PS1- @ Philly Wed Oct 8 7PM EST

[HornetJail]

This board needs a Bismack Biyombo love circle now too.

[mrknowitall215]

“We played with no thought of defense right from the get-go,” Clifford said. “We had too many guys thinking about offense and playing that way, and we’re not built that way.

“We have more offensive skill than we did a year ago but still, relatively speaking, we’re not an offensive juggernaut. We’ll have to win by rebounding, defending and being smart offensively.

“We can get there, but we just put nothing into it.”

See, here's what worries me. Clifford said this a lot last year, that we are not a good offensive team. Then why doesn't he change the offense around a little? Last night I wasn't so much disappointed with Marvin Williams as I was with the way he was used. He is a different type of player from McRoberts, but it appeared Clifford just plugged him into the McRoberts role. Why not set him up for corner 3s instead of high key 3s? We don't need Marvin instituting the offense with Lance added. And Lance has ball skills Hendo doesn't, so same old same old with Kemba on the ball isn't going to cut it. Why not add wrinkles to incorporate 2 ballhandlers? We do have some offensively talented ballers, Cliff. I know it's early days, but I was looking more for systemic change than individual skill level, especially when preseason is meant to try new things.

Good observation. I was at the game and observed the same thing, that it was the same offensive scheme as last season, just Clifford plugged Marvin Williams to the top to corner 3-point line where Josh McRoberts usually initiated the offense with brush screens & handoffs if Kemba wasn't playing pick-and-roll with Al Jefferson. I would like to see the tempo picked up. We looked like a team interested in running down the clock to look for a shot when we're too athletic and/or versatile for that

[mrknowitall215]

BTW, the interior defense was horrid. It look like MKG will have his work cut out for him once again this year to be the rim deterrent since we don't have a rim protector in the rotation outside of Biyombo

[BobsBuddy]

1st game..No big deal..Preseason is the time to figure out who sticks and at what position.
Observations
1. Start Marvin at 3 backup with MKG
2 Start Zellar at 4 backup with Vonleh/Maxciel
3. WE have needed a complete backup center for 2 years..Biz needs to be packaged with another player in a trade.
Trade checker#6512935 Luc Mbah a Moute and Sims from Philly for Biz and Neal or PJ?
4.Jefferson needs the ball for us to win not Lance.
5.When healthy bring Hendo off bench to backup Lance.
6.Kemba needs to concentrate on assists first not points
7.Defense needs to get better
8.Play Roberts 10-12 minutes and Kemba no more than 40 mpg
9. Do not play Al more than 36 mpg
10.Lance needs to balance scoring attempts vus assists.

[LofJ]

A lot of you are very much overreacting to this game. It's the freaking preseason, i.e. warmup scrimmages. And it was the first one. Over half of Philly's team is made up of guys fighting just to stick in the league for a few years, of course they're going to come out guns blazing. There is no one on our team, outside of maybe Hairston in that boat for us. I am a little concerned that Clifford hasn't adapted Marvin's offensive role to his skillset, but since it's still really early I am not THAT concerned about it yet.

And let's be serious here, we have a lot to play for and look forward to this year as a team. There is no reason for our guys to go out there and do too much and end up getting hurt in a game that counts for nothing. So chill out guys....it's all going to be ok.

[mrknowitall215]

I think everybody understands that it's just a preseason/exhibition game and there's no need to jump off the Cliff (pun intended). That's exactly what these meaningless games are for, to recognize what may or may not work with the new personnel, to form a bonding chemistry, and to get the rust off

A lot of overreaction regarding Bismack Biyombo in this thread though. He wasn't even the worst player performance on our roster last night from my naked eyes. When Biyombo was in the game, and despite not having a single block, the Sixers weren't able to just wasp into the lane for easy uncontested layups. I can confirm that

[mrknowitall215]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gazv2grVp9k[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIqG5eQ-NSI[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ2fzOe4u4Y[/youtube]

[yosemiteben]

When Biyombo was in the game, and despite not having a single block, the Sixers weren't able to just wasp into the lane for easy uncontested layups. I can confirm that

I just rewatched the first half and there were several times when he got scored on in the paint one-on-one. I'm not worried about him at all in that department, but he had a pretty poor showing.

As far as tempo goes, you could often hear Clifford shouting for his team to get up the court in transition throughout the game. I think increasing the tempo is part of the game plan.

[mrknowitall215]

When Biyombo was in the game, and despite not having a single block, the Sixers weren't able to just wasp into the lane for easy uncontested layups. I can confirm that

I just rewatched the first half and there were several times when he got scored on in the paint one-on-one. I'm not worried about him at all in that department, but he had a pretty poor showing.

As far as tempo goes, you could often hear Clifford shouting for his team to get up the court in transition throughout the game. I think increasing the tempo is part of the game plan.

The entire team had a 'pretty poor showing' except for maybe Gary Neal

[yosemiteben]

One plus is that even with how poor we played Neal was +7 over 21 minutes. He looks really good.

I actually really liked Roberts and think he'll be a great fit. Solid shooter but also a good facilitator that can get folks involved. A 2nd string of Roberts, Neal, Henderson and Zeller could actually have a nice scoring punch if they all play up to their potential.

My prediction is that people are WAY too worked up about Williams. He's not going to be asked to do that much. Even if Zeller is the better player, that doesn't mean he should be starting. Maxiell isn't going to regularly be getting PT, so I like Marvin getting 18-20 MPG with the starters and then bringing Zeller off the bench but still giving him 28-30 MPG and letting him close out games with the starters. This game Marvin went out at the 6 minute mark in the first quarter, came in at the 6 minute mark in the second quarter, started the second half, came out at the 3 minute mark and Zeller closed out the game. That seems like a logical rotation to me.

Biz still is no post presence offensively, so I think running Zeller with the second line some will help free up shooters on his dives to the basket and make the offense run a bit more smoothly.

[fatlever]

MRKia, did you get a chance to watch MKG shoot during pre-game and halftime? If so, how did he look?

[mrknowitall215]

MRKia, did you get a chance to watch MKG shoot during pre-game and halftime? If so, how did he look?

I didn't make it into the arena until about 30 seconds after tipoff

[Joest2003]

Not to happy with how we played. We cant loose our identity that won us 40 something games last year. We need to work inside out, feed Al early and set the tone on the block and then let Kemba and Lance do their thing. It was the first pre season game so im not taking much from it im sure Cliff will fix things fast. Other than that MKG looks great I almost shed a tear of joy when I saw him make his first shot. Biz still has brick hands and cant catch a pass to save his life but is being a lot more aggressive on both ends of the floor so thats good.

[TheKingofSting]

Was it just me or did Big Al look bored?

[catch20two]

Was it just me or did Big Al look bored?

He looked rusty like he did at the start of last preseason. I wonder if this is a trend from the past for him like it is for Joakim Noah where they always start off kinda slow and pick it up like a month into the season due to being more conditioned.

[TheKingofSting]

Plus he is coming off of that injury, I wonder if that effected his chance to workout.

[Liver_Pooty]

Jefferson is in excellent physical condition according to Clifford.

He is just fine.

[TheKingofSting]

Hopefully he was just bored.