Game 4 Pistons @ Sixers

[FireMorey]

There's a major difference between expecting them to be good and expecting them to not be embarrassed by the Pistons. You can be terrible even and beat the Pistons, let alone not get crushed by them.

The way people are talking, it's like some are arguing we shouldn't expect the Sixers to win a game at all without Embiid and PG. Just expect them to lose every single game they don't play and not only that, but get blown out in all of them.

Expecting a team to show up and play with effort and compete well is not unrealistic. In fact, I'll argue this "We shouldn't expect anything of the Sixers until Embiid and PG return" is extreme copium so you can avoid getting emotionally invested so you don't get let down in case the Embiid injury turns out to be more serious and he has to miss extended time.

[Sixerscan]

Its fake depth in a sense.

Oubre and Martin are both guys who are fine at most things but can't scale up. Others rely on the gravity of Biid to just exist.

Good depth requires the role players to be near elite at something.

As you stated a quite part of our struggles is that we can't shoot for ****. Thats how you make up for a bad night from your main scorer. Our shooters are all "technically" good shooters but not always willing or capable of getting good looks without being spoonfed them.

And yes PG will help this a lot by himself I still think the team is missing a real creator type. IMO the Oubre or Martin money should have gone to that roleset..but of course IDK who that would have been tbf

Yeah IDK who that is at that price point. Like the Spurs signed Chris Paul to play with Wemby for more money than either of them got and they are one of the worse offenses than ours.

The other part is if they would have given Paul or Tyus Jones or someone else that money are we sitting here saying "this team is too small and we don't have enough athletic wings"?

I don't think this is worth overthinking. As others have said when you build a team around 3 max contract guys you're probably going to stink in one way or the other if 2/3 guys don't play. How they happen to stink probably isn't worth stressing about.

[Arsenal]

There's a major difference between expecting them to be good and expecting them to not be embarrassed by the Pistons. You can be terrible even and beat the Pistons, let alone not get crushed by them.

The way people are talking, it's like some are arguing we shouldn't expect the Sixers to win a game at all without Embiid and PG. Just expect them to lose every single game they don't play and not only that, but get blown out in all of them.

Expecting a team to show up and play with effort and compete well is not unrealistic. In fact, I'll argue this "We shouldn't expect anything of the Sixers until Embiid and PG return" is extreme copium so you can avoid getting emotionally invested so you don't get let down in case the Embiid injury turns out to be more serious and he has to miss extended time.

Wrong Mr. Straw Man. I expect them to win about 1 in 4 games with both Jo and PG out. Which equates to 20-25 wins in a full season. Therefore it's no surprise to anyone but a delusional fan why we are 1-3 without those guys.

[FireMorey]

It's not the record, it's how they've played. Do you disagree that last night was an unacceptable effort?

[Black Mage]

This team needs to remove the entire basketball hoop stanchions; detonate them and install brand new ones. I swear to god; those stanchions are cursed.

Who got hurt?

He means so that we can have prime Paul George back because that’s the only thing that could save this team at this point

They are cursed in that our guys suck at shooting no matter who we bring in and how they shot before arriving here.

[Black Mage]

The Warriors have spanked teams without Curry.

Its called building an actual roster and not expecting one or two players to just carry at all times.

Morey only knows how to build one way

Warriors record without Steph is 84-147 about 36%

Last year Warriors were 3-5

Sixers were 16-27 last year. Both are 60% win rates.

Again, the issue is we are down 2 top guys; not just Joel. Last year, as much as we dump on Tobias, without him the team would have looked just as bad. Hopefully the Sixers aren't lying to us about PG's knee and he's back by next week. I think the team can get to 60% win rate at a minimum with PG back.

[Black Mage]

Its fake depth in a sense.

Oubre and Martin are both guys who are fine at most things but can't scale up. Others rely on the gravity of Biid to just exist.

Good depth requires the role players to be near elite at something.

As you stated a quite part of our struggles is that we can't shoot for ****. Thats how you make up for a bad night from your main scorer. Our shooters are all "technically" good shooters but not always willing or capable of getting good looks without being spoonfed them.

And yes PG will help this a lot by himself I still think the team is missing a real creator type. IMO the Oubre or Martin money should have gone to that roleset..but of course IDK who that would have been tbf

I feel like our team is stricly built for the playoffs, not regular season.

Caleb Martin starting in replace of Harris last year would have been a game changer against the Knicks. He's not going to get 20, but he'll hit some big shots, defend, and scrap for rebounds.

Right now, we're asking him to be a point forward and be a 2nd/3rd scoring option. That's insane

Jokic goes down and so does AG, how many games is Jamal Murray pulling out for that team?

Lebron and AD go down, how many games they win?

Brunson and Mikal?

Luka and Kyrie?

Outside of the Celtics, there's not a single team in this league that's winning consistently if 2 of the top 3 players are both out with injuries.

[stormi]

I see a lot of people saying that "well, what team wouldn't struggle without their two best players active and in the line-up?"

and while that is true, all I can see while watching these non-Joel Embiid led teams is a roster that he'll have to once again put on his spine and watch capitulate 15+ point leads while he rests. the depth surely isn't good enough and I don't see a solution on the market either

We're handcuffed to this experiment and Morey's play, so there isn't any point fretting about it now, they could still win a championship, it would just take generational positive injury luck, a Hakeem/Dirk-esque run from Joel Embiid and a visit from Sir Achilles to a couple Celtics.

all in all, 2-5% chance imo.

