Playoffs: First Round Game 1 : (8) Washington Wizards @ (1) Philadelphia 76ers l Sunday l 1:00pm l NBCSP/TNT

[Murray_17]

Problem is who do trade for that second banana? Need to keep Tobi IMO, feel like if we dont' it'll be a step back.

It's not like we can get too much for tobi with that contract lol

In my opinion Tobias' is not nearly as bad as last year, with his all star level play. It's not the best contract, but not untradable by any means.

Tobias is playing great, but that contract is still an albatross and i don't think we can get too much value for it, unless we try to dump salary to make a bigger move.

It's what it is. You are sometimes forced to take contracts like that if you can't attract free agents. Look at the Bucks

[eyeatoma]

Things got tight somewhat down the stretch with Harris missing 5x in a row, but they single covered Embiid and soft doubled him which is borderline stupidity lol.
Harris played great
Embiid was Embiid
And Ben is always the vital part of the team engine just not vital to scoring/shooting

Kind like the 3x long wings (Green, Hill, Korkmaz) with Embiid/Ben

We have depth so there’s a crap ton of variations to put out there.

Man this team is legit one player away like it’s always been. Embiid 1a/1b, Ben 3rd, get the 2nd banana and everything is sweet.

Problem is who do trade for that second banana? Need to keep Tobi IMO, feel like if we dont' it'll be a step back.

LeVert would have been nice. Bogdanović who is killing it on the Hawks. Buddy Hield?

Someone who broke out with their new team like Jordan Clarkson.

None of those players are true 2nd banana level players. Levert is inefficient, Hield is a already getting old, and no thanks. Bogdanovic would be interesting if he plays like he does now.

I'd say we could go after one of Garland/Sexton from Cleveland. Obviously if Ben **** the bed then he's gone (not making the ecf). Sorry I know you like him, but those are the facts, and it was clear that it was Morey's line of thinking when he nearly traded him for Harden.

Players we could go after for a package of HIll, Green, and one of Shake/Maxey (preference would be to keep Maxey).

CJ McCollum is my number 1 target.
If Ben **** the bed, use the Harden package to try and get Lillard
Malcom Brogdon
Terry Rozier (not a 2nd banana, but he's shown a lot this year)
Zach Lavine (might need to include Maxey though)


It's sad because I truly don't see another 2nd banana available other than Beal, but I doubt he leaves. Harden was our best shot. Lavine is still possible, but we'd have to overpay.

[eyeatoma]

It's not like we can get too much for tobi with that contract lol

In my opinion Tobias' is not nearly as bad as last year, with his all star level play. It's not the best contract, but not untradable by any means.

It's what it is. You are sometimes forced to take contracts like that if you can't attract free agents. Look at the Bucks

This.

[DCasey91]

One year left off the books to with Harris’s deal.

I mean the Harris + Thybulle for CJ + Roco makes complete sense here. Thybulle/Harris would function a lot better for them (Especially with Thybulle paired with Lillard would be filth) and CJ/Roco for us, they even take on less money in the end. They have their CJ replacement if things go pair shaped in later rnds. Gotta give up something to get something deal. I think that’s the timeline that we’re one moving forward

The ballsy move would be to look at Green in this year’s draft and go Kobe/Shaq 2.0, huge risky move. But getting a potential All Star/All NBA guard for peanuts is how you circumvent the cap.

Dream scenario would be if the Kings get a top pick and we fleece them on draft night lol

[VDT]

Ben Simmons is just not THAT guy, this should be clear by now. He is still a good player but that's it, one would certainly expect much more from a player that has top 5 talent.

I think that’s the bad part about Ben. Has he squandered truly a legendary ceiling? Most likely.
Is he a bad player? Heck no. I always have him as the 3rd rank (if you want to add everything together offense/defense)
That’s my vision 3 players above him on scoring but he’s still the undisputed 3rd best player on a championship team, exactly like Green was.

