16-17 Season Thread

[knowyourenemy]

I'm thinking 2-13, with an outside shot at 3-12

L vs WAS (Wall will be back, possibly Beal)
L at MIN (2nd game of BTB, so no Embiid)
W vs PHX
W/L vs MIA
L vs MEM

But to add -- I'll be disappointed if they don't win at least 2 of those games. All of them are very winnable.

 

[Taddy Mason]

Winning tonight would be huge. After tonight, they play five teams that currently have a losing record: Washington, Minnesota, Phoenix, Miami, Memphis.

7-8 after the next 6?

Well, maybe 6-8 then...

 

[knowyourenemy]

Well, maybe 6-8 then...

Yeah. Houston was always a tough matchup for them. Aside from Harden, their guard play is still significantly better than Philadelphia's.

Interesting stat line from last night:

Joel Embiid played 23 minutes, scoring 13 points and collecting 10 rebounds. His plus-minus was +3 (the only 76er with a positive plus-minus.) Considering they lost by 27 points, that plus-minus is pretty damn impressive.

The other side of the coin. Jahlil Okafor played 22 minutes. He scored 4 points and had 3 rebounds. His plus-minus was -21 (the worst plus-minus for any player on the team.)

It's one game so I'm not really going to sweat it. I just thought the contrast between these two guys was on display last night. The downside to Embiid's stat line? He had 6 turnovers and 5 personal fouls in only 23 minutes.

 

[Taddy Mason]

Yeah. Houston was always a tough matchup for them. Aside from Harden, their guard play is still significantly better than Philadelphia's.

Interesting stat line from last night:

Joel Embiid played 23 minutes, scoring 13 points and collecting 10 rebounds. His plus-minus was +3 (the only 76er with a positive plus-minus.) Considering they lost by 27 points, that plus-minus is pretty damn impressive.

The other side of the coin. Jahlil Okafor played 22 minutes. He scored 4 points and had 3 rebounds. His plus-minus was -21 (the worst plus-minus for any player on the team.)

It's one game so I'm not really going to sweat it. I just thought the contrast between these two guys was on display last night. The downside to Embiid's stat line? He had 6 turnovers and 5 personal fouls in only 23 minutes.

It's what he does. I didn't get a chance to watch the game yet. From what I've seen so far a lot of Embiid's turnovers come when he takes the ball at the top of the key (when doesn't he) and does his pump fake and drive to the hoop (which at times contributes to his fouls). The other side of his foul problems, he makes the other centers rack them up too. First matchup vs. Dwight, he played little due to foul problems. Playing the Pacers the other day Turner was in foul trouble the whole game. Had me questioning why Brett wanted to start Joel on the bench when he consistently got called for fouls when on Embiid. Of course he started off on fire for the Pacers in OT, then Joel came in and he fouled out like a second later. Have to wake up in like five hours for work. Having to wake up to do a meeting with you west hemispherers sucks.

 

[knowyourenemy]

Washington has not been shooting particularly well. I see that as a strong possibility for a win, even with Wall back. Washington has the 4th worst 3-point percentage in the league and the 2nd worst 3-point percentage allowed. The 76ers have attempted the 9th most 3-pointers in the league and connect at a respectable 35.2% rate. The 76ers allow opponents to hit 36% of their 3PA, but: (1) Washington is worse, allowing 38.6% of 3PA; and (2) the Wizards attempt 10 less 3PA per game than the 76ers (28.4 per game for the 76ers, 18.7 per game for the Wizards.)

Basically, it may not matter that Wall is back -- because if Washington can't hit or defend the 3-pointer, than the 76ers should be able to win the game.

Bottom line, I think it's a nice matchup for them.

As for Houston, that game will depend on Harden. I suspect he'll put up some big numbers on them and I've got no clue who they're going to be able to put out there to try to defend him.

