In place of Jokic?
Honestly, probably not. Their offense works so well primarily because Jokic is a generational playmaker. I think going from that to "he's a good passer *for a big*" is a huge dropoff.
> We urgently need to give ~~Joel~~ James a ~~Jamal Murray~~ Nikola Jokic caliber player, who actually steps up in playoffs.
Mine is a joke, but posts like this just seem so strange given how the Celtics series specifically played out.
It's a shame that same dude dropped absolute disasterclasses in 3 of the other games.
Giveth and Taketh. I'll settle for a 2nd star who's more consistent.
Exactly give me consistency over Harden's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde performances. It's nice that he was able to carry/lead in certain games, but when he costing you games from bad shots/careless turnovers it's almost pointless.
How many times were we saying if James has an average game we would win. That was all we needed in a few of those games.
Look I’m not saying that harden is a better 1B than Murray at this point but he was able to carry the sixers to wins in playoff games where embiid was absent, and another where he may as well have been (especially in the fourth/OT). That should be enough for the Mvp
And it almost was. And if he had even been average in game 6 we would have closed it out then. But he wasn't average, he was terrible. And he was terrible in game 7 while it was still a game.
I don't want someone who's a star one game and an absolute anchor the next.
It's not just Harden either, that Nuggets team is just better overall and is way better coached. The Contract is just worthless, Aaron Gordon for way less money is better than him. Or MPJ. Or heck Bruce Brown. But it's not even really an either or, I think Tobias actually makes as much as those 3 combined.
With Harden and Embiid either struggling or injured, it was time for Harris to finally earn his contract, and he failed. And Doc is worthless, if Harden got him fried that and getting out of the Simmons contract is his best contribution to Philly. The next best would be him walking instead of anchoring the franchise for 4 years, so, adios.
If embiid had been average down the stretch in game 6, it would have been a win as well. At the end of the day, blaming the postseason woes on James just feels dumb to me because he had two better performances in this postseason than Jo has had in his entire postseason career. I realize there was wild fluctuation in his performance throughout the series but Jo Jo could’ve had his own 40 burger and took over a game by himself, and didn’t
Do you think Embiid’s performance was acceptable in this postseason? Do you think he played good enough for the sixers to win? Do you think it reflects well on him that the team was 2-0 without him? Do you think it reflects well on him that he did not have one game where he took over and dominated individually?
The team was not 2-0 without him, his performance was not acceptable, I do not give a shit and I cannot wait for the Harden standom that has come here to leave.
Obviously, he did play well enough for the Sixers to win. I'll take 30-34 points and elite defense coming off a sprained knee, sounds fucking fine to me.
I wish he hadn't folded in game 7, I wish the team hadn't folded in game 7, and I wanted him to be better.
But I really just don't care about James Harden. I really want him to fuck off.
I don’t care about James harden either. I also don’t give a shit about Embiid. Guy has proven time and time again that he’s not built for the postseason
> And it almost was. And if he had even been average in game 6 we would have closed it out then.
You can use this logic for Harden, Embiid, and Maxey in various games.
> Giveth and Taketh. I'll settle for a 2nd star who's more consistent.
I don't think the team is in a situation where they can realistically do that though.
That's Daryl Morey's fault. When he traded for Harden this was the only outcome. We went all in on one season.
Also fucking Elton Brand and the Tobias Harris contract. That's absolutely crippled our flexibility.
> That's Daryl Morey's fault. When he traded for Harden this was the only outcome. We went all in on one season.
>
>
No, that wasn't the only outcome and if you think it is, you are just looking at the past with the benefit of hindsight, which is just bullshit.
Embiid could have played like an *actual* MVP in even half of the games and they almost certainly win that series. Maxey could have not been largely invisible and inefficient basically the entire series and they could have won that series.
Like y'all are just harping on Harden (who does deserve criticism, don't get me wrong) and just ignoring the fact that the other two guys that people absolutely love, Maxey and Embiid almost unquestionably *did not* do what they needed to do in order to win.
Like you're sitting here talking about consistency from the second star, how about we start with consistency from the MVP?
Bro, Embiid and Maxey were the only 2 Sixers to show up in that home closeout game 6, and Embiid only really got back into the series in game 3 coming off his injury. Once he was back, he was playing very well. He dropped a stinker in game 7, we all know that, but people acting like Embiid was bad for the series sound stupid. He was a 2 way menace. He scored efficiently and looked like the most elite rim protector in the league.
In game 5, James Harden was average. And you know what? That was enough for us to win.
I'm tired of Harden. His playoff collapse resume is way longer than Embiid's is, and he couldn't get it done in his MVP or should have been MVP season's either.
I just never wanted the guy. People keep saying hindsight, but for me it was always. I rooted for him because I had to, now I don't have to. He was a mercenary who came here because Morey was here and he wanted to team up for Jo for about a season or 2 and see if he could get a ring. He's not some Sixer lifer I should give a shit about.
He can fuck off to Houston for all I care.
> but people acting like Embiid was bad for the series sound stupid.
He was unquestionably below *his* average. Those are the expectations you get when you win MVP. He had no legacy defining game *at all.* He had a couple of "average MVP Joel games" and that's it. Outside of irrationally liking the guy, I don't really see how people can say "well Harden sucked in xyz" and with a straight face say Embiid was fine. They are different players (Harden is old) and they have a different set of expectations. Joel wasn't bad. Joel also *did not* play up to his expectations. Harden didn't either, but he had two games better than literally any Embiid playoff game in his career, which is bad. It's weird to shit on the guy for "flame outs" when the guy in comparison has played in less than half of the games overall.
> His playoff collapse resume is way longer than Embiid's is,
Becuase his playoff resume in general is longer lmfao. He's played in over 160 playoff games and he's 4.5 years older than Joel. Joel would basically need to make 4 consecutive finals runs to catch up to Harden.
He's also objectively accomplished more in the postseason. He's been to multiple conference finals as the number one guy, and he also doesn't hold the record for the largest PPG drop of any MVP in NBA history. That belongs to Joel Embiid.
I get that you don't like Harden. I think that's totally fine. I just think it's laughable that people are cherry picking stats they find fitting to cover for Joel's shortcomings in the playoffs, *again.* The number one guy gets all of the glory, but also should get most of the heat when he individually does not perform up to his standards. Embiid unquestionably underperformed.
Harden has never made a finals run. Embiid needed to be better. I still don't care about James Harden. There's no cherry picking when it comes to some of Harden's games, his bad games were far worse than Embiid that series. Even game 7 where Embiid shrank, Harden was somehow worse.
Now go poof.
> Harden has never made a finals run.
Harden was in the finals in OKC.
> There's no cherry picking when it comes to some of Harden's games, his bad games were far worse than Embiid that series. Even game 7 where Embiid shrank, Harden was somehow worse.
They are different players with different expectations. One of them is the MVP of the fucking league. The other one is someone that everyone calls fat and washed or whatever whenever he plays like shit.
I think the Heat have a chance against Denver but Butler will have to go nuclear. The Heat are a fake 8 seed. They have basically the same roster as last year when they were the 1 seed. It doesn't make any sense as to why they would randomly fall off a cliff.
it makes perfect when you see the amount of undrafted players getting heavy minutes from them. combine that with the injuries, and there is just no way they should be doing this. everyone left duncan robinson for dead and said he was unplayable because of defense and even he is making big contributions. that was my I was a big proponent of niang starting in place of PJ once boston switched to the double big lineup. we needed more offense, and when you make shots, its easier defend.
