Game 7: Celtics @ Sixers 11/8 @ 7 pm ET Our First Real Test Thread

[stormi]

Morey please, PLEASE, get me a second ballhandler that can take over in those non-Maxey minutes. Wright, Caruso, or just play Springer instead.

Melton has been so jarring lately and the Furk experiment was cute, but serious teams will exploit that.

I'm sure Melton's shooting will raise back to the mean, but he's another borderline historic playoff dropper. It's really hard to quantify 'dog-osity', but when you're (Melton) the holder of the worst TS% in the playoffs of any player over the last 5 seasons to play 25+ playoff games, it should raise some eyebrows.

Tremendous win though. Everyone was very good up until those final few moments. Found myself wanting a bit more Oubre and a bit less of the Tobias/Embiid/Melton trifecta of nerves.

Batum and Covington are awesome. Depth, length and an elite coach + a surplus of assets. About as beautiful a time to be a fan since '17='18.

[GoSixersBro]

My thoughts:
- our guys took PERSONAL the playoff series loss to the Celtics.
- we turned KP into their Gobert. KP is too slow against Maxey, too light for physicality of Embiid.
- Tobi, Roco, Batum and Oubre. Plethora of defensive wings against Tatum and Brown.
- suddenly we’re deeper against the Celts.
- There’s fear when Tatum, Brown, Horford and Porzingis drive with Roco, Melton, Reed and Oubre’s deflections.
- 30pt win if we had Isaiah Canaan instead of Melton
- In that possession where Biid hit that fadeaway, I’d probably leave Melton open and take my chances
- hindsight is 20/20, but Maxey should have drive, fake then step through on that possession where he was blocked by Brown to ice the game.
- still not confident that Maxey can be a go to guy when there’s no pace and the defense is set, such us in crunch time situation.
- what we can learn from this game is teams can just deny Maxey the ball and we’d be missing a capable secondary ball handler or another perimeter shot creator.

The key difference in the performance last night in my opinion, in comparison to what's typically happened in such games in recent years, is that there were far more players ready to make an impact in some way. The team felt like an "army" of players going against the Celtics, which had an intimidating feel to it, as opposed to a far smaller nucleus of players alongside largely non-impactful ones. It gave the appearance the Celtics were up against it, as opposed to exerting their will against insufficient opposition. The Sixers truly felt like the more dominant team for a change, and not just in terms of the scoreboard but in terms of the "feel" on the court.

This is a great way to describe exactly how I viewed us going against Boston the last 6 seasons.

We'd hope and pray for shutting down Tatum or Brown, but then like whack-a-mole these other Celtics would pop up and contribute the most meaningful plays. Bail guys. Dudes who would play above their average to pick up any slack from starters. Horford hitting 5 threes. Smart scoring close to 25. Brogdon last Spring. Not just scoring either, defensively as well. The Sixers just have never had that support consistently off the bench since probably Lou Williams circa 2012. And that was a single player. Boston's had many of these big moment guys over the years.

[Tony Franciosa]

yeah great win, deep team. how to we add a nice piece to this without annihilating our depth as they start to gel more?

[youngcrev]

Morey please, PLEASE, get me a second ballhandler that can take over in those non-Maxey minutes. Wright, Caruso, or just play Springer instead.

Melton has been so jarring lately and the Furk experiment was cute, but serious teams will exploit that.

I'm sure Melton's shooting will raise back to the mean, but he's another borderline historic playoff dropper. It's really hard to quantify 'dog-osity', but when you're (Melton) the holder of the worst TS% in the playoffs of any player over the last 5 seasons to play 25+ playoff games, it should raise some eyebrows.

Tremendous win though. Everyone was very good up until those final few moments. Found myself wanting a bit more Oubre and a bit less of the Tobias/Embiid/Melton trifecta of nerves.

Batum and Covington are awesome. Depth, length and an elite coach + a surplus of assets. About as beautiful a time to be a fan since '17='18.

It is kinda surprising that Melton feels like the bigger priority to upgrade in the starting lineup over Oubre. Aside from the shooting, I thought we'd maybe see even more turnover generation from him under Nurse, but even on that front, Oubre has been just as productive.

Ideally you'd find a guy that can run some offense AND defend AND shoot well off ball... And all of a sudden you're looking a really narrow group of players.

