The Philadelphia Experiment - ...And Live With The Consequences

[Willo_]

Guys I went to Sydney for the cricket yesterday, and despite the awful phone and wifi network still managed to get the quarter by quarter score notifications which were pleasing.

What happened? Are detroit poo? Were we just 'on'? Etc etc

 

[Warsaw]

*boring ass long read incoming*

There's a guy on here and he always brings up the trade we did to get Fultz. Gloating that Tatum is playing well and Fultz is injured.

I don’t know what the context to this is, but a one to one comparison between Tatum and Fultz is not interesting to me considering the makeup of this team. The only players worth comparing him to are DSJ and Mitchell, and w/ hindsight you can’t make a realistic argument where you wouldn’t pick Mitchell over him.

I’m not really about to put Colangelo on blast for a trade I supported at the time, but in the overarching spirit of expecting everything to come at once, the trade pretty much kicked started all of that. When they went all in on Process2Progress, and decidedly left Hinkie’s approach.

Look, I think Fultz will be fine, but I’m getting less confident of him getting back to his Huskies days this season. It’s hilarious and dumb that Fultz might be the only player to get a practice highlights reel of hitting some free-throws. It echoes the Simmons pre-draft workout where they made a point of him hitting some 20ft jumpers.

And I think it’s weird that all the new footage of him still consists mostly of layups, when his ‘scapular muscle imbalance’ is reported to have gone. It just seems like his development might project like that of a late first, second round guard in that it takes a few years for him to get it all together. It's not inherently a problem, but flies in the face of why we went up to take him, and skews the timeline a bit.

Hope I'm wrong there, because a fit and firing Fultz is perhaps even more important to future success than Simmons. A few people earmarking the Raptors game after Boston as his return. I'll be more nervous about that game or whichever one he returns in since G7 2012 ESF.

Side note, absolutely love the way the Homie is playing. 40% in Dec from three is ****ing lit. Unless Fultz is ready or injuries, don't want to see him out of the starting lineup.

 

[Drummer_19]

A nice game from Bolden, love his skill set, should be a good rotational player for us.

 

[dmac_55]

Pathetic choke job again.. leaving Simmons out for so long in second half was idiotic.. a 40 point+ turnaround

 

[Suns of Anarchy]

20 points up and I knew we were going to collapse. Is that a reflection on me or the team?

 

[danielnajdek]

Didn’t watch it. Just woke up. Not surprised to hear we choked a lead again. We’d win the title if basketball was only one half. Our second halfs are pathetic.

Also not surprised to hear that Ben got rested for to long in the second half. Brett does that a lot.

 

[dmac_55]

Cannot believe the footage of fultz shooting in shoot around.. he has been out for 2 months and his jump shot looks as bad as it was when he was injured..

What the hell has the team being doing in this time? Unbelievably poor form looks like he is shotputting a medicine ball from 3..

Even his mid range jumper looked gross.. this is the strangest thing I have encountered in the nba and I am not sure what we are supposed to do.. if his trainer were responsible for this they need to be sent to prison ASAP

 

[danielnajdek]

Cannot believe the footage of fultz shooting in shoot around.. he has been out for 2 months and his jump shot looks as bad as it was when he was injured..

What the hell has the team being doing in this time? Unbelievably poor form looks like he is shotputting a medicine ball from 3..

Even his mid range jumper looked gross.. this is the strangest thing I have encountered in the nba and I am not sure what we are supposed to do.. if his trainer were responsible for this they need to be sent to prison ASAP

Yep looks ugly. Gives more ammunition for the Boston fans as well which is great.

Bens jumper looks better then Fultz. Lol.

 

[dmac_55]

Yep looks ugly. Gives more ammunition for the Boston fans as well which is great.

Bens jumper looks better then Fultz. Lol.

There is a serious problem somewhere in the organisation.. front office injuries development staff coaching etc.. seems like this sort of garbage keeps happening and nothing ever falls right with us.. it is always a struggle to win games with big leads, keep guys healthy and our PR department is a nightmare..

Changes have to happen somewhere

 

[danielnajdek]

There is a serious problem somewhere in the organisation.. front office injuries development staff coaching etc.. seems like this sort of garbage keeps happening and nothing ever falls right with us.. it is always a struggle to win games with big leads, keep guys healthy and our PR department is a nightmare..

