OT: The Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers are glad to have a Butler part 2

[Hollywood Cannon]

Sheeeeeesh.

 

[Jray42]

 

[Jtown]

Well the work ethic thing is off base, you don't do what he does because he doesn't work hard.

Lets say there are 5 things in the NBA to be great:

Shooting
Passing
Handling
Rebounds
Defense

I think it's safe to say Ben does 4 of those things at an above average level across the NBA. Shooting is a weakness and against good defensive teams with a lot of players that can switch on him, he does have a disadvantage. I'm willing to let him keep working on it. But the guy is still an unbelievable talent minus the shooting.

shooting/ scoring is by far the most important skill a player needs in todays game. No one gets paid for their ability to pass, handle, rebound or defend.

 

[gertbfrobe16]

i don't see him as anything but a star role player, until he learns to take over a game and impose his tallent on the other team, when it really matters. he is too passive right now for my liking.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

shooting/ scoring is by far the most important skill a player needs in todays game. No one gets paid for their ability to pass, handle, rebound or defend.

So DeRozan’s a positive asset on his contract?

Related questions: What kind of deal would you give a Terry Rozier? What about Booker?

 

[kelmitchell]

So DeRozan’s a positive asset on his contract?

Related questions: What kind of deal would you give a Terry Rozier? What about Booker?

Id love devin booker

 

[Jack Straw]

Again, Giannis is a similar player to Simmons. I’m pretty sure the Bucks are glad they didn’t trade him less than halfway into his 2nd year in the league. He’s in his sixth season now and he still isn’t much of a shooter yet he’s the early favorite for MVP. Simmons has worked on his jumper, there’s video to prove it, and we’ve seen him use it on rare occasions. He just seems reluctant to go out of his comfort zone at this point. He’ll get there eventually.

 

[Jtown]

Plus/minus can sometimes be a misleading stat, but when there's enough evidence in one direction -- enough that it's a real trend -- it can be a good barometer of a player's performance in certain matchups. Simmons has played 11 games against the Celtics in his career (start of the 2017-18 campaign through Tuesday's matchup) and he is a combined minus-125 in those games, per Basketball Reference. This crazy stat includes the five-game Eastern Conference semifinals playoff series Boston won 4-1 last season.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

Setting aside talent and all of that, I do think it's a fair statement to say the Celtics play Simmons the best of anyone right now, mostly because they prioritize getting back in transition so much against this team.

I wish they'd use him as a roll man more often in situations like that.

 

[Lotusflower]

Keep this handy. We're gonna need it all season.

 

[Embiid]

Let's stay clear of jumping to conclusions just yet. There are legit concerns but I think we are better positioned than the Flyers were under Hextall as GM and Hakathon's coaching tenure. Luckily basketball doesn't require as many pieces as hockey. Some tinkering in the 2nd half and offseason should help the situation going forward. If we see stagnation come playoff time with Brown and the likes of Simmons....and Embiid continues to complain about Brown's usage of him...then we can debate a bit harder. It would have been nice to have Zhaire and Fultz play regularly...those were set backs. Smith is coming back and should help with the D and we'll see if Fultz continues to be a drama piece....

 

[Ruck Over]

Let's stay clear of jumping to conclusions just yet. There are legit concerns but I think we are better positioned than the Flyers were under Hextall as GM and Hakathon's coaching tenure. Luckily basketball doesn't require as many pieces as hockey. Some tinkering in the 2nd half and offseason should help the situation going forward. If we see stagnation come playoff time with Brown and the likes of Simmons....and Embiid continues to complain about Brown's usage of him...then we can debate a bit harder. It would have been nice to have Zhaire and Fultz play regularly...those were set backs. Smith is coming back and should help with the D and we'll see if Fultz continues to be a drama piece....

Yeah, it's still too early to lambast the coaches or FO just yet.
-Had Hinkie still been here, sure, be critical, he set everything in motion, there should be an evolving plan.
-The ass clown who followed, would it time to be critical? Likely yes, he big dick swung for the fences in the trade to Boston, purposefully did not engage in FA aside from the meeting with Lebron's people after the fact.
-Brett Brown GM- The trade for Chandler, trade for Muscala wasn't fooling anyone as needle movers. After watching the Sixers fall in the playoffs, this team needed big changes, obviously. This is the best of a bad situation, needs to be better.
-Post burner-palooza, resigning JJ, the draft and Butler trades occurred. I'd say those were positives.

