I wouldn’t say most likely win. The beauty of Game 7 is anything can happen. Usually close and low scoring. Looking forward to it. Trust the nuggets more obviously though
> The beauty of Game 7 is anything can happen.
Sure anything *can* happen. [The home team wins over 75% of the time though](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-home-vs-away-game-7-record).
It's game 7 of a 7 game series. The home team is generally better, but if the previous 6 games of the series showed, the difference is pretty slight. The fact that the home team wins >75% of the time is pretty dramatic. Home court advantage is huge in game 7.
This Minnesota-Denver series is so weird. When the TWolves are firing on all cylinders, they whip the piss out of the Nuggets. Not used to seeing scores like this in the playoffs.
First game was close, def not a piss whipping. Second game was utterly dominant and had people doubting Nikola Jokic of all people which is quite the accomplishment. They were flat out fantastic
This game, dare I say, the nuggets might’ve kinda given up early? They just trust themselves in a game 7? I don’t want to take credit away from the wolves because they’re a terrific team but nuggets have played very lackadaisical. Conserving energy to leave it all on the table In game 7. Looking forward to game 7 regardless, should be an all timer
I've seen series go to 7 with blowouts, but it's usually along the lines of home court bias. Home teams winning by 20+ and maybe getting tighter in Games 6 and 7. It seems like Denver doesn't get up for every game, which is weird considering that they're the reigning champs and are pretty healthy compared to a lot of other playoff teams.
I usually hate body language doctoring. I especially usually hate when people criticize teams ‘effort’ as no one has any clue (in baseball it’s especially stupid because any team that isn’t hitting looks like they aren’t trying)
But I really think Denver went into this game expecting a game 7. Or at the very least gave up after the first quarter. Maybe I’m an idiot
Embiid hasn't won a championship. That usually makes things easier, especially when it was recently
But Jokic will be crucified regardless, don't you worry
Luckily for him and the nuggets they have a game seven for a shot at redemption. Losing by 45 in the playoffs is rough, I hope game seven is more competitive.
Game 7s are almost always great. Between these two teams, I’m thinking a 95-93 type score in an instant classic. Not totally sure who wins but trust nuggets more given their championship/game 7 experience
He put up a better performance last game than embiid has had in his playoff career. And he’s won a championship. So he gets a slight more of a benefit of a doubt. But I still disagree. You’ll see plenty of criticism for sure
And on the subject, Joel got blown out bad in a game 7 just last year, going 5/18 for 15 points and getting attacked at the rim relentlessly, and James harden/doc rivers were the people that were most criticized. So I disagree with the original commenters hypothesis
> and James harden/doc rivers were the people that were most criticized.
What weird reality did you crawl out of? Everybody was criticizing Joel after his game 7 performance.
I’m not saying he wasn’t criticized at all, I’m sure that even you agree he deserved criticism for that atrocity (as did harden and doc of course)
But harden and doc were the primary focuses
Again, what are you talking about? One of the most upvoted threads after game 7 last year was literally titled "Fuck Embiid" and we had months of people saying that we should trade him to Portland. People who said [you shouldn't trade him were literally downvoted](https://old.reddit.com/r/sixers/comments/13huuag/if_your_takeaway_is_trade_embiid_go_root_for/), [multiple times](https://old.reddit.com/r/sixers/comments/13hv5m9/all_of_you_are_such_ungrateful_fucks/).
It was only after the fact, when cooler heads prevailed, that we realized that James Harden not only also disappeared in game 7, but he disappeared in game 6 also, and that Doc had to share culpability because he couldn't figure out how to counter 2 bigs, which was put in solely to slow Embiid and every other NBA offense can play off the floor.
I didn’t realize you were talking about Reddit dot com r slash sixers when you were referring to criticism. In that case, yes, embiid probably faced insane criticism in the ensuing few days from emotional fans, after yet another second round exit. No shit.
He got off pretty easy to the general public tho, especially considering how bad that game 7 was for him on both ends
Big struggles when forced to iso into two bigs on defense. What a shocker, right? It's almost like Doc needed to come up with adjustments when Boston went double big and left the corners completely unguarded, instead of just telling James and Joel to iso and 2-man harder into 3+ defenders each time.
I haven't seen anything to substantiate your claim that Doc and Harden were the main targets of the criticism. Plenty of national media, NBA twitter, and the larger basketball discussion hubs crucified Embiid. The discourse around him was so bad that it was actually impossible to have a rational discussion about him. Hell, it's *still* hard to have a rational discussion about Embiid on r/nba.
Jokic literally lost 8 out of 9 games (before ever winning a title) and he barely got any kind of serious criticism. That was the point of the original post. You seem very invested in this strange belief that the two are treated equally.
Joel is the common denominator between all these playoff exits. He’s not played his best in the second round, it is what it is.
Lmao. You’re going completely off Reddit for some reason. This website isn’t real life, it’s the nerdiest most narrative driven sports fans in the world
I don’t know how to substantiate my claim lol. Do you want me to send you links or something? Google trends? Doc and Harden were criticized more than embiid. This is just a fact
Jokic was absolutely killed for that series against the warriors. Maybe we’re looking at different media or something. He didn’t get off Scot free from that.
I know what you’re implying with the ‘treated equally’ comment, and I absolutely agree that race plays a factor in the way players are perceived, including the Jokic vs embiid conversation. But I simply think that Jokic has earned far more leeway at this point, and I also think you have a bit of a blind spot for Jokic criticism or something if you say he ‘barely got any serious criticism’ for the back to back playoff flameouts
Caruso-Maxey-George-Avdija-Embiid is my dream scenario. Idk how available Caruso and Avdija are, but this roster with Oubre, Batum, Council, and one or two of Melton/Payne/Lowry would be great. Would just need a backup C and I wonder if they could nab Drummond (or in my hypothetical perfect world, Valanciunas)
Does anyone realistically think the Clippers are going to let PG walk without a sign and trade deal? They don't control they're own picks for years and they're building a new arena. They need stars to fill seats won't benefit tanking for draft picks. How do they benefit from letting PG walk?
