Sixers @ Celtics - Preseason Game 3

[theo42]

A few of positives i took away...
1. Between Fultz and Simmons they took 15 free throws. That is only going to get better the more they play and get a name for themselves. Now they just have to figure out how to make them lol.
2. Korkmaz is going to be a heck of a player and may help this year.
3. Stauskas is officially out...no way they keep him.
4. Mcconnell is a bad man who will have a nice role on this team off the bench.
5. Simmons and Fultz both showed flashes of what they could be. They just need to do it more often and consistently.
6. We will have our center piece Game 1.

[spikeslovechild]

The excuses end this year for Brown. Team looks disorganized in both games if coach can't get the team playing organized basketball we need to find a coach who can.

[KrazySixersD]

theres no way i believe he is shooting ft's like that because of his shoulder

i dont believe that because i cant believe our team would be stupid enough to play him in a preseason game if his shoulder was hurting him that much

then again, its us... i dont know what to believe

i just hate everything i see

[76ciology]

Fultz is weird. 1.) his shooting is weirder than Lonzo. 2.) hasn’t he realized that his style of attacking to the rim isn’t working? You can’t attack straight up, even LeBron has a hard time doing it in the finals. Sometimes you can when you caught them off guard.

[HotelVitale]

I am just in shock at how bad offensively simmons and fultz look...if it isnt a dunk or free layup simmons aint making it, and fultz cant get his shot off around the rim either and has the ugliest most disgusting shot ive ever seen out of no where

Did we just watch the same game? The team was awful tonight but both of those guys played solid on offense, trying to attack when possible and getting to the line well. Both should've each had a nice efficient game (if they could make FTs). Are you just saying they looked like rookies? If not, you might wanna turn your wrath elsewhere (like on the fact that humans not named Furkan shot 3/22 from 3 tonight, mostly on open looks).

[76ciology]

The excuses end this year for Brown. Team looks disorganized in both games if coach can't get the team playing organized basketball we need to find a coach who can.

Yeah no more ice cream offense. No more vanilla and strawberry

[Spin Cycle]

Good game guys, good game.

[KrazySixersD]

I am just in shock at how bad offensively simmons and fultz look...if it isnt a dunk or free layup simmons aint making it, and fultz cant get his shot off around the rim either and has the ugliest most disgusting shot ive ever seen out of no where

Did we just watch the same game? The team was awful tonight but both of those guys played solid on offense, trying to attack when possible and getting to the line well. Both should've each had a nice efficient game (if they could make FTs). Are you just saying they looked like rookies? If not, you might wanna turn your wrath elsewhere (like on the fact that humans not named Furkan shot 3/22 from 3 tonight, mostly on open looks).

i expect those guys to suck

I dont expect simmons to look so awkward when he attacks the paint and tries to finish with a layup in traffic, I dont expect him to shoot awful from the FT line

I dont expect fultz to look like he has never shot a bball before

these are 2 guys that were supposed to come right in and look like they belong

I agree simmons does other things really well, but his ability to finish, shoot, defend have been awful

[JojoSlimbiid]

I mean outside of the usual frustrations of a game thread the 2 rooks have actually played about as expected.

Fultz one horrible game and one mediocre game. Looks out of control when he drives which is usual for a rookie and makes some dumb decisions also usual for a rookie. The shooting form is not helping at all though.

Ben has had I dunno if I'd even call them bad games but just awkward/uncomfortable games. His issues are more severe or less severe depending on the perspective. I think less to a degree

Outside of the Fultz shooting/form I'm not too surprised by anything those two are doing.

We might have expected Simmons to come in and look dominant due to hype and the year off but he's still a ball handler who has never played in the NBA

I am surprised about how **** everyone else looks for the most part.

[Unbreakable99]

Simmons is the new Okafor.

Read on Twitter

[HotelVitale]

I am just in shock at how bad offensively simmons and fultz look...if it isnt a dunk or free layup simmons aint making it, and fultz cant get his shot off around the rim either and has the ugliest most disgusting shot ive ever seen out of no where

Did we just watch the same game? The team was awful tonight but both of those guys played solid on offense, trying to attack when possible and getting to the line well. Both should've each had a nice efficient game (if they could make FTs). Are you just saying they looked like rookies? If not, you might wanna turn your wrath elsewhere (like on the fact that humans not named Furkan shot 3/22 from 3 tonight, mostly on open looks).

i expect those guys to suck I dont expect simmons to look so awkward when he attacks the paint and tries to finish with a layup in traffic, I dont expect him to shoot awful from the FT line I dont expect fultz to look like he has never shot a bball before these are 2 guys that were supposed to come right in and look like they belong I agree simmons does other things really well, but his ability to finish, shoot, defend have been awful

Nobody ever said that Fultz and Simmons would hop right in and look like vets from day one. They're just regular young rookies with talent, who can do some things right away and need time for the rest of their skills to work themselves into the NBA. That's exactly what they looked like today, frankly don't see anything to be surprised about how they played tonight (aside from Fultz's junk FT form).

(Also you 'expect' Dario to suck? And for our shooting wings to shoot 12% from the field?)

