All Things Philadelphia 76ers (merged Sixers threads)

[RJ87]

I think someone is going to overpay Harris and really regret it. People are calling him a star, but the clippers actually got better once he left and i would be pretty surprised if he ever made an all-star game. Really seems to be the kind of guy that puts up empty stats on a bad team and would be crippling on a max contract. However, teams are going out to strike out on their main targets and talk themselves into it.

As for Philly it wouldn't shock me if they traded Ben Simmons. Will he get a real shooting coach this summer (not his brother?) and really try to improve? He did not get any better between his first and second season of play and that is very concerning.

Tobias is a guy that I could see the Lakers paying big money to if they whiff on other guys.

[celticsclay]

I think someone is going to overpay Harris and really regret it. People are calling him a star, but the clippers actually got better once he left and i would be pretty surprised if he ever made an all-star game. Really seems to be the kind of guy that puts up empty stats on a bad team and would be crippling on a max contract. However, teams are going out to strike out on their main targets and talk themselves into it.

As for Philly it wouldn't shock me if they traded Ben Simmons. Will he get a real shooting coach this summer (not his brother?) and really try to improve? He did not get any better between his first and second season of play and that is very concerning.

Tobias is a guy that I could see the Lakers paying big money to if they whiff on other guys.

He would be a good fit next to Lebron aside from his defense being pretty weak. Would probably be a good move for Tobias. He would get numbers.

[Fafnir]

I think Tobias is the kind of player who'd wilt next to LeBron.

He's not an off the ball player, he wants to make things happen and be empowered. He doesn't like to spot up and stay in his spot tends to wander.

[Moranis]

I find the notion that Simmons didn't improve at all to be strange.  He scored more with a better efficiency all while lowering his usage.  He rebounded better.  He turned it over less frequently.  His passing dropped a bit, but that should be expected with a ball handler like Butler joining the team.  His defensive stats were slightly lower, but again he had someone like Butler next to him taking some defensive pressure off.  He even improved his foul shooting (and got to the line much more frequently).  Sure he still won't shoot a 3 pointer, but he improved many aspects of his game. 

[GetLucky]

So many dramatic changes, I'd be interested to see what this team could do with a full off season together (and one when they craft a better fitting bench) and then have a full season to play together without dramatic and drastic changes.  If they go into next year with basically the same starting 5 with some shooters and other better fitting piecese on their bench, I think they might end up the team to beat in the East, especially depending on what happens with everyone else in the conference.

Redick has kind of defied logic for a role player.  Set a career high in ppg last year at 33 with 17.1ppg, only to top it again this year at 34 with 18.1ppg. That's not supposed to happen at his age, also he's been very healthy.  He's an important part of what they got going on, but at some point very soon I feel like we might see a huge drop off.  His already weak D is probably only going to get worse.

With that being said, clearly he still has something left in the tank, wonder if any other team will try to lure him away.  I'm sure there's probably a wink, wink agreement that Philly paid him generously for the last 2 years, so take a team friendly deal now.  A Simmons max contract won't start until '20-'21, so Philly can probably stomach a competitive 1-year contract for Redick, but could somebody offer Redick a decent 2 (or even 3) year contract which Philly might not want to match?  A lot of teams will have money to throw around on Redick level players.

I'm sure they're hoping for a reduced role for Redick anyway, just based on having a full camp with Harris and Butler, and whatever players they can bring in to fill out their bench.  Plus they have an unknown entity with potential in Zhaire Smith who I'm sure they're hoping can be Redick's replacement sometime down the line.

Just saying the loss or any major decline/injury to Redick has potential to really negatively impact Philly's on court ecosystem, even though he's their 5th best starter, he's such an important part of their balance.

Will definitely be interesting to see what Philly does if they can bring all 5 starters back and who they can pick up to fill out their bench.  Also is a new coach in the cards?  Will Simmons step up his game at all next year?  Will everybody stay healthy?  Another positive for Philly is 2 of the better players at containing Embiid (Horford, Gasol) will be another year older and probably less effective against him.