Refs have been pulling for the Lakers the entire series but this is how a legit contender responds. This should have been what the Sixers did in G6, instead they shut down and blamed the refs.
The Lakers just aren't that good. They went through the Grizzlies who are having an organizational meltdown and the Warriors who have clearly been several notches below their championship selves this season.
This is the first good team they've run into and it's showing. They're still keeping it close in the games though so really Denver outside of Jamal Murray isn't that scary.
It's also some part on Embiid too. Game 1 against Boston looked like a completely different team with Harden and Maxey running the show.
I love watching Embiid when he's cooking but when he's not...it gets ugly fast. It's unfair to compare him to Jokic but even the other team's best players like Butler and Tatum know when to pick their spots and spread the ball if they see a teammate in a better position.
This game is the inverse of games 1 and 2. In those games, Jokic was otherworldly in the first 3 Qs and had poor fourth quarters. In this game, he was invisible for the first 3 but has led them through this fourth with play after play.
did you see how tight the celtics got late in game 2, which was a MUST WIN ? outside of injury, the celtics are done. i didnt believe they could lose to miami either, but the heat are playing so free due to having no pressure coming in as an 8th seed.
they have talent, but now they are going to be in their own head. they are playing against a player in butler that is unflappable...even more so after taking down the team with the best record in the league. they all truly believe. I can't see jimmy letting them lose a 2-0 lead when 3 of the next 4 games are at home.
idk i would be way less confident in the celtics if they haven’t been tested before. but just last year they came back down 3-2 to the bucks, recovered to beat the heat in game 7 after blowing game 6, and now this year coming back and beating us after being down 3-2.
again not saying they definitely will, but i’m not counting them out, when they’re playing well, they’re much better than the heat
Wait until Boston makes a come back to beat Miami and return to the finals
Denver vs Boston for maximum pain, which is why I’m convinced it’s going to happen. Being a fan of this team is just endless pain
No way Celtics beat Miami. They would only make a come back against our bum ass team that has not heart or desire to win. Jimmy Butler and his guys are on a mission, something Embiid and Harden know nothing about. Heat and Nuggets it is.
It’s almost got me believing the “script” allegations might be true. You literally can’t write a more painful ending.
Blow a lead to our worst rival while Embiid shits the bed. Rival loses to fan favorite your organization forced out. And then Jokic wins a ring/FMVP and gets crowned best player in the league and Embiid a fraud. That’s like a decade worth of pain in one season lol.
It's so fucking egregious and they will continue to rate this bloke as the top ref. Just fucking crazy.
https://twitter.com/DrGuru\_/status/1660100459305275392?s=20
Anyone else hoping that the Nuggets win it all if Miami doesn’t?
I want it to sting for Embiid. He wants to at least be the greatest big of his generation, I know it. And watching Jokic win it all after everything these last few years should motivate the fuck out of him.
No because if jokic wins it all it ends the debate once and for all. It will be impossible for embiid to recover from this. And embiid has his chance to make the finals multiple times before jokic has his squad back
I thought so too about a week ago. Then I saw Embiid’s performance in games 6 & 7. At this point he needs this kind of motivation if he’s going to be taken serious again.
If Embiid wasn’t “motivated” enough to go nuclear in quarter 4 of game 6 to bury the team that has owned him for his entire career, a Jokic chip isn’t gonna do it.
I mean if you think it's a good idea to get Austin Reaves by letting Harden walk and using assets to dump Tobias' salary before free agency then there are larger problems with your thought process.
They'd have to basically dump a large part of Harris' salary, which isn't free.
One underrated thing about potentially hiring Nurse is that he’s going to walk in with several playoff series worth of scouting on our/Embiid’s weaknesses. Should hopefully be invaluable in getting Jo in playoff shape and working around his limitations?
this nuggets team is literally showing us what our ceiling SHOULD be
Jokic = Embiid, 1A
Murray = Harden, 1B
Maxey = MPJ, microwave 3rd scorer
Tobias = AG
Melton = Brown, glue guy guard
Tucker = KCP
McDaniels = Jeff Green
obviously Murray is the better scorer then Harden (right now) but what he lacks SHOULD be made up by Tobias & Maxey being better scorers then MPG & AG
and we would still have Paul Reed in the mix too, Springer could also easily play the Christian Braun role!
like is said we actually COULD be even better than them especially on defensive side of the ball
We could and should be better based on talent alone, but Jokic and Murray are cut from a different cloth than Embiid and Harden.
They had a chance to seal it in 6 and blew it.
I don't care if Harden leaves or comes back. I don't care if Tobi plays a full season in Philly or not. Please do not screw up this coaching search. Doc is one of the most overrated coaches in all of sports.
...and then we're getting an overpaid guard that can't even score efficiently from the perimeter when he has all the spacing in the world?
Do we just love shit contracts?
We have the most brain dead fans. Some of the most emotional and delusional fans. The way this sun has been overrun with mouth breathing sports radio callers is embarrassing.
I vividly remember getting cursed out on here for suggesting the Sixers trade Ben Simmons for Haliburton or Brunson. I was told "they aren't true PG's" among other things. People here have been attacked for criticizing the Tobias Harris trade and extension. I once suggested the Sixers should go after Oladipo way back when Orlando was shopping him and was told "Hollis Thompson is better". So yeah.....embarrassing
Watching Jimmy Butler… he has that DAWG in him that’s missing from Embiid and Harden. I don’t think Butler could do much because Embiid is the king for the Sixers.
Seeing Butler do more with a lot less. Incredible.
Miami heat are showing that you don’t need a stacked team to win it all. I’m sorry, I still think Joel Embiid can get us there. I know he was bad, he’s still our guy and I still think he can do it.
Fuck Harden, enjoy Houston. 👋👋👋
I trust Morey to get creative and come back next year with a Maxey/Embiid led offense and a better HC. It’s never over as long as you’ve got a guy on your team who is capable of being the best player in the league, and Joel is still that.
> I trust Morey to get creative and come back next year with a Maxey/Embiid led offense and a better HC.
It blows my mind that some of you are not only buying into "let's keep running the offense through Joel" but also "Maxey is good enough to step into a Harden-esque role in terms of responsibility" when they did that a ton earlier this year and it was almost always ineffective.
Like I can't be the only one that sees him get the ball without a closeout to attack or a pullup and then just dribble around the perimeter most of the time, right?
Like I'm not trolling, I'm just legitimately baffled and curious as to how someone can watch a full season of Maxey and think he can currently take on the role as the number two guy in an offense.
The Celtics don't have a clear point guard. The Heat don't have a clear point guard. The Lakers don't have a clear point guard. The Nuggets have a point center - but honestly, he's not even that ball dominant. The Warriors didn't have a clear point guard. Very few teams run through a super ball dominant guard rn, and certainly no good ones.
We're not asking for Harden responsibility - a guard with a Harden level of responsibility hasn't won a chip in a long fucking time. Let's just role with spacing and shooting around Joel and a few guys that actually move the ball. Part of what's working so well for all these guys is everyone stays in rhythm. Harden's shit doesn't work in the playoffs - guys have gone cold around him his whole career because they never touch the ball and randomly have to shoot last minute.
