76ers 2023-24 Season Thread Part 2

[mjkvol]

The league has gifted LeBron a bubble ring and a gimmick cup for propping up the Lakers. His family wants to be in LA. Dude is a billionaire now apparently. He's not coming to Philly.

I sure hope not, although it would put Sixers fandom out of its misery - really not misery, because there have been a ton of great moments, and I still have 1983.

[M2J]

Just saw some report that he's out Thursday and will be evaluated again in 24 hours. So guess it's not that bad.

That report on ESPN has now disappeared lol

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

Our schedule until the break
@Jazz
Nets
Mavericks
Warriors
Hawks
@Wizards
@Cavs
Heat

After that, we don't play until the 23rd of Feb. Obviously we don't know the severity of the knee injury, but this has been lingering ever since he banged knees with Julius Randle during the Knicks game. Let's assume he doesn't play and we keep him until after the break. That schedule without him to me is 2-6, maybe 3-5 at best. We could be looking at the play-in by the time the season winds down, but I don't think it'll get that bad. Indy is right on our ass right now and if we lose a bunch of games during this stretch before the break, I can see them catching us.

I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just stating the possibilities at this point. Indy, NY, and Cleveland are all surging right now and are going to pass us up. Boston, Milwaukee, NY, Indy, Cleveland, US, Miami, and whoever at #8. That's how I see this ending up. We match up well with New York and we avoid both Cleveland and Indy who we don't match up well with. If we advance, we get a crack at Milwaukee assuming they can keep Butler from going nuclear.

Being the 6th seed doesn't exactly bother me or get me down. If that puts us in a first round matchup with New York I'm not going to cry about that. The goal should be the health of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey going into the playoffs. If Jo has to rest until after the break to ensure that he's healthy for a stretch run, then so be it. I think we should make a small trade at the deadline to shore up our wing position. If we take a slide in the seeding I don't think this is the end all sky falling type scenario. Nobody likes losing, but Miami made the Finals as an 8th seed last year and it's because their star players were both healthy. Sure they did it without Tyler Herro, but both Bam and Butler were ready to roll when the playoffs started and that was all MIami needed.

In my meaningless, humble opinion, I think we should just keep Jo out until after the all star break. The hell with getting the MVP. I personally do not care what that general board full of hellspawns think about him or our team. Embiid should definitely not care what Richard Jefferson or any of the screwballs over at ESPN think either. Outside of JJ Reddick the majority of them lack any kind of intelligence to be in the positions they are in. Joel probably needs to pull a Lebron and shut down all social media activity. THAT'S what is getting to him right now and he needs to shut it off. Let the knee heal up, let these young guys play and learn on the fly and get back at it in late Feb after the AS break. It's not a bad plan if you ask me.

[Bum Adebayo]

Lebron shut down all that mainly by getting past 2nd round before 30 years old though, I reckon that is a big part of the equation...

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

Lebron shut down all that mainly by getting past 2nd round before 30 years old though, I reckon that is a big part of the equation...

What? Shutting down social media? It would only help Joel in his case.

[M2J]

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[76ciology]

Embiid is the type of player suited for a 65-game season, playoffs included. Consequently, he must decide what to sacrifice. While it's tempting to showcase his skills in the regular season and be mentioned alongside legends like Wilt Chamberlain, falling into that trap could jeopardize the playoffs.

How do you deal with it? It's important to recognize that he thrives in a 65-game season and allocate 24-28 games for the playoffs. Additionally, constructing a team capable of winning games without him, particularly against weaker opponents. This approach allows him to compete against top teams and experience high-pressure situations, preparing him for the intensity of playoff basketball.

Given that Embiid has already played 34 games, if his priority is winning the championship, he shouldn't exceed seven more games. Ideally, this strategy should have been implemented before the season began, allowing for proper management of his playing time. Staggering his games would have ensured that he plays in crucial matchups while aiming for around 40 games played in the regular season overall.

[76ciology]

I dont know why Embiid tries so hard to chase for the MVP, considering that he doesn't garner as much support for the award compared to players like Jokic or Doncic, who are more enjoyable to watch. Additionally, criticisms such as "let's see how he plays in the playoffs" or labeling him as a "foul merchant" often overshadow his MVP aspirations.