Well they have this great young shooter named Shamet under cost control for several years to replace reddick...

Not sure if you are being sarcastic (darn internet), but Shamet was, ironically, part of the Tobias Harris trade.

[celticsclay]

I find the notion that Simmons didn't improve at all to be strange.  He scored more with a better efficiency all while lowering his usage.  He rebounded better.  He turned it over less frequently.  His passing dropped a bit, but that should be expected with a ball handler like Butler joining the team.  His defensive stats were slightly lower, but again he had someone like Butler next to him taking some defensive pressure off.  He even improved his foul shooting (and got to the line much more frequently).  Sure he still won't shoot a 3 pointer, but he improved many aspects of his game.

It is pretty widely accepted that he didn't make any significant improvement in his game this season by everyone I follow that discusses the NBA. Pick your favorite NBA commentator/analysis and you can probably find them discussing his lack of improvement. His VORP, DPM, Winshares, BPM all were actually slightly down this year. You are saying he "rebounded better" cause he averaged 9.2 instead of 9? He shot better cause he went from 55% to 56%? I mean this is bizarre to tout as improvement. Al Horford shot 4% better this year, would we say he improved his shooting 4 times what Simmons did? Really strange take...

Edit: I am also curious what you mean when you said "he turned it over less frequently" , he actually averaged a tiny bit more turnovers this year at 3.6 per game compared to 3.5 last year. Given you mention that he had a lower user rate, this seems particularly scary and a sign of regression (certainly not improvement! lol).

[celticsclay]

So many dramatic changes, I'd be interested to see what this team could do with a full off season together (and one when they craft a better fitting bench) and then have a full season to play together without dramatic and drastic changes.  If they go into next year with basically the same starting 5 with some shooters and other better fitting piecese on their bench, I think they might end up the team to beat in the East, especially depending on what happens with everyone else in the conference.

Redick has kind of defied logic for a role player.  Set a career high in ppg last year at 33 with 17.1ppg, only to top it again this year at 34 with 18.1ppg. That's not supposed to happen at his age, also he's been very healthy.  He's an important part of what they got going on, but at some point very soon I feel like we might see a huge drop off.  His already weak D is probably only going to get worse.

With that being said, clearly he still has something left in the tank, wonder if any other team will try to lure him away.  I'm sure there's probably a wink, wink agreement that Philly paid him generously for the last 2 years, so take a team friendly deal now.  A Simmons max contract won't start until '20-'21, so Philly can probably stomach a competitive 1-year contract for Redick, but could somebody offer Redick a decent 2 (or even 3) year contract which Philly might not want to match?  A lot of teams will have money to throw around on Redick level players.

I'm sure they're hoping for a reduced role for Redick anyway, just based on having a full camp with Harris and Butler, and whatever players they can bring in to fill out their bench.  Plus they have an unknown entity with potential in Zhaire Smith who I'm sure they're hoping can be Redick's replacement sometime down the line.

Just saying the loss or any major decline/injury to Redick has potential to really negatively impact Philly's on court ecosystem, even though he's their 5th best starter, he's such an important part of their balance.

Will definitely be interesting to see what Philly does if they can bring all 5 starters back and who they can pick up to fill out their bench.  Also is a new coach in the cards?  Will Simmons step up his game at all next year?  Will everybody stay healthy?  Another positive for Philly is 2 of the better players at containing Embiid (Horford, Gasol) will be another year older and probably less effective against him.

Well they have this great young shooter named Shamet under cost control for several years to replace reddick...

Not sure if you are being sarcastic (darn internet), but Shamet was, ironically, part of the Tobias Harris trade.

I know, I was being sarcastic. That was a really lousy trade for them.

