Playoffs!?

[mjkvol]

I wish the role players on our team got this hot. 48% from three? And our guys were consistently wide open all Celtics series because they were only focusing on Embiid, Harden and Maxey.

Better culture = higher 3 pt.% in big games.

How else can it be explained on a message board, which as we all know is a place for lazy and oversimplified-sounding explanations, not dissertations.

[GoSixersBro]

I know everyone is piling on Ferry for the culture stuff and surely it cannot be the be-all and end-all for success, but I do think it holds some water.

Making it to the league with enough talent to land 3-4 comfortable contracts to make it to your early 30's is enough for at least half the players in the league.

Sometimes watching players on other teams like Miami in the big games next to a lot of Sixer players over the years, it is obvious who are really playing to win and who seem to shrink and just shrug their shoulders.

Might be a cringey WIP caller cliche to bring up culture, but Miami has been doing something right since they drafted Wade and even when they have a down season or miss the playoffs they bounce back quickly.

[Ferry Avenue]

I know everyone is piling on Ferry for the culture stuff and surely it cannot be the be-all and end-all for success, but I do think it holds some water.

Making it to the league with enough talent to land 3-4 comfortable contracts to make it to your early 30's is enough for at least half the players in the league.

Sometimes watching players on other teams like Miami in the big games next to a lot of Sixer players over the years, it is obvious who are really playing to win and who seem to shrink and just shrug their shoulders.

Might be a cringey WIP caller cliche to bring up culture, but Miami has been doing something right since they drafted Wade and even when they have a down season or miss the playoffs they bounce back quickly.

Go to the ESPN website today and look at the video there that’s all about Miami Heat culture over the years, and you’ll see that it echoes a lot of what you’re saying here.

[Jailblazers7]

I don’t disagree that the Heat’s culture is legit & the reason they got this far. There was a good segment on the Lowe Post (I think) where they talked about the manifestations of that culture on the court.

One example was how the Heat often find opportunities at the end of the shot clock because they keep hunting for an edge until the buzzer vs other teams that might give up early & chuck up a prayer. That is an interesting way to talk about intangibles, by finding real examples from the game.

[Ferry Avenue]

I don’t disagree that the Heat’s culture is legit & the reason they got this far. There was a good segment on the Lowe Post (I think) where they talked about the manifestations of that culture on the court.

One example was how the Heat often find opportunities at the end of the shot clock because they keep hunting for an edge until the buzzer vs other teams that might give up early & chuck up a prayer. That is an interesting way to talk about intangibles, by finding real examples from the game.

Yes that’s a great way of doing it. Also when you see again the highly improbable sustained over time, it strongly suggests that non-physical factors are at play.

Tangentially related, take a look at Malone in his recent press conferences and I think you see a guy who’s wound so tight that it’s going to have a detrimental effect on his team, especially when contrasted with Spoelstra and the general Heat tenor.

[Ferry Avenue]

NBA network, Dan Issel, former Nuggets great and NBA Hall of Famer, just said that the Nuggets are the more talented team, but they are going to have to match the Heat’s toughness and grit to win the series. He noted that this was the seventh time in the playoffs that the Heat have been down 10 points or more and won the game.

[Bum Adebayo]

After all these years and people keep overrating the concept of talent and underrate the concept of culture. That's why you can't explain what Miami has been doing, you will keep saying "role players overachieving" and "unsustainable shooting" and you will keep failing miserably. It's understandable though, the process has given us zero culture to speak of, we don't know what culture means exactly, so we've been told tank and get talent Embiid hurr durr all about da talent.

[kuclas]

After all these years and people keep overrating the concept of talent and underrate the concept of culture. That's why you can't explain what Miami has been doing, you will keep saying "role players overachieving" and "unsustainable shooting" and you will keep failing miserably. It's understandable though, the process has given us zero culture to speak of, we don't know what culture means exactly, so we've been told tank and get talent Embiid hurr durr all about da talent.

Yes and no.

When your star player (embiid) is hurt the last 3 seasons in the playoffs. His peak seasons. It’s hard to win and advance.

Look what happen to Giannis in first round. I have no doubt had Giannis been Healthy bucks win the series.

Yes injuries are part of the playoffs. But injuries to mega stars really impact how the playoffs play out.

One could argue well Giannis got hurt in 2021 title run but bucks benefited from Trae young also getting injured in same series and missing a game. It evened itself out.

[LeonJordanJr24]

This team instantly gets better once Tobias Harris is traded.

Maxey ,korkmaz, McDaniels,Reed,Melton ,Springer will most likely flourish under Nurse .


Harden I'm mixed on him ... Think we need to move on quickly.

[GoSixersBro]

After all these years and people keep overrating the concept of talent and underrate the concept of culture. That's why you can't explain what Miami has been doing, you will keep saying "role players overachieving" and "unsustainable shooting" and you will keep failing miserably. It's understandable though, the process has given us zero culture to speak of, we don't know what culture means exactly, so we've been told tank and get talent Embiid hurr durr all about da talent.