Caruso would a be a great role player version of that to add. I don't think Wright really helps more than Melton. Springer doesn't seem like he'd help with running offense even if he actually panned out

Edit: Melton is leading the league in deflections right now, so that's something

[mjkvol]

yeah great win, deep team. how to we add a nice piece to this without annihilating our depth as they start to gel more?

That is the million dollar question. I love the depth of this group, the exact thing that has been primarily responsible for our playoff failures (along with pathetic coaching and Embiid injuries/moping), and pray that Morey doesn't break up the group in his lust for that "3rd star" he keeps talking about.

I've been a staunch supporter of Morey since he's been here and oversaw a reclamation project that seemed impossible at the time. Yeah, he made a few mistakes, but he guided us from the outhouse to damn near the penthouse, all with a clueless, arrogant coach,
who being allowed to remain was his gravest error.

Right now he's got the perfect coach, a "star" pairing that is clicking, and a group of long, switchable options among a deep bench. We need a secondary ball handler and someone who can create for himself in a big spot - Oubre could be that guy, which I would have loved to find out last night if he had been in the game instead of Melton down the stretch.

We also have assets for the first time in ages. I sincerely hope that Morey doesn't fall in love with one of the names being thrown around (Siakam, especially Lavine), where he would be paying a king's ransom and killing our cap space, but instead keeps his powder dry and allows this group continue to gel until the deadline.

It will become much clearer as we play more big games exactly what is needed, and the amount of available options should be much greater. He's done such a nice job building this group, and being able to add solid pieces without killing our asset base before next summer (unless it's an 'offer he can't refuse') would be fantastic.

[Iverson Armband]

What would it take to realistically snag Caruso. Feel like he’s the perfect realistic target. 2-3 seconds gets it done?

[youngcrev]

What would it take to realistically snag Caruso. Feel like he’s the perfect realistic target. 2-3 seconds gets it done?

If they're selling, I think he nets a 1st. He's coming off an All NBA 1st team selection and has another cheap year on his deal. There would be a large market for his services.

[76ciology]

My thoughts:
- our guys took PERSONAL the playoff series loss to the Celtics.
- we turned KP into their Gobert. KP is too slow against Maxey, too light for physicality of Embiid.
- Tobi, Roco, Batum and Oubre. Plethora of defensive wings against Tatum and Brown.
- suddenly we’re deeper against the Celts.
- There’s fear when Tatum, Brown, Horford and Porzingis drive with Roco, Melton, Reed and Oubre’s deflections.
- 30pt win if we had Isaiah Canaan instead of Melton
- In that possession where Biid hit that fadeaway, I’d probably leave Melton open and take my chances
- hindsight is 20/20, but Maxey should have drive, fake then step through on that possession where he was blocked by Brown to ice the game.
- still not confident that Maxey can be a go to guy when there’s no pace and the defense is set, such us in crunch time situation.
- what we can learn from this game is teams can just deny Maxey the ball and we’d be missing a capable secondary ball handler or another perimeter shot creator.

The key difference in the performance last night in my opinion, in comparison to what's typically happened in such games in recent years, is that there were far more players ready to make an impact in some way. The team felt like an "army" of players going against the Celtics, which had an intimidating feel to it, as opposed to a far smaller nucleus of players alongside largely non-impactful ones. It gave the appearance the Celtics were up against it, as opposed to exerting their will against insufficient opposition. The Sixers truly felt like the more dominant team for a change, and not just in terms of the scoreboard but in terms of the "feel" on the court.

First time where it felt like they were Sixers and we were the Celtics.

[Jailblazers7]

Feeling awesome after that win. Only move I’d make this year is a Caruso/Delon Wright trade to get another ball handler for Maxey’s bench minutes & as Melton insurance since he’s so streaky. Otherwise, I legitimately think we can win a title with this group IF Embiid/Maxey deliver under pressure.

Nurse needs to get their late game offense in much better shape than it was last night.

[Sixerscan]

yeah great win, deep team. how to we add a nice piece to this without annihilating our depth as they start to gel more?

They have so many expirings and the only really valuable chips they have are picks so they wouldnt have to really impact the depth that actually plays to get someone. Morris House and Furk played a combined 3 minutes last night and they have enough salary to match someone like Derozan who makes close to 30. Not saying that’s the move but just an example.

