NBA 2019 Playoffs Thread

[smokeablount]

Amazed at the TNT announcing crew just keeps hammering home how many games Embiid has missed this year and throughout his career. You almost never hear that stuff coming out of national announcing crews. It's usually all hype, hype, hype.

I've been pondering this. Are the Sixers better off moving Embiid instead of Simmons.  Embiid is clearly the better player and he is locked up long term so even with the shaky health I believe they could get more for him then they could for Simmons.  Perhaps then the Sixers can get better fitting parts around Simmons.  Just a thought

Makes sense. If they and the medical staff think Embiid might constantly be missing 20 games a year and be hard to keep healthy for the playoffs, now might be the best time to move on from him. If next year he misses another 20-25 games and is on a minutes restriction or hurt for the playoffs, hurting the team, the Sixers certainly wouldn't get what they would if they moved him this summer.

Would the Knicks trade their pick for Embiid to match him up with an incoming Durant? Would make more sense for the Knicks than Durant trying to train Zion on how to play championship quality NBA ball for a couple years.

Knicks build around Durant/Embiid and Sixers have Zion/Simmons/Butler/Harris to move forward with, though maybe Butler takes off if he feels he has to give shots to a rookie. Probably lose Butler so maybe that trade isn't so great.

If the Sixers are stupid enough to put Embiid on the market, Danny better be the first in line to make an offer. 

The Sixers ran Embiid into the ground (only missed 4 of their first 58 games).  65 games a season is plenty for Embiid and it will easily get the Sixers into the playoffs.  Kawhi has only played more than 66 games twice in his 8 seasons.  Don't see anyone suggesting he be put on the trade block.

Kawhi also has never had a fit problem with another potential superstar on his roster either.  If the Sixers think that Embiid and Simmons are fine together, then they don't need to move either one, but if they are ultimately going to have to decide between Embiid and Simmons, then they should probably just make that move this summer.  It is in that scenario that I'm talking about perhaps moving on from Embiid as opposed to Simmons.

Simmons is the fit problem, not Embiid.  Simmons can't shoot. Kawhi is a great shooter.

Plenty of great players had shooting concerns.  Heck Giannis is a very bad shooter and yet the team was built around him and was the best team in basketball in the regular season.  Simmons is 6'10" and is almost impossible to guard in the paint, yet he can't play in the paint because of Embiid.  If the Sixers built their team around Simmons, much like the Bucks have with Giannis, I think they would be just fine and a real title contender year in and year out.  And let's be clear, there is no way I come anywhere close to bringing this up if Embiid didn't have significant health issues year after year.  He just can't stay on the court.

Let me know when Simmons has attempted more than, say, 1-2 career 3 pointers.  Or when Simmons is a DPOY frontrunner. 

Or let me know when Giannis scores 1 point in a playoff game.  Or when his team is better with him off the floor for the majority of a playoff series.

Take all the time you need.

[footey]

Do people believe the speculation embiid has degenerative arthritis?

Heard the rumor, but pure speculation by a doc who saw his knee brace.  Bill Russell got this later in his career. Am sure there are many others.

[nickagneta]

In my scenario, I had the reason to trade Embiid now as being the Sixers medical staff as well as the coaching staff having real long term concerns of future injury and lost time, especially during playoffs.

The man has played in only 157 out of a possible 405 games in his career. And now he is on a minutes restriction, missed a playoff game and there's rumors of arthritis in his knee.

Simmons, if he doesn't become any type of a shooter, clearly has to have a certain group around him and might not match up well with Embiid. But Simmons is always healthy. Embiid isn't.

Knowing Philly they try to make it work with both until it doesn't and it's too late. We will see.

[bdm860]

Amazed at the TNT announcing crew just keeps hammering home how many games Embiid has missed this year and throughout his career. You almost never hear that stuff coming out of national announcing crews. It's usually all hype, hype, hype.

