It solves Elton Brand's problem.None of which is Brown’s fault. So, this really does nothing to solve their issues.
It solves Elton Brand's problem.None of which is Brown’s fault. So, this really does nothing to solve their issues.
And Gregg Popovich has deemed him as being worth more. I think the truth is in the middle somewhere. He clearly struggled with managing tough personalities like Embiid and Butler. And sometimes change for the sake of change is good.Don't know if you saw the excerpt from the Redick pod that Ben Hogan posted here again last week but the conversation between JJ and Jimmy Butler was pretty damning on Brown. In short, they deemed him nothing more than an empty suit...er, untucked shirt.
Barring a finals appearance - and likely a win - he was going to be gone regardless.
I want to know if Sam Hinkie is laughing or crying right now.Sixers are in dreaded "mediocrity land" where they have a very solid team but one that almost certainly won't be able to legitimately compete for a title as currently constituted. And they are in cap hell for at least the next three years. They need to get really creative in terms of trades and I'm not really sure Elton Brand is the best person to be handling that process (pun sorta intended).
Rondo is about as close as it gets (calling Simmons "Tall Rondo" is incredibly accurate for good and bad), but even that isn't right. Rondo has shot about 15% of his career fg attempts from beyond the arc (didn't go over 10% until his 7th season), but Simmons has shot less than 1% of his career attempts from beyond the arc. That's an order of magnitude worse, without even considering the difference in era. In Rondo's second season just 2.7% of his shots were 3 pointers (his lowest %), and it was still 3x Simmons' career average. After 3 full seasons Rondo had made 26 3s to just 2 for Simmons. Considering the different time periods and that Simmons redshirted his rookie year, that disparity is even worse.Rondo is the comp. His last five seasons were in the "you have to cover the open 3" ballpark, and his career FT is 61%.
Agree. Thibs and the T’Wolves brought him in to be a leader, instill a defensive ethos in guys like KAT and Wiggins, and he failed and bailed. Might not have been all his fault, but he’s greatly overrated imo, especially given his hero ball needs at the end of games (which was one reason KAT wasn’t enamored with him).I kind of hate Jimmy Butler. I hate his pound-the-ball style, I hate his fake-tough-guy attitude, I hate his undeserved reputation in the league as a guy that hasn't won jack shit and is on his fourth team in four seasons. Not super specific to Brown being fired, but that guy doesn't know shit about winning culture.
This may well be accurate but it doesn't change the fact that if Butler thinks a coach is not worth his time, he likely has quite a few colleagues who will give his opinion a lot of weight.I kind of hate Jimmy Butler. I hate his pound-the-ball style, I hate his fake-tough-guy attitude, I hate his undeserved reputation in the league as a guy that hasn't won jack shit and is on his fourth team in four seasons. Not super specific to Brown being fired, but that guy doesn't know shit about winning culture.
What you are asserting is anything but a fact. We have no idea what the perception of Brett Brown is beyond 2 people you’ve listened to on that podcast.This may well be accurate but it doesn't change the fact that if Butler thinks a coach is not worth his time, he likely has quite a few colleagues who will give his opinion a lot of weight.
Well four people including Simmons who played for Philly last year. You are correct in that it is not an established fact but if NBA players including guys from the top to the back end of the roster are talking like this about you, its not good.What you are asserting is anything but a fact. We have no idea what the perception of Brett Brown is beyond 2 people you’ve listened to on that podcast.
But these are statements without any real basis. I think it’s quite possible there was something there. He probably let Simmons/Embiid get away with too much but all but the best coaches basically would do the same exact thing.Well four people including Simmons who played for Philly last year.