[Bum Adebayo]

We collapsed in the end, but beating Celtics is always good news, it's something we need, as they are always the main hurdle in Playoffs, beating them can improve players confidence in beating them, if ever so slightly.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

I can't be too harsh on Melton. I think he's going to get it figured out with his shot. The guy leads the league in deflections, he's a hell of a defender, one of the best rebounding guards in the league. Let's give him some time to figure this out. I don't know that we should add another primary point guard at this time. It might make a difference on offense for us, but at what cost and who goes to the bench? Right now it looks like either back up guard position is up for grabs. So far Beverly has got one position down, but he's a combo guard so either way he plays. Ideally you want a bigger guard who can handle and defend multiple positions while being able to initiate an offense and hit shots. Spencer Dinwiddie would be absolutely PERFECT for us, but I doubt Brooklyn trades him. Delon Wright is another one I'd look to grab and he'd only have to really play a few minutes a night.

Just for fun, here are some names that may be available at some point.

John Wall- currently a free agent. Probably washed up like he got out of the tub, but I'll put his name on the list.

Delon Wright is ideal for what we need, but he's a spotty shooter and not someone you want to create on offense.

Alex Caruso- Obvious reasons. I think he'd be a great addition to this team.

Theo Maledon- Hornets would sell him off I'm sure.

Kris Dunn- Is he even playing in Utah right now? It's Ainge we'd be dealing with so beware.

Killian Hayes- not sure why I got killed for this idea last week, but if we're talking Delon Wright, then why not talk Killian Hayes? I mean, put him with the second unit.

Keeping it with the Piston players, I wonder what it would cost to get Jaden Ivey? He's struggling. Alec Burks? A reunion? Monte Morris isn't even getting minutes on that roster.

Someone from Detroit is going to be the odd man out at some point. Morey should make a move for one of them...Ivey, Hayes, Burks, Morris. From the looks of it, Sasser is a keeper.

Davion Mitchell- I'm not sure how the Kings feel about him, but if he were ever to become available, we should go for it.

[76ciology]

First time where it felt like they were Sixers and we were the Celtics.

I just realized the explanation for this..

Celts ever since has kryptonites against Biid. Aaron Baynes in 2018. Then Rob Williams rim protection and Grant Williams physicality in 2023. This summer they lose Grant and Rob, then added Porzingis. For sure KP is more talented but Biid has been successful against KP.

Then for the Sixers. Sixers always have defensive problems against their wings. Tatum attacking JJ in 2018. Short Fs like Niang, Tucker and Tobi defending double Js in 2023. But with a stroke of luck.. we added Oubre, Roco and Batum for minimum and mere salary fillers.

This year, I find we have the leg up with the “kryptonite battle” against the Celts.

When Biid sees Jrue and KP, he’s confident. I was looking at the Biid highlights and the help defenders arent just focused on Biid but they would look at Biid and their man, because they have to respect our off ball movement.

When Tatum and Brown, we can match their length and they have to go through the obstacle course of long arms who can deflect their dribbling. And if they are ever successful, Biid can step out and we have enough length to rotate and crash the board

Well, thats for this game.

Biid also dropped 40+ against the Celts then sh*t in his pants in the playoffs last season

[elchengue20]

First time where it felt like they were Sixers and we were the Celtics.

I just realized the explanation for this..

Celts ever since has kryptonites against Biid. Aaron Baynes in 2018. Then Rob Williams rim protection and Grant Williams physicality in 2023. This summer they lose Grant and Rob, then added Porzingis. For sure KP is more talented but Biid has been successful against KP.

Then for the Sixers. Sixers always have defensive problems against their wings. Tatum attacking JJ in 2018. Short Fs like Niang, Tucker and Tobi defending double Js in 2023. But with a stroke of luck.. we added Oubre, Roco and Batum for minimum and mere salary fillers.

This year, I find we have the leg up with the “kryptonite battle” against the Celts.

When Biid sees Jrue and KP, he’s confident. I was looking at the Biid highlights and the help defenders arent just focused on Biid but they would look at Biid and their man, because they have to respect our off ball movement.

When Tatum and Brown, we can match their length and they have to go through the obstacle course of long arms who can deflect their dribbling. And if they are ever successful, Biid can step out and we have enough length to rotate and crash the board

Well, thats for this game.

Biid also dropped 40+ against the Celts then sh*t in his pants in the playoffs last season

Yep, thats a good point. Overall they got a more talented team than ever this season, but they dont have a Biid stopper this time. Also Horford has been good in the past but hes gettin real old. Playoffs are all about matchups, so that could be a game changer if we face them.