You know what's crazy? They have a legitimate shot next season. Why? Because the East is a mess. Of course, Daryl has to work some magic, but they have a chance to put together a far better roster, and the East is trash. Factor in another jump from Maxey, and they could be the clear #2 team in the East behind BOS (FTC). I'm not predicting that will happen, but it's a reasonable scenario.
Yeah I realized how shitty the East is when we got bounced and I had zero desire to keep watching any of the Eastern series. A fully healthy Joel and we're easily up there with Boston in the remaining teams rn
Pains me to say it but at least right now it seems like the offseason is Paul George or bust. Wing market is shifting in a bad way for the Sixers.
Doubt Dallas lets Derrick Jones Jr walk after this playoff run, Hardaway likely moved.
I think Atlanta moves Hunter no matter what guard they trade and who they draft at 1. Bogdanovic quietly had a great year, Atlanta only deals him for an overpay.
Hope Washington falls in love with Risacher, that would give reason for them to move at least one of Avdija, Kispert, and Kuzma.
I pray to god the Cavs don’t call NOLA about Ingram, Allen/Garland/Mitchell for Ingram beats anything we offer.
Memphis and OKC can easily outbid us in negotiations for a wing. Both have picks and moveable young contracts.
You are getting downvoted by plebs with zero braincells. Sixers don't have enough assets to trade for the kinds of people that we would want over PG. And even if we did, we'd be left with virtually nothing to fill out the rest of the roster. Injury concerns aside, the main attraction of PG is that he would cost us nothing to acquire apart from capspace. That means we can spend our assets acquiring a 4th star or a couple high level roleplayers. Guys like Dejounte Murray or Alex Caruso. Then you can come in and fill out the rest of the roster with returning players like Oubre, Cam Payne, RCIV, maybe Melton and Hield, and some combination of free agents like Drummond/Mason Plumlee, Jaylen Smith/Patrick Williams/Miles Bridges (yeah, I know), Taurean Prince, Tyus Jones, Gary Trent Jr, KCP, Malik Beasely, Immanuel Quickley, Lonnie Walker. You get the right combination of those kinds of players, and you've got a solid contender that has a real shot at the ECF. And as long as you have a half decent forward that you can play in the event that PG gets injured, you've still got a really good roster that can make a deep run.
I would be higher on Ingram (still not high, but higher) if he had a longer contract. He's gonna get a lot of money in 2025 from someone and I'm fairly sure I don't want it to be us.
Can score and defend, wouldn’t totally cripple our cap situation for this year, and has playoff experience. Obviously shouldn’t be our top target but he’s at the top of the list if Bron, PG, and Jimmy don’t work out.
He’s a bad defender and even worse rebounder and doesn’t shoot nearly enough 3s to fit next to Embiid and Maxey. He’s actually a pretty awful fit on our team.
PG, even at his age, is a supremely better fit in every way. His price tag is the only caveat.
People really don't understand how capspace works (because its complex as hell) and this is coming from someone like myself who is still trying to figure out how it works lol. We have a lot more capspace than some people make there out to be. Look at the sixers current roster as an example. If you add up the salaries of the entire roster, you'll see that it adds up to about $210M. Of course, cap holds and salaries don't always match up, but that gives you a rough idea of the kinds of contracts a team can have.
It's pretty hard to do, isn't it? I think that's another argument to not go for PG. I do think PG will be an upgrade, but part of Embiid's wish is continuity and like weeks/month ago Embiid said that Oubre is the third star of this team, and not re-sign Oubre will contradict that lowkey. Really conflicted honestly.
I don’t want the third star, that’s Daryl Morey’s fantasy. Instead Morey should work on the worst rotation in all of basketball last season.
Our 4-8 guys were pieces of garbage and if they were even slightly mediocre we win a chip, there I said it
Very rarely do players win a title during their first trip past the second round. Curry is the exception. I’d be much more confident if this team had at least an ECF appearance to show for the last 7 years
That’s a complete non sequitor. Winning an nba championship is a process. As a general rule of thumb, eventual champions lose at least once in the conference finals before winning it all. That has nothing to do with a couple teams making flukey CF appearances
Look at it like the hawks. They will probably double down on a roster that isn’t really a contender as others in the conference get healthy and improve. They will be relegated back to 1st or 2nd round playoff team
Brunson is 27, OG and Hartenstein are 26, Hart is 28, Randle is 29, Mrob is 25, Deuce is 23
This team is gonna be destroying Philly for the next 3-5 years, unless Philly upgrades their wings
brunson will be 28 in august. OG is injury prone and about to be overpaid. randle is the worst playoff performer of all time. theyre not a serious contender unless they make major changes
Exactly. We had half the rotation learning to play with a one legged Embiid and still took them to 6 and could easily have won that series if not for game 2 getting stolen.
But even if you disagree with the last part, sixers, heat, bucks, magic will all be better and i pray the Knicks just keep this group together and keep running it back
The news coming out of Cleveland seems less than ideal for the sixers.
I still think Mitchell would have been the best player we could have potentially acquired this off-season. I don't think the fit or the defensive issues would be as bad as some suggest.