Agree with most your post. You can't just stack talent together and expect to win. Reminds me of that 2011 Eagles "Dream Team".

The Process ended in 2016. Any culture related issues after Hinkie's departure / 2016 draft cannot be blamed on what the Process actually was. And if you're looking to blame the guys Hinkie selected, culture is a multi way avenue that needs to be cultivated by not only the players but the FO, coaching staff, etc.

I guess you could blame Brett Brown, but he's been gone for 3 years. New GM, new coach, new players. Still no culture.

[GoSixersBro]

This team instantly gets better once Tobias Harris is traded.

Maxey ,korkmaz, McDaniels,Reed,Melton ,Springer will most likely flourish under Nurse .


Harden I'm mixed on him ... Think we need to move on quickly.

Korkmaz is borderline terrible and needed to be launched into orbit years ago.

[Mik317]

culture matters

but more than that is the fact that most of the main cores of these teams have been the same for years. We have been a revolving door of different players because the fanbase lacks patience and the ownership wants immediate results.

Team hasn't stuck with anything more than a season and a half. Traded Dario and Cov for Jimmy. Then doubled down with Tobias. Then let Jimmy walk for Horford. Then punted on that for Danny and Seth. Then traded for Harden...now probably should let Harden walk lol. Meanwhile the Heat has basically had the same core since getting Jimmy and simply replacing shooters in that period. The Celtics have had Their main core since the start of this. Jokic and Murray have an elite combo going due to being around each other for most of their careers. Its hard to win it all with a bunch of mercenaries thrown together in one year basically. Like even that raptors team with one year of Kawhii...sans him most of those dudes played together so when it wasn't Kawhii time, they had something to go to.

its the elephant in the room tho....all of the past missteps (some of which weren't exactly the wrong move at the time IMO) have caught up to us and we have been trying to fix that ever since and probably can't at this stage. This franchise has constantly rushed forward and instead of letting things rock they quickly move onto the next plan before we are even sure if the last one truly failed. Trading for Jimmy was a great idea but IDK I wonder what would have happened if we just let that Ben/JJ/Cov/Dario/Biid unit take their licks ...or perhaps NOT trading for Tobias....or perhaps actually running it back? Nothing has been given time to breathe and it probably won't at this point because of the same reasons...dudes running the show always have something prove or have to save their jobs....which never ends well.

[FireMorey]

Culture matters, but culture is different than a lot of people think it is.

When the word culture is thrown around people associate it with attitude, work ethic, good core values, etc. And those are a factor, but the most important aspect of culture is how a front office goes about its business, not what the coaches preach.

Organizations with strong front offices are the ones that sustain success the most. Teams that have a good rapport with ownership/GM/coaching. Organizations that know what to look for when it comes to winning and how to get it. Organizations that know how to identify good coaching and good talent. That's the most impactful part of culture.

You can preach all the good values all you want, but you aren't winning without talent(with both players and coaching). As we've seen with the Spurs and Patriots in recent years. Teams known to have the ultimate culture, but have fallen apart once their talent pool eroded.

The Heat have great culture because they're great at identifying talent, they always seem to find a way to land impact players at key positions. The on the court toughness stuff is just the icing on the cake.

[76ciology]

They say clutch NetRtg does not matter

The Miami Heat's point differential by quarter in the postseason.

1st quarter -1
2nd quarter -11
3rd quarter -12
4th quarter +90

[76ciology]

Talent also matters. But what talent and on which position matters more. Should not draft guards who aren’t shooters or scorers and categorize it as “star hunting” or bigs who can’t play defense because of slow reaction or too weak that they’re easily get pushed around.

And a scoring guard or wing, specially the one who can run the offense should be on top of the hierarchy of talents! And a one sided defensive center should be at the bottom among the qualified talents for a winning team.

[76ciology]

If I have to guess.. Pat Riley saw the 1999 Knicks. A bunch of nobodies. 8th seed. Went to the finals without their top player in Ewing. And I think it has a big impact on how he look at things. Riley also isn’t noob, he knows the ins and out of the league thats one of the reasons why he is called the godfather.

[mjkvol]

I know everyone is piling on Ferry for the culture stuff and surely it cannot be the be-all and end-all for success, but I do think it holds some water.

Making it to the league with enough talent to land 3-4 comfortable contracts to make it to your early 30's is enough for at least half the players in the league.

Sometimes watching players on other teams like Miami in the big games next to a lot of Sixer players over the years, it is obvious who are really playing to win and who seem to shrink and just shrug their shoulders.

Might be a cringey WIP caller cliche to bring up culture, but Miami has been doing something right since they drafted Wade and even when they have a down season or miss the playoffs they bounce back quickly.

