2019-2020 Sixers Season/Offseason

bigegypt0417 2020-02-28 18:54:05 UTC #403

That isn't even remotely true. You can fire a coach who has had success if you believe they are no longer the right fit to run your team going forward. Dwayne Casey was fired from the raptors after winning 59 games and the coach of the year. His record was 320-238.

It doesn't mean you are pandering if your desire is to change direction.

zambonir 2020-02-28 19:16:02 UTC #404

Sure, sometimes that happens. But you also fire the coach if you made a series of disastrous moves as owner and GM, have run out of people to blame besides yourselves and have an impatient fan base. I see nothing about this ownership or this city that suggests they could calmly fire Brown and replace him with someone nobody's ever heard of, just like the Phillies and Flyers couldn't. (The Eagles, a much more stable organization, got away with another low-key move but that was also because they gave in to the big swing before that.) Their next coach hire will be like the Colangelo hire.

I'm not really sure what Murphy's trying to get at here since he spends more time calling out Colangelo than Brand, and doesn't explicitly try to defend Brown. It almost seems like a pro-Hinkie piece. But the case he makes is pretty stark. All the other teams ahead of us have been better at assembling a roster than we are, and while development is part of a coach's job how can you do that if you don't get to keep more than 3-4 players each year?

bigegypt0417 2020-02-28 19:25:35 UTC #405

Again...this narrative isn't even true. their moves haven't been a disaster.

The Sixers are playing without two of the best players in the NBA and although not perfect, are an very talented team.

Brands moves have been good for the limited resources he has been given to make them.

Moving on from Brown is not really pandering...it may just be time for a new voice.

Dirk41 2020-02-28 19:31:21 UTC #406

That's understandable, but just look at the Raptors. Granted, they got the best player in the world and have a far superior front office. But, sometimes, it works

zambonir 2020-02-28 20:52:19 UTC #407

Colangelo wasn't a disaster? Not having a GM during the off-season in which the Raptors did the things that made them better than us wasn't a disaster?

And I don't see how you can call Brand's moves good, or even say his resources were limited. He intherited some issues, sure, but still had plenty of resources (players, picks, money) and misfired every time. The Butler trade was not worth it for a rental, casting their lot with Harris at the max is not looking so great, Horford is looking worse and even the Fultz trade, while necessary, is not going to have any serious return.

They are a talented team still, yes. And the injuries have been all year, not just this particularly dramatic week. But if we were sitting here today with Saric, Covington, Reddick, Shamet and even Fultz would we be a worse team? And wasn't Zhaire Smith supposed to be able to fill some of the vacated roles?

Still no way to know what might happen. To me these injuries actually give Brown some cover though losing in the first-round (which was still a possibility even without the injuries) would be an obvious step back that he probably can't recover from.

Dirk41 2020-02-29 18:19:44 UTC #408

It's simply difficult to imagine a scenario outside of a run to the finals or deep into the ECF that Brown is back. For a front office that lost the longest view in the room, he's all but cooked.

zambonir 2020-02-29 18:29:58 UTC #409

Probably so. The season is already a failure, really. The minimum expectation was a conference finals loss to Milwaukee, but now that loss is likely to come in the second round and could come in the first (though Miami seems to be turning into the team that disrupted chemistry at the deadline). If they did somehow beat the Bucks that will also mean they every chance of going further, even all the way.

But I don't think it's coaching that has put us so far behind the Bucks and the Raptors (I won't put the Celtics there even though that was assumed after 2018).

Dirk41 2020-02-29 20:29:25 UTC #410

While coaching likely has not put us behind, it doesn't get us close to them either

allentown 2020-03-01 14:58:10 UTC #411

Such a huge home-away discrepancy argues that coaching does have something to do with it. It's like when the Phillies laid down and played dead against the lowly Marlins last year. That speaks to the manager's inability to get the team in the proper mindset to play their best against inferior competition.

bigegypt0417 2020-03-03 14:34:34 UTC #412

Not sure the sixers will be able to compete tonight but the silver lining is we seem to have something in Shake Milton. With him and Horford coming off the bench we could have something...

bkeich 2020-03-04 11:43:49 UTC #413

Al Horford is starting to make Danny Tartabull look like he had a successful career in Philly in comparison. I can't think of many worse signings I have ever seen.

Horford once again failed to show up with both all-stars hurt. Big night... 8 points on 8 shots.

He is actually playing more minutes this year than last season, but that is the only stat he is increased. His .432 FG Percentage is horrendous for a big man, 32% from 3pt is just terrible, he has even put up his lowest FT% in years. That would all be ok if it wasnt for the fact that he is consistently one of the worst +/- on the team (as he was last night as usual).

He had double digit made FGs in games 5 and 6 of this season... and never again. His high since then is 20 pts.