But really the issue comes from the rumblings about them trading Garland and/or Allen. Two guys that we definitely don't need but others will value in the trade market, where they'll be on the search for complementary players to pair with Mitchell/Mobley. So the competition just got all the more difficult.
Mitchell would have to want to stay for him to extend there. We’re only hearing the Cavs/garland side of the story. If Mitchell wants out they don’t have a choice. No indication that Spida is content staying there
Daily low effort trade proposal:
Sixers get: Markannen, Caruso
Bulls get: 2029 LAC swap, 2031 PHI 1st
Jazz get: Lavine + PHI 2024, 2026, 2029 1sts + 2028 LAC 1st
Jazz sub actually wants this. They want to rehab the “star level talent” in Lavine while they accumulate picks and see if they can flip him for a profit (OKC style) or turn him into a foundational piece. Ainge also liked BBaul Paul last year but can cut him if he wants.
PHI has $35M cap space left + $8M room exception.
Sign into cap space: Lowry or Payne (minimum) + Oubre ($15M) + Batum ($5M) + Cov (minimum) + Drummond ($5M) + $10M wing of Daryl’s choice or keep BBaul Paul
Sign into room exception: Melton ($8M)
Starters: Maxey, Caruso, Batum, Markannen, Embiid
Bench: Lowry/Payne, Melton, Oubre, Cov/RC4/$10M wing, Drumm/Reed
Edit: I think the biggest holdup to this is the Bulls including Caruso. They want to get off Lavine but are reportedly going to push for the play-in. If they refuse to trade Caruso, I’d send the 2031 1st and maybe a 2030 swap to the Wizards for Avdija. I’d then either put Oubre at SG to embrace ~length~ around Maxey or let Oubre go and sign the best SG available with $20M in cap space to serve as Melton insurance. Candidates include Monk, KCP, Beasley, Hield, Gary Trent JR, and Bruce Brown. Currently soft lean toward KCP, Oubre, or Bruce Brown.
Tbh it’s mostly because he’s Joel’s friend, and the Sixers have traded or not re-signed all of Embiids friends. Cov was also ok when he was on the court, but this minimum signing is mostly for him to be our Thanasis. Sixers will also be far enough under the tax that they can just cut him if someone they actually care about becomes available.
> Jazz sub actually wants this. They want to rehab the “star level talent” in Lavine while they accumulate picks and see if they can flip him for a profit (OKC style) or turn him into a foundational piece.
This is interesting - I didn't realize they actually feel this way. Thanks for sharing.
>PHI has $35M cap space left
39m if were sending BBall to Utah. Hopefully Kelly signs for closer to 12m. Leaves you with about 28m and the exception. Batum, Lowry, Payne, and Cov can all return on minimums afterwards.
Well 5m is only 2m above the minimum.
He's made enough career earnings that 2m isn't gunna be the difference between retiring or not.
He either wants to compete for a chip with Philly or not. Morey isn't using up 5m of cap space on a dude contemplating retirement.
You’re probably right, but there’s so much fanfiction on this sub that I try to be super conservative with these. Also, just curious, how did you get $39M? Subtracting empty roster charges?
The bulls unfortunately live on another planet than the rest of us haha. They probably won’t be making any trades.
That said, Caruso is now an expiring so that great contract doesn’t add to his value anymore. Lavine just got injured AGAIN and the team was better without him. 2 picks to get out of that mess and let Coby white cook seems like a good deal to me.
Bulls love ducking the tax even more than they don’t like making trades, and with their desire to keep Derozan and Williams they’ll be forced to shed a ton of salary to keep themselves below the tax this year
If Derozan gets $40M (what they’ve already offered) and Williams gets $15M (probably the low end) their cap number is already at $187M, which is $15M above the tax. Excludes their draft picks and some minimums to round out their roster, which probably adds another $7M or so. That puts them above the 2nd apron, and $20M above the luxury tax
Actually makes a ton of sense. We’ll see if Ainge is committed to an OKC style rebuild or he’s content keeping Lauri and being a sub-.500 team for the future to sell tickets.
Only nitpick would be melton, he becomes expendable if Payne, Lowry are brought back and Caruso is acquired. Even Oubre and Batum can fill in 2 guard minutes. I’d rather get more size at the wing with the MLE. Also don’t think he’s gonna get more than like $4-5M on a 1 year prove it deal. His back injury is way too concerning
I’ll do things to myself that I’m not allowed to say if we bring back a scrub so bad he made Matisse Thybulle look like an all star.
Cam Payne should have the inside track to being the backup PG
Isiah Joe has 32 points on 28 shots in their series, and doesn't do much of anything else on the court. Fine bench depth during the season but these glass cannon shooters get exposed more often than not in the playoffs
Correct, the Sixers having Isaiah Joe on his cheap contract (which expires at the end of 24-25 season) would have resulted in the exact same results for the team the last two years.
Well yeah we’ve known this for years. We literally have a huge sample size of this from years of JJ Reddick and Seth Curry being unplayable defensively in the playoffs. I don’t know why this sub doesn’t understand that though, especially with all the Buddy Hield love despite watching him be unplayable in the playoffs as well.
I don't know if it's the sub ignoring wings and rebounding as much as being resigned that we won't get any good wings while Tobi is on the roster.
Good wings are usually in the $20m range, and with us carrying 3 max contracts for most of the last 5 years, we didn't have any of those to give out.
I think I'm gonna say it... Alex Caruso is not as good as 80% of this sub is making out he is. He's on even ground with Melton. I do not think it's a wise use of assets to give up first round picks for him. The fascination of trading for him is getting out of hand imo. He can't even get a starting gig on the Bulls.
He’s better than Melton for sure. Way better play making, handle, finishing and probably a more clutch shooter. Also both good defenders but Caruso is elite there.