View: https://twitter.com/JBlevinsNBA/status/1297626136806150145?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/ThaRealJsimms/status/1298023339617902595?s=20
I don't think we are in disagreement here. Brown certainly deserves some blame but his coaching isn't why the Sixers have seemingly hit a ceiling with this roster. I am simply pointing out that when players are openly complaining about a professional coach its typically a sign that leadership needs to be changed.But these are statements without any real basis. I think it’s quite possible there was something there. He probably let Simmons/Embiid get away with too much but all but the best coaches basically would do the same exact thing.
I’m fine with them canning him because they need to try something with Embiid’s prime right here but I still think there can be bias when dirty laundry like this gets aired.
Gotcha. Ok, that’s fair. Apologies for missing the point. I discount Jimmy Butler’s opinion on basically everything but others coming out gives some credence to your point.I don't think we are in disagreement here. Brown certainly deserves some blame but his coaching isn't why the Sixers have seemingly hit a ceiling with this roster. I am simply pointing out that when players are openly complaining about a professional coach its typically a sign that leadership needs to be changed.
I agree about Lue. If I am running the Sixers, I would almost exclusively focus on filling both the coach and GM ranks from up and comers. This is not a roster for retreads - its for young people who are bold.Gotcha. Ok, that’s fair. Apologies for missing the point. I discount Jimmy Butler’s opinion on basically everything but others coming out gives some credence to your point.
I think Brown will settle in somewhere else. Shoot, maybe he goes back to SA and becomes Pop’s eventual successor. Who knows.
Lue seems like such a lazy search, if that’s who Philly is focusing on.
I agree that it's weird as fuck that he won't take the shot, and even Rajon (who's an odd duck in his own right) would take them even when his shot was garbage. It's weird and may be cause of concern for some.Rondo is about as close as it gets (calling Simmons "Tall Rondo" is incredibly accurate for good and bad), but even that isn't right. Rondo has shot about 15% of his career fg attempts from beyond the arc (didn't go over 10% until his 7th season), but Simmons has shot less than 1% of his career attempts from beyond the arc. That's an order of magnitude worse, without even considering the difference in era. In Rondo's second season just 2.7% of his shots were 3 pointers (his lowest %), and it was still 3x Simmons' career average. After 3 full seasons Rondo had made 26 3s to just 2 for Simmons. Considering the different time periods and that Simmons redshirted his rookie year, that disparity is even worse.
Additionally, Rondo always took a fair number of mid-range jumpers. It's not an efficient shot to take (now or then), but it indicates a potential ability to step back and possibly make 3 pointers. Nearly 20% of Rondo's shots for his career are mid-range jumpers (16 feet out to the 3 point line). Just 2% of Simmons' career FG attempts count as mid-range jumpers. All told, just under 35% of Rondo's career FG attempts were from 16 feet or farther (3 seasons in, that number was 24%). For Simmons, that number is just under 3%. Rondo is about the closest modern comp I can come up with, and he literally took about 10x as many outside shots as Simmons.
For sure. Poor free throw shooting is just a [relatively significant] data point in determining one's future ability to hit 3s, but we don't have to look that far to see exceptions. Bruce Bowen is one that comes immediately to mind (career .575 from the line and .393 from beyond the arc), and even Jaylen Brown prior to this year (career .658 from the line and .365 from beyond the arc). To his credit, Simmons has improved his FT% each year, from .560 (very bad) to .620 this year (still very bad). His lousy FT% combined with his unbelievably low number of shots from outside of 16 feet (let alone from beyond the arc) lead me to conclude that he will never be anything from beyond the arc, let alone as mediocre as someone like Rondo (.353 from 3 since leaving Boston).I agree that it's weird as fuck that he won't take the shot, and even Rajon (who's an odd duck in his own right) would take them even when his shot was garbage. It's weird and may be cause of concern for some.
I'm responding to the idea that a low 60s free throw shooter can't get to "you need to respect me from three" status with some work. There's one right there, and he never even improved from the stripe really. That's just off the top of my head. There are probably others hidden in the data.