His past playoff shortcomings wont be
forgiven simply by winning the MVP award.

[76ciology]

“Embiid’s injury is not gonna affect the way [the #Sixers] are going to approach [the trade deadline] … They were already expected to be one of the most active teams leading into next Thursday’s deadline … [Daryl Morey’s] got a team that has now lost four in a row … he’s under a fair amount of pressure to do something to upgrade this team, regardless of what this MRI shows.”

- @WindhorstESPN on SportsCenter

[M2J]

Been saying it all year. They need a 3rd scorer 20ppg at least type guy. It's too much on Maxey and especially Joel, who is along with AD the only player that high level offense revolves around and defense revolves around (and the Lakers offense sucks, and defense is alright.... Philly top 5 ish in both because of Joel).

It's hard to ask the player to also want to miss games. When he knows his team's going to lose... If he were on a team that actually got something for Harden. He may be more at ease with missing games. Blame Morey for all of his half hearted plans.

[Negrodamus]

Been saying it all year. They need a 3rd scorer 20ppg at least type guy. It's too much on Maxey and especially Joel, who is along with AD the only player that high level offense revolves around and defense revolves around (and the Lakers offense sucks, and defense is alright.... Philly top 5 ish in both because of Joel).

It's hard to ask the player to also want to miss games. When he knows his team's going to lose... If he were on a team that worked actually that. He may be more at ease with missing games. Blame Morey for all of his half hearted plans.

Not to come full circle in my beliefs, but if we could snag DeRozan for a first + expirings, I’d do it. Maintain cap flexibility and we have a 20ppg scorer with ball handling ability. Gives us someone to keep our head above water when Embiid and Maxey are out.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

Embiid can only be counted on for 50 regular season games if you want him healthy for a playoff run. That means not only having another center capable of filling in for him during the regular season, but also having a bona fide number 2 scoring option to pair with Maxey on this team. That's a complicated request. It's every bit as complicated dealing with this as it was trying to build a roster that fit around Allen Iverson.

[76ciology]

Non Paul George FA Targets in 2024:
- Hartenstein
- Jalen Smith
- Patrick Williams?

Who else?

[76ciology]

If you have Siakam, you can just run the same stuff you run this team with Jojo where you have Siakam playing his role. It would have been nice if he would agree on a 20-30M contract, which I think was the breaking point.

[eyeatoma]

It's because if there's one character trait we know about, it's that Joel cares what others think of him. Even if really they all just want to push him down. So he played to tamp down that criticism. Joel is human. I feel like we lose sense of that because he's good at basketball.

The criticism was skipping Denver for 5 straight years, not so much missing some games in the season.

And he skipped because he was hurt, or sick each time.

[Mik317]

why are yall still responding to him

it defeats the whole point of ignoring him lol

[M2J]

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Ahhh. Perkins

Bob Meyer thought that was insane.

Wilbon thought they could do it for the regular season and play him in postseason.

Woj: They would be a lottery

[the_process]

Embiid can only be counted on for 50 regular season games if you want him healthy for a playoff run. That means not only having another center capable of filling in for him during the regular season, but also having a bona fide number 2 scoring option to pair with Maxey on this team. That's a complicated request. It's every bit as complicated dealing with this as it was trying to build a roster that fit around Allen Iverson.

The Joel conundrum is probably why Morey doesn’t give up on star hunting and turn to a Denver type model.

Joel needs to step back on offense, and just focus on defense.

Iverson was still harder to build around.

[the_process]

Non Paul George FA Targets in 2024:
- Hartenstein
- Jalen Smith
- Patrick Williams?

Who else?

Jrue Holiday is a FA. DeRozan? Klay? Hield?

It seems most likely at this point that Morey uses the cap space in a trade or trades on draft night.

[the_process]

Read on Twitter

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Ahhh. Perkins

Bob Meyer thought that was insane.

Wilbon thought they could do it for the regular season and play him in postseason.

Woj: They would be a lottery

Well, they do happen to own their own pick this year. Even though it’s a bad draft, having a lottery pick to add to a trade package would certainly help.