Quick stat snapshot of where the Sixers are after 3 games

[Zumramania]

Man, that really annoys me. I liked Bassey more than Reed. But i think both were guys that we could have easily developed while trying to win. Reed playing the 4 next to embiid is like the 'duh' move we refuse to try. And Bassey off the bench makes so much sense. /cry

Unfortunately you could have seen it coming once they brought in Harrell. And some people here were praising it as a great move lol. Even Morey recently said they would have not been able to sign Harrell without Doc. It turns out that we see the exact same scenario playing out as in the Clippers, except: a) Harrell seems to be a worse player now than back then and b) we got rid of Bassey.

So instead of two energetic bigs in Reed and Bassey we are playing two midget washed up "centers" in Harrell and Tucker. The sad thing about that is that Harrell and Tucker could potentially be very useful to us, just not in the roles and minutes that are currently assigned to them...

An even sadder thing is that an actual NBA coach does not see it or is too tied up in nepotism and his ideas about how winning basketball should look like. Our coach should surprise us with new insights and fresh lineups like it happens to be with other Eastern conference top teams and their coaches, so this is all really depressing, maybe the lowest point in my Sixer fandom.

[Kobblehead]

We have too much 6’5” and below guys trying to play defense like 6’9” guys.

Describes Tucker to a tee. Blame Daryl for that one. Most of us were a resounding "hell no" to Tucker.

[Jailblazers7]

I wonder what our internal team politics looks like right now. Obviously, they were an absolute disaster before and they’re probably still bad. There have been too many moves where it felt like a Doc decision rather than a Morey decision. I could just be overrating Morey but a parade of washed bigs that are Doc’s favorites doesn’t feel like the moves he’d make in an unconstrained environment.

[76ciology]

I wonder what our internal team politics looks like right now. Obviously, they were an absolute disaster before and they’re probably still bad. There have been too many moves where it felt like a Doc decision rather than a Morey decision. I could just be overrating Morey but a parade of washed bigs that are Doc’s favorites doesn’t feel like the moves he’d make in an unconstrained environment.

Morey and Doc are in charge.

But the guys we got have internal arrangements between our additions and with Doc and Morey, thats why we were able to get them for cheap.

I dont think Harrell will play here if he’s going to be a third stringer for Reed. If im not mistaken he said something about this thats why he didnt sign with the Celts.

I dont think House Jr will play here if he’s going to be a third stringer for Thybulle.

I dont think Tucker will play here if he’s not promised to start.

Will it change? I think it can change if the outside noise gets too loud.

“Hey pj, we need to bench you or else i’ll get fired”- Doc

All that while we have to deal with accommodating Embiid (feed him to get 30 and slowdown the pace) and Maxey’s peeps trying to push him for a breakout season.

[76ciology]

We have too much 6’5” and below guys trying to play defense like 6’9” guys.

Describes Tucker to a tee. Blame Daryl for that one. Most of us were a resounding "hell no" to Tucker.

Im not a fan but i dont hate the Tucker move.

For me, the Tucker move makes sense if Embiid plays defense like his old self. Which clearly he cant be. Where Embiid plays defense like Bam (roam+deflect) with the Heat or Roco with the Rox (roam+deflect). It also makes sense if we play big like when Bucks played Tucker with 3 bigger guys than him.

And if that doesnt work, IMO we need to involve Reed or Thybulle. Either to replace Tucker or to bench Tobias, where I find benching Tobias just to play Tucker to not be rationale for Tucker’s defense is not that good that it can compensate benching Tobias’

But currently, its surprising that our starting 5 isnt as bad as it look at eyetest. So I’d give it more time. But i’d definitely think we need to tweak those Biid+bench 5 man unit which is killing us.

We’re neither playing small or playing big, so we’re vulnerable to any teams who play small or play big.

And if you think about it it’s been that way since 2018.

2018 Celtics played big and suffocate Biid
2019 Raps played big and outrebounded us and suffocated us (Ibaka-Siakam-Gasol)
2020 The only time experts and analytics projected us to make it to the finals when we played big with Al
2021 Hawks played big with Huerter-Galo-Collins-Capela which attacked Seth’s defense and exposed Tobi’s size

I always hear this 4 out offense that even Brett isnt a fan of because its true that it leads to lacking spacing for the shooters.

Think about it.. bring down the ball.. pnr.. entry pass.. 10 secs or less remaining.. biid iso (jab step x100).. double comes.. kickout.. 5-6 secs remaining.. defenders rotate and scramble.. there are 3 lengthy guys at the arc who can rotate anywhere and delay the ball movement.

Until we change our mindset from these 4 out offense world, our team will be designed for Embiid to average 30 than for our team to win the championship. And that’s why the Bucks will always be better than us.

Bucks play to win games, while we play to win games with Embiid as alpha.

