Around the League - 2019-2020

[76ciology]

Clips and Lakers was something to watch for bully ball teams. Clips pretty much tried to trap the Lakers into a post heavy game. Bron was posting pat bev (doc put pat bev on Bron the entire night) while AD was posting Harrell and Patterson the entire night. It’s one of those tricks Rick Carlisle tries to pull off whenever we face them.

Its just easier to stop the offense when everyone is not moving.

I don't think it was a trick or trap and that Davis/James were baited into playing that way. That's just the way they play. LeBron has never been an elite, multilevel pullup guy. That's why he always desperately needed Wade and Irving to achieve any real success.

And Anthony Davis is a mere postplayer with a rudimentary faceup game.

Both are great players, but neither have a closer's skillset. Which is why their pairing is ridiculously overrated.

It's like putting Giannis/Garnett on the same team. Elite defense, elite point production. Cool. Who's going to score a bucket in the halfcourt in crunchtime?

I think it was a trap. If you’re offense is potent, you can easily beat a post heavy offense.

I can see it when we face the rockets. They wont mind Biid posting Capela because a post heavy offense with Biid wont beat Harden’s better than MJ offense (Morey’s word).

This is where our defense comes into play IMO. If we can make it tough for then on offense, then we may have a chance. For example switching that 1-5 PnR and making it tough for Harden to score against Ben.

But against the Clips.. Embiid can drop his 40 on Zubac but it may not necessarily mean Sixers offense will be better than Clips offense in terms of points per possession.

From what I saw it’s way easier to stop a post offense, despite mismatch. lakers was even lucky Green dropped 7 3s, on an average day it could have been a blow out.

[Sixerscan]

Lebrons not the player he was, but let’s see any of those guys score like 30 straight points or whatever it was against that Pistons defense before we call any of them closers on his level. Or dominate out of the high post those two heat years. He even became a great pick and roll player. Acting like he wasn’t an excellent half court player at his peak is just crazy.

Yeah sure elite defenses if they could focus all of their energy on him could limit his productiveness somewhat. But that’s true of virtually anyone who gets keyed on. Like Kyrie couldn’t handle the bucks. Let’s see that guy do something in the playoffs without the 2nd best player of all time to hold his hand.

Nobody is sweating LeBron or Giannis in the halfcourt in games that matter. They're not the type of talent that can win championships without an ace shotcreating running mate to do all the heavy lifting on crucial possessions.

Anthony Davis does not bring LeBron any closer to a championship in Los Angeles. He desperately needed Kawhi or Kyrie for that. Or he should have put his focus into moving mountains on a Bradley Beal trade instead of Anthony Davis.

Like I said I was taking issue with you saying he’s never been that guy which is silly. He was completely dominant as a half court player as recently as the 2018 ECF and had a virtuoso game in game 1 of the finals that year prior to JR screwing up.

In terms of now, I’ll give him a few months see what sort of shape he’s in. Bigger issue might be I’m not sure if this team’s talent level is at the point this will really come into play.

[Kobblehead]

He's never been that guy to me. He used his all-around greatness to will his way up the mountain, but he could never reach the peak. He just didn't have the skillset. This dude was drive-and-kicking at the end of games and getting crushed by the Skip Bayless' of the world. That's why the late-2000s LeBron vs. Kobe feud was silly. Kobe was clearly the man when it mattered. LeBron was just all-around great.

Nothing has changed since then. He went to Miami and displayed his all around greatness while Wade did the heavy halfcourt lifting when they needed it. Then he went back to Cleveland and displayed his all around greatness but deferred to Kyrie in the halfcourt in all the big moments that mattered.

So him going to Los Angeles and thinking Anthony Davis was a running mate he could win with is delusional. He's never been skilled enough to be the man in the halfcourt so why would he want to pair himself, post-prime, with a bigman? He should have prioritized getting a shotcreater.

[Sixerscan]

The biggest shot of Kyrie’s career he had Steph Curry on him because the Warriors were so much more worried about Lebron. As we saw in the Bucks series Kyrie couldn’t handle being the top target of a good defense. Compare that to Lebron who cut up the Pistons with no other all star on his team in 07, or even just his performance against the Celtics 2 years ago. He was arguably the best iso guy in the league at that point along with Durant. Remember how he basically isolated against the Sixers for an entire half and almost made a 30 point comeback?

I mean you can make the argument but it’s sort of like saying Vince Carter wasn’t very good at dunking.

[VDT]

Clips and Lakers was something to watch for bully ball teams. Clips pretty much tried to trap the Lakers into a post heavy game. Bron was posting pat bev (doc put pat bev on Bron the entire night) while AD was posting Harrell and Patterson the entire night. It’s one of those tricks Rick Carlisle tries to pull off whenever we face them.

Its just easier to stop the offense when everyone is not moving.

I don't think it was a trick or trap and that Davis/James were baited into playing that way. That's just the way they play. LeBron has never been an elite, multilevel pullup guy. That's why he always desperately needed Wade and Irving to achieve any real success.

And Anthony Davis is a mere postplayer with a rudimentary faceup game.

Both are great players, but neither have a closer's skillset. Which is why their pairing is ridiculously overrated.

It's like putting Giannis/Garnett on the same team. Elite defense, elite point production. Cool. Who's going to score a bucket in the halfcourt in crunchtime?

I think it was a trap. If you’re offense is potent, you can easily beat a post heavy offense.

I can see it when we face the rockets. They wont mind Biid posting Capela because a post heavy offense with Biid wont beat Harden’s better than MJ offense (Morey’s word).

This is where our defense comes into play IMO. If we can make it tough for then on offense, then we may have a chance. For example switching that 1-5 PnR and making it tough for Harden to score against Ben.

