FUCK YOU, MARCUS, for mind-fucking me with your troll job into directing my anger toward you on a day where all outrage can and should be rightfully directed at Joshua Harris, Scott O’Neil, Bryan Colangelo et. al for their hostile takeover of basketball fandom and basic earthly truths.

I’m not even sure I can muster up the energy to hate someone with a pile of poop for a head today… but, Marcus sure is making me try with his baffling defense of Bryan Colangelo:

Voila_Capture 2017-02-24_09-36-19_AM

Contained there within is a tepid defense of Colangelo’s secrecy, brushed aside with a wave of the hand by Marcus, who spent the better part of three years filleting Sam Hinkie for similar misdeeds. There is also, of course, a defense of the Noel trade and the failure to trade Jahlil Okafor, this just days after Hayes grammatically accosted Okafor and all but demanded that he be carved into little tiny Oakbites and served to the highest bidder, or any bidder. And then there’s the leap in logic when Hayes invoked his curious love affair with Ersan Ilyasova and Thad Young:

Bryan Colangelo traded for veteran shooting forward Ersan Ilyasova, the franchise’s most complete player since Thaddeus Young. He was an excellent complement to Embiid and a superb mentor for Saric, a rookie forward from Croatia who played the last two seasons in Turkey, Ilyasova’s homeland. In his first 51 NBA games, Saric averaged 9.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and shot 37.7 percent from the field. In the last five games, Saric averaged 20.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and shot 52.6 percent. Saric was nearly brought to tears when the Sixers traded Ilyasova on Wednesday.

They traded Ilyasova to Atlanta for Tiago Splitter and two second-round picks. Ilyasova would have been a free agent after this season. The Sixers had no incentive to re-sign him since he and Saric occupy the same role. Ilyasova’s departure frees more minutes for Saric.

They signed Gerald Henderson, who is quietly having a solid season and whose leadership, said Embiid, has been invaluable.

Could Team Colangelo have been more accessible over the past year or so? Sure.

Could they have been more transparent? Absolutely.

They might be wrong about Noel’s worth. They might overvalue Okafor. Both of those points are, at least, arguable.

Overall, given the hand dealt them by Hinkie and Harris, the Colangelos have done relatively little harm and at least some good.

As hard as that might be to admit.

What an odd decision to cite the Ersan Ilyasova signing as a defense of Colangelo. The Sixers just traded him. Hayes’ entire point, if I’m interpreting this dreck correctly, rests on the fact that Colangelo used Ilyasova as a popsicle stick to prop up Saric and then traded him away… to free up minutes for Saric. That’s like praising a madman for not killing all of the hostages. Thanks? Hayes is, in effect, applauding Colangelo for taking on a bottom-feeding contract and flipping it for a few second round picks, which is the sort of thing over which he excoriated Sam Hinke. My brain hurts.