If he could Hit floaters, Bank shots, Hooks, ATG driver to the rim and then shoot 34% from 3 he’d be a 6”10” Lebron and be way better then Giannis. But then you’re talking about a different player.

Still I reckon he could get 10+ Points within the first 2 quarters by taking the initiative early before everyone is set for the dog/slow bog down fight way later in the game.

Ben is Ben for better or worse.

Simmons is more impactful/useful than many people here think but he has no legendary ceiling, primarily because he has no touch whatsoever. No matter if it is shooting, floaters, hook shots or just layups he doesnt have a natural feel for it and he is just too mechanical. He has other issues also, but this luck of touch will always limit his offensive game and thus his ceiling as a player.

[syntax]

Problem is who do trade for that second banana? Need to keep Tobi IMO, feel like if we dont' it'll be a step back.

LeVert would have been nice. Bogdanović who is killing it on the Hawks. Buddy Hield?

Someone who broke out with their new team like Jordan Clarkson.

None of those players are true 2nd banana level players. Levert is inefficient, Hield is a already getting old, and no thanks. Bogdanovic would be interesting if he plays like he does now.

I'd say we could go after one of Garland/Sexton from Cleveland. Obviously if Ben **** the bed then he's gone (not making the ecf). Sorry I know you like him, but those are the facts, and it was clear that it was Morey's line of thinking when he nearly traded him for Harden.

Players we could go after for a package of HIll, Green, and one of Shake/Maxey (preference would be to keep Maxey).

CJ McCollum is my number 1 target.
If Ben **** the bed, use the Harden package to try and get Lillard
Malcom Brogdon
Terry Rozier (not a 2nd banana, but he's shown a lot this year)
Zach Lavine (might need to include Maxey though)


It's sad because I truly don't see another 2nd banana available other than Beal, but I doubt he leaves. Harden was our best shot. Lavine is still possible, but we'd have to overpay.

Toby is the 2nd Banana. The guys you are talking about are borderline stars. Brogdon's salary is 20mil. CJ you are dreaming, 30mil and he's older than Hield.

Buddy Hield is 28.

Fournier is 29 and all it took was a 2nd round pick. He scored almost 20ppg for Orlando last year.

Sexton is garbage look at his metrics.

Talk Lonzo Ball is on the way out.

[syntax]

Ben Simmons is just not THAT guy, this should be clear by now. He is still a good player but that's it, one would certainly expect much more from a player that has top 5 talent.

I think that’s the bad part about Ben. Has he squandered truly a legendary ceiling? Most likely.
Is he a bad player? Heck no. I always have him as the 3rd rank (if you want to add everything together offense/defense)
That’s my vision 3 players above him on scoring but he’s still the undisputed 3rd best player on a championship team, exactly like Green was.

If he could Hit floaters, Bank shots, Hooks, ATG driver to the rim and then shoot 34% from 3 he’d be a 6”10” Lebron and be way better then Giannis. But then you’re talking about a different player.

Still I reckon he could get 10+ Points within the first 2 quarters by taking the initiative early before everyone is set for the dog/slow bog down fight way later in the game.

Ben is Ben for better or worse.

Simmons is more impactful/useful than many people here think but he has no legendary ceiling, primarily because he has no touch whatsoever. No matter if it is shooting, floaters, hook shots or just layups he doesnt have a natural feel for it and he is just too mechanical. He has other issues also, but this luck of touch will always limit his offensive game and thus his ceiling as a player.

Watch on YouTube

Simmons is all natural feel. That's why he is a good passer and instictively good on defense. He does lack touch around the rim though.

[DCasey91]

Ben Simmons is just not THAT guy, this should be clear by now. He is still a good player but that's it, one would certainly expect much more from a player that has top 5 talent.

I think that’s the bad part about Ben. Has he squandered truly a legendary ceiling? Most likely.
Is he a bad player? Heck no. I always have him as the 3rd rank (if you want to add everything together offense/defense)
That’s my vision 3 players above him on scoring but he’s still the undisputed 3rd best player on a championship team, exactly like Green was.