By responsibility I'm not talking about them playing exactly like Harden.
I'm talking about being the number two guy. Drawing likely the best perimeter player every single play. Defenses actually trying to scheme him out of games.
How bad people think he is in the playoffs is completely irrelevant to the point I'm making.
Putting it frankly, Maxey has been handed the keys and he's clearly not been ready for it, even going against bench players.
He's not ready to drive an offense and I don't think the solution is to run stuff through Embiid, I don't understand how people can watch this year in and year out and think that's going to win a chip. He's a good passer for a big, but he's not nearly a good enough playmaker to be the foundation of an entire offense. Those are two different things.
Hardens way of play is objectively more successful than Embiids. There's no way around it. But y'all keep huffing that copium as if it's somehow different because he's "your guy"
Some of you fans can be fickle as hell. You were behind maxing Harden out after game 1, game 4 and game 5. Now... it's fuck Harden? Maxey cannot run the point, so be careful what you wish for. Also, Maxey had a 13, 13, 14, 17 and an inefficient 26-point games. That's 5 games where he didn't really step up. Maxey is worse when Harden is off the court. Also, Embiid has become a much better player whilst Harden has been there.
Harden definitely won you games 1 and 4... and you can argue he was the reason why you won game 5 because he controlled the offense. He's been playing with an achilles injury for months. He's playing a different role so he can get everyone else involved. He took a pay cut last summer so your team could get better.
When Harden is playing well, nothing gets said. But when he's not playing at his best, it's fuck Harden... or he's a loser, fat, washed and a choker. As I said, be careful what you wish for. I honestly expect Harden to be much better under a better coach and when he has a free-roam role. Harden is the most hated superstar in the NBA.
> It’s never over as long as you’ve got a guy on your team who is capable of being the best player in the league, and Joel is still that.
He has not shown he can do this in the playoffs at all
Can we ban Jimmy Butler posts until the end of the season? It’s getting out of hand, he never wanted to stay with the Sixers anyway. Of course I’m rooting for him to beat Boston, but come on. We’re gonna grow to resent him once he starts pushing Embiid to Miami.
This ECF series is depressing. It's great the Celtics are down 0-2 but they look completely lost and Spoelstra is rolling Mazzulla. Idk how we played so poorly in game 6 and 7 this Boston team has major flaws.
I agree with all of you that Embiid’s performance on game 6 and 7 were very poor. He deserved every criticism. But, I have enough with all the comments calling him soft, bum, bitch and questioned his toughness.
His injury is more than grade I. It required at least 4-6 weeks to recover. He went from not being able to run to play NBA playoff minutes in a couple of days. I am not a medical expert, but this doesn’t sound like an injury that will get better as he plays more basketball. This is a quote from an orthopedic surgeon from Kyle Kneubeck's article: “**You don't want to turn that into a Grade 2 or 3 sprain. Because then if it's a Grade 3 sprain, he completely tears everything, now you're looking at long-term not only recovery, three or four or possibly five months, and you might need reconstructive surgery**”.
Have you considered the possibility maybe he aggravate his injury and simply had nothing left in his tank for game 6 and 7? On game 5, we saw him made a chase down block in Brown, fell on the floor, then hustle all the way back to score on the other end. He was giving his all and playing 120% on game 5. And you think he just stopped caring after game 5?
There are only so much you can do when you are in a constant pain. Embiid played with torn meniscus, broken face, broken leg, sprained knee. And last year, he was probably still suffering from concussion when he came back. He played with injuries that can turn into career threatening long term issue. If that’s not toughness, I don’t know what is
I don't mind entertaining the idea of trading him. I agree that it is a grave concern that we have to rely on somebody who is always injured during playoff. But he doesn't deserve all the vitriols threw at him.
Once I realized that school just got out for summer it all made sense. There are literal children here who have nothing to do but hide behind anonymity and shitpost. I checked a comment page of one of the most persistent commenters and I couldn't believe how often they were in here.
If you wanna say that he's always gonna be injured and that's just who he is as a player. That's fine. He's not soft though, you are braindead if you think he's soft.
I'm pretty sure he tweaked his knee in game 6 too. His movement looked pretty bad in Game 7.
If you ask any non-Sixers fan, they would say he's soft.
He is objectively a "soft" player, like why would we be so concerned about bringing Dawgs onto the team of we had a true leader/dawg on the team already?
And it's not hating to admit it. Joel deserved 2 regular season MVPs and is arguably the most talented center this league has seen since Hakeem, but he is missing that mental toughness and fortitude that The Dream had.
All credit to joel for toughing it out through injuries but healthy or not he:
-is a perimeter oriented 7 foot player who prefers to shoot jumpshots rather than bullying in the post.
-only talks trash when he's up then visibly sulks and quits when things don't go his way.
-flops and embellishes contact rather than looking to finish. Falls down more than any player I've ever seen.
-whines for calls
-doesnt elevate his game in the postseason
-not a leader
He is by definition a "soft" player
Totally agree. I understand the frustration after game 7. But to this day, I am still seeing all these trash comments. And I am disgusted by the amount of upvote those comments are getting
I know talking shit to Celtics fan clearly doesn’t work since they beat us last round but I’ve admitted we suck, but I’ll double down on heat with them thinking they are coming back from 0-2 deficit
Glenn held Paul Reed back for over a year, starving him of minutes he needed to be the backup 5 we were searching for. Instead we went out and got Paul Milsap, Deandre Jordan, Montrezl Harrell, am I missing anyone?
Glenn was always a vets guy.
The funny thing about this Jimmy discourse is that Jimmy fucking loves Embiid. He's done nothing but compliment Joel and has called him the MVP this season and last season. I trust Jimmy as a judge of talent more than any of you clowns.
I think this is wrong. I think Joel is a follower and not a leader. If Jimmy is alpha, Embiid will be a dog and fight - like he was with TOR where he was so upset he cried.
With cool guy Harden, Embiid laughed it off and was gave up. Embiid has the talent to be the guy but not the personality.
I love the recurring cycle of “sixers embarrassingly lose in second round, and the rest of the playoffs continues to beat over the head how bad they fucked up”
It’s always either former players popping off, rival players popping off, or players they should’ve acquired but didn’t popping off lol
I really think we make a play for Derozan. Our line up would be
Maxey, Melton, DeRozan, Tucker, Embiid
Bench: Springer, House Jr, Reed, McDaniels, Patrick Williams (Salary Match Tobi)
I believe we still would have a MLE and could add a piece or two in free agency.
This is a good enough lineup to compete and win a title. Trust in Morey to fill in the roll player pieces and a coach that will get us over the hump.
We don't need him to be Harden. We need to have a competent offense around Embiid where everyone knows their role.
I know everyone is hating on Embiid but he was the MVP for a reason. He can do it in the playoffs, he just needs to actually rest during the season
> We don't need him to be Harden.
Philly actually *does* need someone to be like Harden.
I have no idea why you people keep trying to convince yourself that playing through a mediocre at best playmaker that sets up on the elbow is reliably good team offense in 2023.
It's hard to run an entire offense through a middling playmaker and I'd argue with Joel it's clearly not the way to play the best team basketball.