[76ciology]

Teams allowing the highest 2-point FG% against:

1. HOU—59.2%
2. PHI—57.9%
3. DET—57.3%
4. SAS—56.9%
5. NOP—56.3%

Lowest 2-point FG% against:

1. MIL: 47.6%
2. PHX: 49.0%
3. NYK: 49.1%
4. BRK: 49.4%
5. MIN: 49.6%

Worst 2-point FG% allowed of the last 10 years: ‘21-‘22 HOU—57.0%

Total Rebounds: 30th
Defensive Rebounds: 26th
Offensive Rebounds: 30th
Rebound%: 29th
Offensive Rebound%: 30th

[Negrodamus]

Don’t worry all:

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[Kobblehead]

Update:
- 30th in rebounds
- 20th in blocks
- 17th in assists

A lot of the passing issues seems to be Doc's system. We have guys at different positions that are good natural playmakers. We should be better at ball movement and finding open guys.

The rebounds and blocks thing is squarely on the shoulders of P.J. Tucker, though. He's a huge liability at PF at 28+ mpg.

Reed would solve both of those issues in one swoop, but his lack of jumpshot improvement has made the thought of him playing next to Embiid not even cross Doc's mind.

[76ciology]

Update:
- 30th in rebounds
- 20th in blocks
- 17th in assists

A lot of the passing issues seems to be Doc's system. We have guys at different positions that are good natural playmakers. We should be better at ball movement and finding open guys.

The rebounds and blocks thing is squarely on the shoulders of P.J. Tucker, though. He's a huge liability at PF at 28+ mpg.

Reed would solve both of those issues in one swoop, but his lack of jumpshot improvement has made the thought of him playing next to Embiid not even cross Doc's mind.

Assists part, i think we’re adjusting with it based on the Suns game.

Rebounding, hopeless. Our best chance is to put magnets paired to the hands of Tucker and Tobias. Our second best rebounder after Embiid is James Harden.

Blocks, i think we’ll deal with this by stopping people getting to the paint (notice the high volume of guys taking charges) and steals.

[76ciology]

Don’t worry all:

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[76ciology]

Another team we can look at. They play similar set-up with Warriors, Cavs and Jazz.

The Blazers (this franchise has been trying to imitate the Warriors).

They run a 3 guard unit of Dame-Simmons-Hart. Then they have two guys who can defend the paint with Jerami Grant and Nurkic

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There are two trend I see in the league right now.

Three guard with double big. Where the double big makes up for the lack of size of the three guards.

5 man PF line-ups of the Raptors and Magic. This allows them to switch anything and attack the weak link on defense.

Bucks and Celts plays in between these two set-ups.

Our best case is what the Suns was in 2020-2021. When they faced the bucks, bucks switched everything and was too big for the Suns to beat in a 7 game series.

[76ciology]

Philadelphia ISOers

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[76ciology]

It’s still early in the season but Sixers leading three-point shooters thus far

-Georges Niang: 50% (27 for 54)
-PJ Tucker: 45.5% (10 for 22)
-Tobias Harris: 44.4% (28 for 63)
-Tyrese Maxey: 41.8% (33 for 79)
-De’Anthony Melton: 34.1% (15 for 44)
-James Harden: 33% (20 for 60)

[Kobblehead]

We have a lot of shooting on this roster.

Niang and Maxey haven proven to be consistent, 40% knockdown guys for their career.

Harden, Harris, Melton, Tucker, House and Milton are all career 36% shooting guys.

Which makes it all the more baffling that our offense is so trash at assists. We have shooters all over the floor that can convert assists if our playmakers would just do a better job at finding the open guys. Or if Doc allowed them to and stopped with the isocentric nonsense.

[Mik317]

lot of standstill shooters with some of them only shooting from the corners.

also Harden is probably the only good passer on the roster with Biid somehow being in the top 3 by default lol.

The team would open up with the white whale of a wing movement shooter who doesn't get wrecked on defense (not even sure this player exists lol) but just adding a guy who can run off screens, catch and shoot would open up a bit. Many of our shooters have to be set and ready before they even think about shooting. Niang was like that but has begun to take some; as has Tobias but thats not really their game.

BUT also sometimes dudes be open but Biid/ Maxey and even Harden are too busy trying to get a shot up.

[Kobblehead]

Movement shooters tend to be a little high maintenance, though. They require plays run for them, and some of them even go rogues 3-5 times a game with bad pullup jumpers.

[FlyingArrow]

We have too much 6’5” and below guys trying to play defense like 6’9” guys.

Describes Tucker to a tee. Blame Daryl for that one. Most of us were a resounding "hell no" to Tucker.

I didn't quite get the Tucker thing tbh. At 37 and his height, I didn't understand why he has such a great reputation. But he does hit his corner 3s at a great rate. The most important thing to me, though, is Embiid asked for him by name. Well, technically, someone *like* Tucker. Tucker himself is as much like Tucker as you can get. Keeping Embiid happy is pretty important. That said - Tucker seems more suited to a bench role and bench minutes.

[76ciology]

REPORT: NBA teams are ready to re-engage on Kevin Durant trade talks with the Brooklyn Nets soon.

(via Zach Lowe)

[76ciology]

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[Jailblazers7]

The results on that graph check out but “Playmaking Talent” sounds like the most fictional metric ever.

KAT has been a really impressive passer for the Wolves so far. I’d be so tempted to dump DLo for a 3&D wing and play through a high/low game with Towns as point forward. Wolves should just lean in super hard on defense and bank on KAT/Edwards to generate enough points to make it work.