gave up so much to land him, including a player that was very nearly as talented, and perhaps better suited for the direction the NHL was moving, in Peter Forsberg.  Had they not made the Lindros move, its possible that they would have had the ammunition to put the pieces around Forsberg to win the cup.  (Remember, Forsberg won 2 cups in Colorado.  And the Flyers made the deal with the Quebec Nordiques, who became the Colorado Avalanche a few years later.)

 

Curse of the Bob might be the right name for it.  But, you got the wrong Bob.  I think its Bob Clarke.  He left the ice, went to the front office and was instrumental in the team remaining perpetually locked in to the 1970s style of hockey.  

 

[Iggles_Phan]

1 hour ago, eagle45 said:

You know what the 76ers are?

You are driving to your destination (the championship) in a nice care.  You aren't far, aren't right there either.  Nav system says 20 miles to destination.  Fuel reserve light says you've got 10 miles in the tank.  There are no exits, no gas stations on this 2-way highway between you and your destination.

You can forge ahead, maybe you get lucky...maybe the road breaks downhill, maybe the reserve in the tank after you hit 0 miles gets you there.  Maybe the NBA playoff field just paves the road for the 76ers next year into an easy, lucky title.  Maybe Embiid plays like a superstar in the playoffs next year.  Probably won't happen, but you could just drive on and see.

Or you can turn around and get a head start on re-fueling and leaving from square one.

I think you might as well keep on going at this point.  It's very unlikely any good comes of it...but the draft picks are ruined for the next 4-5+ seasons.  Might as well have a competitive but not good enough team in the interim.

 

The road was paved for this season.   They just needed to handle their business in Game 6 and they laid a gigantic egg.   

[Iggles_Phan]

1 hour ago, LeanMeanGM said:

The 76ers are the Dallas Cowboys of the NBA