That would be great, but they could change everything by picking up a sharpshooter or two. And it doesn't need to be a Reddick. That 2017 team had Belinelli, Ilyasova, Covington, and Saric also helping with spacing. Some of those guys are easier to find than others.
The problem is that available sharpshooters tend to give back a lot on the defensive end, otherwise they wouldn’t be available. The Celtics relentlessly hunted Bellinelli in the 2018 conference semis. Korkmaz can shoot...he’s just nearly unplayable on the other end.
Agreed on both counts.
But can they survive 18 minutes of a really bad defender on the floor? Can an opposing team of athletic wings just go with, "whoever is guarded by X scores"? And more importantly, can the 76ers do it in a playoff situation? I think the most feasible way they can survive is to always pair that hypothetical bad defender and Embiid as a rim protector - which increases his burden. And what are they going to do during the other 30 minutes of lack of perimeter shooting/spacing?
Yeah, they could--they'd have to either give up Richardson (unlikely) or else throw together a lot of their bench guys along with an asset.
Would it shock you if the Pelicans asked for JRich (26) & Thybulle (22) in December and the Sixers pulled the trigger?
They may love Thybulle long term but watching him play several times I can’t imagine they want to play him right now. He isn’t a zero offensively.......he is well below a zero. He has no iso or ballhandling skills against pressure, is a terrible shooter, and an even worse passer. He’s essentially a turnover waiting to happen whenever the ball touches his hands.
Thybulle just made a beautiful bounce pass to Harris for two points.
It isn’t only about shooting. He’s an NBA wing who literally can’t dribble at a D-1 level much less vs NBA defenders. I haven’t looked but I can’t imagine anyone in the league with a worse per48 TO rate. For this reason I can’t imsgine the Sixers not being a significantly worse team with Thybulle on the floor in his current version. He’s really that bad from what I’ve seen.
He’s a project but there is much to like about Thybulle because Philly needs someone to play defense on opposing wings with the second unit. I haven’t seen enough of the kid yet to be sure of anything and I watch every 76ers game. Until he starts getting 20 minutes instead of 10 or 12, he’s not much of a factor.
He got a few extra minutes last night because Josh Richardson sat out second half with a slight hamstring issue. Thybulle has hit 7 of his last 10 treys.
I wouldn't read too much into fouls, some of the best defenders in the NBA are on top of the fouls list.
I suppose it’s possible for four year college player to be a project, but outside of Cam Johnson, I don’t know if there’s a guy from this draft class who that term is less appropriate for. That said, I really liked him pre-draft, and he’s done nothing to put me off since then. Early returns show his historic college stocks numbers weren’t just a product of the zone D (though I thought it was clear from watching him that the instincts, anticipation and athleticism were very real). I still think Rich Man’s Thabo Sefolosha is a reasonable expectation, and that’s a useful guy, but there’s definitely a possibility he can become a better shooting version of Tony Allen, and that’s a really valuable player. He’ll have to either learn to dribble or become an elite shooter if he wants to become much more than replacement level on offense, and as one of the oldest guys in the draft class, I dunno if I’d take those bets.
If he learns the corner 3, and lessens his involvement in the offensive flow at the top (which would cut down on the TOs) with his plus-plus defense. He's valuable. I also liked him a lot pre-draft and was surprised Danny didn't keep him. I'm happy with how it all worked out, but Philly did fine.
There’s not much room for him to play in the next few years with Brown, Tatum, Smart, and maybe Hayward. They’re good to elite defenders who also happen to be able to dribble basketballs. I don’t think fit should matter at the top of the draft, but playing time for development and roster fit definitely start to matter around 20.
Don’t sleep on the Pacers either. There are 6 very good teams at the top of the east.
Very true. Not sure Miami will stay the course but the other five, should be fun to watch.
On defense, the 76ers desperately want to slow down the opponent and get them into a halfcourt, rock fight.
Not sure I agree but we sure are a far cry from opening night when the sky was falling.
Will Barton repeatedly burned Tobias Harris to open the game, think Barton scored 15pts in Q1. The Harris MAX deal will age really poorly.
It's pretty hilarious that Chris Paul would fit well on Philly, but OKC likely wouldn't take Harris in return. That's pretty brutal when you gave up assets for the guy less than a year ago AND (by all reports) chose him over Jimmy Butler.
Pretty much what I saw as well. Philly's defense down the stretch was great. I don't think I saw Simmons make a single positive play in the half court, but he's a terror on the break, and Thybulle is a great finisher.
Celtics favored by 1.5pts
From my viewpoint the big thing to me is how Philly’s length, particularly on the perimeter and in the passing lanes, affects our ability to get/create good shots. I circled this date following our first meeting as a huge indicator of what our future head-to-head hopes would be based on whether we simply needed to make adjustments or if this is one of those “nightmare matchups” that NBA team have with certain opponents. It doesn’t help that Thybulle looks like a real NBA wing now capable of additional quality minutes rather than someone we can look to expose.
The 76ers banked on taking away Kemba - it wasn't as if he stopped doing what he was doing. They doubled and trapped him, closed out on him hard and made him give up the ball. The rest of the C's were spotty to cold so it was a sound strategy.
Good point about Kemba. Philly has so many options on defense. Ennis’s length seemed to bother Kemba. Thybulle, too.