I've been pondering this. Are the Sixers better off moving Embiid instead of Simmons.  Embiid is clearly the better player and he is locked up long term so even with the shaky health I believe they could get more for him then they could for Simmons.  Perhaps then the Sixers can get better fitting parts around Simmons.  Just a thought

Makes sense. If they and the medical staff think Embiid might constantly be missing 20 games a year and be hard to keep healthy for the playoffs, now might be the best time to move on from him. If next year he misses another 20-25 games and is on a minutes restriction or hurt for the playoffs, hurting the team, the Sixers certainly wouldn't get what they would if they moved him this summer.

Would the Knicks trade their pick for Embiid to match him up with an incoming Durant? Would make more sense for the Knicks than Durant trying to train Zion on how to play championship quality NBA ball for a couple years.

Knicks build around Durant/Embiid and Sixers have Zion/Simmons/Butler/Harris to move forward with, though maybe Butler takes off if he feels he has to give shots to a rookie. Probably lose Butler so maybe that trade isn't so great.

If the Sixers are stupid enough to put Embiid on the market, Danny better be the first in line to make an offer. 

The Sixers ran Embiid into the ground (only missed 4 of their first 58 games).  65 games a season is plenty for Embiid and it will easily get the Sixers into the playoffs.  Kawhi has only played more than 66 games twice in his 8 seasons.  Don't see anyone suggesting he be put on the trade block.

Kawhi also has never had a fit problem with another potential superstar on his roster either.  If the Sixers think that Embiid and Simmons are fine together, then they don't need to move either one, but if they are ultimately going to have to decide between Embiid and Simmons, then they should probably just make that move this summer.  It is in that scenario that I'm talking about perhaps moving on from Embiid as opposed to Simmons.

Simmons is the fit problem, not Embiid.  Simmons can't shoot. Kawhi is a great shooter.

Plenty of great players had shooting concerns.  Heck Giannis is a very bad shooter and yet the team was built around him and was the best team in basketball in the regular season.  Simmons is 6'10" and is almost impossible to guard in the paint, yet he can't play in the paint because of Embiid.  If the Sixers built their team around Simmons, much like the Bucks have with Giannis, I think they would be just fine and a real title contender year in and year out.  And let's be clear, there is no way I come anywhere close to bringing this up if Embiid didn't have significant health issues year after year.  He just can't stay on the court.

Let me know when Simmons has attempted more than, say, 1-2 career 3 pointers.  Or when Simmons is a DPOY frontrunner. 

Or let me know when Giannis scores 1 point in a playoff game.  Or when his team is better with him off the floor for the majority of a playoff series.

Take all the time you need.

1 point in a playoff game, you're comparing a scorer to distributor.  Magic Johnson had a playoff game with 2 points, and prime Jason Kidd has had several low scoring games: 2, 3, 0.  Like those guys, you can have a team built around you, be a championship contender, and not be a scorer, so Simmons has hope there.  And maybe never a DPOY front runner, but he'll probably have a few All-D selections too, got 5 first place votes last year.

I don't like the guy, but he's a talent.

[Moranis]

In my scenario, I had the reason to trade Embiid now as being the Sixers medical staff as well as the coaching staff having real long term concerns of future injury and lost time, especially during playoffs.

The man has played in only 157 out of a possible 405 games in his career. And now he is on a minutes restriction, missed a playoff game and there's rumors of arthritis in his knee.

Simmons, if he doesn't become any type of a shooter, clearly has to have a certain group around him and might not match up well with Embiid. But Simmons is always healthy. Embiid isn't.

Knowing Philly they try to make it work with both until it doesn't and it's too late. We will see.

This is what I was getting at.  If they think it isn't going to work long term with Embiid and Simmons, then this summer is absolutely the best time to trade one of them.  Given that I think Embiid has more value but also is the riskier player to bet your future on, I could totally see them looking to move Embiid in that scenario. 

[Moranis]

Amazed at the TNT announcing crew just keeps hammering home how many games Embiid has missed this year and throughout his career. You almost never hear that stuff coming out of national announcing crews. It's usually all hype, hype, hype.

