Joel: unchained.

[GoSixersBro]

the rebounding issues is about him not liking to jump in traffic, contesting a lot in the drop, being spoiled that Ben was the rebound guy lol, and a general lack of focus on that aspect. He had this one game in which he made a point to attack the glass...and then just stopped lo.

Agree, and maybe it is also an energy conservation thing either he considers or is coached to be mindful of?

Like many have said on this forum over the last few weeks, if he put his energy to be more of a Dwight Howard for our team rather than try to be a Kobe the team would be better off.

(I know that analogy might trigger some, but I mean focusing more on mastering the center duties and stop being this center-wing hybrid thing)

[Mik317]

he can go Kobe Mode...it just can't be the whole offense.

Kobe could barley go kobe mode full time lol.

Luka runs into this same issue in which his teammates are out of rhythm while he gets his and if he's off, there is no come back. Its great in theory to have you best guy just carry the offense all the time..but its not feasible most of the time. Like the most recent example of it was the Kawhii raptors but even then he needed New Dad FVF to go off sometimes or Lowry or Pascal if only to let him get some rest. People are going nuts over Jimmy...and he is balling but dudes like Vincent and Strus are making it hard for Boston to get the ball out of Jimmy's hands because they need to be ready for those guys too. And none of those guys are counted on to be the defensive anchor as well.

The Harden pairing makes sense on paper but not when you still have to use Biid for most of those sets and its basically the same thing... at least with Ben the IDEA was the second method was fastbreaks so a different look..with Harden its still slow methodical picking your spot into a contested look or foul....which eats up possesions and relegates everyone else to standstill shooters.

Next coach needs to come up with a system that features different looks and some that don't require Biid for them to run. The Kobe Iso **** should be the third or fourth option at best. Which will not allow the defense to hone in on it as hard IMO.

[Bum Adebayo]

Embiid has always cared about scoring a lot of points, getting paid and winning the MVP, not much more, he has never cared much for playoffs as it is more difficult and demanding, I expect the start of his decline starting next year, he has already has all three, he is a happy man now and will put in less effort, let's remember his 2022-2023 Regular Season because it will be the highlight of his career for sure, all will go downhill from here.

[76ciology]

Embiid shot 33pts on 55% shooting in reg season. He wasn’t just padding his scoring numbers, but he was also reliable in crunch time.

the scheme we run with the roster we have is as good as it gets, relative to embiid. You can improve some areas but it will lead to bigger setbacks. For instance, you can add lenght but you will sacrifice shooting. You can add pace, but Biid will be less effective because of his conditioning. You can add cutting, but it leads to less 3s and our guys are not cutters. It was already optimal.

Its just that he has really poor durability and conditioning. He can’t maintain the same level of performance in the playoffs. And he cracks like a little boy in really high pressure. He’s never an alpha. Look at how he carries himself like a little brother when he’s around Jimmy. While Harden is just not a good player to fix this issues.

Can it improve? Maybe only play him 40 games in regular season? Be DETERMINED to win the championship above everything?

Spoiler:

4:50-5:10

if you want something, you need to make it your number one priority.

Watch on YouTube

thats how i look at him and our situation.

[Ferry Avenue]

Embiid shot 33pts on 55% shooting in reg season. He wasn’t just padding his scoring numbers, but he was also reliable in crunch time.

the scheme we run with the roster we have is as good as it gets, relative to embiid. You can improve some areas but it will lead to bigger setbacks. For instance, you can add lenght but you will sacrifice shooting. You can add pace, but Biid will be less effective because of his conditioning. You can add cutting, but it leads to less 3s and our guys are not cutters. It was already optimal.

Its just that he has really poor durability and conditioning. He can’t maintain the same level of performance in the playoffs. And he cracks like a little boy in really high pressure. He’s never an alpha. Look at how he carries himself like a little brother when he’s around Jimmy. While Harden is just not a good player to fix this issues.

Can it improve? Maybe only play him 40 games in regular season.

Maybe im wrong. But thats how i look at him and our situation.

Again using the football analogy what I hear you saying is that "we have the best running back in the league and the best run blocking offensive line blocking for him, and the offense is built around him." The problem there of course is that any great passing team will likely defeat that team in the playoffs, because it isn't built around the needs of a running back, and passing wins.

[youngcrev]

he can go Kobe Mode...it just can't be the whole offense.