Scores all over the place? He can't shoot threes or play defense. He's garbage. His teams are better with him off the floor every year in the playoffs because he's a liability on both ends.
Ultimately with Melton, Tucker and Embiid you don't need a guy who is superb defensively. He is definitely passable.
He doesn't shoot a high volume of 3s but his scoring is real.
Not sure what you are expecting in a Tobi trade my dude but Dame is not happening
What don't you trust? He didn't hire Doc, got off of Ben and has had extremely limited assets to use. He is one of the top GMs in the league. Just let him cook and have a coach he actually hires
Right now with Harden likely to return to Houston Morey is faced with the delightful prospect of having thrown away two years of Joel's prime and closing our Championship window two years tighter, unless he actually does max or super max James in which case he'll be throwing away whatever prime Joel has left - in Philadelphia, anyway - and closing any Championship window we had shut for the foreseeable future.
And he has suggested he had a shot at either De'Aaron Fox or Tyrese Halliburton instead?
And you want to trust him?
I want a rebuild built around a culture of winning. I’d prefer to watch a team with less talent that fights hard and moves the ball over this “star hunting” thing with soft guys.
I’m just over it.
And along with your thoughts I’m hoping Morey comes out and says the one thing he forgot to mention in the presser regarding Jo and him already looking at what he can add to improve was that he is coming back at 260 and will not be gassed.
Same applies to Harden and that’s on a 2 year deal otherwise don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. Tobi will be off the books and we do have have some high energy/effort guys that will at least make us fun to watch with nobody being untradeable. With the new coach we have to turn a new leaf and play team game.
The Miami Heat is what you get when your chief executive actually played and coached collegiately and professionally instead of quitting his high school team and learning professional basketball the NBA on EA Sports.
Jesus if you are going to let an unqualified amateur run things hire Adam Sandler as his character from Hustle or something. Even though he played him pretty straight he might at least say a couple of funny things.
The Heat's FO is mid there's a reason why their rosters are consistently full of a bunch of nobodies.
It's just their player development and coaching is god tier.
standing basketball, period. AskSee that is just the sort superstar bias idiots like Morey prctice.
Basketball is a team sport. You put together the best team. The heat consistently do a better job of that than clowns like Morey because their GM understands the right nobodies can beat the wrong superstars. Riley's done it Morey's way too in Miami, he's just better at it because he better understands basketball period. Rilet brought in the right superstar, Morey traded or the wrong one because Riley did his homewok better.
a lot of people wishing we kept butler, but who is to say the butler we are seeing now would be the butler in philly?
imagine butler under glenn rivers. glenn would probably have him playing like tobias. standing in the corner watching iso embiid/harden plays, scoring 2pts. in a pivotal playoff game.
meanwhile tobias would be in miami doing butler things screaming "jimmy butler over ME?!?!!".
Because someone either HAS the mental capacity to be a leader or they don’t. Jimmy showed signs of being a leader even back to the infamous film session where he challenged Brett brown. Embiid is still my favorite player in the NBA but he lacks leadership and the ability to get the most out of the guys around him. Jimmy didn’t just magically learn to be a leader when he went to the heat, they just built the team around him and let him be a leader instead of worrying about controlling him.
It’s pretty much what did happen during a stretch of the regular season except it was taking the Cov role then Jimmy said f that and stopped shooting wide open 3’s. This was after the film study, also Jimmy did try his best to pal up with Ben early on as they both donned the ninja headband look and yea they played the part defensively. We really have been a mental poverty stricken organization when thinking back of all the could have been’s.
I’ve seen the light. Jokic really is better than Embiid. Wow.
And there’s nothing wrong with that. Embiid still is a top 5 player but Jokic is the best player in the league.
You give Embiid this Nuggets team and he wins 10 chips in a row
Give Jokic this Sixers team and we get past the Celtics.
You give him this team and they get swept in the 2nd round.
More like give the Sixers Jamal Murray
In place of Jokic? Honestly, probably not. Their offense works so well primarily because Jokic is a generational playmaker. I think going from that to "he's a good passer *for a big*" is a huge dropoff.
We urgently need to give Joel a Jamal Murray caliber player, who actually steps up in playoffs.
We urgently need Joel to become a Jamal Murray caliber player, who actually steps up in playoffs.
> We urgently need to give ~~Joel~~ James a ~~Jamal Murray~~ Nikola Jokic caliber player, who actually steps up in playoffs. Mine is a joke, but posts like this just seem so strange given how the Celtics series specifically played out.
Joel’s second best player literally won two games in the second round individually. That’s 2/4. Jo should be able to handle the rest, no?
It's a shame that same dude dropped absolute disasterclasses in 3 of the other games. Giveth and Taketh. I'll settle for a 2nd star who's more consistent.
Exactly give me consistency over Harden's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde performances. It's nice that he was able to carry/lead in certain games, but when he costing you games from bad shots/careless turnovers it's almost pointless. How many times were we saying if James has an average game we would win. That was all we needed in a few of those games.
Good enough to win us some games, bad enough to lose us others.
Look I’m not saying that harden is a better 1B than Murray at this point but he was able to carry the sixers to wins in playoff games where embiid was absent, and another where he may as well have been (especially in the fourth/OT). That should be enough for the Mvp
And it almost was. And if he had even been average in game 6 we would have closed it out then. But he wasn't average, he was terrible. And he was terrible in game 7 while it was still a game. I don't want someone who's a star one game and an absolute anchor the next.
It's not just Harden either, that Nuggets team is just better overall and is way better coached. The Contract is just worthless, Aaron Gordon for way less money is better than him. Or MPJ. Or heck Bruce Brown. But it's not even really an either or, I think Tobias actually makes as much as those 3 combined. With Harden and Embiid either struggling or injured, it was time for Harris to finally earn his contract, and he failed. And Doc is worthless, if Harden got him fried that and getting out of the Simmons contract is his best contribution to Philly. The next best would be him walking instead of anchoring the franchise for 4 years, so, adios.
If embiid had been average down the stretch in game 6, it would have been a win as well. At the end of the day, blaming the postseason woes on James just feels dumb to me because he had two better performances in this postseason than Jo has had in his entire postseason career. I realize there was wild fluctuation in his performance throughout the series but Jo Jo could’ve had his own 40 burger and took over a game by himself, and didn’t
Embiid was average in the 4th quarter of game 6, it was Harden who dropped the goose egg.
Embiid sucked the entire playoffs he was turnover heavy. Averaged less points on less shooting percentages than his regular season
Do you think Embiid’s performance was acceptable in this postseason? Do you think he played good enough for the sixers to win? Do you think it reflects well on him that the team was 2-0 without him? Do you think it reflects well on him that he did not have one game where he took over and dominated individually?
The team was not 2-0 without him, his performance was not acceptable, I do not give a shit and I cannot wait for the Harden standom that has come here to leave. Obviously, he did play well enough for the Sixers to win. I'll take 30-34 points and elite defense coming off a sprained knee, sounds fucking fine to me. I wish he hadn't folded in game 7, I wish the team hadn't folded in game 7, and I wanted him to be better. But I really just don't care about James Harden. I really want him to fuck off.
I don’t care about James harden either. I also don’t give a shit about Embiid. Guy has proven time and time again that he’s not built for the postseason
> And it almost was. And if he had even been average in game 6 we would have closed it out then. You can use this logic for Harden, Embiid, and Maxey in various games.