I've been pondering this. Are the Sixers better off moving Embiid instead of Simmons.  Embiid is clearly the better player and he is locked up long term so even with the shaky health I believe they could get more for him then they could for Simmons.  Perhaps then the Sixers can get better fitting parts around Simmons.  Just a thought

Makes sense. If they and the medical staff think Embiid might constantly be missing 20 games a year and be hard to keep healthy for the playoffs, now might be the best time to move on from him. If next year he misses another 20-25 games and is on a minutes restriction or hurt for the playoffs, hurting the team, the Sixers certainly wouldn't get what they would if they moved him this summer.

Would the Knicks trade their pick for Embiid to match him up with an incoming Durant? Would make more sense for the Knicks than Durant trying to train Zion on how to play championship quality NBA ball for a couple years.

Knicks build around Durant/Embiid and Sixers have Zion/Simmons/Butler/Harris to move forward with, though maybe Butler takes off if he feels he has to give shots to a rookie. Probably lose Butler so maybe that trade isn't so great.

If the Sixers are stupid enough to put Embiid on the market, Danny better be the first in line to make an offer. 

The Sixers ran Embiid into the ground (only missed 4 of their first 58 games).  65 games a season is plenty for Embiid and it will easily get the Sixers into the playoffs.  Kawhi has only played more than 66 games twice in his 8 seasons.  Don't see anyone suggesting he be put on the trade block.

Kawhi also has never had a fit problem with another potential superstar on his roster either.  If the Sixers think that Embiid and Simmons are fine together, then they don't need to move either one, but if they are ultimately going to have to decide between Embiid and Simmons, then they should probably just make that move this summer.  It is in that scenario that I'm talking about perhaps moving on from Embiid as opposed to Simmons.

Simmons is the fit problem, not Embiid.  Simmons can't shoot. Kawhi is a great shooter.

Plenty of great players had shooting concerns.  Heck Giannis is a very bad shooter and yet the team was built around him and was the best team in basketball in the regular season.  Simmons is 6'10" and is almost impossible to guard in the paint, yet he can't play in the paint because of Embiid.  If the Sixers built their team around Simmons, much like the Bucks have with Giannis, I think they would be just fine and a real title contender year in and year out.  And let's be clear, there is no way I come anywhere close to bringing this up if Embiid didn't have significant health issues year after year.  He just can't stay on the court.

Let me know when Simmons has attempted more than, say, 1-2 career 3 pointers.  Or when Simmons is a DPOY frontrunner. 

Or let me know when Giannis scores 1 point in a playoff game.  Or when his team is better with him off the floor for the majority of a playoff series.

Take all the time you need.

1 point in a playoff game, you're comparing a scorer to distributor.  Magic Johnson had a playoff game with 2 points, and prime Jason Kidd has had several low scoring games: 2, 3, 0.  Like those guys, you can have a team built around you, be a championship contender, and not be a scorer, so Simmons has hope there.  And maybe never a DPOY front runner, but he'll probably have a few All-D selections too, got 5 first place votes last year.

I don't like the guy, but he's a talent.

He was also a 21 year old rookie. 

Giannis in his first playoffs (14-15 season) had games of 5 and 6 points scored.   In the 6 games, he only had 1 game with more than 12 points scored and took a single 3 point shot in the 6 games.  Giannis was 21 in his 2nd year that season.

Simmons obviously had a bad game where he wasn't very aggressive and scored just 1 point going 0-4 from the field.  He did manage 7 assists and 5 rebounds in the game though, so he was still doing much of what he does.  Simmons scored at least 16 points in each of the other 4 games in the Boston series.  He was never below 14 points in the first round.  So in the 10 playoff games Simmons played as a rookie he had one terrible scoring game, but was pretty much his usual self in the other 9.  Not sure why that 1 game should define him when the other 9 are a much larger sample size.

Just for the record, Jaylen Brown had a playoff game where he played over 26 minutes and didn't score a single point his rookie year (he had other games where he didn't score but didn't play nearly as much in those).  Tatum played just under 30 minutes and scored just 4 points in a playoff game last year as well.  I just find this notion that a young guy is defined by one bad playoff game as quite strange. 

[alt]

Amazed at the TNT announcing crew just keeps hammering home how many games Embiid has missed this year and throughout his career. You almost never hear that stuff coming out of national announcing crews. It's usually all hype, hype, hype.

