The Playoffs Thread

[Stanford]

Excuse me sir, in every programming class I have ever attended, greater than or equal to is represented as '>='
jussayin!

[syntax]

There is a "Has a team had an easier path to the ECF in the past decade than Philadelphia?" thread on GB.

[Sixerscan]

There is a "Has a team had an easier path to the ECF in the past decade than Philadelphia?" thread on GB.

Feel like that should offend Hawks fans more than Sixers fans?

[syntax]

We are the no.1 seed, first two rounds should be a lock.

And we aren't there yet.

[GoSixersBro]

Excuse me sir, in every programming class I have ever attended, greater than or equal to is represented as '>='
jussayin!

I was taught that greater than or equal to is: >

[Negrodamus]

Excuse me sir, in every programming class I have ever attended, greater than or equal to is represented as '>='
jussayin!

Maybe he was trying to do ES6.

let Maxey = undefined;
let Fultz = "bust";

const weirdPlayerComparison = (sixer1, sixer2) => sixer1 === sixer2;

weirdPlayerComparison(Maxey, Fultz);

output: false

[Sixersftw]

#we've hit all time nerdiness


(idk how to comment in ES6)

[Negrodamus]

#we've hit all time nerdiness


(idk how to comment in ES6)

It's just a Javascript compiler, so the same as reg JS:

//we've hit all time nerdiness

or if you want multi-line:
/*
we've hit
all time
nerdiness

and we're trading Ben this offseason
*/

[Stanford]

[Negrodamus]

Read on Twitter

Alright, Durant, here's your chance to add to your legacy. Against the ropes without Harden and Kyrie.

[syntax]

In PowerShell it's -ge

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

Not keeping Mikal Bridges will haunt us.

Shake it off, bud, every team makes a ton of draft mistakes along the way. Plus Bridges turned out to be more or less the best version of himself, and one of the picks we got for him turned into 1/2 of the Tobias trade. Nothing to feel that bad about.

No real complaints. He's just turned into a heck of a role player for the Suns. Not sure how good he'll end up being, but right now I think he can still get better which would put him in talks for an all star reserve. Either way, I'm not one to dwell on "what ifs' either. I lost many years of sleep of what ifs with Tim Duncan. I'm very high on Mattise, Shake, and Maxey. The sky definitely isn't falling with our latest draft picks. We've found a few gems. This team usually drafts very well I've noticed.

[DCasey91]

There is a "Has a team had an easier path to the ECF in the past decade than Philadelphia?" thread on GB.

I mean all things considered we do have a light run to the ECF, looking at the a draw we should be at ECF at minimum.

Ironic but the Suns and currently the Bucks are having an easier/easy time of it. Injuries 1st/2nd rnd for the Suns and the Bucks now with a hampered Nets.

Injuries was the Nets kryptonite. Not so much Durant that’s always a risk from a major injury 1st year back but Irving isn’t exactly the most durable, surprised Harden got injured throughout the year he’s very durable. Probably the years at the Rockets caught up abit.

[HotelVitale]

It's still hard to say that we couldn't have gotten Tobias if we didn't trade Bridges for that pick, other things could've been in that deal to get it done. I really don't think Jerry West wanted Tobias anymore.
I regret we didn't look at Shai more than I worry about Bridges though.
We could've done better, could've done worse....as most teams can say.

That draft always bothered me even more than Fultz. I thought the Sixers had a great shot to add a player - SGA or MPJ. Imagine this team with either of those two. And yes - still could have gotten Tobias. Clippers were not going to pay him max money. They needed to move him so they could get a real superstar a la Kawhi.

Respectfully, this is the same old rehashing that every fanbase does on these boards. If anyone knew--not just had a hunch or a good feeling about, like we all do with some prospects--that SGA or MPJ would turn out remotely close to as good as they were, then of course we would've done things totally differently. SGA was promising but no one would've reasonably bet on him becoming a young superstar, and MPJ was completely broken in college and frankly looked terrible the little bit he played in college, drafting him was just a blind gamble not just on his health but him being a decent pro. Both of those guys have turned out to be some of the best value draft picks of the last decade, every team can look back and shake their heads about missing on them. Plus we did still take a flyer on a prospect lots of folks liked as a lotto pick, I personally never liked Zhaire but he had a chance to be special and never really had the opportunity because of injuries.

As for the Tobias thing, three things: 1) if the Clips didn't re-sign him then only ONE team could've signed him and there was zero guarantee that it'd be us 2) we wouldn't have had for that year and post-season run (that was the Butler year that the Sixers could've possibly won a title in, esp if not for Kawhi) and 3) iirc we would've had to use ALL of our cap space to sign him outright--no re-signing Butler, no signing Horford (though I know that turned out brutal)--and wouldn't get to make use of his small cap hold. All meaningful trades involve risk and that one came at a high price, but there was a clear logic to it and I think time has proven that to have been a pretty good risk overall.