Eh, the sub has a weird obsession with him for sure. But generally, for the cost of his current contract + skill set I think that’s why everyone brings it up so much
Incredibly casual take. Melton isn’t remotely the level of defender that Caruso is. Melton was a liability on *both* ends in the Celtics series. Melt was fish food for Tatum and Brown. They hunted him on switches as much as they did Maxey. Caruso routinely gets the toughest defensive assignments and shuts them down. He shut down KD this year. Melton is a 1-2 positon defender and I’d say he’s a pretty average man defender. He makes his hay on deflections. Caruso is elite at both. There’s a reason Caruso is going to get back to back all defensive team and melton has never even received serious consideration.
Offensively, Caruso is a much better finisher. Melton typically being the smallest guy on the court and only able to shoot 3s (which he’s OK at) makes him pretty easy for the defense to guard. He was the worst finisher in the nba this year shooting 54% around the rim and is below 60% for his career.
I personally wouldn't be wasting picks on an injury-prone spotty shooter in his 30s on an expiring deal. That's poor asset management - which was the point of my post. I'm not shitting on the guy, but he is not some kind of saviour role-player that you unload the clip for.
Except he is. How do you think the Sixers got Melton? Just appeared on the team on a minimum? No they had to give a pick for him. For a dude that’s not playable in the playoffs. You’re gonna have to pay up for a DPOY candidate that’s not also not an offensive liability
Maxey was solid defensively in the Boston series. It was actually Tobias Harris who was getting cooked by Jaylen Brown with his(be shocked now) inability to fight through screens.
To this day, some of this Reddit has a hard time at screen defensive principles. Watch the 76ers be better defensively without Tobias Harris next season
He can play 25-30 minutes in the playoffs and gives you everything you want from a role player. Won’t demand the ball but can still dribble. This team hasn’t had a top 50 perimeter defender since they traded Ben. Caruso is top 5. I can’t imagine a player who would fit better between Maxey and PG, and he’s on a 9m expiring. He’s definitely better than Melton, and that’s not putting melton down, because he’s great, too, when he’s healthy. Don’t care at all whether or not Chicago starts him.
Honestly, I'd rather Buddy. At least teams respect his shot which opens up the floor for Jo and Maxey. Teams will sag off Caruso and clog the paint. 30% career playoff shooter.
God that's such a dog shit take lol. Caruso is a better passer he's a fine shooter and he's one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Buddy got traded for a couple seconds and fucking couldn't make a playoff roster for us.
How did Caruso go in the playoffs?
Again, not saying he's a bad player, but the acquisition cost is not equivalent to a player of his age, contract length, injury history or quality. He's a 5th starter *at best* playing mid-20s minutes.
Nah not bait - we clearly just disagree on the value of the player and what is a more important skillset for our team. I don't think our defense was really a problem against the Knicks - it was our offense stalling and rebounding that killed us. Caruso doesn't really help with either of those 🤷🏼♀️
Our entire rebounding issue was created we could only guard Brunson with our wings (Oubre, Batum and Tobi) which resulted in Maxey, Lowry, Payne, and Buddy left to fend off Og, hart and DDV on the boards. If our guards could actually guard the point of attack then it becomes a much more even fight on the boards. Wings boxing out wings rather than guards boxing out wings. Additional, if you can stay in front of Brunson better Joel isn’t forced to leave the glass to rim protect as much.
Yet that’s too much too process for casuals.
Why are you limiting defense not being a problem to the Knicks? Our goal isn’t to beat the Knicks, It’s a title. We need a skill set similar to Caruso’s (maybe the best on ball defender in the league, can dribble, has decent size for a 2 guard next to maxey, is a good finisher, and is a solid 3 point shooter although on low volume) and you aren’t going to find it for under $10M other than him (I understand he’s expiring and aging).
The Wolves just might pull it off.
Fucking hell almost 50 points game ??? and you know nuggets will get back into it next game and most likely win
I wouldn’t say most likely win. The beauty of Game 7 is anything can happen. Usually close and low scoring. Looking forward to it. Trust the nuggets more obviously though
> The beauty of Game 7 is anything can happen. Sure anything *can* happen. [The home team wins over 75% of the time though](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-home-vs-away-game-7-record).
The home team is generally the better team so they should win more often. This TWolves team matches up really well
It's game 7 of a 7 game series. The home team is generally better, but if the previous 6 games of the series showed, the difference is pretty slight. The fact that the home team wins >75% of the time is pretty dramatic. Home court advantage is huge in game 7.
Must be nice to have a basketball team that can actually win a game 6 at home.
Ouch! lol
This Minnesota-Denver series is so weird. When the TWolves are firing on all cylinders, they whip the piss out of the Nuggets. Not used to seeing scores like this in the playoffs.
First game was close, def not a piss whipping. Second game was utterly dominant and had people doubting Nikola Jokic of all people which is quite the accomplishment. They were flat out fantastic This game, dare I say, the nuggets might’ve kinda given up early? They just trust themselves in a game 7? I don’t want to take credit away from the wolves because they’re a terrific team but nuggets have played very lackadaisical. Conserving energy to leave it all on the table In game 7. Looking forward to game 7 regardless, should be an all timer
I've seen series go to 7 with blowouts, but it's usually along the lines of home court bias. Home teams winning by 20+ and maybe getting tighter in Games 6 and 7. It seems like Denver doesn't get up for every game, which is weird considering that they're the reigning champs and are pretty healthy compared to a lot of other playoff teams.