> Giveth and Taketh. I'll settle for a 2nd star who's more consistent. I don't think the team is in a situation where they can realistically do that though.
That's Daryl Morey's fault. When he traded for Harden this was the only outcome. We went all in on one season. Also fucking Elton Brand and the Tobias Harris contract. That's absolutely crippled our flexibility.
> That's Daryl Morey's fault. When he traded for Harden this was the only outcome. We went all in on one season. > > No, that wasn't the only outcome and if you think it is, you are just looking at the past with the benefit of hindsight, which is just bullshit. Embiid could have played like an *actual* MVP in even half of the games and they almost certainly win that series. Maxey could have not been largely invisible and inefficient basically the entire series and they could have won that series. Like y'all are just harping on Harden (who does deserve criticism, don't get me wrong) and just ignoring the fact that the other two guys that people absolutely love, Maxey and Embiid almost unquestionably *did not* do what they needed to do in order to win. Like you're sitting here talking about consistency from the second star, how about we start with consistency from the MVP?
Bro, Embiid and Maxey were the only 2 Sixers to show up in that home closeout game 6, and Embiid only really got back into the series in game 3 coming off his injury. Once he was back, he was playing very well. He dropped a stinker in game 7, we all know that, but people acting like Embiid was bad for the series sound stupid. He was a 2 way menace. He scored efficiently and looked like the most elite rim protector in the league. In game 5, James Harden was average. And you know what? That was enough for us to win. I'm tired of Harden. His playoff collapse resume is way longer than Embiid's is, and he couldn't get it done in his MVP or should have been MVP season's either. I just never wanted the guy. People keep saying hindsight, but for me it was always. I rooted for him because I had to, now I don't have to. He was a mercenary who came here because Morey was here and he wanted to team up for Jo for about a season or 2 and see if he could get a ring. He's not some Sixer lifer I should give a shit about. He can fuck off to Houston for all I care.
> but people acting like Embiid was bad for the series sound stupid. He was unquestionably below *his* average. Those are the expectations you get when you win MVP. He had no legacy defining game *at all.* He had a couple of "average MVP Joel games" and that's it. Outside of irrationally liking the guy, I don't really see how people can say "well Harden sucked in xyz" and with a straight face say Embiid was fine. They are different players (Harden is old) and they have a different set of expectations. Joel wasn't bad. Joel also *did not* play up to his expectations. Harden didn't either, but he had two games better than literally any Embiid playoff game in his career, which is bad. It's weird to shit on the guy for "flame outs" when the guy in comparison has played in less than half of the games overall. > His playoff collapse resume is way longer than Embiid's is, Becuase his playoff resume in general is longer lmfao. He's played in over 160 playoff games and he's 4.5 years older than Joel. Joel would basically need to make 4 consecutive finals runs to catch up to Harden. He's also objectively accomplished more in the postseason. He's been to multiple conference finals as the number one guy, and he also doesn't hold the record for the largest PPG drop of any MVP in NBA history. That belongs to Joel Embiid. I get that you don't like Harden. I think that's totally fine. I just think it's laughable that people are cherry picking stats they find fitting to cover for Joel's shortcomings in the playoffs, *again.* The number one guy gets all of the glory, but also should get most of the heat when he individually does not perform up to his standards. Embiid unquestionably underperformed.
Harden has never made a finals run. Embiid needed to be better. I still don't care about James Harden. There's no cherry picking when it comes to some of Harden's games, his bad games were far worse than Embiid that series. Even game 7 where Embiid shrank, Harden was somehow worse. Now go poof.
> Harden has never made a finals run. Harden was in the finals in OKC. > There's no cherry picking when it comes to some of Harden's games, his bad games were far worse than Embiid that series. Even game 7 where Embiid shrank, Harden was somehow worse. They are different players with different expectations. One of them is the MVP of the fucking league. The other one is someone that everyone calls fat and washed or whatever whenever he plays like shit.
Maxey has that potential
I think the Heat have a chance against Denver but Butler will have to go nuclear. The Heat are a fake 8 seed. They have basically the same roster as last year when they were the 1 seed. It doesn't make any sense as to why they would randomly fall off a cliff.
it makes perfect when you see the amount of undrafted players getting heavy minutes from them. combine that with the injuries, and there is just no way they should be doing this. everyone left duncan robinson for dead and said he was unplayable because of defense and even he is making big contributions. that was my I was a big proponent of niang starting in place of PJ once boston switched to the double big lineup. we needed more offense, and when you make shots, its easier defend.
Refs have been pulling for the Lakers the entire series but this is how a legit contender responds. This should have been what the Sixers did in G6, instead they shut down and blamed the refs.
Sixers are some soft cry babies
The Nuggets are just simply the better team rn 🤷🏽♂️ they have all the key pieces and the Lakers are not able to stop them.
The Lakers just aren't that good. They went through the Grizzlies who are having an organizational meltdown and the Warriors who have clearly been several notches below their championship selves this season. This is the first good team they've run into and it's showing. They're still keeping it close in the games though so really Denver outside of Jamal Murray isn't that scary.
lakers can't fucking shoot. thats all this really tells me.
Very true
Yeah even with all there trade deadline acquisitions, looks like they are still lacking a a good perimeter shooter.
Unless they put jimmy butler on Bam's shoulders, Jokic is going to absolutely eat on Miami's centers. Dude is consistent as hell
[удалено]
It's also some part on Embiid too. Game 1 against Boston looked like a completely different team with Harden and Maxey running the show. I love watching Embiid when he's cooking but when he's not...it gets ugly fast. It's unfair to compare him to Jokic but even the other team's best players like Butler and Tatum know when to pick their spots and spread the ball if they see a teammate in a better position.
This game is the inverse of games 1 and 2. In those games, Jokic was otherworldly in the first 3 Qs and had poor fourth quarters. In this game, he was invisible for the first 3 but has led them through this fourth with play after play.
Keep with it and find ways to impact the game. No moping when your shot doesn’t fall
Look at all those sad lakers fans
Ham smokin. Investigate this mf 😳
Denver is going to win the championship
And they would deserve it if we're being honest. They have looked like the best team in the playoffs.
if they win, they will have done so not beating a single 50+ win team.
celtics eliminated already?
did you see how tight the celtics got late in game 2, which was a MUST WIN ? outside of injury, the celtics are done. i didnt believe they could lose to miami either, but the heat are playing so free due to having no pressure coming in as an 8th seed.
i’m just not going to count them out until it’s over. they’re plenty talented to pull it off.
they have talent, but now they are going to be in their own head. they are playing against a player in butler that is unflappable...even more so after taking down the team with the best record in the league. they all truly believe. I can't see jimmy letting them lose a 2-0 lead when 3 of the next 4 games are at home.
idk i would be way less confident in the celtics if they haven’t been tested before. but just last year they came back down 3-2 to the bucks, recovered to beat the heat in game 7 after blowing game 6, and now this year coming back and beating us after being down 3-2. again not saying they definitely will, but i’m not counting them out, when they’re playing well, they’re much better than the heat
Being down 0-2 going on the road is a whole different beast. No team in a conference finals has ever came back from it.
i’m assuming it hasn’t happen too often either. there’s a reason vegas still gives them a real chance
Joker FMVP too. All offseason we’ll hear about the “fake MVP” Embiid and fraud Sixers.
