hello friends it's the 2018 NBA Playoffs, a place where dreams GO 2 DIE

i thought ben played fine last night. and saric is kinda the perfect fit around the two of them actually.

my question after that series is honestly about embiid. he's incredible obv but i wonder if you can really win a championship by funneling your offense thru him in the post. he will get better too of course and it's nice that he can shoot a bit from 3, but even aside from just taking some ill advised shots that everyone else on the team just has to live with, he turns the ball over a fuck ton and just generally can be the source of some really inefficient offense.

the last team to win a title whose #1 option on offense was a post player is... the spurs with duncan? then you have to go back to shaq and the lakers?

the spurs with duncan back when they were like beating the nets i mean. the team that beat the heat was a 3 pt shooting team.

well they definitely took a leap after the all star break this year, it was a good story

― k3vin k., Wednesday, May 9, 2018 8:28 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah they got hot for sure but thats all it was

― sprout god (lag∞n), Wednesday, May 9, 2018 8:29 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It was an overreaction when they got "annointed" after win streak. It's an overreaction now when they're getting slammed for having a bad playoff series. Hoops analysis/reactions is so this every single time. Even from game to game! "I just can't see them beating this team after this game tonight" *after next game* "This team will never lose again ever". Rinse and repeat.

man if Kyrie was playing these would be the most intriguing conf finals in a loooong time

for sure

kyrie is easily one of my favorite players in the nba

i thought ben played fine last night. and saric is kinda the perfect fit around the two of them actually.

― J0rdan S., Thursday, May 10, 2018 9:27 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

naw he cant really defend the 3, but tbf he cant really defend the 4 either tho so it may not be so much a fit issue as its just a slow feet issue, he prob does have more of a chance of defending the 4 even if known scoring dynamo horford did destroy him down the stretch

It was an overreaction when they got "annointed" after win streak. It's an overreaction now when they're getting slammed for having a bad playoff series. Hoops analysis/reactions is so this every single time. Even from game to game! "I just can't see them beating this team after this game tonight" *after next game* "This team will never lose again ever". Rinse and repeat.

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Thursday, May 10, 2018 10:41 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

in my defense my read on the sixers has remained steady and i was right

if kyrie was playing the cavs wld be dead in the water

will be interesting anyway seems obvs the celtics are gonna defend bron heads up and let him get his w/o fouling and hope to make him work enough that he tires as the game goes on, a lot obvs depends on if the cavs can play any defense at all, the celtics w/o any bigtime scorers really just dismantled the sixers scheme which played really well in the regular season, the cavs defense in the regular season on the other hand was genuinely awful and doesnt really have a ton of talent on that side of the ball especially when you consider that bron doesnt have the energy to carry them on both sides of the ball anymore

naw he cant really defend the 3, but tbf he cant really defend the 4 either tho so it may not be so much a fit issue as its just a slow feet issue, he prob does have more of a chance of defending the 4 even if known scoring dynamo horford did destroy him down the stretch

― sprout god (lag∞n), Thursday, May 10, 2018 12:40 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark

i was thinking more on offense, where he was their best player last night. i don't think he's bad enough on defense to require being traded or something.

he def has matchup problems on defense but presents the same ones on offense so idk

yeah i think hes a good player but i dont see the triple towers approach being really viable, staggering minutes w him playing the 4 as much as possible and simmons getting some time at the 5 is prob best, as ive said before i dont really think the giant point guard thing is viable either, one thing that wld make the whole situation gel is embiid improving his 3pt shooting which seems doable considering his stroke looks good

saric did some stuff in the post this series but he really had to work for it and didnt look super fluid down there he if improved that part of his game he cld def present an inside/outside issue for teams

one reason why the bucks were a tougher matchup for the celtics than the sixers despite being a generally worse team is the bucks cld match the celtics size-athleticism on the perimeter where the celtics just destroyed the sixers there, poor jj last night my lord

one fucked up thing abt the sixers roster is embiid really shd be the premiere rim runner in the league but they dont have anyone to put him in a pnr with since teams dont have to honor simmons shot and they dont have anyone else with playmaking chops, thats a situation where fultz cld really help, it was way too easy for the celtics to stop their attack and make them go to low qual tiring post up attempts from embiid

yep. Guess I'm pinning hope on Fultz being a str8 baller so I'm not as down on 6ers as a whole after this.