Kobe could barley go kobe mode full time lol.

Luka runs into this same issue in which his teammates are out of rhythm while he gets his and if he's off, there is no come back. Its great in theory to have you best guy just carry the offense all the time..but its not feasible most of the time. Like the most recent example of it was the Kawhii raptors but even then he needed New Dad FVF to go off sometimes or Lowry or Pascal if only to let him get some rest. People are going nuts over Jimmy...and he is balling but dudes like Vincent and Strus are making it hard for Boston to get the ball out of Jimmy's hands because they need to be ready for those guys too. And none of those guys are counted on to be the defensive anchor as well.

The Harden pairing makes sense on paper but not when you still have to use Biid for most of those sets and its basically the same thing... at least with Ben the IDEA was the second method was fastbreaks so a different look..with Harden its still slow methodical picking your spot into a contested look or foul....which eats up possesions and relegates everyone else to standstill shooters.

Next coach needs to come up with a system that features different looks and some that don't require Biid for them to run. The Kobe Iso **** should be the third or fourth option at best. Which will not allow the defense to hone in on it as hard IMO.

A good start for the next coach would be: stop letting Harden burn 8 seconds taking the ball up the floor, and stop burning another 8 trying to make an entry pass while Embiid gets pushed further and further from the basket.

Force that double earlier in the clock and make the defense chase until they get burned out

[Ferry Avenue]

he can go Kobe Mode...it just can't be the whole offense.

Kobe could barley go kobe mode full time lol.

Luka runs into this same issue in which his teammates are out of rhythm while he gets his and if he's off, there is no come back. Its great in theory to have you best guy just carry the offense all the time..but its not feasible most of the time. Like the most recent example of it was the Kawhii raptors but even then he needed New Dad FVF to go off sometimes or Lowry or Pascal if only to let him get some rest. People are going nuts over Jimmy...and he is balling but dudes like Vincent and Strus are making it hard for Boston to get the ball out of Jimmy's hands because they need to be ready for those guys too. And none of those guys are counted on to be the defensive anchor as well.

The Harden pairing makes sense on paper but not when you still have to use Biid for most of those sets and its basically the same thing... at least with Ben the IDEA was the second method was fastbreaks so a different look..with Harden its still slow methodical picking your spot into a contested look or foul....which eats up possesions and relegates everyone else to standstill shooters.

Next coach needs to come up with a system that features different looks and some that don't require Biid for them to run. The Kobe Iso **** should be the third or fourth option at best. Which will not allow the defense to hone in on it as hard IMO.

A good start for the next coach would be: stop letting Harden burn 8 seconds taking the ball up the floor, and stop burning another 8 trying to make an entry pass while Embiid gets pushed further and further from the basket.

Force that double earlier in the clock and make the defense chase until they get burned out

I'll toast to that, definitely.

[Arsenal]

he can go Kobe Mode...it just can't be the whole offense.

Kobe could barley go kobe mode full time lol.

Luka runs into this same issue in which his teammates are out of rhythm while he gets his and if he's off, there is no come back. Its great in theory to have you best guy just carry the offense all the time..but its not feasible most of the time. Like the most recent example of it was the Kawhii raptors but even then he needed New Dad FVF to go off sometimes or Lowry or Pascal if only to let him get some rest. People are going nuts over Jimmy...and he is balling but dudes like Vincent and Strus are making it hard for Boston to get the ball out of Jimmy's hands because they need to be ready for those guys too. And none of those guys are counted on to be the defensive anchor as well.

The Harden pairing makes sense on paper but not when you still have to use Biid for most of those sets and its basically the same thing... at least with Ben the IDEA was the second method was fastbreaks so a different look..with Harden its still slow methodical picking your spot into a contested look or foul....which eats up possesions and relegates everyone else to standstill shooters.

Next coach needs to come up with a system that features different looks and some that don't require Biid for them to run. The Kobe Iso **** should be the third or fourth option at best. Which will not allow the defense to hone in on it as hard IMO.

A good start for the next coach would be: stop letting Harden burn 8 seconds taking the ball up the floor, and stop burning another 8 trying to make an entry pass while Embiid gets pushed further and further from the basket.

Force that double earlier in the clock and make the defense chase until they get burned out

So much this. Tired of the sluggish ISO-centric offense. I'd hope MDA could bring the "7 Seconds or Less" philosophy, but he also catered to Harden's ISO-based offense in Houston.