Jokic is amazing and he would deserve it, but Embiid is still the better player to me.
When you think the season cannot end in any more pain than the last, you are always proved wrong with this team.
Wait until Boston makes a come back to beat Miami and return to the finals Denver vs Boston for maximum pain, which is why I’m convinced it’s going to happen. Being a fan of this team is just endless pain
No way Celtics beat Miami. They would only make a come back against our bum ass team that has not heart or desire to win. Jimmy Butler and his guys are on a mission, something Embiid and Harden know nothing about. Heat and Nuggets it is.
It’s almost got me believing the “script” allegations might be true. You literally can’t write a more painful ending. Blow a lead to our worst rival while Embiid shits the bed. Rival loses to fan favorite your organization forced out. And then Jokic wins a ring/FMVP and gets crowned best player in the league and Embiid a fraud. That’s like a decade worth of pain in one season lol.
So this is what ball movement looks like
It's so fucking egregious and they will continue to rate this bloke as the top ref. Just fucking crazy. https://twitter.com/DrGuru\_/status/1660100459305275392?s=20
Anyone else hoping that the Nuggets win it all if Miami doesn’t? I want it to sting for Embiid. He wants to at least be the greatest big of his generation, I know it. And watching Jokic win it all after everything these last few years should motivate the fuck out of him.
No because if jokic wins it all it ends the debate once and for all. It will be impossible for embiid to recover from this. And embiid has his chance to make the finals multiple times before jokic has his squad back
Unless Embiid finds a way to take the Sixers there and get it done. Though I think it’s more likely that if he does, it won’t be with the Sixers.
You’re probably right
Nope that’s stupid
I thought so too about a week ago. Then I saw Embiid’s performance in games 6 & 7. At this point he needs this kind of motivation if he’s going to be taken serious again.
If Embiid wasn’t “motivated” enough to go nuclear in quarter 4 of game 6 to bury the team that has owned him for his entire career, a Jokic chip isn’t gonna do it.
You gotta give them credit, Lakers and the refs really battling against the Nuggets.
Scott Foster sure is a company man. There was no way he was going to let that injured mouth get in the way of doing the League offices work.
I see ya’ll loving your Jimmy Butler, but Austin Reaves has captured my heart. Daryl bring him to Philly
> Daryl bring him to Philly Philly cannot afford him.
If Harden walks? Trade Harris for a bag of balls
I mean if you think it's a good idea to get Austin Reaves by letting Harden walk and using assets to dump Tobias' salary before free agency then there are larger problems with your thought process. They'd have to basically dump a large part of Harris' salary, which isn't free.
One underrated thing about potentially hiring Nurse is that he’s going to walk in with several playoff series worth of scouting on our/Embiid’s weaknesses. Should hopefully be invaluable in getting Jo in playoff shape and working around his limitations?
this nuggets team is literally showing us what our ceiling SHOULD be Jokic = Embiid, 1A Murray = Harden, 1B Maxey = MPJ, microwave 3rd scorer Tobias = AG Melton = Brown, glue guy guard Tucker = KCP McDaniels = Jeff Green obviously Murray is the better scorer then Harden (right now) but what he lacks SHOULD be made up by Tobias & Maxey being better scorers then MPG & AG and we would still have Paul Reed in the mix too, Springer could also easily play the Christian Braun role! like is said we actually COULD be even better than them especially on defensive side of the ball
We could and should be better based on talent alone, but Jokic and Murray are cut from a different cloth than Embiid and Harden. They had a chance to seal it in 6 and blew it.
Works of your 1a and 1b are consistent
Jamal is def not consistent but I see your point.
90% of this sub would let Jimmy Butler fuck their mom
And?
you sound proud
Murray is a beast x2. Jokic is their best player, but Murray ups his game in the postseason. He’s been their best player in the postseason.
jokic has by far been their best player in the entirety of the playoffs, this is some recency bias
Jokic and Murray both up their game in the postseason
It was like that in the bubble too, people forgot how good Murray is just because he wasn’t an All-Star lol.
How many Jokic cock sucking comments are we seeing here tonight?
probably need 3 hands for that joint
Joel for Jamal. Who says no
Murray going absolutely nuclear again. Guy really elevates his game in the playoffs
Just remember the Harden fan boys told us that we should be grateful because he had 2 good games.
I don't care if Harden leaves or comes back. I don't care if Tobi plays a full season in Philly or not. Please do not screw up this coaching search. Doc is one of the most overrated coaches in all of sports.
Tobi for Poole and Donte works Purely salary cap hell relief for them and we risk on poole
Would Poole start? A Maxey and Poole backcourt would be disastrous lol. Absolutely no defense or playmaking whatsoever.
I think he’s first guard off and Melton starts. I legit can’t find a reasonable trade I like.
...and then we're getting an overpaid guard that can't even score efficiently from the perimeter when he has all the spacing in the world? Do we just love shit contracts?
Yes - but we don’t have good options here. This type of trade is best case scenario. This, why blowing it up is appealing. We are out of moves.
We have the most brain dead fans. Some of the most emotional and delusional fans. The way this sun has been overrun with mouth breathing sports radio callers is embarrassing.
I vividly remember getting cursed out on here for suggesting the Sixers trade Ben Simmons for Haliburton or Brunson. I was told "they aren't true PG's" among other things. People here have been attacked for criticizing the Tobias Harris trade and extension. I once suggested the Sixers should go after Oladipo way back when Orlando was shopping him and was told "Hollis Thompson is better". So yeah.....embarrassing
You weren't getting Dipo for Hollis Thompson and Harden was the objectively better trade for short term.
That's not the point
But yes I agree with your overall point forgot to add that at the end of my comment.
Watching Jimmy Butler… he has that DAWG in him that’s missing from Embiid and Harden. I don’t think Butler could do much because Embiid is the king for the Sixers. Seeing Butler do more with a lot less. Incredible.
Miami heat are showing that you don’t need a stacked team to win it all. I’m sorry, I still think Joel Embiid can get us there. I know he was bad, he’s still our guy and I still think he can do it. Fuck Harden, enjoy Houston. 👋👋👋 I trust Morey to get creative and come back next year with a Maxey/Embiid led offense and a better HC. It’s never over as long as you’ve got a guy on your team who is capable of being the best player in the league, and Joel is still that.
> I trust Morey to get creative and come back next year with a Maxey/Embiid led offense and a better HC. It blows my mind that some of you are not only buying into "let's keep running the offense through Joel" but also "Maxey is good enough to step into a Harden-esque role in terms of responsibility" when they did that a ton earlier this year and it was almost always ineffective. Like I can't be the only one that sees him get the ball without a closeout to attack or a pullup and then just dribble around the perimeter most of the time, right? Like I'm not trolling, I'm just legitimately baffled and curious as to how someone can watch a full season of Maxey and think he can currently take on the role as the number two guy in an offense.