I haven't even texted my 6ers fan buddy after the last couple games cause don't wanna trigger him haha

lol

fultz is def hugely important to their future, after this season ive pretty much written him off as a superstar but i think he cld still achieve all star status which wld be fine for the sixers, if hes more in the solid starter/borderline allstar range it gets a lil deicer, if hes a bust they better just sign lebron

maybe if they strike out in free agency the sixers shd.......trade for kyle lowery

they need a player like him, hes only got two years left on his deal and if the raptors are willing to dump him for a shitty first the sixers can just absorb him into their cap space, downside is just theyd mss one summer of being a player in the free agent market

obvs the raps have to be ready to blow it up which im not sure really makes sense for them

on the other hand lowry is 32 and def fits the profile of a player who cld get very old very fast and hes not a long term solution for the sixers

itd be good for him to be in a little bit more of a supporting role too as weve seen him be overmatched as a star in the offs over n over

lowry would be good for them

thinking very big picture i feel like the best thing for the sixers offense would not be simmons learning how to shoot but simmons learning to be a force in the post. if simmons is the best big man passer in the league since lebron, and you think about where lebron is most deadly as a passer, i feel like putting simmosn down there w/ some shooters around him would be pretty deadly. of course, he has to be able to score 1 on 1 in the post and not just bcuz he got position on a guard who can't stop him. in this model saric would be a great fit but idk how embiid would work, you don't want him that far from the basket all the time. then again he's amazing as a pump and driver so maybe it would work.

in a sense also the sixers have the same problem as a lot of teams which is trying to find guys who can shoot on offense but not give it all up on defense. bellineli was on fire vs the heat but his shooting cooled in this series and on defense he was getting demolished on every switch. they have 4 more years of covington at a pretty good number, they really need him to be that kind of guy.

one reason why the bucks were a tougher matchup for the celtics than the sixers despite being a generally worse team is the bucks cld match the celtics size-athleticism on the perimeter where the celtics just destroyed the sixers there, poor jj last night my lord

― sprout god (lag∞n), Thursday, May 10, 2018 1:01 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

RoCo picked a bad time to play absolutely terrible basketball

agree that simmons in the post makes sense but yeah what do you do with embiid--his skills on the perimeter have been severely overstated

yeah covington really flamed out in this series hopefully it's a one time thing. his defense wasnt even great which is his calling card. he just looked like he was in his own head.

bellinelli, jj and ily were great patches but lagoon otm they became too reliant on them as top-of-the-food-chain scoring options instead of guys that open things up for embiid and simmons to go to work inside. the whole team really played like they anointed themselves too early.

The biggest # for me is the inefficiency in Postups for 76ers -

76ers .77ppp on postups
Celts at 1.26

76ers also running ~10% more postups a game.

— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) May 9, 2018

ben simmons needs a livingston type pull up 10 foot jumper/floater thingy

also lowry has the local villanova connection / a pugnacious philly tude

76ers .77ppp on postups
Celts at 1.26

76ers also running ~10% more postups a game.

feel like these numbers are connected philly was forcing it in the post for lack of a better option where the celtics were using the post in the flow of their normal offense

im not a huge covington believer like even if his shot is falling he cant really credibly attack the close out, to be effective 3 n D really requires that extra element, imo hes prob best more as a situational player than a core contributor

also lowry has the local villanova connection / a pugnacious philly tude

― sprout god (lag∞n), Thursday, May 10, 2018 2:22 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark

not just nova he's homegrown from north philly i think

o nice

agree that simmons in the post makes sense but yeah what do you do with embiid--his skills on the perimeter have been severely overstated

― call all destroyer, Thursday, May 10, 2018 2:01 PM (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hes just got to shoot better and make better decisions do decisive one dribble drives and so forth, his game is so undisciplined right now, he can def get there but its..................a process

feel like these numbers are connected philly was forcing it in the post for lack of a better option where the celtics were using the post in the flow of their normal offense

― sprout god (lag∞n), Thursday, May 10, 2018 11:24 AM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm, way too many possessions where boston took out their first option or two and just dumped it to embiid with 8 on the shot clock.

the number of turnovers embiid makes from doing pointless shit is out of control, badly needs to hone his game down to stuff hes actually good at / get good at more stuff

im not worried about the 76ers yet. they need another year to develop and see what fultz has to really be able to see what they will be imo. pretty good results for year 1 of the current iteration all things considered. embiid REALLLY needs to drop 20 lbs he looks completely gassed at the end of every game

embiid needs to tone down the eurostep he's gonna break his foot again!!

his TOs are so bad. theyre not the 'acceptable' type of young player TOs either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1PqyJ_F4CM

lol i wonder if taps are a philly exclusive thing

joel needs to get serious def stop fucking around

also needs to stop thinking hes cute talking shit online/in press conferences everyone in the league is gonna hate him, tho from a fans perspective it is pretty funny

simmons and embiids personalities seems like they cld end up clashing

you gotta know when to turn it off tho.xp

simmons and embiids personalities seems like they cld end up clashing

― sprout god (lag∞n), Thursday, May 10, 2018 11:38 AM (nine seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

last night i saw some stuff that put this thought into my mind as well!

what was it