Also we finally have lenght and some atlhecisim on the perimeter, its a must in todays NBA of pace and space if you want to defend and rebound at the highest level. It cant depend all in Biid protecting the rim.

Even if its all good right now, Biid stil has to man up make that same fadeaway in the clutch come Playoff time. Its his final growing step, hope he can do it.

Also we had too many waisted possesions in the clutch, Biid was doubled too easily. That still a problem. Im hopefull Nurse can figure out better execution on those.

[Ferry Avenue]

First time where it felt like they were Sixers and we were the Celtics.

I just realized the explanation for this..

Celts ever since has kryptonites against Biid. Aaron Baynes in 2018. Then Rob Williams rim protection and Grant Williams physicality in 2023. This summer they lose Grant and Rob, then added Porzingis. For sure KP is more talented but Biid has been successful against KP.

Then for the Sixers. Sixers always have defensive problems against their wings. Tatum attacking JJ in 2018. Short Fs like Niang, Tucker and Tobi defending double Js in 2023. But with a stroke of luck.. we added Oubre, Roco and Batum for minimum and mere salary fillers.

This year, I find we have the leg up with the “kryptonite battle” against the Celts.

When Biid sees Jrue and KP, he’s confident. I was looking at the Biid highlights and the help defenders arent just focused on Biid but they would look at Biid and their man, because they have to respect our off ball movement.

When Tatum and Brown, we can match their length and they have to go through the obstacle course of long arms who can deflect their dribbling. And if they are ever successful, Biid can step out and we have enough length to rotate and crash the board

Well, thats for this game.

Biid also dropped 40+ against the Celts then sh*t in his pants in the playoffs last season

That’s exactly how it looked, like the Sixers all of a sudden had a phalanx of players that could successfully defend Boston, whereas Boston appeared to have a dearth of them.

Time will tell, but I’m not sure Boston is going to be the caliber of team this year that it’s been in recent years, with the personnel losses they’ve experienced.

[Bum Adebayo]

Embiid stops himself in playoffs, more than other players stopping him, he goes into no show mode at times, like in G7 last playoffs.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

My concern still lies when the game is close the defense is set and we have to make something happen in the half-court. Now Maxey has closed pretty much every game for us and he DID close against Boston. We just let them back in it which was beyond stupid on our part, but he did help get us that 15-point cushion before they pulled their BS.
Obviously, we're going to have some close, down-to-the-wire games. When that happens and Maxey has the ball with a longer defender on him what are we going to do? He's going to have to either get by the defender, OR he's going to have to pull up and take a shot. What we don't want is exactly what happened the other night when Brown shut him down. You also don't want to see him jacking up a 30 foot three pointer because the flow on the most important play of the game was $hit. This has continued to be a problem for us in the guts of the game. If you go with Embiid, the refs are going to swallow their whistles, he's going to get doubled, and he's either going to make a bad pass OR he's going to take a tough contested shot that you pray goes in. If we go with Maxey, they put a longer defender on him and then he has trouble. This isn't a knock on Maxey at all, let me be clear on that. Teams used to do it back when we had Iverson.

My suggestion would be a PnR at the top to get the switch that we want if we are rolling with Maxey taking the last shot. Out of White, Brown, Porzingis, Tatum, and Holiday you probably want White to be the guy guarding Maxey IF he has the ball and you're a Sixers fan. Once I saw Brown on him, I knew it wasn't going to end well for us. There should have been a quick reset and another attempt at a PnR switch.

Now if it's Embiid with the ball, it seems to be a little more complicated. Not only do the refs allow him to be fouled, smart teams like Boston will use the right player to double him. It's not as easy as him just passing to the open man because EVERYONE is alert and watching him and his eyes and what he's doing. On top of that the double comes from a bad passing angle most of the time. He's not going to be able to make that pass under that kind of duress. With all that being said, I still think Embiid is the first option when the game is on the line. Maxey is 1A.

There's a lot to figure out here and while I know that Tobias doesn't want to be the guy taking the last shot, he probably needs to step up and maybe embrace the possibility of that happening. We got the W against them. It should have never ended the way it did, but I'm glad that we had that happen because it's something that Nurse will address going forward. Not to compare him to Doc or harp on last season, but I don't think Rivers really every tried to improve those situations for us. We have to know WTF is going to happen on those last possessions.