[HotelVitale]

Not keeping Mikal Bridges will haunt us.

Shake it off, bud, every team makes a ton of draft mistakes along the way. Plus Bridges turned out to be more or less the best version of himself, and one of the picks we got for him turned into 1/2 of the Tobias trade. Nothing to feel that bad about.

No real complaints. He's just turned into a heck of a role player for the Suns. Not sure how good he'll end up being, but right now I think he can still get better which would put him in talks for an all star reserve. Either way, I'm not one to dwell on "what ifs' either. I lost many years of sleep of what ifs with Tim Duncan. I'm very high on Mattise, Shake, and Maxey. The sky definitely isn't falling with our latest draft picks. We've found a few gems. This team usually drafts very well I've noticed.

Yeah I was following the draft very closely and had every chance to watch Mikal closely (Nova connection!), but I was still just lukewarm on him as a pro. Played hard, good size, and the shot looked reliable but he was also stiff and seemed outright bad at anything beyond catch-and-shoot and straight lanes to the cup. I remember writing 'I like him like everyone does but could easily see him just being a regular good-sized body in the league.' I have every reason to feel bad about that but I've been watching drafts for 20 years and sometimes players surprise you or can just DO it in a way that you can't really predict. I think those were legit weaknesses and Bridges was able to work through them.

Like you said, we've been blessed a few times late in the draft with the opposite happening and guys having intangibles etc that got them past weaknesses. And the draft gods are always flighty, no one keeps looking great for long. (Remember the Warriors, in the midst the greatest draft runs of all time in nabbing Steph, Klay, and Draymond, also blew two top-7 picks on Ekpe Udoh and Harrison Barnes. And the Thunder in their amazing draft run of KD-Harden-Westbrook-Ibaka, also blew multiple 1sts to trade up for Cole Aldrich, traded off Eric Bledsoe, and then blew the next couple lotto picks they had.)

Sidenote: that's what I loved so much about the Process, it was very clear-eyed about the draft involving a ton of good luck in addition to solid scouting and didn't have excessive/rash confidence in its drafting ability. The whole premise was to give yourself a lot of cracks at the draft and not need you to get super lucky or string together a perfect (lucky) run to become a promising team.

[Eyeamok]

Excuse me sir, in every programming class I have ever attended, greater than or equal to is represented as '>='
jussayin!

Imjustsaying you are right ! Too much JS in my head.

[Eyeamok]

#we've hit all time nerdiness


(idk how to comment in ES6)

It's just a Javascript compiler, so the same as reg JS:

//we've hit all time nerdiness

or if you want multi-line:
/*
we've hit
all time
nerdiness

and we're trading Ben this offseason
*/

You know no one will ever see your comment...Imjustsaying.

[Ferry Avenue]

I would say the Sixers are likely toast at this point. As soon as Joel Embiid publicly identifies an ailment from which he's suffering, which he did last night, the table is set for him to play poorly and for the team to fall off of a cliff.

Consider that he could keep all of that to himself, simply say "I had a bad game and need to play better," and march on, regardless of what that may entail for him. He chooses to publicly identify his ailments, however, and so he now has a built-in handicap to explain any deficiency in his performance from here forward. Essentially he now has "permission" to play poorly, and don't be shocked if his performance follows suit.

Before you say "wait, but his knee is bad," consider that he blamed the last-second missed layup last night on his knee. A 7 foot 270-pound player blames a missed layup on his knee. That's going too far folks. That tells me he's making his knee far too big an umbrella to put things under, and so from here forward he's got a built-in "handicap" to blame things on.

He's done. He doesn't like the night-in, night-out responsibility of leading a team through the playoffs and elevating his game to the necessary level over that period of time, against the top competition in the league. Eventually he shrinks from it, and last night was the start. It'll only get worse from here on.

This is why Embiid liked Jimmy Butler so much -- Butler took on the mantle of "team leader" in the playoffs, thus allowing Embiid a "backseat" role. Embiid doesn't want to be in the driver's seat. He can do it for a while, and then he's simply done with it. That was last night. He's done.

[76ciology]

Haha guys relax. Its just one game.

Embiid is doing something special. His greatness makes up so much for that one game night off of his.

We just have to find a way to compete when he’s not playing.

[Ferry Avenue]

Haha guys relax. Its just one game.

Embiid is doing something special. His greatness makes up so much for that one game night off of his.

We just have to find a way to compete when he’s not playing.

You have to ask yourself why a guy with a supposed ailing knee showed virtually no emotion toward his teammates in a game like last night's. Why wasn't he exhorting them to battle back against Atlanta's charge? His knee doesn't explain why he was a corpse emotionally speaking, both with his teammates and on the court in general.

I think Embiid is able to ratchet himself up emotionally for only so long, and then his "wick burns out" so to speak.