2024-2025 Sixers Season

[zambonir]

Oh if he plays I bet he plays 30. But we already know he won't play Wednesday. And yeah it was pretty much rhetorical, I'm sure the team and the league had to get on the same page about it especially given the league had already ruled that he was indeed hurt, not just being load managed.

They are going to have to resolve this at some point since the leagues and players aren't going to care about fines or even not winning MVP etc.

Wait, isn't the Knicks game also a tournament game? (Yup, it is.)

[bkeich]

Ahh, the tournament. I assume the players care even less about this contrived stupidity than I do (and did last year). Who will be the 2025 1/2 Champion? I wouldn’t be surpised to learn that the players reverse brag about it (I.e. I am not acting happy about this silly thing). 6 games to decide….. who won the most of 6 games.

[xogfog]

As bad a start as the Sixers have had, I'm not too worried. The Pacers are 3rd in the conference standings at 5-5...

[xogfog]

And Embiid and George are out tonight against the back end of the back and back against the 12-0 Cavs. Expect 2-9 after this one.

[xogfog]

Cavs 114 Sixers 106. McCain with 34.

[phillychuck]

McCain can score for sure! He needs to improve his game inside the arc and at the basket to be a complete offensive player, and with his lack of length and limited jumping ability he may never be an above average finisher at the rim. Still, an amazingly good pick where they were choosing last year.

We won't talk about his defense. Usually takes rookie guards a few years to figure that out, especially if they are not super-quick or long, which he isn't.

[el-pietro]

McCain is likely not going to have so much of the ball in the ideal version of this team but it would be a massive bonus if he could lead the second unit and put up 15 points a night or similar.
Wonder though if he ends up getting traded mid season.

[zambonir]

It's a fair question, but who knows/we'll see.

[xogfog]

Sixers lose tonight with Embiid and George in the lineup, 98 - 86 to the Magic. McCain led the Sixers with 29 points, Embiid had 20, George had 13 and little else scoring from the rest of the team. They are putrid right now and I was not worried about the slow start, but I'm starting to think this team is not going to come around.

[phillychuck]

It is going to take these guys a while to learn to play together. Magic are good at home, but were missing Banchero tonight. On the good side, it was probably McCain's best game.--He was the only player on the team with a positive +/-. Oubre has been pretty awful in most games (and wasn't good tonight); they are playing Lowry too much, and George was inefficient and not helpful tonight. Nurse seems to have no idea how to get this to work. It's a bad time right now to be a Sixers fan.

Hitting on the McCain pick has real long-term upside benefits to the team, though. Gotta get something working soon...

[MichaelJackSchmidt]

70 games remaining after tonight. The 8th playoff seed finished with 46 wins, last season. Maybe this year, the 8th seed finishes with 42. The Sixers will need to win 40 of 70, .571 win percentage. Perhaps they'll go through a hot streak, but at the moment, it looks like they will struggle to get the 8th seed.

[bigegypt0417]

if they can't manage to be 40-30, there will be issues we don't know about yet...

this team if playing to their ability should win 50+

If not...this team will need to be blown up.

[xogfog]

And now Embiid is doubtful with illness for tonight vs. Heat...

[zambonir]

I feel like the issues we know about are already more than sufficient to sink the season. Especially since losing in the first round like last year or in the second like so many others still won't be success.

I mostly mean the injuries, but also the obviously persistent organizational dysfunction, which starts with Harris but falls on Joel too (since it's a player's league), and seems unaffected over the past few years by the changes at the GM and coach level.

[xogfog]

I'm almost willing to tank the season too, I mean, Maxey will be back sooner than expected, and maybe they'll right the ship, but I kind of look at this like the first season the Phillies had Pete Rose, it paid off the next year. This team, with time together on the court and improvement around the edges between this season and next should make them title contenders the following year.

I also think Embiid is not getting good sleep with a newborn. So maybe that will improve too.

[phillychuck]

Who had the "Jared McCain will be the best player on the Sixers this year" prop bet at 10,000:1 against?

[MichaelJackSchmidt]

McCain will be better than a healthy Maxey, in my opinion.

[bkeich]

I feel like the issues we know about are already more than sufficient to sink the season. Especially since losing in the first round like last year or in the second like so many others still won't be success.

I mostly mean the injuries, but also the obviously persistent organizational dysfunction, which starts with Harris but falls on Joel too (since it's a player's league), and seems unaffected over the past few years by the changes at the GM and coach level.

I think at this point losing in the first round is starting to look like a dream. Winning the lottery might be more realistic goal.

[xogfog]

The Sixers, who had a lead at halftime and looked very good, fizzled in the second half scoring a total of 16 points in the third and 17 points in the 4th. Unacceptable.

[zambonir]

Statistically you're not wrong. You still have to think the team will gel/get everyone on the court and play up to their potential, but can they actually do load management or survive another round of injuries and get into a playoff seed, let alone win a few rounds?

As things stand now, if it's still the same in January, you'd almost have to tank, and hard, since the 2025 pick is only protected 1-6.