[phillynative]

First time where it felt like they were Sixers and we were the Celtics.

I just realized the explanation for this..

Celts ever since has kryptonites against Biid. Aaron Baynes in 2018. Then Rob Williams rim protection and Grant Williams physicality in 2023. This summer they lose Grant and Rob, then added Porzingis. For sure KP is more talented but Biid has been successful against KP.

Then for the Sixers. Sixers always have defensive problems against their wings. Tatum attacking JJ in 2018. Short Fs like Niang, Tucker and Tobi defending double Js in 2023. But with a stroke of luck.. we added Oubre, Roco and Batum for minimum and mere salary fillers.

This year, I find we have the leg up with the “kryptonite battle” against the Celts.

When Biid sees Jrue and KP, he’s confident. I was looking at the Biid highlights and the help defenders arent just focused on Biid but they would look at Biid and their man, because they have to respect our off ball movement.

When Tatum and Brown, we can match their length and they have to go through the obstacle course of long arms who can deflect their dribbling. And if they are ever successful, Biid can step out and we have enough length to rotate and crash the board

Well, thats for this game.

Biid also dropped 40+ against the Celts then sh*t in his pants in the playoffs last season

Very accurate and it was only one game but because of the sixers past personnel it always seemed like the Jay's could have their way with us even while having rough shooting nights they were still lmpactful because of their size, athleticism and skill at their respected positions. If you think about the amount of effort our guys had to make to guard these guys because they were physically overmatched, than you can kind of put 2 and 2 together as to why they also struggle offensively as well. Also because we haven't had a dominant wing in a while, they got to relax on defense in a way, especially Jaylen for a few seasons now playing against us.

As far as Embiid, struggles against Horford. I have never seen Horford as an Embiid stopper just a very smart defender that has studied him and has really good help defenders surrounding him. The celtics are very aware of Embiids flaws and have pounced on them since his arrival. Get up under him, and dare him to make the proper pass or put it on the floor or crowd him at the right time to turn him over.

The sixers basically flipped the switch on the Celtics/Jay's with their new personnel. The sixers now have a bunch of long forwards that they cannot consistently overwhelm with their size , the Jay's now have to work for everything and because they are not elite shot creators , our length prevents them from getting to their spots as easy. We also now have pesky guards digging in everytime they put the ball down. The same way they have always done Embiid.

Are they a more offensively talented team, I still believe so but we now have the guys to defend them and not be overwhelmed. We didn't even deploy Springer who I believe would give any of their guards a hard time for a few possessions .

[phillynative]

My concern still lies when the game is close the defense is set and we have to make something happen in the half-court. Now Maxey has closed pretty much every game for us and he DID close against Boston. We just let them back in it which was beyond stupid on our part, but he did help get us that 15-point cushion before they pulled their BS.
Obviously, we're going to have some close, down-to-the-wire games. When that happens and Maxey has the ball with a longer defender on him what are we going to do? He's going to have to either get by the defender, OR he's going to have to pull up and take a shot. What we don't want is exactly what happened the other night when Brown shut him down. You also don't want to see him jacking up a 30 foot three pointer because the flow on the most important play of the game was $hit. This has continued to be a problem for us in the guts of the game. If you go with Embiid, the refs are going to swallow their whistles, he's going to get doubled, and he's either going to make a bad pass OR he's going to take a tough contested shot that you pray goes in. If we go with Maxey, they put a longer defender on him and then he has trouble. This isn't a knock on Maxey at all, let me be clear on that. Teams used to do it back when we had Iverson.

My suggestion would be a PnR at the top to get the switch that we want if we are rolling with Maxey taking the last shot. Out of White, Brown, Porzingis, Tatum, and Holiday you probably want White to be the guy guarding Maxey IF he has the ball and you're a Sixers fan. Once I saw Brown on him, I knew it wasn't going to end well for us. There should have been a quick reset and another attempt at a PnR switch.

Now if it's Embiid with the ball, it seems to be a little more complicated. Not only do the refs allow him to be fouled, smart teams like Boston will use the right player to double him. It's not as easy as him just passing to the open man because EVERYONE is alert and watching him and his eyes and what he's doing. On top of that the double comes from a bad passing angle most of the time. He's not going to be able to make that pass under that kind of duress. With all that being said, I still think Embiid is the first option when the game is on the line. Maxey is 1A.