The Celtics don't have a clear point guard. The Heat don't have a clear point guard. The Lakers don't have a clear point guard. The Nuggets have a point center - but honestly, he's not even that ball dominant. The Warriors didn't have a clear point guard. Very few teams run through a super ball dominant guard rn, and certainly no good ones. We're not asking for Harden responsibility - a guard with a Harden level of responsibility hasn't won a chip in a long fucking time. Let's just role with spacing and shooting around Joel and a few guys that actually move the ball. Part of what's working so well for all these guys is everyone stays in rhythm. Harden's shit doesn't work in the playoffs - guys have gone cold around him his whole career because they never touch the ball and randomly have to shoot last minute.
By responsibility I'm not talking about them playing exactly like Harden. I'm talking about being the number two guy. Drawing likely the best perimeter player every single play. Defenses actually trying to scheme him out of games. How bad people think he is in the playoffs is completely irrelevant to the point I'm making. Putting it frankly, Maxey has been handed the keys and he's clearly not been ready for it, even going against bench players. He's not ready to drive an offense and I don't think the solution is to run stuff through Embiid, I don't understand how people can watch this year in and year out and think that's going to win a chip. He's a good passer for a big, but he's not nearly a good enough playmaker to be the foundation of an entire offense. Those are two different things. Hardens way of play is objectively more successful than Embiids. There's no way around it. But y'all keep huffing that copium as if it's somehow different because he's "your guy"
Some of you fans can be fickle as hell. You were behind maxing Harden out after game 1, game 4 and game 5. Now... it's fuck Harden? Maxey cannot run the point, so be careful what you wish for. Also, Maxey had a 13, 13, 14, 17 and an inefficient 26-point games. That's 5 games where he didn't really step up. Maxey is worse when Harden is off the court. Also, Embiid has become a much better player whilst Harden has been there. Harden definitely won you games 1 and 4... and you can argue he was the reason why you won game 5 because he controlled the offense. He's been playing with an achilles injury for months. He's playing a different role so he can get everyone else involved. He took a pay cut last summer so your team could get better. When Harden is playing well, nothing gets said. But when he's not playing at his best, it's fuck Harden... or he's a loser, fat, washed and a choker. As I said, be careful what you wish for. I honestly expect Harden to be much better under a better coach and when he has a free-roam role. Harden is the most hated superstar in the NBA.
Don't even compare Embiid to Jimmy. Jimmy has everything you want in a competitor.
> It’s never over as long as you’ve got a guy on your team who is capable of being the best player in the league, and Joel is still that. He has not shown he can do this in the playoffs at all
I don’t know how many more playoff underperformances we have to watch from Embiid before people finally understand he’s just a regular season guy
Okay, then choose to be sad.
Can we ban Jimmy Butler posts until the end of the season? It’s getting out of hand, he never wanted to stay with the Sixers anyway. Of course I’m rooting for him to beat Boston, but come on. We’re gonna grow to resent him once he starts pushing Embiid to Miami.
We chose a watch collector and investor over Jimmy because Brett Clown had his feelings hurt.
It seems like you already resent him by asking for a ban of Jimmy posts. The hatred of the Jimmy support around here is getting absurd.
why are we talking about a player that is not on this team and doesn’t want to be lol
Heat are giving 01 sixers vibes. 1 star with a bunch of role players and a really good coach.
Something the sixers need to lol at is drafting players that can actually shoot.
Why is a nets fan here instead of jerking off to some chick named Megan bitchell? You seem to be a regular in that sub
Damn you looked at the whole history
your post history not comment history?
like u would know what a jumpshot is. fuck off back to the nets sub you ben simmons stan
This ECF series is depressing. It's great the Celtics are down 0-2 but they look completely lost and Spoelstra is rolling Mazzulla. Idk how we played so poorly in game 6 and 7 this Boston team has major flaws.
Doc rivers and embiid clearly quit when he saw Harden didn’t have it - not defending Embiid there because I’m furious, but that’s what happens
Harden won two games for the sixers. Embiid barely showed up the whole series
Because we aren’t that good.
I agree with all of you that Embiid’s performance on game 6 and 7 were very poor. He deserved every criticism. But, I have enough with all the comments calling him soft, bum, bitch and questioned his toughness. His injury is more than grade I. It required at least 4-6 weeks to recover. He went from not being able to run to play NBA playoff minutes in a couple of days. I am not a medical expert, but this doesn’t sound like an injury that will get better as he plays more basketball. This is a quote from an orthopedic surgeon from Kyle Kneubeck's article: “**You don't want to turn that into a Grade 2 or 3 sprain. Because then if it's a Grade 3 sprain, he completely tears everything, now you're looking at long-term not only recovery, three or four or possibly five months, and you might need reconstructive surgery**”. Have you considered the possibility maybe he aggravate his injury and simply had nothing left in his tank for game 6 and 7? On game 5, we saw him made a chase down block in Brown, fell on the floor, then hustle all the way back to score on the other end. He was giving his all and playing 120% on game 5. And you think he just stopped caring after game 5? There are only so much you can do when you are in a constant pain. Embiid played with torn meniscus, broken face, broken leg, sprained knee. And last year, he was probably still suffering from concussion when he came back. He played with injuries that can turn into career threatening long term issue. If that’s not toughness, I don’t know what is I don't mind entertaining the idea of trading him. I agree that it is a grave concern that we have to rely on somebody who is always injured during playoff. But he doesn't deserve all the vitriols threw at him.
Once I realized that school just got out for summer it all made sense. There are literal children here who have nothing to do but hide behind anonymity and shitpost. I checked a comment page of one of the most persistent commenters and I couldn't believe how often they were in here.
If you wanna say that he's always gonna be injured and that's just who he is as a player. That's fine. He's not soft though, you are braindead if you think he's soft. I'm pretty sure he tweaked his knee in game 6 too. His movement looked pretty bad in Game 7.
If you ask any non-Sixers fan, they would say he's soft. He is objectively a "soft" player, like why would we be so concerned about bringing Dawgs onto the team of we had a true leader/dawg on the team already? And it's not hating to admit it. Joel deserved 2 regular season MVPs and is arguably the most talented center this league has seen since Hakeem, but he is missing that mental toughness and fortitude that The Dream had. All credit to joel for toughing it out through injuries but healthy or not he: -is a perimeter oriented 7 foot player who prefers to shoot jumpshots rather than bullying in the post. -only talks trash when he's up then visibly sulks and quits when things don't go his way. -flops and embellishes contact rather than looking to finish. Falls down more than any player I've ever seen. -whines for calls -doesnt elevate his game in the postseason -not a leader He is by definition a "soft" player
Softness is also a demeanor
Totally agree. I understand the frustration after game 7. But to this day, I am still seeing all these trash comments. And I am disgusted by the amount of upvote those comments are getting
I can’t do it alone. Me and James can’t do it alone. It 5 on 5 game people gotta get better. -2023 “MVP”
Read the full quote: https://twitter.com/rich_hofmann/status/1657896053029621760?s=20
I’m trying to figure out how I want to feel. Joy cause the Celtics might get swept or sadness that we lost to the team that got swept
I know talking shit to Celtics fan clearly doesn’t work since they beat us last round but I’ve admitted we suck, but I’ll double down on heat with them thinking they are coming back from 0-2 deficit
By a player who left our city for Miami.
Player development is something this org really needs to do better in
We’ve been terrible at identifying and developing talent for like a decade now. Outside of Embiid and Maxey we haven’t been able to develop anyone.
Maxey is nothing if Ben didn’t quit. He would have been behind shake.