God, I think I'd pay to see Kyrie and Pop butt heads.Wow, Ty Lue is going to be in demand. League sources say Durant and Irving are interested in a higher profile head coach, along the lines of Tyronn Lue or Gregg Popovich.
Kliq, I felt exactly the same way about Butler until I watched this JJ interview (I really never like JJ either until I heard his Kyrie podcast/interview last year). Butler realizes people think he is known as an A-HoleI kind of hate Jimmy Butler. I hate his pound-the-ball style, I hate his fake-tough-guy attitude, I hate his undeserved reputation in the league as a guy that hasn't won jack shit and is on his fourth team in four seasons. Not super specific to Brown being fired, but that guy doesn't know shit about winning culture.
I don't get why people want him to take 3's if he can't make them. That's not going to change the way people guard him.I agree that it's weird as fuck that he won't take the shot, and even Rajon (who's an odd duck in his own right) would take them even when his shot was garbage. It's weird and may be cause of concern for some.
I'm responding to the idea that a low 60s free throw shooter can't get to "you need to respect me from three" status with some work. There's one right there, and he never even improved from the stripe really. That's just off the top of my head. There are probably others hidden in the data.
Nailed it. I mean, clearly — @ lovegtm and Darwinism — it’s “on brand” for me, like every sports fan, to be aspirational in my team-building flights of fancy. But I think Wiseman + Wiggins as the core of an Embiid deal is at minimum close to a workable framework (as opposed to “not close to being close,” lol). If Minny 2021 and/or ‘Nova’s own Paschall is needed to sweeten the deal, that’s fine, too. You can throw in one of two our own future first-rounders, all of which we own, and which are only another Steph injury away from being pretty interesting (depending on protections). That’s basically all the Warriors have in terms of desirable assets.YES I'd want Simmons to play the 5 and YES nobody wants/needs a 5, there is an ABUNDANCE of centers.
that's why they have been free-falling in drafts recently
have been traded for next to nothing, as we saw in Drummond's case (nice move by Detroit getting out of that option)
Are getting paid less and less in the FA market every year. There are over a dozen veteran 5s that will be FAs this off-season that will be signed at an 80-90% discount from their previous deals
AND many teams are stuck with a fossil 5 on their roster already (even the Celtics have Poirier to unload after extending YABU a year ago)
2020 NBA Center = a Stockton, CA house in 2009
It does change the way that people guard him actually. Most guys end up challenging anyone shooting a three, most of the time.I don't get why people want him to take 3's if he can't make them. That's not going to change the way people guard him.
I disagree about that potential trade, but we’re in strong agreement about the benefits of faithful optimism for our franchises. I’m more of a every-prospect-we-draft-is the-next-coming kind of fanatic, but I can appreciate the artistry of the trade proposal Pollyanna.Nailed it. I mean, clearly — @ lovegtm and Darwinism — it’s “on brand” for me, like every sports fan, to be aspirational in my team-building flights of fancy. But I think Wiseman + Wiggins as the core of an Embiid deal is at minimum close to a workable framework (as opposed to “not close to being close,” lol). If Minny 2021 and/or ‘Nova’s own Paschall is needed to sweeten the deal, that’s fine, too. You can throw in one of two our own future first-rounders, all of which we own, and which are only another Steph injury away from being pretty interesting (depending on protections). That’s basically all the Warriors have in terms of desirable assets.
Full disclosure, for anyone who wants accuse me of offering my trash for someone else’s treasure: I’ve developed an unhealthy crush on James Wiseman ever since we plucked the #2 pick. There’s a kind of weird alchemy that happens when a guy goes from being a random prospect to a guy sitting in your draft slot, likely yours for the taking. I feel like Wiseman is a half-Warrior at this point. The workout clips of him flying around, dunking as if on a nerf hoop, and shooting deep Js like Bosh are super-sexy...
