Koz,
You may think I'm being condescending to you. You're right. It's because you must think we're stupid to put forth such an absurd argument and try to defend it by ignoring every single metric and fact.
FACT: After the trade deadline, PHI's roster averages 24.35 years. BOS's roster averages 24.38 years. There is no substantial difference in age between the two rosters. And no, Greg Monroe doesn't change this metric enough to matter.
Source:
https://herosports.com/nba/oldest-and-youngest-nba-teams-bybyFACT: The 76ers have put forth a MORE experienced roster on the floor this year than the Celtics.
Source: NBA Reference
This one is the shocker. Even if we evaluate Embiid as a 1st year player - which he's not - the 76ers experienced bench more than makes up for our starters. It's simple. Take the number of years of NBA experience and multiple that by their minutes on the court. That's the experience factor. So again, the formula is simply # of NBA Seasons x Minutes This Year.
The 76ers have had 80,278 minutes of experience on the court. This is led by JJ Reddicks' 11 years of experience and 1,936 minutes of court time (good for 4th on the 76ers) and Amir Johnson's 1,013 minutes and 12 years experience.
The Celtics have had 72,815 minutes of experience on the court, led by Al Horford's 2,120 minutes and 10 years. Irving is a distant 2nd (1,931 and 6 years).
Argue with the methodology all you want but the 76ers have put forth a more experienced roster on the court this year than the Celtics and that's with the methodology being favorable to the 76ers.
FACT: The Celtics have lost far more games and minutes to injury this year. At least 4 and probably 5 of the 7ers top 6 in minutes per game will have more than 70 games played and the others are in the 60s. The Celtics will have 2, maybe 3 on an outside chance. You can also look at the man games lost for other data.
FACT: The Celtics had more turnover in the off season, both in minutes and in personnel. The Celtics returned only 4 players from their previous roster who had played a total of 7,196 minutes the prior year. The 76ers returned 7 who had played 10,068 minutes the year before.
FACT: The Celtics are up by 7 games in the standings.
The only logical basis for your argument is that the 76ers have improved by more wins. Why wouldn't they? They're fielding a more experienced team, returned more players and purposely tanked the year before. Brett Brown has dealt with an exceptionally stable situation and had no where to go but up.
Brad, on the other hand, will (almost certainly) improve the win total while returning a scant few of his previous roster, dealt with more injuries, had to play a less experienced team and handled the higher expectations. The fact that he was already a winning coach shouldn't penalize him. That you think coaching a team in such circumstances to 55 wins would somehow be easy shows just how little you know about the game of basketball.
/thread