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

[Drummer_19]

No TJ tomorrow, attending his father in law's funeral. We signed Larry Drew to a 10 day so he'll prob get a few minutes.

 

[danielnajdek]

The makeup of their roster is led by two players that have played a tick over a seasons worth of games between them. They're extremely limited in players that can create their own shot, and their bench is poor.

And yet, they've won 8 of their last 10, are a top 5 team defensively, and are placed no more or no less than they need to be.

Say what you need to about Brett, but if you're understanding of why they're giving up leads is how Simmons is being rotated, then there's a pretty large disconnect from what you think is happening and what the reality is.

Yesterdays loss was unexceptable. I don’t care how young they are. Should never lose a game like that. The last quarter was deplorable. And yes I put the blame partially on Brown. Some of his subs are just strange.

 

[Drummer_19]

Ben has shot a total of 5 free throws in the last 6 games, with 4 of those coming in one game, so in 4 of the last 6 he hasn't even gotten to the line. It's really not good enough if he's going to be a guy handling the ball so much, getting to the line is one thing that can help slow down games and stem runs from other teams.

 

[danielnajdek]

Agree mate. When he was attacking in the last quarters a few games back he looked great.

 

[Warsaw]

Yesterdays loss was unexceptable. I don’t care how young they are. Should never lose a game like that. The last quarter was deplorable. And yes I put the blame partially on Brown. Some of his subs are just strange.

If this were a complete team, Simmons would be playing less, not more.

He hasn't shown to be a great decision maker when slowing the play down, and is prone to turnovers when defenses have more time to adjust to what he's going to do.

Yet your criticism hinges on Brett playing him more?

 

[danielnajdek]

If this were a complete team, Simmons would be playing less, not more.

He hasn't shown to be a great decision maker when slowing the play down, and is prone to turnovers when defenses have more time to adjust to what he's going to do.

Yet your criticism hinges on Brett playing him more?

Not just Ben. In general some of Bretts subs are curious. Can't seem to stop a run which is part the players fault and part the coaches fault. I like Brett. I want him to be the coach. I just think he needs to improve as do the players. That's just my opinion.

 

[Warsaw]

Not just Ben. In general some of Bretts subs are curious. Can't seem to stop a run which is part the players fault and part the coaches fault. I like Brett. I want him to be the coach. I just think he needs to improve as do the players. That's just my opinion.

And you're entitled to it.

But Brett is near powerless to stop these runs without better personnel.

 

[Sydney Kicker]

It's not just about Ben, it's about being able to stagger his minutes with Joel so one of them is on the floor at all times and we don't have to see any extended minutes of line ups without both of them which would make people say "wtf is Brett doing, why are they both on the bench". And due to Joel's lack of conditioning Simmons plays in longer spurts so you'll see Joel go out 1st in the first quarter and Simmons stay in, then Joel come in to be the best player on the floor. He plays 35 minutes a game, which is good for 17th in the league and 1st among rookies, he's playing plenty. Can't just be burning him out because of feel, other guys have to be able to do things.

I understand and accept the points being made about staggering Ben and Joel etc. It's more that the coach shows no feel for the flow of the game. If it's half way through the first and Ben already has 6 points and a few assists give him a few more minutes. And if he comes in for the 2nd term and isn't doing much then bench him immediately rather than giving him his fixed 7 minutes where he turns it over twice and does sweet f.a.

Like I really do know bugger all about basketball but the lack of feel for the state of the game that Philly shows just stands out like dogs b$##@.

 

[TW Sherrin]

Yesterdays loss was unexceptable. I don’t care how young they are. Should never lose a game like that. The last quarter was deplorable. And yes I put the blame partially on Brown. Some of his subs are just strange.

when you continually turn the ball over like yesterday I don't know how the coach is the problem. there was something like 20+ points difference on turnovers.

 

[TW Sherrin]

I understand and accept the points being made about staggering Ben and Joel etc. It's more that the coach shows no feel for the flow of the game. If it's half way through the first and Ben already has 6 points and a few assists give him a few more minutes. And if he comes in for the 2nd term and isn't doing much then bench him immediately rather than giving him his fixed 7 minutes where he turns it over twice and does sweet f.a.