If he could Hit floaters, Bank shots, Hooks, ATG driver to the rim and then shoot 34% from 3 he’d be a 6”10” Lebron and be way better then Giannis. But then you’re talking about a different player.

Still I reckon he could get 10+ Points within the first 2 quarters by taking the initiative early before everyone is set for the dog/slow bog down fight way later in the game.

Ben is Ben for better or worse.

Simmons is more impactful/useful than many people here think but he has no legendary ceiling, primarily because he has no touch whatsoever. No matter if it is shooting, floaters, hook shots or just layups he doesnt have a natural feel for it and he is just too mechanical. He has other issues also, but this luck of touch will always limit his offensive game and thus his ceiling as a player.

As weird as it sounds I think Ben does have the foundations to be a better shooter then Giannis is right now. It’s just the shots he takes leaves a lot to be desired. Him and Thybulle’s wrist action (Same with Green but he knows what is what with his shooting) is bunk atm hence the screwball for Ben and Thybulle’s inconsistencies since his College days. Giannis flashed really good potential as a shooter in his early days then went overboard it’s almost robotic now. Less so recently but the fluidity is lacking.

At least in his rookie year he took X amount of shots from outside the restriction area then the next two years didn’t even equal his rookie season it went down. Embiid/Ben is going to get you 50 wins per season because of the talent might as well learn to improve ones game in real time. That’s the thing that irks me the most. Don’t want to look into the past too much but there was one game I think it was his 5/6th in his rookie season against the Rockets where he took around 5 midrange shots hit a few I was thinking to myself if he keeps improving on that aspect he’s MVP caliber.

[ProcessDoctor]

One year left off the books to with Harris’s deal.

I mean the Harris + Thybulle for CJ + Roco makes complete sense here. Thybulle/Harris would function a lot better for them (Especially with Thybulle paired with Lillard would be filth) and CJ/Roco for us, they even take on less money in the end. They have their CJ replacement if things go pair shaped in later rnds. Gotta give up something to get something deal. I think that’s the timeline that we’re one moving forward

The ballsy move would be to look at Green in this year’s draft and go Kobe/Shaq 2.0, huge risky move. But getting a potential All Star/All NBA guard for peanuts is how you circumvent the cap.

Dream scenario would be if the Kings get a top pick and we fleece them on draft night lol

What if we kept Harris and traded Ben for CJ/Roco/picks?

CJ/Hill/Maxey
Green/Curry/Milton
Covington/Thybulle/Joe
Harris/FA/FRP
Embiid/Howard/Reed

[DCasey91]

You can see that Maxey has made improvements (feet positioning on the shot to get more power) in such a small amount of time. Even Milton still hasn’t worked out his own kinks. Heck even Saric you could tell straight away what was up.

[DCasey91]

One year left off the books to with Harris’s deal.

I mean the Harris + Thybulle for CJ + Roco makes complete sense here. Thybulle/Harris would function a lot better for them (Especially with Thybulle paired with Lillard would be filth) and CJ/Roco for us, they even take on less money in the end. They have their CJ replacement if things go pair shaped in later rnds. Gotta give up something to get something deal. I think that’s the timeline that we’re one moving forward

The ballsy move would be to look at Green in this year’s draft and go Kobe/Shaq 2.0, huge risky move. But getting a potential All Star/All NBA guard for peanuts is how you circumvent the cap.

Dream scenario would be if the Kings get a top pick and we fleece them on draft night lol

What if we kept Harris and traded Ben for CJ/Roco/picks?

CJ/Hill/Maxey
Green/Curry/Milton
Covington/Thybulle/Joe
Harris/FA/FRP
Embiid/Howard/Reed

I just like the Embiid/CJ/Ben trio more personally the balance there is super great. Green might go once FA is upon us a lot of contending teams would want him. Ben has great value on the defensive end that Harris can’t acquire and CJ being the 2nd option I think the function would work out better.
I do like the 2x 3&D Wings though. But having one ball-handler/scorer/shooter who isn’t a assist maker/distributor that leaves Ben to operate more in his role that he’s comfortable with.
CJ props up both Embiid/Simmons real well.