[Jailblazers7]

I kinda think Embiid is what he is at this point. My biggest hope is that he drops 15-20 lbs in the offseason & gets his conditioning right. You can see his mental mistakes compound any time he starts getting fatigued. Getting in better shape will at least put him in a position to succeed in a playoff environment.

He doesn’t leverage his size effectively anyways so he might as well drop those lbs & save his knees.

[Mik317]

you keep saying the scheme we ran was perfect when it just isn't and never was lol.

There was no movement. The shooters can only shoot when they have copious amount of time and space ;with some of them only being able to shoot from certain spots. Our main set was a slow predictable pnr in which once you had time to scheme against it in a 7 game series, you could just time it or switch it with the second set being a Harden stepback. The system was ran all year was always fools gold. Perhaps that is an indictment on Biid....but it was flawed from jump IMO.

Adding length isn't going to hurt because we never had any lol. Obviously you don't want brick layers out there but just dudes willing to launch while also being long enough to hang on defense is fine to me. The pace thing was always stupid too because you don't need your center to lead the break, he can trail and ideally if the break stall, you can get into your set with more than 14 seconds left on the clock any way. AND pace doesn't mean 7 seconds or less anyway. The key is to lessen the load on Biid on both sides of the court, so when playoffs come around he doesn't have to be everything and perhaps that will lessen the potential flameout sad boi hours because he isn't the whole damn thing.

I am not sure why this is a hard concept for people to grasp. I get it you want your star to be this mythical guy who never has an off night and can overcome everything when that is just simply not how it works and never has. Better players than Biid also require specific set ups to help mask their flaws. Jokic is mid on defense for a center, they surround him with forwards with length and shot blocking. Giannis has no bag; got him a PG and a shot creator; and to lessen his load on defense Brook and at the time PJ. Steph's gravity is his biggest strength, the Warriors often employs another great shooter or two next to him to enhance that AND Draymond allows Curry to run around instead of having to always be on ball; and he is hidden well on defense via his copious amount of wings. The Kawhi chip; they allowed Kawhi to take whole weeks off and formed a squad that could live with or without Kawhi; he also very rarely guarded the best player anymore to conserve energy too. I can go on and on.

Yall have this warped idea that if your star player can do the impossible then he sucks...when its more nuanced than that. Jo sucked in the playoffs this year. He has to **** hold that forever. But idk I think some of yall are just doing too much right now and considering its mostly people who never liked the guy, it feels like grave dancing lol. We aren't trading him so get it over it and lets hope for the best via trying new **** for once instead of doing the same **** with new faces IMO.

[youngcrev]

he can go Kobe Mode...it just can't be the whole offense.

Kobe could barley go kobe mode full time lol.

Luka runs into this same issue in which his teammates are out of rhythm while he gets his and if he's off, there is no come back. Its great in theory to have you best guy just carry the offense all the time..but its not feasible most of the time. Like the most recent example of it was the Kawhii raptors but even then he needed New Dad FVF to go off sometimes or Lowry or Pascal if only to let him get some rest. People are going nuts over Jimmy...and he is balling but dudes like Vincent and Strus are making it hard for Boston to get the ball out of Jimmy's hands because they need to be ready for those guys too. And none of those guys are counted on to be the defensive anchor as well.

The Harden pairing makes sense on paper but not when you still have to use Biid for most of those sets and its basically the same thing... at least with Ben the IDEA was the second method was fastbreaks so a different look..with Harden its still slow methodical picking your spot into a contested look or foul....which eats up possesions and relegates everyone else to standstill shooters.

Next coach needs to come up with a system that features different looks and some that don't require Biid for them to run. The Kobe Iso **** should be the third or fourth option at best. Which will not allow the defense to hone in on it as hard IMO.

A good start for the next coach would be: stop letting Harden burn 8 seconds taking the ball up the floor, and stop burning another 8 trying to make an entry pass while Embiid gets pushed further and further from the basket.

Force that double earlier in the clock and make the defense chase until they get burned out

So much this. Tired of the sluggish ISO-centric offense. I'd hope MDA could bring the "7 Seconds or Less" philosophy, but he also catered to Harden's ISO-based offense in Houston.

This past year 7 seconds or less remaining on the shotclock by the time they got into their set. Boom.