Changes have to happen somewhere

The one thing I loved about Fultz was how sweet his jumper looked. Looks a absolute mess atm. Losing big leads is really frustrating. We are good enough to compete with the best teams in the NBA but our second halfs are really bad. Brett needs to understand when to bring Ben and Joel back in when the other team gets a run on. He lets games drift too often.

 

[Warsaw]

Fultz's jumper mechanics never looked wet in college. There were always slight variations in how it looked - at times it was slow, at time his release point was too low - the important thing was that it went in and he was able to effortlessly create them.

They've won 5 of the last 7, and just blew a 20pt lead (that they had in the first half) to a well-drilled, and possibly the best team, in the East. If you're direct comparison to how the Sixers should be performing is the Celtics, then you've already lost.

 

[danielnajdek]

But there's a pattern to us blowing double digit leads. How long can we use the "we are young" excuse?

 

[Willo_]

Fultz's jumper mechanics never looked wet in college. There were always slight variations in how it looked - at times it was slow, at time his release point was too low - the important thing was that it went in and he was able to effortlessly create them.

They've won 5 of the last 7, and just blew a 20pt lead (that they had in the first half) to a well-drilled, and possibly the best team, in the East. If you're direct comparison to how the Sixers should be performing is the Celtics, then you've already lost.

isn't this the biggest most important thing?
I am obviously pretty new to it all, but I can't help but think of Steve Smith... if your technique works who cares how it looks or if it is different..
if he starts nailing shots that is all that matters so let's judge it when he is back playing?

 

[Warsaw]

But there's a pattern to us blowing double digit leads. How long can we use the "we are young" excuse?

Until they're not.

Would be blessed if the answer to all our problems was just 'sub Ben back in'. They got off to an unsustainable hot start with JJ going off but once things normalized, the Celtics took over.

Thinking that coaching is more of an issue than roster construction, is just not a reflection of where the team currently sit.

 

[danielnajdek]

Until they're not.

Would be blessed if the answer to all our problems was just 'sub Ben back in'. They got off to an unsustainable hot start with JJ going off but once things normalized, the Celtics took over.

Thinking that coaching is more of an issue than roster construction, is just not a reflection of where the team currently sit.

I never said the coaching was the major issue. Major issue is us falling asleep once the third quarter starts. I just think Brett can be a little smarter with his subbing of players. Pretty sure when they went on their run neither Ben or Joel were out there. At least sub one in to try and stop the run.

 

[Warsaw]

isn't this the biggest most important thing?
I am obviously pretty new to it all, but I can't help but think of Steve Smith... if your technique works who cares how it looks or if it is different..
if he starts nailing shots that is all that matters so let's judge it when he is back playing?

Sure, and he could shoot on one arm and I wouldn't care if they went in.

But shots with ‘hitches’ are generally going to be wildly inconsistent. Fultz might buck the norm, but his reluctance to shoot it, combined with the percentages he had at the start of the year, is concerning.

That being said, I want to see the shot play out in an actual game first.

 

[danielnajdek]

That fade away from Ben was sweet though. Want to see him taking more of those even if he misses them.

 

[dmac_55]

Our roster construction is a huge problem right now.. he have no one that can create a shot reliably in the half court from the perimeter..

Fultz was supposed to be the perfect fit.. But looking at that shot right now I am very doubtful he can help us (rookies rarely do anyway)..

Trading for a guy would help us immediately if they can get buckets.. otherwise our ceiling is a 8/9 seed this year or worse, with the huge reliance on embiids health..

I just hope that Markelle can become that sort of player in time otherwise we are back at square one again..

 

[Willo_]

Until they're not.

Would be blessed if the answer to all our problems was just 'sub Ben back in'. They got off to an unsustainable hot start with JJ going off but once things normalized, the Celtics took over.

Thinking that coaching is more of an issue than roster construction, is just not a reflection of where the team currently sit.

They also couldn't shoot for shit early,
I read on the Sixer Reddit discussion near half time and someone said we are shooting at an unsustainably high level, they are shooting at an unsustainably low level... so it will swing at some point
sure enough it did

 

[Warsaw]

I never said the coaching was the major issue. Major issue is us falling asleep once the third quarter starts. I just think Brett can be a little smarter with his subbing of players. Pretty sure when they went on their run neither Ben or Joel were out there. At least sub one in to try and stop the run.