[Moranis]

So many dramatic changes, I'd be interested to see what this team could do with a full off season together (and one when they craft a better fitting bench) and then have a full season to play together without dramatic and drastic changes.  If they go into next year with basically the same starting 5 with some shooters and other better fitting piecese on their bench, I think they might end up the team to beat in the East, especially depending on what happens with everyone else in the conference.

Redick has kind of defied logic for a role player.  Set a career high in ppg last year at 33 with 17.1ppg, only to top it again this year at 34 with 18.1ppg. That's not supposed to happen at his age, also he's been very healthy.  He's an important part of what they got going on, but at some point very soon I feel like we might see a huge drop off.  His already weak D is probably only going to get worse.

With that being said, clearly he still has something left in the tank, wonder if any other team will try to lure him away.  I'm sure there's probably a wink, wink agreement that Philly paid him generously for the last 2 years, so take a team friendly deal now.  A Simmons max contract won't start until '20-'21, so Philly can probably stomach a competitive 1-year contract for Redick, but could somebody offer Redick a decent 2 (or even 3) year contract which Philly might not want to match?  A lot of teams will have money to throw around on Redick level players.

I'm sure they're hoping for a reduced role for Redick anyway, just based on having a full camp with Harris and Butler, and whatever players they can bring in to fill out their bench.  Plus they have an unknown entity with potential in Zhaire Smith who I'm sure they're hoping can be Redick's replacement sometime down the line.

Just saying the loss or any major decline/injury to Redick has potential to really negatively impact Philly's on court ecosystem, even though he's their 5th best starter, he's such an important part of their balance.

Will definitely be interesting to see what Philly does if they can bring all 5 starters back and who they can pick up to fill out their bench.  Also is a new coach in the cards?  Will Simmons step up his game at all next year?  Will everybody stay healthy?  Another positive for Philly is 2 of the better players at containing Embiid (Horford, Gasol) will be another year older and probably less effective against him.

Well they have this great young shooter named Shamet under cost control for several years to replace reddick...

Not sure if you are being sarcastic (darn internet), but Shamet was, ironically, part of the Tobias Harris trade.

I know, I was being sarcastic. That was a really lousy trade for them.

do you honestly believe the Harris trade was a bad trade for the Sixers?  I mean they got Harris, Boban, and Scott for Shamet, Chandler, Muscala and a couple of late 1st's and some 2nd's. 

I mean to me that seems like a pretty good trade for the Sixers as they improved their starting lineup and their bench.

[celticsclay]

So many dramatic changes, I'd be interested to see what this team could do with a full off season together (and one when they craft a better fitting bench) and then have a full season to play together without dramatic and drastic changes.  If they go into next year with basically the same starting 5 with some shooters and other better fitting piecese on their bench, I think they might end up the team to beat in the East, especially depending on what happens with everyone else in the conference.

Redick has kind of defied logic for a role player.  Set a career high in ppg last year at 33 with 17.1ppg, only to top it again this year at 34 with 18.1ppg. That's not supposed to happen at his age, also he's been very healthy.  He's an important part of what they got going on, but at some point very soon I feel like we might see a huge drop off.  His already weak D is probably only going to get worse.

With that being said, clearly he still has something left in the tank, wonder if any other team will try to lure him away.  I'm sure there's probably a wink, wink agreement that Philly paid him generously for the last 2 years, so take a team friendly deal now.  A Simmons max contract won't start until '20-'21, so Philly can probably stomach a competitive 1-year contract for Redick, but could somebody offer Redick a decent 2 (or even 3) year contract which Philly might not want to match?  A lot of teams will have money to throw around on Redick level players.

I'm sure they're hoping for a reduced role for Redick anyway, just based on having a full camp with Harris and Butler, and whatever players they can bring in to fill out their bench.  Plus they have an unknown entity with potential in Zhaire Smith who I'm sure they're hoping can be Redick's replacement sometime down the line.

Just saying the loss or any major decline/injury to Redick has potential to really negatively impact Philly's on court ecosystem, even though he's their 5th best starter, he's such an important part of their balance.