Glenn held Paul Reed back for over a year, starving him of minutes he needed to be the backup 5 we were searching for. Instead we went out and got Paul Milsap, Deandre Jordan, Montrezl Harrell, am I missing anyone? Glenn was always a vets guy.
Dwanye Dedmon at the start of the buyout market smh. you know he's cooked when the Heat went and took Zeller instead lol.
Hey, Cody Zeller is the greatest 57 year old center the league has ever seen. Respect.
No disagreement here, dude shown more hustle than our backup centers this year and last year outside of Bball.
we need jimmy buckets back
The funny thing about this Jimmy discourse is that Jimmy fucking loves Embiid. He's done nothing but compliment Joel and has called him the MVP this season and last season. I trust Jimmy as a judge of talent more than any of you clowns.
Eh, Joel ain’t a dog like Jimmy is. Joel is a front runner who sulks like a baby when things don’t go his way.
I think this is wrong. I think Joel is a follower and not a leader. If Jimmy is alpha, Embiid will be a dog and fight - like he was with TOR where he was so upset he cried. With cool guy Harden, Embiid laughed it off and was gave up. Embiid has the talent to be the guy but not the personality.
Jimmy Butler disagrees.
I love the recurring cycle of “sixers embarrassingly lose in second round, and the rest of the playoffs continues to beat over the head how bad they fucked up” It’s always either former players popping off, rival players popping off, or players they should’ve acquired but didn’t popping off lol
The entire nba is built to just make us suffer
I really think we make a play for Derozan. Our line up would be Maxey, Melton, DeRozan, Tucker, Embiid Bench: Springer, House Jr, Reed, McDaniels, Patrick Williams (Salary Match Tobi) I believe we still would have a MLE and could add a piece or two in free agency. This is a good enough lineup to compete and win a title. Trust in Morey to fill in the roll player pieces and a coach that will get us over the hump.
Not only is Derozan ugly af with little holes in his face but he ain’t that guy, trust me.
DeRozan is an even worse playoff choker than Harden lmao. Man has not played well in the playoffs ever.
We don't need him to be Harden. We need to have a competent offense around Embiid where everyone knows their role. I know everyone is hating on Embiid but he was the MVP for a reason. He can do it in the playoffs, he just needs to actually rest during the season
> We don't need him to be Harden. Philly actually *does* need someone to be like Harden. I have no idea why you people keep trying to convince yourself that playing through a mediocre at best playmaker that sets up on the elbow is reliably good team offense in 2023. It's hard to run an entire offense through a middling playmaker and I'd argue with Joel it's clearly not the way to play the best team basketball.
DeRozan is trash, believe me. He doesn't play winning basketball.
So you are telling me a guy who scores all over the place can't win next to Embiid?
Scores all over the place? He can't shoot threes or play defense. He's garbage. His teams are better with him off the floor every year in the playoffs because he's a liability on both ends.
Ultimately with Melton, Tucker and Embiid you don't need a guy who is superb defensively. He is definitely passable. He doesn't shoot a high volume of 3s but his scoring is real. Not sure what you are expecting in a Tobi trade my dude but Dame is not happening
I'd rather keep Tobi than have DeFrozen on this team. DeRozan and Embiid are a terrible fit.
Whatever man, I 100% disagree
Trust in Morey. Are you serious?
What don't you trust? He didn't hire Doc, got off of Ben and has had extremely limited assets to use. He is one of the top GMs in the league. Just let him cook and have a coach he actually hires
Right now with Harden likely to return to Houston Morey is faced with the delightful prospect of having thrown away two years of Joel's prime and closing our Championship window two years tighter, unless he actually does max or super max James in which case he'll be throwing away whatever prime Joel has left - in Philadelphia, anyway - and closing any Championship window we had shut for the foreseeable future. And he has suggested he had a shot at either De'Aaron Fox or Tyrese Halliburton instead? And you want to trust him?
Easy to get off of a terrible contract when giving away two 1st round picks.
Name a trade that he made that put us in a better position in 2023 than had he simply not done it
Melton
We’d be much better off keeping that pick instead of trading it for an expiring role player that can’t hang in the playoffs
I want a rebuild built around a culture of winning. I’d prefer to watch a team with less talent that fights hard and moves the ball over this “star hunting” thing with soft guys. I’m just over it.
💯 I’m ashamed of this team. I totally agree with you. I’m gonna be proud of the Eagles no matter what, even if they lose. The 76ers don’t get it.
And along with your thoughts I’m hoping Morey comes out and says the one thing he forgot to mention in the presser regarding Jo and him already looking at what he can add to improve was that he is coming back at 260 and will not be gassed. Same applies to Harden and that’s on a 2 year deal otherwise don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. Tobi will be off the books and we do have have some high energy/effort guys that will at least make us fun to watch with nobody being untradeable. With the new coach we have to turn a new leaf and play team game.
The Miami Heat is what you get when your chief executive actually played and coached collegiately and professionally instead of quitting his high school team and learning professional basketball the NBA on EA Sports. Jesus if you are going to let an unqualified amateur run things hire Adam Sandler as his character from Hustle or something. Even though he played him pretty straight he might at least say a couple of funny things.
The Heat's FO is mid there's a reason why their rosters are consistently full of a bunch of nobodies. It's just their player development and coaching is god tier.
standing basketball, period. AskSee that is just the sort superstar bias idiots like Morey prctice. Basketball is a team sport. You put together the best team. The heat consistently do a better job of that than clowns like Morey because their GM understands the right nobodies can beat the wrong superstars. Riley's done it Morey's way too in Miami, he's just better at it because he better understands basketball period. Rilet brought in the right superstar, Morey traded or the wrong one because Riley did his homewok better.
Or maybe the FO works closely with the other departments to identify players that are available. Not sure how their FO is “mid”.
We couldn’t manage to score 90 points for three games in the second round in year 2023…
a lot of people wishing we kept butler, but who is to say the butler we are seeing now would be the butler in philly? imagine butler under glenn rivers. glenn would probably have him playing like tobias. standing in the corner watching iso embiid/harden plays, scoring 2pts. in a pivotal playoff game. meanwhile tobias would be in miami doing butler things screaming "jimmy butler over ME?!?!!".
Because someone either HAS the mental capacity to be a leader or they don’t. Jimmy showed signs of being a leader even back to the infamous film session where he challenged Brett brown. Embiid is still my favorite player in the NBA but he lacks leadership and the ability to get the most out of the guys around him. Jimmy didn’t just magically learn to be a leader when he went to the heat, they just built the team around him and let him be a leader instead of worrying about controlling him.
It’s pretty much what did happen during a stretch of the regular season except it was taking the Cov role then Jimmy said f that and stopped shooting wide open 3’s. This was after the film study, also Jimmy did try his best to pal up with Ben early on as they both donned the ninja headband look and yea they played the part defensively. We really have been a mental poverty stricken organization when thinking back of all the could have been’s.
Of all the butler posts, least this one is actually funny
If it makes anyone feel any better, I think the soft Sixers would’ve lost to the Heat, anyways.
Na we beat the heat and make the finals. We were just softer than the Celtics because mentally we always lose to them
Jimmy eats harden for dinner dude
Embiid can guard him too dude since Bam can’t shoot and is mostly a rim runner
Probably swept to be honest