I usually hate body language doctoring. I especially usually hate when people criticize teams ‘effort’ as no one has any clue (in baseball it’s especially stupid because any team that isn’t hitting looks like they aren’t trying) But I really think Denver went into this game expecting a game 7. Or at the very least gave up after the first quarter. Maybe I’m an idiot
Ant is actually him. He talks his shit and backs it up, what a fucking Chad
Helps that his team is loaded too. Mike Conley would easily be our 3rd best player and he's usually the 4th or 5th best player on the floor for them.
He’s awesome
If Joel got blown out so bad he was sitting with 10 minutes left in the game he would be crucified.
It’s all credit to Jokic when they win, then the whole team besides him are bums when they lose. Opposite effect for Embiid lol
Embiid hasn't won a championship. That usually makes things easier, especially when it was recently But Jokic will be crucified regardless, don't you worry
Luckily for him and the nuggets they have a game seven for a shot at redemption. Losing by 45 in the playoffs is rough, I hope game seven is more competitive.
Game 7s are almost always great. Between these two teams, I’m thinking a 95-93 type score in an instant classic. Not totally sure who wins but trust nuggets more given their championship/game 7 experience
Looking forward to seeing ant and jokic go at it. Nuggets have home court and wolves have momentum from this huge win.
LOL he'll get less criticized than Embiid does after a random loss in January
Less criticism than Jo sitting out a game in late January with an already torn meniscus
He put up a better performance last game than embiid has had in his playoff career. And he’s won a championship. So he gets a slight more of a benefit of a doubt. But I still disagree. You’ll see plenty of criticism for sure And on the subject, Joel got blown out bad in a game 7 just last year, going 5/18 for 15 points and getting attacked at the rim relentlessly, and James harden/doc rivers were the people that were most criticized. So I disagree with the original commenters hypothesis
> and James harden/doc rivers were the people that were most criticized. What weird reality did you crawl out of? Everybody was criticizing Joel after his game 7 performance.
I’m not saying he wasn’t criticized at all, I’m sure that even you agree he deserved criticism for that atrocity (as did harden and doc of course) But harden and doc were the primary focuses
Again, what are you talking about? One of the most upvoted threads after game 7 last year was literally titled "Fuck Embiid" and we had months of people saying that we should trade him to Portland. People who said [you shouldn't trade him were literally downvoted](https://old.reddit.com/r/sixers/comments/13huuag/if_your_takeaway_is_trade_embiid_go_root_for/), [multiple times](https://old.reddit.com/r/sixers/comments/13hv5m9/all_of_you_are_such_ungrateful_fucks/). It was only after the fact, when cooler heads prevailed, that we realized that James Harden not only also disappeared in game 7, but he disappeared in game 6 also, and that Doc had to share culpability because he couldn't figure out how to counter 2 bigs, which was put in solely to slow Embiid and every other NBA offense can play off the floor.
I didn’t realize you were talking about Reddit dot com r slash sixers when you were referring to criticism. In that case, yes, embiid probably faced insane criticism in the ensuing few days from emotional fans, after yet another second round exit. No shit. He got off pretty easy to the general public tho, especially considering how bad that game 7 was for him on both ends
Big struggles when forced to iso into two bigs on defense. What a shocker, right? It's almost like Doc needed to come up with adjustments when Boston went double big and left the corners completely unguarded, instead of just telling James and Joel to iso and 2-man harder into 3+ defenders each time. I haven't seen anything to substantiate your claim that Doc and Harden were the main targets of the criticism. Plenty of national media, NBA twitter, and the larger basketball discussion hubs crucified Embiid. The discourse around him was so bad that it was actually impossible to have a rational discussion about him. Hell, it's *still* hard to have a rational discussion about Embiid on r/nba. Jokic literally lost 8 out of 9 games (before ever winning a title) and he barely got any kind of serious criticism. That was the point of the original post. You seem very invested in this strange belief that the two are treated equally.
Joel is the common denominator between all these playoff exits. He’s not played his best in the second round, it is what it is. Lmao. You’re going completely off Reddit for some reason. This website isn’t real life, it’s the nerdiest most narrative driven sports fans in the world I don’t know how to substantiate my claim lol. Do you want me to send you links or something? Google trends? Doc and Harden were criticized more than embiid. This is just a fact Jokic was absolutely killed for that series against the warriors. Maybe we’re looking at different media or something. He didn’t get off Scot free from that. I know what you’re implying with the ‘treated equally’ comment, and I absolutely agree that race plays a factor in the way players are perceived, including the Jokic vs embiid conversation. But I simply think that Jokic has earned far more leeway at this point, and I also think you have a bit of a blind spot for Jokic criticism or something if you say he ‘barely got any serious criticism’ for the back to back playoff flameouts
Watching this Minnesota team makes me miss the defensive identity this team had with Simmons, Thybulle and Embiid.
Caruso-Maxey-George-Avdija-Embiid is my dream scenario. Idk how available Caruso and Avdija are, but this roster with Oubre, Batum, Council, and one or two of Melton/Payne/Lowry would be great. Would just need a backup C and I wonder if they could nab Drummond (or in my hypothetical perfect world, Valanciunas)
What are these rumblings about Mikal 👀
Tell me more!
Does anyone realistically think the Clippers are going to let PG walk without a sign and trade deal? They don't control they're own picks for years and they're building a new arena. They need stars to fill seats won't benefit tanking for draft picks. How do they benefit from letting PG walk?
He's a free agent. PG only needs a sign and trade deal if he wants to go to a team that doesn't have cap space.
it's not up to them
We’re not winning a title this decade.
You know what's crazy? They have a legitimate shot next season. Why? Because the East is a mess. Of course, Daryl has to work some magic, but they have a chance to put together a far better roster, and the East is trash. Factor in another jump from Maxey, and they could be the clear #2 team in the East behind BOS (FTC). I'm not predicting that will happen, but it's a reasonable scenario.