Will definitely be interesting to see what Philly does if they can bring all 5 starters back and who they can pick up to fill out their bench.  Also is a new coach in the cards?  Will Simmons step up his game at all next year?  Will everybody stay healthy?  Another positive for Philly is 2 of the better players at containing Embiid (Horford, Gasol) will be another year older and probably less effective against him.

Well they have this great young shooter named Shamet under cost control for several years to replace reddick...

Not sure if you are being sarcastic (darn internet), but Shamet was, ironically, part of the Tobias Harris trade.

I know, I was being sarcastic. That was a really lousy trade for them.

do you honestly believe the Harris trade was a bad trade for the Sixers?  I mean they got Harris, Boban, and Scott for Shamet, Chandler, Muscala and a couple of late 1st's and some 2nd's. 

I mean to me that seems like a pretty good trade for the Sixers as they improved their starting lineup and their bench.

Curious why you are calling the Miami pick a late first?

Following the original terms, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne broke down the first-round picks Philly traded in the deal. She cited that they were two pretty big ones, including Miami’s unprotected 2021 selection and their own 2020 pick which is lottery protected for three seasons. The unprotected pick was a highly-coveted one and went a long way towards proving that the Sixers were going all-in on winning now with this trade. Is this just a mistake like when you said Simmons decreased his turnovers?

[nickagneta]

For all the great trades that Philly made to make a dominant starting five, they won exactly two more postseason games than last year. I can't imagine after bringing in two stars that Philly management is very happy with the team's 2nd round exit.

If they didn't make the trades, I wonder how far Philly would have made it. I could easily see them still being a 2nd round out, if they hadn't made the trades. And if both Butler and Harris walk(which I would love to see)?

[celticsclay]

For all the great trades that Philly made to make a dominant starting five, they won exactly two more postseason games than last year. I can't imagine after bringing in two stars that Philly management is very happy with the team's 2nd round exit.

If they didn't make the trades, I wonder how far Philly would have made it. I could easily see them still being a 2nd round out, if they hadn't made the trades. And if both Butler and Harris walk(which I would love to see)?

I think you could make a reasonable argument that Philly is still playing if they don't make the Harris trade. Despite the assertion that these guys helped their bench, Boban was a DNP CD yesterday and the coaching staff thought so low of his play they gave Greg monroe the few minutes behind Embid (who got destroyed in his few minutes). Mike Scott was a team worst -12 yesterday in his 11 minutes. If the 76ers had actually fortified their bench instead of doing that trade, maybe they win yesterday (or one of the other close games). Harris also shot 39% in the series and averaged 14 points. I am not sure how much he really helped them. I will also add the conversation from a few weeks ago were someone was trying to argue the 76ers had a solid bench and jonathan simmons was a quality bench guy has aged horribly. Simmons was completely out of the rotation the rest of the playoffs. I don't think he gets another NBA contract again.

[RJ87]

I find the notion that Simmons didn't improve at all to be strange.  He scored more with a better efficiency all while lowering his usage.  He rebounded better.  He turned it over less frequently.  His passing dropped a bit, but that should be expected with a ball handler like Butler joining the team.  His defensive stats were slightly lower, but again he had someone like Butler next to him taking some defensive pressure off.  He even improved his foul shooting (and got to the line much more frequently).  Sure he still won't shoot a 3 pointer, but he improved many aspects of his game.

It is pretty widely accepted that he didn't make any significant improvement in his game this season by everyone I follow that discusses the NBA. Pick your favorite NBA commentator/analysis and you can probably find them discussing his lack of improvement. His VORP, DPM, Winshares, BPM all were actually slightly down this year. You are saying he "rebounded better" cause he averaged 9.2 instead of 9? He shot better cause he went from 55% to 56%? I mean this is bizarre to tout as improvement. Al Horford shot 4% better this year, would we say he improved his shooting 4 times what Simmons did? Really strange take...