[sixerhp3]

You guys complaining about Simmons or Fultz (except about his shooting form) are so annoying.

Simmons has shown elite speed and strength and missed like 5 bunnies at the rim (and in other games) and a bunch of free throws. He got guys open countless times and they couldn't hit shots. He has the makings of a superstar and he has plenty of time to develop a jumper. It's his third pre-season game in which he has sat the whole fourth quarter, he's gonna come out hot this season and put up big numbers especially with better players around him (JJ, RoCo, Embiid). CHILL.

Fultz looks like a potential 20+ PPG scorer in this league if he can get his jumper back on track. He's very raw, as expected and his gonna learn how to balance out his decision/score making. I am however pissed we don't have DSJ because I think he's gonna be even better, but Fultz length is intriguing.

These guys were working on their individual skills/strengthening throughout the summer and are still getting their legs back . They need to get familiar with each others games and are definitely experimenting with some stuff out there. We're gonna be fine, it's gonna take a little patience.

RELAX.

[76ciology]

Heavy offensive game in the paint is tough, thats why most teams are very perimeter oriented.

I think we are on that path but right now Ben and Fultz doesn’t possess star caliber scoring that what stars do whenever the supporting casts struggles to shoot.

The paint is clogged, supporting casts shooters are off while Ben and Fultz doesn’t have that 20-30ppg shooting game to disrupt the defense.

I see potential in both Simmons and fultz but for now we have to be patient and acknowldege that both guys lack experience

[Simmons25]

I am just in shock at how bad offensively simmons and fultz look...if it isnt a dunk or free layup simmons aint making it, and fultz cant get his shot off around the rim either and has the ugliest most disgusting shot ive ever seen out of no where

Did we just watch the same game? The team was awful tonight but both of those guys played solid on offense, trying to attack when possible and getting to the line well. Both should've each had a nice efficient game (if they could make FTs). Are you just saying they looked like rookies? If not, you might wanna turn your wrath elsewhere (like on the fact that humans not named Furkan shot 3/22 from 3 tonight, mostly on open looks).

i expect those guys to suck

I dont expect simmons to look so awkward when he attacks the paint and tries to finish with a layup in traffic, I dont expect him to shoot awful from the FT line

I dont expect fultz to look like he has never shot a bball before

these are 2 guys that were supposed to come right in and look like they belong

I agree simmons does other things really well, but his ability to finish, shoot, defend have been awful

To be fair... those 2 guys are rookies. I expect them to be struggling adjusting to playing against men and real defense. It will take them a while to adjust to what they can and can't do and find their niche.

I expect Simmons to struggle a bit after completely missing 12 months. Most guys that have a serious injury to their knee/foot and miss a year take a good 12 months on return to get back to normal... never mind a rookie who has not played a single NBA game yet. For all amazing stuff he was doing in scrimmages that was against matador defense. The more they play and more mistakes they make the more they learn. This time last year Joel was running around like a new born calf barely able to keep upright and kept turning the ball over. Once the real stuff started and he got 10 or so games in he started to show what he could do.

What I don't expect though are others that aren't rookies and haven't missed bug chunks of time away from the game to be missing wide open shots and playing like hot garbage.

[eagereyez]

Fultz' defense has been a pleasant surprise. He is by no means a stopper or anything, but he is noticeably better than what he showed in college. I'm not worried about his shooting mechanics long term. He has the natural touch and will figure it out eventually.

Simmons' shooting has been a real disappointment. It's not just the percentages - you can tell by his form and his misses that it's just bad. Brown giving him a goal of 70% might be overly optimistic. I expect Embiid to take a ton of 3s thanks to Ben, so be prepared for the constant complaining when it happens.

Korkmaz has been another pleasant surprise. He reminds me a bit of Evan Fournier. And he's only 20 years old! Hopefully he takes Stauskas' minutes by the end of the season.

The team is going to struggle to win without Redick and Covington. The gap between them and their backups is insane. Hopefully Luwawu can make Anderson an afterthought.

[PennSports]

its okay to be disappointed in our rooks without resorting to hot takes. Simmons issues are what we already knew, he looks faster than what we thought though and his passing looks amazing still. Fultz seems to be inside his own head already with changing his own form but that pullup at the end of the game gave me a little hope. I just hope we don't have him coming off the bench, let him work through it we don't need to mess his confidence up more right now. The focus this year should be having Fultz/Simmons/Embiid playing together as much as possible. Thats it, period. They are the team, play them together dont over think it.

[76ciology]

[quote="Unbreakable99"]Simmons is the new Okafor.

Read on Twitter

I'd guess its mostly because he's playing against starters.

He'd be a great back-up player. JK

[76ciology]

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[LordCovington33]

Watch on YouTube

He was a lot smoother today. All will be good once our rooks adapt to NBA conditions.

[CoreyGallagher]

I'd guess its mostly because he's playing against starters.

He'd be a great back-up player. JK

Not sure how anybody who watched the game tonight could be more upset about his plus/minus than at the open shots he was giving to our guys that they were missing.