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvVylKWyq7A
Athletic Alchemy, one of my favorite hoops analysts, is all in on Wiseman as the best prospect in the draft:
View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RJRG8chK6bU
There's a big part of me that would be bummed to throw away the pleasure of watching a 19 year-old phenom develop — even with all the headaches, fits, and starts, and the chance he maxes out as Hassan Whiteside — for the totally different pleasure of adding an established star, especially one like Embiid with the risks and limitations Ben Hogan notes.
And chuckle if you like, but: I didn't hate Wiggins at all in his 12 games with us, slashing to the rim, guarding 1-4 with ease, looking as engaged defensively as I've ever seen him (1.4 steals and 1.5 blocks per 36, e.g.) For his mediocre efficiency, rebounding, and passing numbers, his bad teams have typically been better with him on the floor than not (+2.6 pts per 100 net). And in the "best ability is availability" department, he's as worry-free as Embiid is worrisome. You can make a case for him as the most durable player in the association (one game missed *total* in his first four seasons; 16 games missed in his six-year NBA career). Generally, "more athletic Harrison Barnes" seems like an apt comp — an albatross on his bloated contract, but salary aside, a mostly "do no harm" type player.
TLDR: I'm totally cool with the simplest of all scenarios for GS: drafting Wiseman, running a perfectly credible 1-5 of Curry-Thompson-Wiggins-Green-Wiseman, and adding vet depth to the bench (beyond Paschall, Chriss, Looney, Lee and Poole) with the TPE and MLE. I doubt that's a championship team, but as noted, there are pleasures to being a sports fan beyond maxing out your title odds, especially when you already got three of the last five. Watching Wiseman develop with Steph-Klay-Dray under Kerr-Adams-Jarron Collins would be hella fun, as they say in the Bay.
From Philly's perspective ... I can't really opine as to whether Wiseman looks as sexy to them as he does to me. I do think a starting five Simmons-Richardson-Wiggins-Harris-Horford makes more structural sense than what they have now, with both Horford and Harris moving to their more natural positions. Any size concerns are mitigated by having a 6'-10" PG and 7'-1" Wiseman coming off the bench as Horford's understudy. Wiseman gets to develop slowly under Horford's wing; and his timeline actually works well with Simmons, who just turned 24.
Paging London Sox....?
Quick note, Weitzman’s book, “Tanking to the Top,” is already out:Zach Lowe's podcast guest from today's episode, Yorel Weitzman, is coming out with a book on the Sixers, and their conversation provides a lot of color for the stuff we're talking about here with Brown, Butler, Simmons and JoJo. Also some interesting Fultz stuff, including details of his terrible workout with the Celtics, sourced from Fultz's mentor/trainer Keith Williams ("there was no music, the gym was quiet, and there was just all these old white men staring at him. He was nervous") Hmmm... Anyway, Weitzman think's Fultz had a mental breakdown, and hints at some weird stuff with his mom that's apparently in the forthcoming book. He's on the second half of the Lowe Post from today, definitely worth a listen.
Ah, thanks. I found some of the Fultz- related excerpts on Reddit, and all I have to say is good on Danny Ainge for doing a deep recon and avoiding that kid and his family.Quick note, Weitzman’s book, “Tanking to the Top,” is already out:
View: https://www.amazon.com/Tanking-Top-Philadelphia-Audacious-Professional-ebook/dp/B07VT2JFS5
The parts teased on Lowe’s podcast and the online sample were amusing enough to get me to order my own copy. Just the anecdote in the introduction where Weitzman tries to get coffee with someone Hinkie had called “ one of tomorrow’s polymaths” and implores Sixers equity owners to meet with for coffee in his infamous resignation letter had me guffawing the whole time.
That would make a great chapter in the eventual book written on the process.
Yeah I think they feel they need to break up/sell high on Simmons and Embiid, and this gives cover. They need cover because they’re a poorly-run organization.Yeah, that would really be interesting. Of course in the end it would depend what Simmons/Embiid could get them on the market, but hard to imagine in that situation they can get top dollar.
