Championship hopes

[76ciology]

We’re one of the top teams in limiting shot attempts at corner 3s and above the break 3s.

One of the top teams in allowing mid range shots.

But we’re one of the worst defensive teams In defending shots in the restricted area. Surprisingly.

Now imagine you are the opposing team and you tell yourself.. “our game plan tonight is to attack the rim and challenge Embiid and Horford’s rim protection”

Hmm.. MUST WATCH

Watch on YouTube

[76ciology]

We have to switch the PnRs. Force their big to attack at the post. Buy us some time by harrasing ball handler to switch the guy who’s about to be attacked at the post.

[Mik317]

just stop chasing on every screen in hopes of getting blocks or steals and have the bigmen at least look like they might step up and contest. The mid range shot isn't the bad shot people think it is from where we allow people to take them...especially as easy as we let them walk into it. The mid range is bad when its close to the 3pt line or is contested. NBA players can hit open free throw line looks. BUT if the big man looks like he might contest, that extra bit of thinking gives the defender time to recover and throws off the timing of the shot. It really shouldn't be this hard.

As for the screen action, honestly fight through the screen or just go over and use your length to contest the 3 and live with the result. Boston has solid shooters but we treat everyone like they are Curry lol.

[Negrodamus]

just stop chasing on every screen in hopes of getting blocks or steals and have the bigmen at least look like they might step up and contest. The mid range shot isn't the bad shot people think it is from where we allow people to take them...especially as easy as we let them walk into it. The mid range is bad when its close to the 3pt line or is contested. NBA players can hit open free throw line looks. BUT if the big man looks like he might contest, that extra bit of thinking gives the defender time to recover and throws off the timing of the shot. It really shouldn't be this hard.

As for the screen action, honestly fight through the screen or just go over and use your length to contest the 3 and live with the result. Boston has solid shooters but we treat everyone like they are Curry lol.

Surely Brett Brown, defensive maestro, will make the necessary adjustments to not get obliterated on PnRs in the playoffs, right?

[Mik317]

TBF to Brett, he has added things each playoff run that we were screaming about all season each time. last year we gave Jimmy the rock more for example. And I also think we stopped switching everything as well. He does bring out new stuff in the playoffs.

[Negrodamus]

TBF to Brett, he has added things each playoff run that we were screaming about all season each time. last year we gave Jimmy the rock more for example. And I also think we stopped switching everything as well. He does bring out new stuff in the playoffs.

I can appreciate that, but I can also appreciate figuring it out in the season and ending up a 1 or 2 seed so we're playing doo doo teams like the injury riddled Nets or the Magic rather than playing the Celtics. I feel like our coach shouldn't be leaving a big reveal for the playoffs every year so we're just outside of extremely favorable matchups in the playoffs.

[mithrandir17]

TBF to Brett, he has added things each playoff run that we were screaming about all season each time. last year we gave Jimmy the rock more for example. And I also think we stopped switching everything as well. He does bring out new stuff in the playoffs.

Can Brett atleast make those adjustments during the game and not wait for his team to lose a game or a series?

[Mik317]

4D chess yall or something like that lol.

[VDT]

Brown is not an exceptional coach and probably not even a very good one. But i doubt he is the main reason for this team's struggles. He was also not bad in last year's playoffs.


I understand that a coach is the easy scapegoat for the fans and the front office and if he loses the locker room he will have to go anyway but maybe people should focus on the actual problems of the team and not complain about which random bench guy Brown gave minutes to. Even there Brown is doing what this board wanted, he gave minutes to Korkmaz, to Thybylle then to Shake, he benched Horford etc. The problems of this team go way beyond how long Korkmaz plays.

[Mik317]

Brett's firing is simply the easiest and most likely move to make to see if simply a different POV is enough to fix some things.'

but yeah if the FO keeps building teams that make no sense then yeah God could be our coach and we will have a rough go at it

[M2J]

Brown is not an exceptional coach and probably not even a very good one. But i doubt he is the main reason for this team's struggles. He was also not bad in last year's playoffs.


I understand that a coach is the easy scapegoat for the fans and the front office and if he loses the locker room he will have to go anyway but maybe people should focus on the actual problems of the team and not complain about which random bench guy Brown gave minutes to. Even there Brown is doing what this board wanted, he gave minutes to Korkmaz, to Thybylle then to Shake, he benched Horford etc. The problems of this team go way beyond how long Korkmaz plays.