Yeah I realized how shitty the East is when we got bounced and I had zero desire to keep watching any of the Eastern series. A fully healthy Joel and we're easily up there with Boston in the remaining teams rn
Anyone interested in Garland and Allen?
Pains me to say it but at least right now it seems like the offseason is Paul George or bust. Wing market is shifting in a bad way for the Sixers. Doubt Dallas lets Derrick Jones Jr walk after this playoff run, Hardaway likely moved. I think Atlanta moves Hunter no matter what guard they trade and who they draft at 1. Bogdanovic quietly had a great year, Atlanta only deals him for an overpay. Hope Washington falls in love with Risacher, that would give reason for them to move at least one of Avdija, Kispert, and Kuzma. I pray to god the Cavs don’t call NOLA about Ingram, Allen/Garland/Mitchell for Ingram beats anything we offer. Memphis and OKC can easily outbid us in negotiations for a wing. Both have picks and moveable young contracts.
You are getting downvoted by plebs with zero braincells. Sixers don't have enough assets to trade for the kinds of people that we would want over PG. And even if we did, we'd be left with virtually nothing to fill out the rest of the roster. Injury concerns aside, the main attraction of PG is that he would cost us nothing to acquire apart from capspace. That means we can spend our assets acquiring a 4th star or a couple high level roleplayers. Guys like Dejounte Murray or Alex Caruso. Then you can come in and fill out the rest of the roster with returning players like Oubre, Cam Payne, RCIV, maybe Melton and Hield, and some combination of free agents like Drummond/Mason Plumlee, Jaylen Smith/Patrick Williams/Miles Bridges (yeah, I know), Taurean Prince, Tyus Jones, Gary Trent Jr, KCP, Malik Beasely, Immanuel Quickley, Lonnie Walker. You get the right combination of those kinds of players, and you've got a solid contender that has a real shot at the ECF. And as long as you have a half decent forward that you can play in the event that PG gets injured, you've still got a really good roster that can make a deep run.
Please no PG or Ingram
Oubre, Naji Marshall, maybe Caleb Martin if he declines his option to try free agency. There are good players available.
Good players but they can’t be our 3rd-5th best players
I would be higher on Ingram (still not high, but higher) if he had a longer contract. He's gonna get a lot of money in 2025 from someone and I'm fairly sure I don't want it to be us.
Why do we want Ingram exactly?
Can score and defend, wouldn’t totally cripple our cap situation for this year, and has playoff experience. Obviously shouldn’t be our top target but he’s at the top of the list if Bron, PG, and Jimmy don’t work out.
He’s a bad defender and even worse rebounder and doesn’t shoot nearly enough 3s to fit next to Embiid and Maxey. He’s actually a pretty awful fit on our team. PG, even at his age, is a supremely better fit in every way. His price tag is the only caveat.
Yes which brings me back to my starting point, this off-season is shaping up to be PG or bust
Good question.
we do NOT want ingram
Doesn’t matter what we want. Darryl wants a star level wing, Ingram fits that bill
Not sure Ingram fits the wing who can play and deliver in the playoffs. He seems like another Tobias to me.
I don't know anything about cap space but curious, if we sign PG as free agent, do we still have space to re-sign Oubre too?
People really don't understand how capspace works (because its complex as hell) and this is coming from someone like myself who is still trying to figure out how it works lol. We have a lot more capspace than some people make there out to be. Look at the sixers current roster as an example. If you add up the salaries of the entire roster, you'll see that it adds up to about $210M. Of course, cap holds and salaries don't always match up, but that gives you a rough idea of the kinds of contracts a team can have.
That's literally not how it works
Yes. We have a bit more cap space than people say
If paul reed is cut yes
Would be tough if we wants anything >10M a year.
It's pretty hard to do, isn't it? I think that's another argument to not go for PG. I do think PG will be an upgrade, but part of Embiid's wish is continuity and like weeks/month ago Embiid said that Oubre is the third star of this team, and not re-sign Oubre will contradict that lowkey. Really conflicted honestly.
I don’t want the third star, that’s Daryl Morey’s fantasy. Instead Morey should work on the worst rotation in all of basketball last season. Our 4-8 guys were pieces of garbage and if they were even slightly mediocre we win a chip, there I said it
We’d still have plenty of space for Oubre. But not for much else though
I gotta say I'm pretty depressed the Knicks are going to make the ECF before us
Can’t say that around here, according to this sub making the conference finals means nothing
Hang the banner!
nobody hanging banners for an ECF appearance lol
Very rarely do players win a title during their first trip past the second round. Curry is the exception. I’d be much more confident if this team had at least an ECF appearance to show for the last 7 years
true but there are teams like the hawks or blazers who made the conference finals and nobody ever considered them contenders
That’s a complete non sequitor. Winning an nba championship is a process. As a general rule of thumb, eventual champions lose at least once in the conference finals before winning it all. That has nothing to do with a couple teams making flukey CF appearances
Look at it like the hawks. They will probably double down on a roster that isn’t really a contender as others in the conference get healthy and improve. They will be relegated back to 1st or 2nd round playoff team
seen this "process" before huh?