[eyeatoma]

LeVert would have been nice. Bogdanović who is killing it on the Hawks. Buddy Hield?

Someone who broke out with their new team like Jordan Clarkson.

None of those players are true 2nd banana level players. Levert is inefficient, Hield is a already getting old, and no thanks. Bogdanovic would be interesting if he plays like he does now.

I'd say we could go after one of Garland/Sexton from Cleveland. Obviously if Ben **** the bed then he's gone (not making the ecf). Sorry I know you like him, but those are the facts, and it was clear that it was Morey's line of thinking when he nearly traded him for Harden.

Players we could go after for a package of HIll, Green, and one of Shake/Maxey (preference would be to keep Maxey).

CJ McCollum is my number 1 target.
If Ben **** the bed, use the Harden package to try and get Lillard
Malcom Brogdon
Terry Rozier (not a 2nd banana, but he's shown a lot this year)
Zach Lavine (might need to include Maxey though)


It's sad because I truly don't see another 2nd banana available other than Beal, but I doubt he leaves. Harden was our best shot. Lavine is still possible, but we'd have to overpay.

Toby is the 2nd Banana. The guys you are talking about are borderline stars. Brogdon's salary is 20mil. CJ you are dreaming, 30mil and he's older than Hield.

Buddy Hield is 28.

Fournier is 29 and all it took was a 2nd round pick. He scored almost 20ppg for Orlando last year.

Sexton is garbage look at his metrics.

Talk Lonzo Ball is on the way out.

McCollum without a doubt is a better scorer than Tobi and would be a perennial all star if the West wasn't so deep.

Hield is also a defensive sieve and incredibly streaky. He would be good, but not for the package I mentioned. I'd only give up that package for a legitimate player who could be a 2nd banana or an all-star calibre player.

Lonzo is good but again, not for that package.

Agreed about Sexton, just trying to figure out who could be available. Think the Cavs love Garland, who I would love to have.

[syntax]

None of those players are true 2nd banana level players. Levert is inefficient, Hield is a already getting old, and no thanks. Bogdanovic would be interesting if he plays like he does now.

I'd say we could go after one of Garland/Sexton from Cleveland. Obviously if Ben **** the bed then he's gone (not making the ecf). Sorry I know you like him, but those are the facts, and it was clear that it was Morey's line of thinking when he nearly traded him for Harden.

Players we could go after for a package of HIll, Green, and one of Shake/Maxey (preference would be to keep Maxey).

CJ McCollum is my number 1 target.
If Ben **** the bed, use the Harden package to try and get Lillard
Malcom Brogdon
Terry Rozier (not a 2nd banana, but he's shown a lot this year)
Zach Lavine (might need to include Maxey though)


It's sad because I truly don't see another 2nd banana available other than Beal, but I doubt he leaves. Harden was our best shot. Lavine is still possible, but we'd have to overpay.

Toby is the 2nd Banana. The guys you are talking about are borderline stars. Brogdon's salary is 20mil. CJ you are dreaming, 30mil and he's older than Hield.

Buddy Hield is 28.

Fournier is 29 and all it took was a 2nd round pick. He scored almost 20ppg for Orlando last year.

Sexton is garbage look at his metrics.

Talk Lonzo Ball is on the way out.

McCollum without a doubt is a better scorer than Tobi and would be a perennial all star if the West wasn't so deep.

Hield is also a defensive sieve and incredibly streaky. He would be good, but not for the package I mentioned. I'd only give up that package for a legitimate player who could be a 2nd banana or an all-star calibre player.

Lonzo is good but again, not for that package.

Agreed about Sexton, just trying to figure out who could be available. Think the Cavs love Garland, who I would love to have.

