2023-2024 Sixers Season

[bigegypt0417]

another thought...Sixers are in a really good position when it comes to the next coach...there are three very good coaches out there in Nurse, Coach Bud and Monty Williams.

I wonder if that helped them move on so fast.

[zambonir]

It would be surprising if they don't already know which guy they want. Either Willliams (given his history here) or Nurse (given his accomplishments). Budenholzer is just the more successful Brent Brown (with a better roster) IMO. Hiring D'Antonio or Cassell would be disappointing and a hard sell (IMO) given they have both been part of the same falling short (be it in Houston or Philly) that the Sixers are trying to push past.

[bkeich]

I hope they are already on the phone with Monty Williams. Whatever he wants (within reason)

[bigegypt0417]

Sounds like Williams is at the top of the list in Milwaukee as well...

[xogfog]

Well Tobias is in the last year of his contract, but he is on the books for just under 40 million, so I’m not sure you get anything for him and you may have to eat some of his salary. If Harden opts out and leaves, the Sixers would get no cap relief, and just get the 12 million player exception, which is not enough for a star. However it’s almost better if he opts out and leaves because I want no parts of any kind of extension for him. The Sixers are a bit handcuffed with their ability to change the team.

[zambonir]

Already being reported that Harden will opt out, and wants a four-year deal.

Moving Tobias probably means taking back a player with more $ attached for at least one more season. Just not as much as Tobias's cap hit. And hopefully someone who can still play (but not necessarily at a star level).

If Harden actually does want to come back to Philly I'm not sure the Sixers can afford to pass on him. That would actually put him on the same timeline as Joel and by 2027 the Sixers probably aren't winning anything with either of them. But they also can't afford to waste one of the next three seasons.

[jimbomill]

want no parts of any kind of extension for him

He was a good point guard for us, but not good enough to command that salary.

[zambonir]

The best scenario would presumably be a sign-and-trade since Houston can't pay him what the Sixers could. But overall, that is just the NBA. Fading stars still get paid like they are MVPs, even more than in baseball. And teams pay their Bird rights guys because they don't get the cap space to pay anyone else.

[bigegypt0417]

The issue with Harden is I honestly don't think Rivers was an innovative enough coach to figure out how to bring out the best in Harden and Embiid at the same time.

I would be curious to see someone come in and actually figure that part out...it should be at the top of any interview question...or if that person even thinks it's possible.

[zambonir]

I dunno - they had the best offense in the league, but as Billy Beane once said about another thing entirely, their stuff doesn't work in the playoffs. Harden also has some limitations - some of which he's always had, some of which have come with age and injury - that no coach can fix.

In the end i think it's still roster and roles. Harden and Embiid with someone else as a true point guard? Harden and Embiid with someone else instead of Harris?

Or, say, Embiid, Maxey and Chris Paul plus an elite three-and-D instead of Harris? Embiid, Maxey and Lillard? (Probably no better a fit than Harden in that scenario tbh, plus you couldn't get him w/o trading Maxey probably.)

Was interesting to see not only that Joel was bummed about Doc getting fired but also that he preferred Doc to Lue at the time of the hire. I don't think he gets a say this time. But I don't know how much I trust Morey either especially if he is still committed to Harden.

[Docs]

My disclaimer is that I am not very familiar with basketball strategy like I would be with some other sports, having watched Doc coach in philly and in previous stops, I always had the sense that he was out coached as the series progressed. I felt like his teams here and in the past didn't make the adjustments required to win games at the end of the series - and I have this memory of him seeming stunned when his team didn't perform. In this series they won game one and the analysis was that the zone defense confused the celtics. that's fine, what were the master stroke strategy adjustments in subsequent games? He sent james harden a gospel song before game three, anything else? Doc is a great leader, his biggest shortcoming might be not having a strong X's and O's guy on the bench responsible for the in game and in series adjustments (kind of like if Andy Reid had a clock manager for the last two minutes of the game or if Charlie Manual didn't photo copy his opening day lineup 161 times).

I don't know who the next coach should be, but I hope they are someone that understands how to make adjustments in a game and a series.

[zambonir]

NBA Rumors: James Harden Seen as 'Driving Force' in Doc Rivers' Firing as 76ers...

This is believable but obviously very problematic. For one thing it means Harden isn't going anywhere. For another, if Embiid helped get Doc hired (back when Elton Brand was still the only person running the front office) and now Morey and the other Houston people (including the team president) are in charge, how is he going to feel about not being the most powerful person in the room?

[bigegypt0417]

The issue I guess may also be that when Embiid is being handled, there are no adjustments.

I don't know...it would be nice to get a coach who can adjust.

[zambonir]

I think Murphy addresses the in-game coaching thing pretty well here. And weren't Cassell and Joerger the Xs and Os guys? Question is, were they strong?

The most important things Daryl Morey said about James Harden, Joel Embiid, and...

3. Morey downplayed the impact that in-game coaching acumen has on a team’s success. Other qualities he cited in successful head coaches were a winning track record, “working with your star players,” and “recruiting star players.” As for scheme and strategy, he said, “It is an important element, but it tends to get overvalued. . .It can only be one part of the puzzle. It’s just one part of the picture.”

I’ll be honest: I have no idea what Morey is going to be looking for in his next coach. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he did not want to get into a situation where he was implicitly throwing Rivers under the bus by listing all of the qualities he wanted his new coach to have. I also agree to an extent that people overvalue the importance of in-game coaching in the NBA. Did Joe Mazzulla really out-coach Rivers, or did he have a team that had been playing the same style of basketball for six years for three different coaches and the one player on the court who couldn’t be stopped in Game 7? Put it this way — a coach who is good at X’s and O’s and bad at all of the other stuff can have a much greater negative impact on a team than a coach with an inverse skill set. In a league where the stars are as important and the egos are as fragile as they are in the NBA, a coach must first and foremost be a guy who the players respect and want to play for.

That being said, the Sixers are at a point where they need to improve at the margins. In-game coaching may not turn a 40-win team into a 50-win team, but it can absolutely turn a playoff loss into a playoff win.

[schillingfan]

I always felt that their offense seemed really disjointed and they had too many problems getting good shots before the clock ran. They need a true three point shooter better than Nyaing. I love Maxey.

[zambonir]

Part of that was Harden in the playoffs for sure. But part of that is Joel. The Sixers do not get into their offense fast, and if the obvious Joel/James play or Maxey three isn't there it takes them a while to find an alternative. And when you combine a Harden off night with a Joel off night, well...

in the end the difference really was that the Celtics' best player finally showed up and won Game 7 - and the last five minutes of Game 6 - almost by himself. Had he showed up sooner in Game 6 the Sixers may have not blown that game because they wouldn't have led for so long in the first place.

[bkeich]

I am going to change my answer and am ashamed I didn't think of it at the time. My first choice isn't Monty Williams, it is the smartest basketball coach available at the moment.

Dawn Staley. Get it done. I don't care about Gender, not picking her to break some stupid barrier, she is the best coach.

[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.