I've been pondering this. Are the Sixers better off moving Embiid instead of Simmons.  Embiid is clearly the better player and he is locked up long term so even with the shaky health I believe they could get more for him then they could for Simmons.  Perhaps then the Sixers can get better fitting parts around Simmons.  Just a thought

Makes sense. If they and the medical staff think Embiid might constantly be missing 20 games a year and be hard to keep healthy for the playoffs, now might be the best time to move on from him. If next year he misses another 20-25 games and is on a minutes restriction or hurt for the playoffs, hurting the team, the Sixers certainly wouldn't get what they would if they moved him this summer.

Would the Knicks trade their pick for Embiid to match him up with an incoming Durant? Would make more sense for the Knicks than Durant trying to train Zion on how to play championship quality NBA ball for a couple years.

Knicks build around Durant/Embiid and Sixers have Zion/Simmons/Butler/Harris to move forward with, though maybe Butler takes off if he feels he has to give shots to a rookie. Probably lose Butler so maybe that trade isn't so great.

If the Sixers are stupid enough to put Embiid on the market, Danny better be the first in line to make an offer. 

The Sixers ran Embiid into the ground (only missed 4 of their first 58 games).  65 games a season is plenty for Embiid and it will easily get the Sixers into the playoffs.  Kawhi has only played more than 66 games twice in his 8 seasons.  Don't see anyone suggesting he be put on the trade block.

If the Sixers do that, they'll certainly be talking to David Griffin, not Danny Ainge. They probably should do that.

[alt]

The Nets and the Sixers without Embiid are the two worst teams in the playoffs.

The 76ers played 48 minutes of Monroe (bottom 1% on D) and Marjamovic (bottom1% on D) at the 5. Some minutes of Mike Scott (atrocious) at the end. Three of the worst defenders in the entire league at the 5.

The 4 was manned by Harris (very bad defender) and Mike Scott (slightly better at the 4 I guess, but still atrocious, especially when paired with those 5s).

And then they had 35 minutes of JJ Redick at the 2.

For most of the game, Philadelphia was trotting out there putrid defenders at 3 positions, including the 2 interior players, and the Nets offense was hard to see. .453   eFG%, which is a mind-bogglingly bad number in normal conditions, let alone vs such a flawed defensive team.

Nets need to start one of Dwinddie or LeVert. Their starting line-up is too limited offensively, only D'Angelo Russell can create shots and he's prone to take the bad ones. And Nets don't score -> feeds Philadelphia transition O. They need to make Philly play the halfcourt game, but they can't when they're constalty missing shots.

On the other end, the Nets can't rebound. Philadelphia massacred them on the offensive board, at halftime they had almost ~50% ORB% - at one point, Philly had 10 ORs vs Nets 11 DRs. Sometimes, they play the same zone defense they've played all season, even with Philly featuring a bunch of shooters and good passers and obviously prepared for it. When they don't, the slowness/laziness of most of their players show up. And still, the Sixers were never confortable getting good shots. Harris and Redick made a bunch of heat checking 3s, which, together with the second chance and fastbreak points, makes Philly's offense look better than it was.

Just an awful game all around. Looked like two 30 wins teams.

[Phantom255x]

The Sixers spent a good 5-6 years blatantly tanking and have also had many misses with the Draft. Simmons and Embiid are the guys they essentially got from "The Process" who are true stars that made them relevant again, and a playoff team. I feel almost certain they aren't going to deal any of them, otherwise they'll face some more backlash from PHI fans and the media.

[celticsclay]

Do people believe the speculation embiid has degenerative arthritis?

Heard the rumor, but pure speculation by a doc who saw his knee brace.  Bill Russell got this later in his career. Am sure there are many others.

i think the concern would be that he has it at his current age. I was honestly surprised he missed the game yesterday cause their season was potentially on the line. It feels like the 76ers medical team is not always honest about this stuff. I am definitely worried he won't have a long career which stinks cause he does some really cool things on the court and has great low post moves.

[celticsclay]

The Nets and the Sixers without Embiid are the two worst teams in the playoffs.