I think wait and see is the approach. Don't do a Bucks and give up 5 first rounders if you still won't win it all.

[eyeatoma]

Toby is the 2nd Banana. The guys you are talking about are borderline stars. Brogdon's salary is 20mil. CJ you are dreaming, 30mil and he's older than Hield.

Buddy Hield is 28.

Fournier is 29 and all it took was a 2nd round pick. He scored almost 20ppg for Orlando last year.

Sexton is garbage look at his metrics.

Talk Lonzo Ball is on the way out.

McCollum without a doubt is a better scorer than Tobi and would be a perennial all star if the West wasn't so deep.

Hield is also a defensive sieve and incredibly streaky. He would be good, but not for the package I mentioned. I'd only give up that package for a legitimate player who could be a 2nd banana or an all-star calibre player.

Lonzo is good but again, not for that package.

Agreed about Sexton, just trying to figure out who could be available. Think the Cavs love Garland, who I would love to have.

I think wait and see is the approach. Don't do a Bucks and give up 5 first rounders if you still won't win it all.

True

[Jimmy Recard]

Beal's a loser, I'm sorry to say about such a man

Beal, bro, you're a loser

Is it me, or is Beal kinda weird? Ie his reactions towards his surroundings and interactions with other players and the crowd.

He's a textbook loser

Damn three times a loser why the salt? Didn’t like him mocking your fans? They seemed to be entertained by it.

Anyway, good luck rest of the way. Rooting for you guys to take down the Nets.

[eyeatoma]

Beal's a loser, I'm sorry to say about such a man

Beal, bro, you're a loser

Is it me, or is Beal kinda weird? Ie his reactions towards his surroundings and interactions with other players and the crowd.

He's a textbook loser

Damn three times a loser why the salt? Didn’t like him mocking your fans? They seemed to be entertained by it.

Anyway, good luck rest of the way. Rooting for you guys to take down the Nets.

He was joking around lol.

[dlts20]

The Wiz ended the season really strongly, they are not the pushovers they were early in the season. We should beat them, but it will not be a cakewalk and as long as it doesn't get too drawn out, being challenged in this round won't be an altogether bad thing for the Sixers putting their playoff run into gear.

Honestly, I would be more prepared for a tough series if the Wizards had a stout defense. But they're swiss cheese. This should be a 4-0 series with a large margin of victory. We just played really poorly defensively today. And obviously we shot poorly from three for the majority of the game.

Wiz have the 7th best defense in the NBA since April 1st

[Jhawk03]

This game thread is so full of emotions, but I'll make this short.

The Sixers are a #1 seed for the 3rd time in over 40 years. Let that sink in.

Two words, legalized gambling, let that sink in.

Yall better man tf up or invest in pills, razors, alcohol, bleach or whatever it's gonna take to get you through this playoff run.

[Stribor]

I honestly think we sweep this. Would be surprised if they get a single win.

[76ciology]

We controlled the game from start to end. Fantastic coaching by doc. His rotation was superb.

What is the rotation, going forward? I thought the direction was cloudy.

Supposed to be that way. Its on a case by case basis.

But you can see we have many cards to counter depending on situations.

I’ll re-watch the game again but I think I saw Ghill in the place of curry ending the game.

Then I believe when Tobi was teaching Ben on how to score like an allstar, Doc sat Biid then have 5 man units geared towards a Tobi centric offense.

I also like how Doc sees a window in playing maxey when ish was in the game.

We also saw a 4 guard with Biid unit when Wiz was playing small and zoning hard.

Tobi and Biid were playing like vets also like they took turns on their scoring runs. You dont see Biid forcing his way when Tobi was on fire. Ben played according to his role and I thought he played like a superstar in the context of his role.

The last thing you need in the playoffs is being predictable. No structured 5 man unit or continually force feeding Embiid.

The best way is to go where there’s least pressure. And have a counter in every situation.

We won this game from the tip off. And never played near full gear until the 2nd half. Pacing. Its a superior team having total control of the game.