2019-2020 Sixers Season/Offseason

[phillychuck]

It depends on what Brand and Josh Harris thought of Brown before the suspended season. They can fire him based on what they saw in the regular season, but I would only do so if I had a better option lined up.

[zambonir]

I think the decision is probably already 90% made. If they're ready to move on, nothing short of a good conference finals appearance was going to change that, so an early exit or second round loss won't change anything either.

And if they're not ready to move on, because the grass isn't always greener or, simply because they recognize the limitations of the roster (both its construction and its health/stability), an early exit also doesn't change that. But no Ben gives them PR cover with some of the media and WIP crowd.

Putting on the Negadelphian hat: the Sixers are never going to win a championship with this owner, this coach and these two players together, whether due to the impossibility of truly fixing the rest of the roster or health issues. In that sense changing the coach might be worth a shot. Of course if that doesn't work the only remaining step is trading one of the two stars, especially if they're still saddled with cap $ from some of these other guys.

[phillychuck]

But you definitely have to explore a new coach before you get to trading either Ben or Embiid. As I'm sure you were implying!!

[zambonir]

Yeah. And you're not likely to win either trade. Not sure I'd want Brand working on it either.

[bigegypt0417]

What teams really have the resources to trade for Simmons?

[bigegypt0417]

Embiid out with an ankle injury.

[zambonir]

You can never go wrong being Negadelphian.

I guess we still might win huh? (I live in Portland, can't get the game.)

[bigegypt0417]

Lillard is just too good.

It also doesn't help he gets every call.

[bigegypt0417]

Sixers lose but a very gutsy performance by the sixers.

[xogfog]

I'm not sure, but I think the OKC win and the Sixers loss guarantees the Sixers will get their first round pick, which is good since the Sixers didn't have one.

[bkeich]

Meaningless game, we are locked into the #5 spot.

This is going to be a very short rest of the season. Without Simmons this team is cooked.

[phillychuck]

We are locked into #6, not #5. Playing the Celts in the first round. At least we don't have to deal with the parquet floor...

Celts are hot, and with no Simmons and a hobbled, poorly conditioned Embiid I'm not optimistic. It will be interesting, though, to see how Shake and Thybulle handle their first NBA playoffs.

[bigegypt0417]

Thank you to Mike Muscala!

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/2020-nba-draft-sixers-own-025640136.html

[zambonir]

They certainly could have moved up to #4 had things gone better, though I'm not sure the match-up would have been any better (presumably Miami) and home court doesn't matter.

Not an untalented team though. Ironically, will be Horford's time to shine.

And who says Embiid is poorly conditioned? He's always going to be injury-prone but he seemed to be in better shape now than he was in October.

[frylock]

I'm not optimistic, however, I'm probably more optimistic than when Simmons was around (from a 1 out of 10 to a 1.5 out of 10 on the optimism scale).

Ben still can't / won't shoot and as a primary ballhandler was so easily defended and schemed against in the playoffs, that it was a joke. Even off the ball the results weren't impressive. For as good as he was on defense, I feel like he's equally as detrimental on offense in the playoffs. And Simmons was perfectly healthy on those road games this year where this team was embarrassed prior to the bubble. Of course it's not all on Ben -- I think coaching has been also significantly detrimental -- but we'll see. Put up or shut up time.

I've wanted Brett gone since the first Boston playoff disgrace; however, with the COVID situation, I think he may be safe another year even if they have an early playoff exit.

[zambonir]

They had me fooled for a few stretches there.

[phillychuck]

Getting thrashed in quarter 4...Brett can't figure out how to get them to play well late against Boston.

[bkeich]

Hopefully this is the end of Brett Brown.

First you had Butler clearly not want to play for this team.

Now you have Al Horford, who is completely disinterested and putting no effort (or skill) into his play. He can’t possibly be this bad.

I don’t know how this can be fixed, but Brown has no idea what to do. We have talent but apparently no plan or ability to make adjustments in late game situations. In the last 8 minutes of this game we were just blown out. Made a little comeback but in crunch time there was no obvious plays being run, just guys trying to make something happen and the defense fell apart except for a short run to get back with 4 before the final collapse.

Hopefully we won’t have to watch this aimless version next year

[zambonir]

I certainly don't look at this team and think they aren't being coached up to their potential, even if they aren't being coached beyond it either. These have all been personnel errors.

W/o Ben there was no reason to expect any better anyway. He was missed in almost every way (except shooting). Truth is they looked better than I expected thanks to Burks and Richardson. In the end it's silly to think a team with Shake Milton as its starting point guard, no three-point shooter and one of its two stars missing is going to do anything anyway, even if the other guys played above their heads.

May have caught a break with Hayward's injury though. With no road games, you never know. Of course, Brown is not the better coach in the series, but will the next guy be? And is Horford disinterested or just old?

[nycphils]

Need to get rid of Horford and Richardson and bring in shooters. Embiid/Simmons surrounded by 3 or 4 shooters (Buddy Hield? Otto Porter? Not sure who would be available) is what this team needs to do.

Tyron Lue would probably be my first choice.