The Thybulle situation is a real bummer. One wonders how Thybulle and the team did not have a plan in case they ended up facing Toronto in the playoffs. It is not like this dropped out of the sky yesterday.
I guess the obvious caveat is if the team knew Thybulle was not fully vaccinated. If they did not, that seems like a huge mistake on their part within our current COVID environment. If they did know and had no plan, that may be even worse. To lose an important bench player for road games in this series is not helpful at all.
I think the 76ers can still beat Toronto, but I have no illusions we are going further than that unfortunately. Playing either the Bucks or Heat would be very difficult even with a healthy Harden, consistent bench and continued progress by Maxey.
The reality that Doc will not even consider using the talent on the bench like Reed makes it even more difficult. I've never been a big Doc fan. I think he did help stabilize the team after Brown's departure and does have the respect of his players.
However, the rigidity of his thinking and pound a square peg into a round hole mentality severely hurts the team and organization. He is the Larry Bowa of the NBA; you adapt to my system instead of I will adapt to put your skills to best use for the team. The ability to analyze issues from different perspectives and admit you may not have all the answers is an effective part of leadership.