I'm not really even sure what he'd do.

Honestly, I think Doc had the right ideas with a lot of the guys.

Harden needs to be PnR, set up guy rather than dribble the air out of the ball, step back guy. Maxey needs to be more aggressive. Tobias needs to make quicker decisions.

And all you'd ever heard from the huddles is that they need to play with pace.

You could certainly argue he made things too Embiid centric... But Jo just won MVP, has gotten better every year under him, and did shift away from heavy post ups to finally being willing to play some PnR.

Ew, let me stop myself from this pro Doc rant.

Back on subject. I don't think they'd ever be a fast paced team centered around Jo and Harden, but you've gotta find some balance between walking the ball down the floor and easing your way into every possession. ****, just let Maxey bring it up and save yourself 3 seconds right there.

[phillynative]

he can go Kobe Mode...it just can't be the whole offense.

Kobe could barley go kobe mode full time lol.

Luka runs into this same issue in which his teammates are out of rhythm while he gets his and if he's off, there is no come back. Its great in theory to have you best guy just carry the offense all the time..but its not feasible most of the time. Like the most recent example of it was the Kawhii raptors but even then he needed New Dad FVF to go off sometimes or Lowry or Pascal if only to let him get some rest. People are going nuts over Jimmy...and he is balling but dudes like Vincent and Strus are making it hard for Boston to get the ball out of Jimmy's hands because they need to be ready for those guys too. And none of those guys are counted on to be the defensive anchor as well.

The Harden pairing makes sense on paper but not when you still have to use Biid for most of those sets and its basically the same thing... at least with Ben the IDEA was the second method was fastbreaks so a different look..with Harden its still slow methodical picking your spot into a contested look or foul....which eats up possesions and relegates everyone else to standstill shooters.

Next coach needs to come up with a system that features different looks and some that don't require Biid for them to run. The Kobe Iso **** should be the third or fourth option at best. Which will not allow the defense to hone in on it as hard IMO.

Well said

[Jailblazers7]

In terms of scheme, I think there’s a ton of low hanging fruit we can pick simply by running more DHO with Embiid & Maxey. It’s Joel’s comfort zone & Maxey has all the tools to be great at it. In these playoffs, Maxey averaged 1.33 PPP running that action. It’s such a natural addition to our offense that the next coach is gonna look like a genius by incorporating it into more sets.

I’m starting to look at Embiid as a read option style QB. He can’t be Peyton Manning calling plays at the line but he’s great at DHOs which is similar to a read option concept.

[mjkvol]

you keep saying the scheme we ran was perfect when it just isn't and never was lol.

There was no movement. The shooters can only shoot when they have copious amount of time and space ;with some of them only being able to shoot from certain spots. Our main set was a slow predictable pnr in which once you had time to scheme against it in a 7 game series, you could just time it or switch it with the second set being a Harden stepback. The system was ran all year was always fools gold. Perhaps that is an indictment on Biid....but it was flawed from jump IMO.

Adding length isn't going to hurt because we never had any lol. Obviously you don't want brick layers out there but just dudes willing to launch while also being long enough to hang on defense is fine to me. The pace thing was always stupid too because you don't need your center to lead the break, he can trail and ideally if the break stall, you can get into your set with more than 14 seconds left on the clock any way. AND pace doesn't mean 7 seconds or less anyway. The key is to lessen the load on Biid on both sides of the court, so when playoffs come around he doesn't have to be everything and perhaps that will lessen the potential flameout sad boi hours because he isn't the whole damn thing.

I am not sure why this is a hard concept for people to grasp. I get it you want your star to be this mythical guy who never has an off night and can overcome everything when that is just simply not how it works and never has. Better players than Biid also require specific set ups to help mask their flaws. Jokic is mid on defense for a center, they surround him with forwards with length and shot blocking. Giannis has no bag; got him a PG and a shot creator; and to lessen his load on defense Brook and at the time PJ. Steph's gravity is his biggest strength, the Warriors often employs another great shooter or two next to him to enhance that AND Draymond allows Curry to run around instead of having to always be on ball; and he is hidden well on defense via his copious amount of wings. The Kawhi chip; they allowed Kawhi to take whole weeks off and formed a squad that could live with or without Kawhi; he also very rarely guarded the best player anymore to conserve energy too. I can go on and on.