Like I really do know bugger all about basketball but the lack of feel for the state of the game that Philly shows just stands out like dogs b$##@.

I haven't seen any stats to back this up but I reckon Ben gets 70% of his stats before half time. when the game gets tighter after half time he struggles to impact. what's becoming more evident is that his non shooting is an issue. he's a great athlete for his size but he's also not explosive like some smaller guards who can dribble through traffic.

 

[Warsaw]

I understand and accept the points being made about staggering Ben and Joel etc. It's more that the coach shows no feel for the flow of the game. If it's half way through the first and Ben already has 6 points and a few assists give him a few more minutes. And if he comes in for the 2nd term and isn't doing much then bench him immediately rather than giving him his fixed 7 minutes where he turns it over twice and does sweet f.a.

Like I really do know bugger all about basketball but the lack of feel for the state of the game that Philly shows just stands out like dogs b$##@.

Simmons` success largely comes when he's playing with Embiid. His production when Embiid's off the floor drops dramatically, and as does the teams.

That's the long and short of rotations as it ties to this team winning. There's not 'feeling' out period, (he's not a streaky shooter on a hot hand), rather the onus is on him and not Brett to be setting the tempo every time he takes the court. He does a pretty good job of this so far, but the rest will come with time and experience.

 

[danielnajdek]

when you continually turn the ball over like yesterday I don't know how the coach is the problem. there was something like 20+ points difference on turnovers.

Not blaming the coach for yesterday. That last quarter was a train wreck.

 

[samFFC]

Oh yeah, no doubt, they've been a bit better at arresting momentum back recently but I think the meltdowns are going to be around for a little bit yet.

One trend that I think Jo needs to grow out of, and I think he will in time, is that he has a tendency to only really get himself going for games against big opposition in really loud arenas where he can feed off the energy. If he's going to be a real top guy in the league, he's going to play in a lot of dead arena's against shit teams so he's gotta find a way to get himself going because you can basically tell from the jump when he's going to have bad games from his energy levels/demeanour.

Agreed to an extent. He definitely has to be that guy to be a consistently top tier player moving forward. Having said that, the team is just simply far better when he's on the court, so perhaps his energy level gets the other players up for those big games, and if he is less energised, then he still plays great and leads by example, but the others don't play as well as usual?

Not sure. But I'd like to think in the big bucks league we could expect consistency of effort across the season, and we certainly need that to be a contender one day.

 

[Drummer_19]

Dario's 3 ball has been smokinggggg lately. The arc on his shot has improved so much.

 

[TW Sherrin]

start of the last quarter Simmons....17/13/14.

funny to see Swanny turn up on the telecast.

 

[The Grover]

Ben has shot a total of 5 free throws in the last 6 games, with 4 of those coming in one game, so in 4 of the last 6 he hasn't even gotten to the line. It's really not good enough if he's going to be a guy handling the ball so much, getting to the line is one thing that can help slow down games and stem runs from other teams.

Anyone who watched today's game, why did Ben get more free throws today?

 

[danielnajdek]

He attacked the rim and the refs gave him calls for a change.

 

[Drummer_19]

Yup, his intent was significantly different wrt driving into contact than it has been.

 

[Willo_]

Perfect start a long weekend. Will watch the game with a couple of cold ones when I've gotten the kids to bed

 

[danielnajdek]

Enjoy the game. Ben was a boss in that first half.

 

[Willo_]

ESPN game today... running the Philly coverage

 

[Drummer_19]

ESPN game today... running the Philly coverage

Oh nice, I've been watching on my comp because I assumed they'd be running with the Spurs team. To the couch I go.

 

[Willo_]

Oh nice, I've been watching on my comp because I assumed they'd be running with the Spurs team. To the couch I go.

I didn't realise it was on, was flicking channels while getting ready to stream.
Gave an audible 'yes' when the NBC Philly logo showed up

 

[danielnajdek]

Great first half. Defence has been superb. Now for the second half where we struggle.

 

[Drummer_19]

It's probably not a surprise our defense has really looked great with TLC/Anderson instead of JJ/Bayless since now we can just switch everything and not get exploited to the degree we do when JJ or Bayless get switched onto bigger guys.