2023-2024 Sixers Season

[Philsmania]

I say send Jay Wright a contract with the salary left blank and with instructions for him to fill that part out.

[zambonir]

Jay Wright seems like the exact opposite of a good fit for Sixers coach. The team is not bigger than the players in the NBA. We may wish otherwise but it's not.

Would of course be awesome to see them give Staley a shot but the same concerns really. So very few college coaches have done it and the ones who have worked for great organizations with much stronger cultures than the Sixers.

[phillychuck]

Jay Wright is a great guy who would crash and burn in the NBA. I have no interest in hiring him, nor do the Sixers.

I have no idea whether or not Dawn Staley can coach in the NBA. The women's game is just so different from the men's game I have no idea if her ideas would translate. Hiring her is a low odds gamble that I don't think the Sixers would take right now. An NBA team like the Pacers should give her a chance.

[zambonir]

I'm not sure the differences in the game matter that much. But Staley is probably not interested in just any job, even as a groundbreaker, or for way more money (which she could at least get in the NBA, unlike from the Temple men's job). She's at the top of her profession and it's only coming up with the Sixers because he's from Philadelphia. Becky Hammon is theoretically still ahead of her in the eyes of most NBA powerbrokers since she's coached in the league, and the now the WNBA.

It would be nice if the Sixers could develop their own Nurse or Spoelstra or Udoka or Williams (not that they didn't try with Brown, plus they literally had the last two guys already) but it seems like this time around they are going to repeat the Doc hire resume-wise.

[VoteForKalas]

And I think the coach in the NBA matters less than other sports.

Roster construction and management are the main issues and have been for years.

That is where the Colangelos and Brand failed and where Morey so far has only been a slight improvement.

Until that changes significantly, and I do not see it changing in the short term, the 76ers' peak will have been passed and the slide down will begin again. Trading Simmons for Harden and trying to fortify around him, Embiid and Maxey was a worthy gamble IMO, but it has not generated any better results unfortunately.

[zambonir]

I'm not sure it matter less in other sports since it doesn't matter all that much in other sports either (except football, I think, but more for the skills required to run such a large organization of both players and coaaches than strategy). Of course what really matters is they simply can't replicate what makes Boston (a stable roster) or Miami (a stable front office and coach) succeed.

Don't forget Hinkie and Brown in there. In the end Hinkie didn't draft or trade very well beyond being lucky Embiid was injured, and Brown had too much faith in Simmons given their history. But ownership just hasn't made it possible for anyone to actually do their jobs really. Or hired the wrong people to do them.

Fun thought exercise (except not fun at all): will both Maxey and Embiid be on the Sixers in 2025? Neither of them? I think they have to try and get Harden to stay and take a couple of more shots. Or they have to trade Maxey to take a couple of more shots. Like you say the peak is going to pass and once Joel is done (hurt, traded, contract up) there's not going to be anything for a few years at least.

[bigegypt0417]

The sixers had a home game with a chance to close out the Celtics and play the heat...do the sixers play better against Miami? I dont think so but at some point you have to look at who is at the helm going in to that game and the fact that record in clinching games is historically bad.

the Sixers had the pieces to go further this year and they didn't. The roster has warts but that's pretty much something you can say about every team in the NBA.

I don't think a new coach fixes everything but watching what the head coach is doing in Miami with an outmanned team gives me hope.

[Philsmania]

Seeing how the Heat is manhandling the Celtics makes me doubtful that the Sixers would have gotten past them.

[phillychuck]

The NBA is all about match-ups and we match up better with the Heat than Boston does. Obviously, they can't defend a heathy Embiid, and the Heat are less athletic than the Celtics in general, and would have more trouble with the high pick-and-roll. Tobias would be a better defender of JB than anyone on the Celtics except maybe Smart, and the C's are not using Smart on him very much.

[zambonir]

I don't think a new coach fixes everything but watching what the head coach is doing in Miami with an outmanned team gives me hope.

If the Sixers had a top-down culture, president and coach that has been around as long as what the Heat have they'd probably have a few Finals appearances by now. Pat Croce would still have to be in charge for that to even be true! And Billy King and Larry Brown for that matter.

It is frustrating to see how beatable the Celtics are - though it was also just not as good a match-up for the Sixers. And sure, they might have also done better against the Heat (even the Bucks were considered less of a challenge as Boston when it all started). Plus. Jimmy Butler. Plus, Miami hasn't had home court ever.

So, Nuggets in 5 or does the Miami run continue?

[phillychuck]

It's really hard to handicap the finals. They really play almost no defense in the west, so maybe Miami can slow the Denver crew down, but I'm not confident about the final result. If I had to be I'd bet Denver, but not at steep odds (anything more than about -115).

[xogfog]

Well, If they have no answer for Embiid, I don't think they can cover Jokic either, so it should be interesting.

[phillychuck]

Jokic's game is really different. He's not as effective (usually) in the low post as Embiid is. Denver's lack of rim protection shouldn't cost them that much vs Miami, either. Very hard for me to guess this series in advance.

[zambonir]

Shades of Toronto Game 7 tonight right? What fun.

[zambonir]

Per Woj, Nurse the next Sixers coach.

[xogfog]

So good to see Boston lose,

[LegoDoom]

Not sure how I feel about it, but I guess the joke of downgrading from a Doc to a Nurse is funny. I think I would have preferred Dawn Staley or Redick.

[zambonir]

I think he was probably the only serious candidate (and perhaps, even, Doc wouldn't have been fired if Morey didn't know who he wanted before he did it). He worked for Morey and the Rockets in the (then) D League, where he also won a championship, and it seems like Vogel is the only other one who got an interview. Reddick didn't seem to be in the mix at all and Staley was just a media thing.

More interesting that Budenholzer and Williams weren't apparently in the picture but Budenholzer is similar pedigree to Brett Brown and Williams is close to Doc/already worked for the Sixers (and apparently was tight with Joel but that's not necessarily a plus if you want a coach to push him).

[bigegypt0417]

I do like the hiring of Nurse...he's a defensive coach which is always a plus.

In my mind this is an upgrade...Doc is a good coach but his history in the playoffs is no longer just a blip here or there...it's become his legacy.

[LegoDoom]

I just don't see it. Nurse had one good playoff year (when they team traded for Kawhi... which the Sixers should have done BTW). I am sure he will be a defensive genius with Embiid and Maxey.