Hard to understand why they would feel D'Antoni is such a prize and want to go down that road. Perhaps it's what they want to do anyway and this is just an excuse.
So, assuming the reporting is true, that means Embiid is on the trading block, right?
I've seen Buddy Hield for Al Horford being mentioned.So, assuming the reporting is true, that means Embiid is on the trading block, right?
Horford and Harris could also be considered “bigs” but they were presumably on the block already for the right deal and who would want those contracts anyways? Simmons might be considered a big given his size and how he does his scoring in the paint but he’s more a wing or ballhandler and his running/transition skills fit more with D’Antoni’s traditional style, despite the lack of shooting.
That really leaves Embiid, a traditional big who doesn’t fit the D’Antoni model. Let the fake trades commence!
Weird...why would Sac do that?I've seen Buddy Hield for Al Horford being mentioned.
No idea. Twitter rumors saying Sixers are interested in Hield so a logical player to bring up is Horford. Could do a sign and trade to get Hield his money and swap the contracts. If this was the first big move from Sacramento's new GM, that is not a good way to start.Weird...why would Sac do that?
Hield already got paid:No idea. Twitter rumors saying Sixers are interested in Hield so a logical player to bring up is Horford. Could do a sign and trade to get Hield his money and swap the contracts. If this was the first big move from Sacramento's new GM, that is not a good way to start.
OK I looked there and it said estimate so I didn't know if he had gotten a new deal. I forgot he signed a new one back in October.Hield already got paid:
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/sacramento-kings/buddy-hield-20211/
I guess I could see something if a ton of other good stuff goes along with Horford, but what good stuff does Philly have?
Yeah, I didn't realize how attractive it is: declines to 18.5M in the final year.OK I looked there and it said estimate so I didn't know if he had gotten a new deal. I forgot he signed a new one back in October.
It doesn't sound like Embiid is the odd man out:More fun rumor mongering about D’Antoni, this time with the additional fun of Philly targeting Harden (either when he’s a free agent in a couple years, or before via trade) as part of the thinking:
View: https://mobile.twitter.com/JClarkNBCS/status/1309160571036729344
John Clark
@JClarkNBCS
I’m hearing one of the reasons along with coaching that Sixers have a lot of interest in Mike D’Antoni is feeling with some in organization that he could help lure James Harden to Philly Harden can become a free agent in 2 years and there is possibility of trade
So it looks like the [rumored] plan is to trade Ben Simmons, ideally in some package for Harden.Pompey cites leaks from the organization indicating that Brand and star center Joel Embiid are now on board with hiring D’Antoni. Embiid is looking forward to facing the basket in D’Antoni’s offense, rather than posting up. The coach also reportedly plans to make Tobias Harris a power forward again. The front office is willing to make trades to build a roster that fits D’Antoni’s style of play, and he will have input into choosing players, according to Pompey.
It's an interesting plan, but playing Embiid facing the basket reduces his effectiveness. He shot 69.3% from the restricted area this year, but only 42.1% from the paint outside the restricted area and 40.2% from midrange. What's he going to do, catch the ball ten feet from the basket and put up jumpers? That's a win for the defense. I guess we'll see how he can be in the pick and roll if they can really get Harden to run the offense, though he was .95 points per possession as the roll man both this year and last year with Butler. And how is Embiid's effectiveness going to be playing at D'antoni's pace? Houston was 2nd in pace this year, Philly was 20th, Embiid better be in the proverbial best shape of his career or he'll be sucking wind in the fourth when it counts.It doesn't sound like Embiid is the odd man out:
So it looks like the [rumored] plan is to trade Ben Simmons, ideally in some package for Harden.
Sucks for Simmons. Can't imagine a worse situation than going to Houston, where he's an awful fit next to another ball handler who can't shoot in Russ.
Just daydreaming but Simmons would be fun to see as a point center in Boston. Brad would have a switch-gasm.