The 76ers played 48 minutes of Monroe (bottom 1% on D) and Marjamovic (bottom1% on D) at the 5. Some minutes of Mike Scott (atrocious) at the end. Three of the worst defenders in the entire league at the 5.

The 4 was manned by Harris (very bad defender) and Mike Scott (slightly better at the 4 I guess, but still atrocious, especially when paired with those 5s).

And then they had 35 minutes of JJ Redick at the 2.

For most of the game, Philadelphia was trotting out there putrid defenders at 3 positions, including the 2 interior players, and the Nets offense was hard to see. .453   eFG%, which is a mind-bogglingly bad number in normal conditions, let alone vs such a flawed defensive team.

Nets need to start one of Dwinddie or LeVert. Their starting line-up is too limited offensively, only D'Angelo Russell can create shots and he's prone to take the bad ones. And Nets don't score -> feeds Philadelphia transition O. They need to make Philly play the halfcourt game, but they can't when they're constalty missing shots.

On the other end, the Nets can't rebound. Philadelphia massacred them on the offensive board, at halftime they had almost ~50% ORB% - at one point, Philly had 10 ORs vs Nets 11 DRs. Sometimes, they play the same zone defense they've played all season, even with Philly featuring a bunch of shooters and good passers and obviously prepared for it. When they don't, the slowness/laziness of most of their players show up. And still, the Sixers were never confortable getting good shots. Harris and Redick made a bunch of heat checking 3s, which, together with the second chance and fastbreak points, makes Philly's offense look better than it was.

Just an awful game all around. Looked like two 30 wins teams.

The pistons would probably love to know they are not the worst team in the playoffs. Maybe they can keep a game in single digits.

[tazzmaniac]

In my scenario, I had the reason to trade Embiid now as being the Sixers medical staff as well as the coaching staff having real long term concerns of future injury and lost time, especially during playoffs.

The man has played in only 157 out of a possible 405 games in his career. And now he is on a minutes restriction, missed a playoff game and there's rumors of arthritis in his knee.

Simmons, if he doesn't become any type of a shooter, clearly has to have a certain group around him and might not match up well with Embiid. But Simmons is always healthy. Embiid isn't.

Knowing Philly they try to make it work with both until it doesn't and it's too late. We will see.

Try again Simmons missed his 1st season with a foot injury.  Embiid missing his 1st 2 seasons with a foot injury has nothing to do with the meniscus tear in his 3rd season or the fluky facial injury in his 4th season.  Embiid has played 63 and 64 and carries the Sixers offensively and defensively.  Choosing Simmons over Embiid would be idiotic. 

[SparzWizard]

76ers are the most dangerous team in the East without Embiid and they showed last night against Brooklyn...is what the media is narrating today.

[Phantom255x]

76ers are the most dangerous team in the East without Embiid and they showed last night against Brooklyn...is what the media is narrating today.

This is honestly why I don't really watch much sports talk shows and media bits during this time. They literally change their minds every day based on a single game.

A few days ago, they all claimed that the Warriors were showing signs of trouble and KD was a part of it. KD has a monster game last night and suddenly he's way better than Lebron, best guy on the Warriors, Warriors will sweep everyone (including Houston), etc. 

[SHAQATTACK]

In my scenario, I had the reason to trade Embiid now as being the Sixers medical staff as well as the coaching staff having real long term concerns of future injury and lost time, especially during playoffs.

The man has played in only 157 out of a possible 405 games in his career. And now he is on a minutes restriction, missed a playoff game and there's rumors of arthritis in his knee.

Simmons, if he doesn't become any type of a shooter, clearly has to have a certain group around him and might not match up well with Embiid. But Simmons is always healthy. Embiid isn't.

Knowing Philly they try to make it work with both until it doesn't and it's too late. We will see.

This is what I was getting at.  If they think it isn't going to work long term with Embiid and Simmons, then this summer is absolutely the best time to trade one of them.  Given that I think Embiid has more value but also is the riskier player to bet your future on, I could totally see them looking to move Embiid in that scenario.

I think both these guys are future Lakers , they fit the mold perfect . Especially Simmons.  Its all about names and flash in LA