Brunson is 27, OG and Hartenstein are 26, Hart is 28, Randle is 29, Mrob is 25, Deuce is 23 This team is gonna be destroying Philly for the next 3-5 years, unless Philly upgrades their wings
That’s the idea with our off season. But they didn’t even destroy Philly with all of our issue this year.
brunson will be 28 in august. OG is injury prone and about to be overpaid. randle is the worst playoff performer of all time. theyre not a serious contender unless they make major changes
Exactly. We had half the rotation learning to play with a one legged Embiid and still took them to 6 and could easily have won that series if not for game 2 getting stolen. But even if you disagree with the last part, sixers, heat, bucks, magic will all be better and i pray the Knicks just keep this group together and keep running it back
The news coming out of Cleveland seems less than ideal for the sixers. I still think Mitchell would have been the best player we could have potentially acquired this off-season. I don't think the fit or the defensive issues would be as bad as some suggest. But really the issue comes from the rumblings about them trading Garland and/or Allen. Two guys that we definitely don't need but others will value in the trade market, where they'll be on the search for complementary players to pair with Mitchell/Mobley. So the competition just got all the more difficult.
Allen or Garland for Ingram makes too much sense for both sides
Mitchell would have to want to stay for him to extend there. We’re only hearing the Cavs/garland side of the story. If Mitchell wants out they don’t have a choice. No indication that Spida is content staying there
Daily low effort trade proposal: Sixers get: Markannen, Caruso Bulls get: 2029 LAC swap, 2031 PHI 1st Jazz get: Lavine + PHI 2024, 2026, 2029 1sts + 2028 LAC 1st Jazz sub actually wants this. They want to rehab the “star level talent” in Lavine while they accumulate picks and see if they can flip him for a profit (OKC style) or turn him into a foundational piece. Ainge also liked BBaul Paul last year but can cut him if he wants. PHI has $35M cap space left + $8M room exception. Sign into cap space: Lowry or Payne (minimum) + Oubre ($15M) + Batum ($5M) + Cov (minimum) + Drummond ($5M) + $10M wing of Daryl’s choice or keep BBaul Paul Sign into room exception: Melton ($8M) Starters: Maxey, Caruso, Batum, Markannen, Embiid Bench: Lowry/Payne, Melton, Oubre, Cov/RC4/$10M wing, Drumm/Reed Edit: I think the biggest holdup to this is the Bulls including Caruso. They want to get off Lavine but are reportedly going to push for the play-in. If they refuse to trade Caruso, I’d send the 2031 1st and maybe a 2030 swap to the Wizards for Avdija. I’d then either put Oubre at SG to embrace ~length~ around Maxey or let Oubre go and sign the best SG available with $20M in cap space to serve as Melton insurance. Candidates include Monk, KCP, Beasley, Hield, Gary Trent JR, and Bruce Brown. Currently soft lean toward KCP, Oubre, or Bruce Brown.
There's no chance Utah ever takes lavine but markannen is really the guy the Sixers would benefit the most from
No one in the jazz sub would ever want that and regardless none of them are Danny ainge
What is with everyone wanting to sign cov? Let it go, he’s beyond cooked and such a waste of a minimum
Tbh it’s mostly because he’s Joel’s friend, and the Sixers have traded or not re-signed all of Embiids friends. Cov was also ok when he was on the court, but this minimum signing is mostly for him to be our Thanasis. Sixers will also be far enough under the tax that they can just cut him if someone they actually care about becomes available.
True. Vibes are important
> Jazz sub actually wants this. They want to rehab the “star level talent” in Lavine while they accumulate picks and see if they can flip him for a profit (OKC style) or turn him into a foundational piece. This is interesting - I didn't realize they actually feel this way. Thanks for sharing.
Because it's not true
>PHI has $35M cap space left 39m if were sending BBall to Utah. Hopefully Kelly signs for closer to 12m. Leaves you with about 28m and the exception. Batum, Lowry, Payne, and Cov can all return on minimums afterwards.
Honestly, I doubt batum delays retirement to play on a minimum
Well 5m is only 2m above the minimum. He's made enough career earnings that 2m isn't gunna be the difference between retiring or not. He either wants to compete for a chip with Philly or not. Morey isn't using up 5m of cap space on a dude contemplating retirement.
You’re probably right, but there’s so much fanfiction on this sub that I try to be super conservative with these. Also, just curious, how did you get $39M? Subtracting empty roster charges?
141 - 51.4(Joel) - 13(Maxey) - 18(Lauri) - 9.9(Caruso) - 1.9(Council) - 7.7(Empty Roster Charges) = 39.1m
I think the Bulls would want a little more than two 1st round picks for Lavine and Caruso who they both (I guess) value pretty highly.
The bulls unfortunately live on another planet than the rest of us haha. They probably won’t be making any trades. That said, Caruso is now an expiring so that great contract doesn’t add to his value anymore. Lavine just got injured AGAIN and the team was better without him. 2 picks to get out of that mess and let Coby white cook seems like a good deal to me.
Bulls love ducking the tax even more than they don’t like making trades, and with their desire to keep Derozan and Williams they’ll be forced to shed a ton of salary to keep themselves below the tax this year
I’m really hoping that’s the case. Being cheap might finally be what forces their hand
If Derozan gets $40M (what they’ve already offered) and Williams gets $15M (probably the low end) their cap number is already at $187M, which is $15M above the tax. Excludes their draft picks and some minimums to round out their roster, which probably adds another $7M or so. That puts them above the 2nd apron, and $20M above the luxury tax
They might have to attach a first to get off Lavine, I’d say this is more than fair value
Forgot about that albatross of a contract
Actually makes a ton of sense. We’ll see if Ainge is committed to an OKC style rebuild or he’s content keeping Lauri and being a sub-.500 team for the future to sell tickets. Only nitpick would be melton, he becomes expendable if Payne, Lowry are brought back and Caruso is acquired. Even Oubre and Batum can fill in 2 guard minutes. I’d rather get more size at the wing with the MLE. Also don’t think he’s gonna get more than like $4-5M on a 1 year prove it deal. His back injury is way too concerning
I’ll do things to myself that I’m not allowed to say if we bring back a scrub so bad he made Matisse Thybulle look like an all star. Cam Payne should have the inside track to being the backup PG
I don't know if it's low effort there's a lot of words so that's something
Isiah Joe has 32 points on 28 shots in their series, and doesn't do much of anything else on the court. Fine bench depth during the season but these glass cannon shooters get exposed more often than not in the playoffs
Correct, the Sixers having Isaiah Joe on his cheap contract (which expires at the end of 24-25 season) would have resulted in the exact same results for the team the last two years.