There's a lot to figure out here and while I know that Tobias doesn't want to be the guy taking the last shot, he probably needs to step up and maybe embrace the possibility of that happening. We got the W against them. It should have never ended the way it did, but I'm glad that we had that happen because it's something that Nurse will address going forward. Not to compare him to Doc or harp on last season, but I don't think Rivers really every tried to improve those situations for us. We have to know WTF is going to happen on those last possessions.

Agreed with everything except the Tobias part. I'm not so sure Tobi doesn't want to be that guy. He and his dad think highly of his skills. I'm just not sure he's equipped. I'm all for him taking the mismatch though if it's there. I remember him hitting a game winner against LA a few seasons ago because they had Caruso on him who's a good defender but doesn't have the size to affect his midrange.

[76ciology]

Spoiler:

First time where it felt like they were Sixers and we were the Celtics.

I just realized the explanation for this..

Celts ever since has kryptonites against Biid. Aaron Baynes in 2018. Then Rob Williams rim protection and Grant Williams physicality in 2023. This summer they lose Grant and Rob, then added Porzingis. For sure KP is more talented but Biid has been successful against KP.

Then for the Sixers. Sixers always have defensive problems against their wings. Tatum attacking JJ in 2018. Short Fs like Niang, Tucker and Tobi defending double Js in 2023. But with a stroke of luck.. we added Oubre, Roco and Batum for minimum and mere salary fillers.

This year, I find we have the leg up with the “kryptonite battle” against the Celts.

When Biid sees Jrue and KP, he’s confident. I was looking at the Biid highlights and the help defenders arent just focused on Biid but they would look at Biid and their man, because they have to respect our off ball movement.

When Tatum and Brown, we can match their length and they have to go through the obstacle course of long arms who can deflect their dribbling. And if they are ever successful, Biid can step out and we have enough length to rotate and crash the board

Well, thats for this game.

Biid also dropped 40+ against the Celts then sh*t in his pants in the playoffs last season

Very accurate and it was only one game but because of the sixers past personnel it always seemed like the Jay's could have their way with us even while having rough shooting nights they were still lmpactful because of their size, athleticism and skill at their respected positions. If you think about the amount of effort our guys had to make to guard these guys because they were physically overmatched, than you can kind of put 2 and 2 together as to why they also struggle offensively as well. Also because we haven't had a dominant wing in a while, they got to relax on defense in a way, especially Jaylen for a few seasons now playing against us.

As far as Embiid, struggles against Horford. I have never seen Horford as an Embiid stopper just a very smart defender that has studied him and has really good help defenders surrounding him. The celtics are very aware of Embiids flaws and have pounced on them since his arrival. Get up under him, and dare him to make the proper pass or put it on the floor or crowd him at the right time to turn him over.

The sixers basically flipped the switch on the Celtics/Jay's with their new personnel. The sixers now have a bunch of long forwards that they cannot consistently overwhelm with their size , the Jay's now have to work for everything and because they are not elite shot creators , our length prevents them from getting to their spots as easy. We also now have pesky guards digging in everytime they put the ball down. The same way they have always done Embiid.

Are they a more offensively talented team, I still believe so but we now have the guys to defend them and not be overwhelmed. We didn't even deploy Springer who I believe would give any of their guards a hard time for a few possessions .

Since day 1, Sixers MO is just to pile on talent. No regards to fit or playstyle.

Harden did a great job being our GM this season.

His departure and demand lead us to play winning basketball. We can’t play Nick Nurse style with Harden and Tucker. Look at how stationary the Clips is right now.

To replace Harden, we’re looking at Beal and Harden. It ended up that of all teams he asks to be traded to, it is for the Clippers. We even asked for Terrance Mann but they gave us lengthy wings that match up nicely against these Celts forwards.

I also give credit to Embiid. I didnt expect him to buy into this system. After that Fiba fever in the offseason, I mentioned about playing with more pace, sacrificing scoring and movement. Everyone has doubt that Biid will buy into this style of play. We probably have a balance of it with Biid still leading the league in scoring while we get a lot of pace of movement.

Look around the league, every player wants to get a big pay day. The only way is for them to be able to have some usage and pad their points. Look at whats happening to OG and Siakam with the Raps.

Guys wont defend hard, cut hard, set screen hard, rebound hard, run hard if you dont give them the ball and let them score.

It is very hard to win with a superteam with ball dominant big 2 or 3 nowadays.