I think these playoffs and this match up is the perfect display to see what the problems are and who the blame belongs too on the court. This team should have enough to compete with, or even best the Celtics without Ben. I think he could've really helped vs the Celtics, as I'm not sure they're one of the teams that can exploit his flaws offensively. Still.... Joel has to deliver, Tobias too.

[Mik317]

Regardless of anything. JoJo can't be out here calling himself the best bigman in the world and then lay an egg against Daniel Theis and Enes Kanter. I think both guys are pretty solid but still

[Negrodamus]

Watch on YouTube

Second all time in total points. Embiid should be watching highlights of The Mailman to figure out how he can put himself in space and get easy looks without always killing himself in the post. Malone's offensive skill set reminds me more of what Embiid does than any of the star centers of the 90s tbh.

[Mik317]

I have been saying Duncan forever. (didn't get to see much Malone until he was washed lol)

[VDT]

Embiid is a better iso player than Malone. A lot of Malone's offense was having Stockton as a teammate.

I think as a first option Embiid is better than the 90s centers that didnt win a title as the man (Robinson, Ewing, Mourning) and worse, at least up to now, than those that won (Shaq, Hakeem). Possibly debatable with Duncan. Part of the difference is the rules that make post scoring harder and part of it is that Embiid is not the athletic freak that Shaq and Hakeem were

[Negrodamus]

Embiid has averaged close to 4 TOs a game since the restart. I'm not saying he doesn't have ISO capabilities, but the dude turns it over quite a bit. I'm not terribly confident when we toss him the ball and tell him to go to work. Additionally, he gets completely gassed while fighting for position in the post. Meanwhile, Malone played for 18 seasons. I get that he was a freak of nature, but he also got easy looks from Stockton a lot of the time. I don't think, with Embiid's injury history, that we should be taking the Shaq approach with him. Just my opinion.

[mhunt]

Not even in his dreams can Embiid run the floor like Mailman did. Malone definitely benefited from playing with one of the best passing PG's of all-time, but he was a scoring machine who was deadly out on the break & on P'n'R. Jo just doesn't have that speed or quickness at his size.
Personally, I think Embiid should drop 20 pounds. Look at highlights from his first couple seasons in the NBA and how much quicker & more explosive he was back then. Somewhere along the line, he tried to bulk up & start playing like Shaq...but that's not his game.

[rzzzzz]

Embiid has averaged close to 4 TOs a game since the restart. I'm not saying he doesn't have ISO capabilities, but the dude turns it over quite a bit.

i'm hoping next season our new coach will install an offensive scheme where whoever's man splits to double on Biid will slide into a consistent open spot where Biid can quickly kick it back out without much hunting.

[VDT]

Embiid has averaged close to 4 TOs a game since the restart. I'm not saying he doesn't have ISO capabilities, but the dude turns it over quite a bit. I'm not terribly confident when we toss him the ball and tell him to go to work. Additionally, he gets completely gassed while fighting for position in the post. Meanwhile, Malone played for 18 seasons. I get that he was a freak of nature, but he also got easy looks from Stockton a lot of the time. I don't think, with Embiid's injury history, that we should be taking the Shaq approach with him. Just my opinion.

Embiid is certainly turnover prone but it's part of the job to a degree. If you are scoring in the paint and you have to create your own shot you are going to get called for offensive fouls or have the ball stripped from you or travel while doing your post moves sometimes. Where Embiid can improve is to cut down the unforced turnovers. Yesterday i think most of his turnovers were of that kind. He needs to play more patiently and the team needs to make it easier from him.

I think with Embiid what you have is an ability to score 1v1, in which i think he is pretty good at, and a decent passing vision. He is not a gifted passer but he is capable. The million dollar question is if you can build around that. The last team that was build around a big that won (other than Dirk who was more perimeter oriented) was 15 years ago, so there is no blueprint at the moment on how to win with a big as your main star.

What certainly doesnt help him is the lack of any perimeter creation, the bad fit and the lack of any chemistry due to the constant changes.

Malone had Stockton and Shaq had Kobe/Penny. If you have someone gifting you 2-3 baskets per game and you get a couple more baskets from the offensive rebounding when the defense collapses to the driver it is a much easier game. Meanwhile Embiid is asked to create all his shots by himself.

In the end i dont think he can be Shaq or Malone. He is not the physical freak that Shaq was and he is not very comfortable in the pnr that was Malone's bread and butter, nor has this team a John Stockton. He will need to have his own path to success. He certainly needs someone that create from the perimeter, someone to draw some defensive attention while giving him easy looks.

[SixthStreet]

Good thing we stayed in the 3/6 matchup. We'd have had no chance vs. the Magic in the second round.