But see, nobody here has ever said that culture and intangibles don't matter. That would be ridiculous, as you can go back through sports history and see example after example of players and coaches in both team and individual sports who create a mental edge over opponents that almost becomes a kind of intimidation - it can't be simply explained, it just is.

The problem here is that it isn't the be all-end all it is made out to be by a certain poster, one who gets far more attention than is merited by his numbing repetition, including by me. Having a team full of 'dogs' only works if there is talent that fits a plan which in turn maximizes the talent.

The Heat, like the Warriors, Spurs, and Patriots, have a common thread - consistent, excellent leadership from the top down, that has created a system of what they want to do and the type players they want to execute it. Then they relentlessly seek and find those players, and train them in a system that isn't changing every couple of years with a revolving door of front office and coaching personnel.

That consistency is what produces the 'winning culture', but without the right talent, the culture is nothing but a nice talking point. The Warriors, Spurs, and Patriots had top end talent for years that not only set the example with their work ethic, but produced at the highest level. The Heat, with all their great culture, haven't won a title since the James 'superteam' because they haven't had the talent on hand to get close, other than the flukey bubble year.

They have a perfect mix right now of vets and youth, with top end talent like Butler and Adabayo playing at a high level and role players producing at levels they've never achieved before. But they also have the best coach in the sport, a guy who understands how to maximize his roster and put them in the best position to succeed. Yet whether they will or not still comes down to how successfully they can hit 3's at the end of the day. As complex as it can be, it's a simple game.

Sorry for the rant, as this whole thing took on a life of its own here, but suffice to say there's a hell of a lot more involved than simply being a 'dog' and having a 'good culture'.

[Ferry Avenue]

I know everyone is piling on Ferry for the culture stuff and surely it cannot be the be-all and end-all for success, but I do think it holds some water.

Making it to the league with enough talent to land 3-4 comfortable contracts to make it to your early 30's is enough for at least half the players in the league.

Sometimes watching players on other teams like Miami in the big games next to a lot of Sixer players over the years, it is obvious who are really playing to win and who seem to shrink and just shrug their shoulders.

Might be a cringey WIP caller cliche to bring up culture, but Miami has been doing something right since they drafted Wade and even when they have a down season or miss the playoffs they bounce back quickly.

In a season in which the Sixers once again falter in the second round due primarily to insufficient culture, while an eight-seed beats multiple more physically talented playoff teams and makes a series of the NBA championship against a one-seed primarily because of its exceptional culture, the topic of team culture should be front and center on a Sixers' message board in my humble opinion.

That said, there is nothing forcing anyone to respond to posts about that topic. Everyone here is of course free to do as he or she chooses.

[Ferry Avenue]

They say clutch NetRtg does not matter

The Miami Heat's point differential by quarter in the postseason.

1st quarter -1
2nd quarter -11
3rd quarter -12
4th quarter +90

That's a great example of one way in which team culture can be measured.

[Ferry Avenue]

culture matters

but more than that is the fact that most of the main cores of these teams have been the same for years. We have been a revolving door of different players because the fanbase lacks patience and the ownership wants immediate results.

Team hasn't stuck with anything more than a season and a half. Traded Dario and Cov for Jimmy. Then doubled down with Tobias. Then let Jimmy walk for Horford. Then punted on that for Danny and Seth. Then traded for Harden...now probably should let Harden walk lol. Meanwhile the Heat has basically had the same core since getting Jimmy and simply replacing shooters in that period. The Celtics have had Their main core since the start of this. Jokic and Murray have an elite combo going due to being around each other for most of their careers. Its hard to win it all with a bunch of mercenaries thrown together in one year basically. Like even that raptors team with one year of Kawhii...sans him most of those dudes played together so when it wasn't Kawhii time, they had something to go to.

its the elephant in the room tho....all of the past missteps (some of which weren't exactly the wrong move at the time IMO) have caught up to us and we have been trying to fix that ever since and probably can't at this stage. This franchise has constantly rushed forward and instead of letting things rock they quickly move onto the next plan before we are even sure if the last one truly failed. Trading for Jimmy was a great idea but IDK I wonder what would have happened if we just let that Ben/JJ/Cov/Dario/Biid unit take their licks ...or perhaps NOT trading for Tobias....or perhaps actually running it back? Nothing has been given time to breathe and it probably won't at this point because of the same reasons...dudes running the show always have something prove or have to save their jobs....which never ends well.

It's precisely "the process" that has interfered with the development of an adequate culture within this organization. Again when you ask the fanbase to tolerate multiple years of intentional losing for the purpose of acquiring the players necessary to win a championship, it creates a tremendous accountability within the organization to make good on that and indeed win a championship. That in turn generates tremendous pressure on the personnel men and coaches within the organization, as well as a coddling, overvaluing, and lack of accountability of the star players acquired. None of that is consistent with the development of a winning culture.