I didn't watch the second half, but the run started at the end of the 2nd, with Ben and Joel in the lineup. Could Brett have played Ben more minutes? Yeah maybe, but for a rookie that has already played as much as he has, knowing when to sub him in and out of games isn’t a pressing issue.

 

[Sidebottom2Beams]

They need to try and get ilyasova back for scoring off the bench, Atlanta wants a 2nd rounder for him.
They should also go after Lou Williams who is on a cheap contract. That would give Ben enough space to do his thing.

 

[Warsaw]

Trading for a guy would help us immediately if they can get buckets.. otherwise our ceiling is a 8/9 seed this year or worse, with the huge reliance on embiids health..

And this would be perfectly fine.

 

[dmac_55]

And this would be perfectly fine.

The only hesitation I have with this sort of thinking is embiids health long term.. I think he is a good enough player right now that it warrants going for it in the next 2 years.. we cannot he simply waiting for the guys to get in their prime because embiid may only play at this level for 4-5 years (or possibly shorter?). He is so good now and I want us to be competing for a legitimate ECF next year at a minimum

 

[Drummer_19]

I dunno what they can really do via trade that would help this year without giving up too much and being short sighted for the long term, as much as I am as frustrated as everyone else and bench production and creation is the clear issue outside of inexperience they still have to keep the long term in mind. Lou Williams is obv the one everyone wants but at this point he'd probably cost too much + it was reported yesterday he's in talks with the Clips for an extension, he's also a UFA this off-season and I'm very meh on giving up assets to to get him to get the 6 seed and have him leave in the off-season anyway.

I don't think we're going to do much at the deadline, maybe something small to try and get a bit of bench production or pay someone to take Bayless' contract for an expiring so we have an extra 11mil in the offseason and instead be big players in free agency. It's why getting Fultz back and reintegrated has to be a huge priority, not just for his own sake but we need to see how he can mesh with Ben and Jo to see how we want to spend the 30mil+ (maybe more pending the Bayless deal) we'll have to spend in FA.

Biggest off season priorities atm for me would be to get another starting caliber guard, re-sign Redick on the cheap (hopefully there's already a wink wink handshake agreement in place that's why we overpaid so much this year), bring Boldon over and also get a legit back up 5.

The problem is, while we have max space available it's hard to see from this list http://hoopshype.com/2018/01/11/nba-free-agency-2018-the-top-players/ who would be worth throwing that at, besides the obvious like Lebron I dunno who I'd be comfortable giving like 20mil+ over 4 or 5 years too. Not sure I want any part of Avery Bradley who I think is the guy they will target as he makes a lot of sense given his player archetype and what we already have.

 

[Shiv]

I dunno what they can really do via trade that would help this year without giving up too much and being short sighted for the long term, as much as I am as frustrated as everyone else and bench production and creation is the clear issue outside of inexperience they still have to keep the long term in mind. Lou Williams is obv the one everyone wants but at this point he'd probably cost too much + it was reported yesterday he's in talks with the Clips for an extension, he's also a UFA this off-season and I'm very meh on giving up assets to to get him to get the 6 seed and have him leave in the off-season anyway.

I don't think we're going to do much at the deadline, maybe something small to try and get a bit of bench production or pay someone to take Bayless' contract for an expiring so we have an extra 11mil in the offseason and instead be big players in free agency. It's why getting Fultz back and reintegrated has to be a huge priority, not just for his own sake but we need to see how he can mesh with Ben and Jo to see how we want to spend the 30mil+ (maybe more pending the Bayless deal) we'll have to spend in FA.

Biggest off season priorities atm for me would be to get another starting caliber guard, re-sign Redick on the cheap (hopefully there's already a wink wink handshake agreement in place that's why we overpaid so much this year), bring Boldon over and also get a legit back up 5.

The problem is, while we have max space available it's hard to see from this list http://hoopshype.com/2018/01/11/nba-free-agency-2018-the-top-players/ who would be worth throwing that at, besides the obvious like Lebron I dunno who I'd be comfortable giving like 20mil+ over 4 or 5 years too. Not sure I want any part of Avery Bradley who I think is the guy they will target as he makes a lot of sense given his player archetype and what we already have.

Lavine, parker or tyreke?...obvs all three have injury concerns but we may want to take a punt on one of them if they are avail.