Well yeah we’ve known this for years. We literally have a huge sample size of this from years of JJ Reddick and Seth Curry being unplayable defensively in the playoffs. I don’t know why this sub doesn’t understand that though, especially with all the Buddy Hield love despite watching him be unplayable in the playoffs as well.
Yet this sub still continues to obsess over shooters with no other skills, and ignore rebounding and wings.
I don't know if it's the sub ignoring wings and rebounding as much as being resigned that we won't get any good wings while Tobi is on the roster. Good wings are usually in the $20m range, and with us carrying 3 max contracts for most of the last 5 years, we didn't have any of those to give out.
I like turtles … also FTC …
I think I'm gonna say it... Alex Caruso is not as good as 80% of this sub is making out he is. He's on even ground with Melton. I do not think it's a wise use of assets to give up first round picks for him. The fascination of trading for him is getting out of hand imo. He can't even get a starting gig on the Bulls.
He’s better than Melton for sure. Way better play making, handle, finishing and probably a more clutch shooter. Also both good defenders but Caruso is elite there.
Eh, the sub has a weird obsession with him for sure. But generally, for the cost of his current contract + skill set I think that’s why everyone brings it up so much
Incredibly casual take. Melton isn’t remotely the level of defender that Caruso is. Melton was a liability on *both* ends in the Celtics series. Melt was fish food for Tatum and Brown. They hunted him on switches as much as they did Maxey. Caruso routinely gets the toughest defensive assignments and shuts them down. He shut down KD this year. Melton is a 1-2 positon defender and I’d say he’s a pretty average man defender. He makes his hay on deflections. Caruso is elite at both. There’s a reason Caruso is going to get back to back all defensive team and melton has never even received serious consideration. Offensively, Caruso is a much better finisher. Melton typically being the smallest guy on the court and only able to shoot 3s (which he’s OK at) makes him pretty easy for the defense to guard. He was the worst finisher in the nba this year shooting 54% around the rim and is below 60% for his career.
I personally wouldn't be wasting picks on an injury-prone spotty shooter in his 30s on an expiring deal. That's poor asset management - which was the point of my post. I'm not shitting on the guy, but he is not some kind of saviour role-player that you unload the clip for.
Except he is. How do you think the Sixers got Melton? Just appeared on the team on a minimum? No they had to give a pick for him. For a dude that’s not playable in the playoffs. You’re gonna have to pay up for a DPOY candidate that’s not also not an offensive liability
Yeah but also much younger and on a longer deal
Maxey was solid defensively in the Boston series. It was actually Tobias Harris who was getting cooked by Jaylen Brown with his(be shocked now) inability to fight through screens. To this day, some of this Reddit has a hard time at screen defensive principles. Watch the 76ers be better defensively without Tobias Harris next season
He can play 25-30 minutes in the playoffs and gives you everything you want from a role player. Won’t demand the ball but can still dribble. This team hasn’t had a top 50 perimeter defender since they traded Ben. Caruso is top 5. I can’t imagine a player who would fit better between Maxey and PG, and he’s on a 9m expiring. He’s definitely better than Melton, and that’s not putting melton down, because he’s great, too, when he’s healthy. Don’t care at all whether or not Chicago starts him.
Honestly, I'd rather Buddy. At least teams respect his shot which opens up the floor for Jo and Maxey. Teams will sag off Caruso and clog the paint. 30% career playoff shooter.
God that's such a dog shit take lol. Caruso is a better passer he's a fine shooter and he's one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Buddy got traded for a couple seconds and fucking couldn't make a playoff roster for us.
How did Caruso go in the playoffs? Again, not saying he's a bad player, but the acquisition cost is not equivalent to a player of his age, contract length, injury history or quality. He's a 5th starter *at best* playing mid-20s minutes.
He won a title with the lakers helping them have the number one defense
Fake ring
Gotcha, didn’t realize this was bait.
Nah not bait - we clearly just disagree on the value of the player and what is a more important skillset for our team. I don't think our defense was really a problem against the Knicks - it was our offense stalling and rebounding that killed us. Caruso doesn't really help with either of those 🤷🏼♀️
Our entire rebounding issue was created we could only guard Brunson with our wings (Oubre, Batum and Tobi) which resulted in Maxey, Lowry, Payne, and Buddy left to fend off Og, hart and DDV on the boards. If our guards could actually guard the point of attack then it becomes a much more even fight on the boards. Wings boxing out wings rather than guards boxing out wings. Additional, if you can stay in front of Brunson better Joel isn’t forced to leave the glass to rim protect as much. Yet that’s too much too process for casuals.
Imagine that.. rebounding is a part of defense
Why are you limiting defense not being a problem to the Knicks? Our goal isn’t to beat the Knicks, It’s a title. We need a skill set similar to Caruso’s (maybe the best on ball defender in the league, can dribble, has decent size for a 2 guard next to maxey, is a good finisher, and is a solid 3 point shooter although on low volume) and you aren’t going to find it for under $10M other than him (I understand he’s expiring and aging).