But, the damage was already done, lack of bench. This team still looks mildly adrift against top-flight teams if they kept Bridges instead of Smith. The Sixers have a thin bench, exacerbated by missing their two most recent lottery draft selections. Not that those guys would be good, and there's still lack of credible bigs, but it's easy to see when most the bench gets slotted a man or two down that they could/would/should be a much better team. Amir Johnson was an unnecessary favor to a good soldier, and ultimately inconsequential, but bad management in preparing the strongest roster for the season. It's impressive that he looked markedly better last year somehow.

Edit- Colonjello not responsible for off-season moves of Muscala and Chandler as previously posted.

 

[JXC]

Let's stay clear of jumping to conclusions just yet. There are legit concerns but I think we are better positioned than the Flyers were under Hextall as GM and Hakathon's coaching tenure. Luckily basketball doesn't require as many pieces as hockey. Some tinkering in the 2nd half and offseason should help the situation going forward. If we see stagnation come playoff time with Brown and the likes of Simmons....and Embiid continues to complain about Brown's usage of him...then we can debate a bit harder. It would have been nice to have Zhaire and Fultz play regularly...those were set backs. Smith is coming back and should help with the D and we'll see if Fultz continues to be a drama piece....

The problem appears to be the bench - if you can’t rest your starters enough so that they have energy at crunch time, you get what we saw yesterday and in the playoffs last year, which is starters unable to defend and rebound and get open and knock down shots

 

[Embiid]

The problem appears to be the bench - if you can’t rest your starters enough so that they have energy at crunch time, you get what we saw yesterday and in the playoffs last year, which is starters unable to defend and rebound and get open and knock down shots

The bench needs serious help..... I mean Shamet, Chandler, Muscala, Amir, Korkmaz, TJ......all defensive liabilities even if two of them have shown improvement (Shamet and Kormaz). It is made worse when Brown sends out 3 of them out there at any given time. I think yesterday it was 4 of them....

 

[Hiesenberg]

Brand will do what he can to add some help, but they just don't have enough ammunition for trades, they'll be able to do some work on the buy out market, but that'll be pure luck.

Brand will have work to do in the offseason. Some guys that need to be gone:

Amir
Muscala
TJ
Chandler

Possibly Fultz if he wants to go and you can get a replacement.

Luckily I think every one of those guys is a FA, except for Fultz.

 

[baudib1]

We're going to have to suffer through hot taek season every time the Sixers lose to the Celts specifically because they're the team that does the best at neutralizing Simmons.

 

[Embiid]

We're going to have to suffer through hot taek season every time the Sixers lose to the Celts specifically because they're the team that does the best at neutralizing Simmons.

Celtics have had the Sixers number for a looong time....apart from 2001, 1983.... 1977 and 1967...

 

[baudib1]

Celtics have had the Sixers number for a looong time....apart from 2001, 1983.... 1977 and 1967...

The Sixers basically broke even with the Larry Bird Celtics. Beating them in ;80 and '82.

 

[Embiid]

The Sixers basically broke even with the Larry Bird Celtics. Beating them in ;80 and '82.

I started following the Sixers unfortunately in the Barkley years....around 86. Barkely was great...Sixers because of idiot Harold Katz became a mere shell of themselves and sucked. Traded Malone, Catledge and two first round picks for Jeff Ruland and Cliff Robinson (worst trade ever!) also traded the Brad Daugherty pick (#1 overall )for Roy effin Hinson and cash!

 

[baudib1]

They were dark days bro.

 

[Jack Straw]

Neubeck has a pretty good take on the Ben Simmons situation:

Let's discuss the Ben Simmons shooting problem

 

[kelmitchell]

This is the shit i cant stand nobody guards him because there is zero threat......

 

[Stop the Madness]

Keep this handy. We're gonna need it all season.

Good lord. I stopped listening to that garbage long ago.

 

[gertbfrobe16]

I started following the Sixers unfortunately in the Barkley years....around 86. Barkely was great...Sixers because of idiot Harold Katz became a mere shell of themselves and sucked. Traded Malone, Catledge and two first round picks for Jeff Ruland and Cliff Robinson (worst trade ever!) also traded the Brad Daugherty pick (#1 overall )for Roy effin Hinson and cash!

i'll see your harold katz and raise you an irv koslov lol

 

[Embiid]

i'll see your harold katz and raise you an irv koslov lol

Wilt going to the Lakers was pretty bad. Trading Barkley to the Suns for Hornacek, Lang and Perry was equally a crime.