Yall have this warped idea that if your star player can do the impossible then he sucks...when its more nuanced than that. Jo sucked in the playoffs this year. He has to **** hold that forever. But idk I think some of yall are just doing too much right now and considering its mostly people who never liked the guy, it feels like grave dancing lol. We aren't trading him so get it over it and lets hope for the best via trying new **** for once instead of doing the same **** with new faces IMO.

Truth.

Piling on is an American tradition - actually, to quote from a great philosopher in our midst, it is really just human nature.

[Bum Adebayo]

Read on Twitter

Trade Embiid NOW lol

[phillynative]

In terms of scheme, I think there’s a ton of low hanging fruit we can pick simply by running more DHO with Embiid & Maxey. It’s Joel’s comfort zone & Maxey has all the tools to be great at it. In these playoffs, Maxey averaged 1.33 PPP running that action. It’s such a natural addition to our offense that the next coach is gonna look like a genius by incorporating it into more sets.

I’m starting to look at Embiid as a read option style QB. He can’t be Peyton Manning calling plays at the line but he’s great at DHOs which is similar to a read option concept.

Maybe the sixers can take a page out of Jokic&Murray and to lesser extent Fox&Sabonis book.

[Eyeamok]

It's funny Embiid is probably at home looking at his MVP trophy in disgust. He worked so hard for it only to basically be a no show when it counted the most, in the playoffs. Then on TV the guy you beat out is killing it every game. And you hear the chants of The real MVP" and "MVP"" whenever he steps up to shoot a free throw or during interviews at the end of the game. If Denver wins the championship there is a good chance Joker wins final's MVP. Meanwhile in your heart of heart Joel, you know you are probably the only player in the NBA that can give Joker fits on a nightly basis. Yet there you sit at home, with your MVP trophy that has an asterisk next to it. Damn has a regular season MVP trophy ever lost it's luster faster than the one Embiid won?

[ProcessDoctor]

It's funny Embiid is probably at home looking at his MVP trophy in disgust. He worked so hard for it only to basically be a no show when it counted the most, in the playoffs. Then on TV the guy you beat out is killing it every game. And you hear the chants of The real MVP" and "MVP"" whenever he steps up to shoot a free throw or during interviews at the end of the game. If Denver wins the championship there is a good chance Joker wins final's MVP. Meanwhile in your heart of heart Joel, you know you are probably the only player in the NBA that can give Joker fits on a nightly basis. Yet there you sit at home, with your MVP trophy that has an asterisk next to it. Damn has a regular season MVP trophy ever lost it's luster faster than the one Embiid won?

The Dirk MVP was pretty bad.

[LeonJordanJr24]

This team needs a true number 1 option over Embiid.

[eyeatoma]

It's funny Embiid is probably at home looking at his MVP trophy in disgust. He worked so hard for it only to basically be a no show when it counted the most, in the playoffs. Then on TV the guy you beat out is killing it every game. And you hear the chants of The real MVP" and "MVP"" whenever he steps up to shoot a free throw or during interviews at the end of the game. If Denver wins the championship there is a good chance Joker wins final's MVP. Meanwhile in your heart of heart Joel, you know you are probably the only player in the NBA that can give Joker fits on a nightly basis. Yet there you sit at home, with your MVP trophy that has an asterisk next to it. Damn has a regular season MVP trophy ever lost it's luster faster than the one Embiid won?

I think people are making this more of an issue than it was. It was devastating that we lost, and he came up small. But what are the reasons?

#1 - Injured Joel

#2 Poor conditioning form being injured

#3. Reverting to habits from years ago

#4. James Harden playoff masterclass (no showing)

#5. Doc Rivers

#6 Tatum catchign fire in the most lucky way in game 6

#7. Not going to the pick an roll, and if you were going to the pick and roll and it was being blocked/defended against well, not having a healthy alternative plan.



#1 solves itself if he just doesnt' get injured. It's truly luck of the draw. We'll just have to pray that he doesn't get hurt. It solves #2, and probably solves #3, because he can do more things, and has more lift. #4 is resolved, by either having Harden come back for a reasonable contract and have him be the clear #3, or don't resign, and then trade Tobias. #5, Doc is gone, we have an actual championship coach from the last 5 years. #6 Cs are going to look like a different team next year, I'm not concerned about them. #7 Need a more varied offense.