The Sixers are 4-1 in games he does not play. Perhaps that is something they should try since when you look at the +/- it seems like there are some games he single handedly lost. It would have been nice if he had put his discontent with his role behind him when Embiid and Simmons are hurt and stepped onto the court and tried to lead the team, but apparently that is not going to happen.

bigegypt0417 2020-03-04 14:43:15 UTC #414

The good thing is you might still be able to find a team willing to take him on after this season...

phillychuck 2020-03-04 19:22:18 UTC #415

To be fair, 32% on 3s isn't all that bad. He's not playing well, but his 3 pt % isn't the stat that's killing him.

zambonir 2020-03-04 20:00:57 UTC #416

Sometimes things just don't go right when you move to a new team, or it takes a season to adjust. And sometimes it's the team's fault, which is at least partially the case here in several ways (he certainly adjusted fine from Atlanta to Boston).

He's not quite Danny Tartabull but he's worse than Jean Segura or Carlos Santana.

I don't know if it will be easy to to move him, but it will be doable.

bkeich 2020-03-04 21:23:56 UTC #417

Yea, it is that bad. He is 130th out of 149 players in the NBA right now. Can't think of another word for it.

Agreed that is not the only (or most important) stat to show just how bad his play has been, but it is another telling one.

Zambonir implies that it is at least some part the teams fault, and I agree with that to a point also, but the fact is that with both All Stars out this should have been the time that he and Tobias Harris step up and earn their check. Instead last night it was Robinson III that was actually making plays (Harris had a solid game also) and as usual Al Horford was quiet, with 8 pts on 8 shots and minimal effort to try and do anything.

Last year I was critical at times of Jimmy Butler as he seemed to take long stretch of games off, but at the end of games he did make plays. Horford does nothing in these circumstances (last night wasnt a good example as there really was no 'end of game'). Every time I see Horford come onto the floor it seems like the other team is going to go on a run, I just havent seen many former All Star players simply mailing it in like he has this year.

The problem with the concept of trading Horford is that this last offseason was this teams chance to add a new, max player to add to the existing players to get this team to the next level. Instead we added a guy who frankly should have been released at the trade deadline if it wasnt for his contract as Ennis was a better player this year, and now we have lost that chance to add talent and will probably have to throw in quite a bit of "capital" to get someone to take Horford off our hands. That is a big difference and honestly it may be the one move that will stop this franchise from moving forward as it is going to hamper us not just this year, but the lost opportunity is crushing to the future.

zambonir 2020-03-04 22:34:22 UTC #418

At this point it seems we can all agree that every single player of note on the team has been disappointing, in some context or another. So that ultimately points towards the coach (or, IMO), the whole front office. They've either picked the wrong players or put players in the wrong position to succeed. And in Horford's case he's supposed to lead but our two stars don't want to be led.

I think it's a lot to ask for Horford to just turn it on and off though. They put him in a bad spot, they run no offense through him, he has to play two positions, he gets benched. You'd like to see him make the most of this opportunity but some times you can't just flip the switch. And three-point % in particular is about rhythm.

Plus he's not an offensive star to begin with. A guy who only scores 14 points per game on average his whole career is gonna have 8-point nights and 20-point nights. A career 36% three-point shooter dropping to 32.6 in a small sample is meaningless. Either way he's not gonna explode for buckets. Not to mention it was the Lakers and there's barely anybody else they have to focus on defensively besides him and Harris (thus Robinson's performance).

You could have written these 10+ point losses to LA and LA in ink before the trip started, I'm pleasantly surprised they've shown up to the extent they did. Question is can they win at least 1 of the remaining 2, given they frequently lose to lesser teams on the road.

bigegypt0417 2020-03-04 22:41:59 UTC #419

I'm not going to agree to that at all. Simmons prior to his injury was playing at an all star level and Tobias Harris has been exactly what we signed up for. Thybulle is a rookie and plays like one. Korkmaz and Milton have played above any expectation.

zambonir 2020-03-04 23:43:26 UTC #420

Well I said "in some context or another." We all know what Simmons' flaws are. He's still an all-star despite them. He's improved in many areas and has not in others. He's not a performing at superstar level night-in-night-out (and I see you aren't defending Joel!)

I think Harris was expected to be better too. He's been fine, and I don't measure him by his salary, but he has not consistently been able to offer the scoring (let alone the shooting or ball-handling) the Sixers need (and obviously Richardson hasn't either).

I also wouldn't include the youngsters or bench players as being "of note." Korkmaz is a pleasant surprise, Milton still hasn't been doing it long. They and Thybulle are all still major questions marks come playoff rotation. If Milton and Korkmaz could answer the bell that would be huge but I think it's more likely they're exposed (if they even get the minutes).

Anyway, I just wouldn't single out Horford!

phillychuck 2020-03-05 04:47:21 UTC #421

Curry back for the Sixers.

zambonir 2020-03-05 05:29:55 UTC #422

We could definitely use him