Do you think it’s due to our lack of depth?

I thought we were more talented than the Raptors team that beat us, and I expected us to have better depth than this Pistons team. The difference is that the Pistons’ top two players are just significantly better than ours.

Overall, though, I think it’s more about Maxey struggling to carry the offense (as if Tobi’s shooting spirit went to his body), outside of that Pacers game in this stretch. As a result, we’re running plays that rely on Caleb and Oubre to step up as our second and third options.

I disagree on the Raptors comparison.

That was also a series where when Joel Embiid stepped off of the court, we got historically stomped.

That Raptors team had functional depth, shooting, ball handlers, defenders that allowed them manage Kawhi's minutes all throughout that season

They were how many deep?

Kawhi - Superstar
Lowry - Shooting/Playmaking/Defending
Gasol - Shooting/Playmaking/Defending
Siakam - Athleticism/Scoring
Green - Shooting/Defending
Ibaka - Defending/Rebounding/Rim Protection
VanVleet - Shooting/Playmaking

And then Norm Powell was a garbage time guy and OG didn't even get in due to injury

What were we working with?

Embiid - Superstar
Butler - Scoring/Defending/Playmaking
Simmons - Defending/Playmaking
Harris - Shooting?/Scoring?
Redick - Shooting
James Ennis - Energy?
Mike Scott - Shooting
Monroe/Bolden/Boban? lol?

Now?

Embiid - Superstar
Paul George - Shooting/Playmaking/Defending
Maxey - Shooting/Scoring
Martin - Defending?
Oubre - Defending?
Drummond - Rebounding?
Lowry/KJ/Gordon - lol?

Ideally the Raptors under Nurse were the prototype for Embiid this season - but it seems impossible watching this group that Nurse is trotting out there.

Read on Twitter

There's very little passing with intent on this roster. We can't defend guards or bigs. And even that isn't being traded out for some spectacular amount of floor spacing or uncontainable scoring.

It should have been obvious that we were in trouble when it felt like a shotgun to the chest that we couldn't bring back 40 year old Nic Batum.

[76ciology]

I see a lot of people saying that "well, what team wouldn't struggle without their two best players active and in the line-up?"

and while that is true, all I can see while watching these non-Joel Embiid led teams is a roster that he'll have to once again put on his spine and watch capitulate 15+ point leads while he rests. the depth surely isn't good enough and I don't see a solution on the market either

We're handcuffed to this experiment and Morey's play, so there isn't any point fretting about it now, they could still win a championship, it would just take generational positive injury luck, a Hakeem/Dirk-esque run from Joel Embiid and a visit from Sir Achilles to a couple Celtics.

all in all, 2-5% chance imo.

Do you think it’s due to our lack of depth?

I thought we were more talented than the Raptors team that beat us, and I expected us to have better depth than this Pistons team. The difference is that the Pistons’ top two players are just significantly better than ours.

Overall, though, I think it’s more about Maxey struggling to carry the offense (as if Tobi’s shooting spirit went to his body), outside of that Pacers game in this stretch. As a result, we’re running plays that rely on Caleb and Oubre to step up as our second and third options.

I disagree on the Raptors comparison.

That was also a series where when Joel Embiid stepped off of the court, we got historically stomped.

That Raptors team had functional depth, shooting, ball handlers, defenders that allowed them manage Kawhi's minutes all throughout that season

They were how many deep?

Kawhi - Superstar
Lowry - Shooting/Playmaking/Defending
Gasol - Shooting/Playmaking/Defending
Siakam - Athleticism/Scoring
Green - Shooting/Defending
Ibaka - Defending/Rebounding/Rim Protection
VanVleet - Shooting/Playmaking

And then Norm Powell was a garbage time guy and OG didn't even get in due to injury

What were we working with?

Embiid - Superstar
Butler - Scoring/Defending/Playmaking
Simmons - Defending/Playmaking
Harris - Shooting?/Scoring?
Redick - Shooting
James Ennis - Energy?
Mike Scott - Shooting
Monroe/Bolden/Boban? lol?

Now?

Embiid - Superstar
Paul George - Shooting/Playmaking/Defending
Maxey - Shooting/Scoring
Martin - Defending?
Oubre - Defending?
Drummond - Rebounding?
Lowry/KJ/Gordon - lol?

Ideally the Raptors under Nurse were the prototype for Embiid this season - but it seems impossible watching this group that Nurse is trotting out there.

Read on Twitter

There's very little passing with intent on this roster. We can't defend guards or bigs. And even that isn't being traded out for some spectacular amount of floor spacing or uncontainable scoring.

It should have been obvious that we were in trouble when it felt like a shotgun to the chest that we couldn't bring back 40 year old Nic Batum.

Sorry i misunderstood you. I was referring to this season, in the last 4 games?

[Mik317]

again yeah we will be ass without Biid and PG....but I didn't expect this much ass ha

its just that we don't even look like a functional team lol

Plus if DA PLAN was for Biid to miss a lot of games, you'd think they'd be more prepared for those games. Thats putting a lot on PG's back at 35

But also again IDK what the market is and TBF creators aren't just growing on trees either.