Edit: I am also curious what you mean when you said "he turned it over less frequently" , he actually averaged a tiny bit more turnovers this year at 3.6 per game compared to 3.5 last year. Given you mention that he had a lower user rate, this seems particularly scary and a sign of regression (certainly not improvement! lol).

Yeah... he was pretty stagnant this season. Unless we're calling a lack of regression an improvement, then sure.

It's not even about his shooting (he has to rebuild his shot, that doesn't happen in a single offseason), but he hasn't developed any new moves in the paint, no back to the basket moves, nothing. He relies so much on his athleticism and speed, he has to throw in some wrinkles.

[celticsclay]

I find the notion that Simmons didn't improve at all to be strange.  He scored more with a better efficiency all while lowering his usage.  He rebounded better.  He turned it over less frequently.  His passing dropped a bit, but that should be expected with a ball handler like Butler joining the team.  His defensive stats were slightly lower, but again he had someone like Butler next to him taking some defensive pressure off.  He even improved his foul shooting (and got to the line much more frequently).  Sure he still won't shoot a 3 pointer, but he improved many aspects of his game.

It is pretty widely accepted that he didn't make any significant improvement in his game this season by everyone I follow that discusses the NBA. Pick your favorite NBA commentator/analysis and you can probably find them discussing his lack of improvement. His VORP, DPM, Winshares, BPM all were actually slightly down this year. You are saying he "rebounded better" cause he averaged 9.2 instead of 9? He shot better cause he went from 55% to 56%? I mean this is bizarre to tout as improvement. Al Horford shot 4% better this year, would we say he improved his shooting 4 times what Simmons did? Really strange take...

Edit: I am also curious what you mean when you said "he turned it over less frequently" , he actually averaged a tiny bit more turnovers this year at 3.6 per game compared to 3.5 last year. Given you mention that he had a lower user rate, this seems particularly scary and a sign of regression (certainly not improvement! lol).

Yeah... he was pretty stagnant this season. Unless we're calling a lack of regression an improvement, then sure.

It's not even about his shooting (he has to rebuild his shot, that doesn't happen in a single offseason), but he hasn't developed any new moves in the paint, no back to the basket moves, nothing. He relies so much on his athleticism and speed, he has to throw in some wrinkles.

lol tp

[bdm860]

For all the great trades that Philly made to make a dominant starting five, they won exactly two more postseason games than last year. I can't imagine after bringing in two stars that Philly management is very happy with the team's 2nd round exit.

If they didn't make the trades, I wonder how far Philly would have made it. I could easily see them still being a 2nd round out, if they hadn't made the trades. And if both Butler and Harris walk(which I would love to see)?

I may be wearing some very green tinted glasses as I type this, especially after the dismal 2nd round series from the C's and the respectable 2nd series from Philly, but I still believe Philly might have been a healthy Oladipo away from getting knocked out in the 1st round.  Indiana would have held onto #3, leaving Philly/Boston in that 4/5 matchup, and I like Boston in any matchup against Philly.

Even without my green tinted glasses on, it's crazy to think that one of Philly or Boston likely would have been knocked out in the 1st round if Oladipo hadn't gone down for the season. Knowing both fan bases and most analysts had such high hopes for those teams.

[Phantom255x]

I find the notion that Simmons didn't improve at all to be strange.  He scored more with a better efficiency all while lowering his usage.  He rebounded better.  He turned it over less frequently.  His passing dropped a bit, but that should be expected with a ball handler like Butler joining the team.  His defensive stats were slightly lower, but again he had someone like Butler next to him taking some defensive pressure off.  He even improved his foul shooting (and got to the line much more frequently).  Sure he still won't shoot a 3 pointer, but he improved many aspects of his game.

He improved some aspects of his game, sure, but he remains a pure liability in the playoffs without a jump shot. Even Sixers fans would tell you that lol.