But against the Clips.. Embiid can drop his 40 on Zubac but it may not necessarily mean Sixers offense will be better than Clips offense in terms of points per possession.

From what I saw it’s way easier to stop a post offense, despite mismatch. lakers was even lucky Green dropped 7 3s, on an average day it could have been a blow out.

It is more nuanced than trying to find the most points per possession in a vacuum. The Clippers that you mentioned have Kawhi who mostly scores on mid range jumpers which people hate nowadays.

Playoffs are more about forcing the opponent to play to your and not to his strengths and not about points per possession in a vacuum where the teams are allowed to do their thing. James-better than Jordan- Harden hasnt won anything yet, to my knowledge. If anything i think we match up quite well against Houston.

We will have to see in the next months how we look, especially offensively, but i think that the Sixers as a team are talented enough that they shouldnt lose a series when Embiid dominates. And looking at the other contenders Embiid should dominate , if healthy.

[Kobblehead]

The biggest shot of Kyrie’s career he had Steph Curry on him because the Warriors were so much more worried about Lebron. As we saw in the Bucks series Kyrie couldn’t handle being the top target of a good defense. Compare that to Lebron who cut up the Pistons with no other all star on his team in 07.

I'm not saying Kyrie is better than LeBron.

I'm just saying that LeBron isn't skilled enough to win without a shotcreater (like Kyrie for example) as a lead running mate.

[Kobblehead]

they shouldnt lose a series when Embiid dominates. And looking at the other contenders Embiid should dominate , if healthy.

It's not that simple. Embiid is a bigman that operates out of the post. It's easy to throw doubles at him and prevent him from dominating his matchup to the point where the Sixers would control a playoff series off the strength of him.

[phillynative]

That is where the improvement from embiid has to come from, his playmaking(passing out of the post ) and his overall decision making. When embiid is being doubled and crowded this should create opportunities for the other players on the floor.

[VDT]

they shouldnt lose a series when Embiid dominates. And looking at the other contenders Embiid should dominate , if healthy.

It's not that simple. Embiid is a bigman that operates out of the post. It's easy to throw doubles at him and prevent him from dominating his matchup to the point where the Sixers would control a playoff series off the strength of him.

You can prevent any player from scoring if you double team him constantly. At the same time it means that one player will be left unguarded.

We will see how the offense works soon enough, as i am also a bit sceptical.

[Kobblehead]

You can prevent any player from scoring if you double team him constantly.

I mean, if you're doubling a ball handler on the perimeter, you're pretty screwed. Doubling a postplayer at least has success rate.

At the same time it means that one player will be left unguarded.

Yeah, freaking Ben Simmons, though. That's a win for the defense.

[Kobblehead]

Lol at Julius Randle and Markief Morris sucking up all the FGAs from all the young players.

[Negrodamus]

Alright P.J... Glad you found that jumper. Maybe I was wrong about him and the Hornets got themselves a freak. Always loved his presence at UK, but wasn't a fan of him as a prospect.

[Kobblehead]

Alright P.J... Glad you found that jumper. Maybe I was wrong about him and the Hornets got themselves a freak. Always loved his presence at UK, but wasn't a fan of him as a prospect.

Seems random that he jacked up 11 threes and made such a high percentage of them. Given his below average free throw percentage in college, I could see a Kuzma-esque "flash now and then crash back to earth hard" with his shooting.

[Kobblehead]

Coby "not a lotto talent and not a PG" White with 17 points and 7 assists off the bench. Looks just as good as advertised as a multilevel scorer.

[Negrodamus]

Alright P.J... Glad you found that jumper. Maybe I was wrong about him and the Hornets got themselves a freak. Always loved his presence at UK, but wasn't a fan of him as a prospect.

Seems random that he jacked up 11 threes and made such a high percentage of them. Given his below average free throw percentage in college, I could see a Kuzma-esque "flash now and then crash back to earth hard" with his shooting.

It's definitely possible, but I do think he adds more optionality in his play on defense: actually has the weight/strength/length to bang with PF with the agility and speed defend SF. Kuzma arguably has none of that.

PJ also seemed to shoot pretty well in the preseason, but you could be right that it's a flash in the pan in that regard.

[Negrodamus]

I wonder if CP3 will find it more enjoyable to play with an unselfish, humble star like SGA for once. My boy Shai is going off tonight.

[Kobblehead]

Alright P.J... Glad you found that jumper. Maybe I was wrong about him and the Hornets got themselves a freak. Always loved his presence at UK, but wasn't a fan of him as a prospect.

Seems random that he jacked up 11 threes and made such a high percentage of them. Given his below average free throw percentage in college, I could see a Kuzma-esque "flash now and then crash back to earth hard" with his shooting.

It's definitely possible, but I do think he adds more optionality in his play on defense: actually has the weight/strength/length to bang with PF with the agility and speed defend SF. Kuzma arguably has none of that.

PJ also seemed to shoot pretty well in the preseason, but you could be right that it's a flash in the pan in that regard.

Oh for sure. He's better and more well-rounded than Kuzma.

I just brought them up together in terms of being 60% collegiate free throw shooters that decide to take volume threes at the NBA level. Even despite the early success from beyond the arc, I don't trust it over time.

[Kobblehead]

Mitchell is weak defensively when he isn't guarding the point of attack. Maybe this Conley addition wasn't that great, afterall.

They could use a F-sized distributor and keep running Mitchell at PG.

[Kobblehead]

If you were the Pelicans sitting on all those assets, would you try to acquire Shai?

Putting the Alexander cousins together in the same backcourt will be genius.

[Sixerscan]

Bulls guys still dgaf about defense. Always going to disappoint until that changes. 126 to the hornets.