Put one in the win column. Washington continued to shoot poorly. The 76ers jumped out on them early and never looked back. Nice win. And Embiid sat so he'll be able to play tomorrow.

 

[Taddy Mason]

Put one in the win column. Washington continued to shoot poorly. The 76ers jumped out on them early and never looked back. Nice win. And Embiid sat so he'll be able to play tomorrow.

The 2014 class getting some love in the rookie ladder.

Timberwolves' Kris Dunn can't capitalize on early opportunity - NBA.com

 

[Sparhawk]

Really nice win.

Balanced scoring with six in double digits and nobody at 20 points.
Balanced minutes with everyone between 19-29.
Shot 54.5% from the floor with 30 assists. 8 players had at least 2 assists.

 

[knowyourenemy]

Really nice win.

Balanced scoring with six in double digits and nobody at 20 points.
Balanced minutes with everyone between 19-29.
Shot 54.5% from the floor with 30 assists. 8 players had at least 2 assists.

Saric and Covington had rough nights from 3-point range (1-11 combined) but the team still outshot Washington from long distance. No surprise there, though. Ilysova has really added a different dynamic to this team. Gotta like the addition of him.

I love that 30 assist number. That's what you see out of the really, really good teams in this league.

Stauskas has started to prove his worth on this team. He still has bad nights but he also puts in some good work and I'm happy to see him playing relatively well so far this season.

Tonight will be tough, simply from a scheduling perspective. I guess they probably flew out to Minneapolis last night but it sucks to do a back-to-back where you have to travel 1,000 miles between games. I'll be excited to see Embiid vs. Towns (if we get that matchup). I'm guessing Okafor won't play but tonight would have been a decent opportunity to get Embiid and Okafor on the floor at the same time.

Ultimately, I think this one is probably a loss. Lavine and Wiggins outclass our perimeter players and Minnesota has the big men to make us pay for our injury-depleted frontcourt. I'll put the x-factor as rebounding. Neither team is particularly good at rebounding. If the 76ers can dominate the boards with Embiid, Holmes, and Saric, then we might see them be able to pull out a win.

 

[knowyourenemy]

Actually, Okafor is expected to play:

Jahlil Okafor will play Wednesday under a 24-minute restriction. He also is expected to play in Minnesota, with minutes to be determined following Wednesday's game.

"I am allowed to play back-to-back," Okafor said after shootaround. "They're not sure how many minutes I'm going to play tomorrow. It all depends on how tonight goes and how I feel after. But just to know they think I am able to play back-to-back is a sign of progress."

Joel Embiid out tonight, will play Thursday; Okafor cleared for back-to-backs


-------------

Elsewhere on the injury front, it looks like Jerryd Bayless is getting closer to playing. Noel is also expected to rejoin the 76ers this week in order to continue his rehab. No timetable on when he will start playing in games.

 

[Taddy Mason]

Saric and Covington had rough nights from 3-point range (1-11 combined) but the team still outshot Washington from long distance. No surprise there, though. Ilysova has really added a different dynamic to this team. Gotta like the addition of him.

I love that 30 assist number. That's what you see out of the really, really good teams in this league.

Stauskas has started to prove his worth on this team. He still has bad nights but he also puts in some good work and I'm happy to see him playing relatively well so far this season.

Tonight will be tough, simply from a scheduling perspective. I guess they probably flew out to Minneapolis last night but it sucks to do a back-to-back where you have to travel 1,000 miles between games. I'll be excited to see Embiid vs. Towns (if we get that matchup). I'm guessing Okafor won't play but tonight would have been a decent opportunity to get Embiid and Okafor on the floor at the same time.

Ultimately, I think this one is probably a loss. Lavine and Wiggins outclass our perimeter players and Minnesota has the big men to make us pay for our injury-depleted frontcourt. I'll put the x-factor as rebounding. Neither team is particularly good at rebounding. If the 76ers can dominate the boards with Embiid, Holmes, and Saric, then we might see them be able to pull out a win.

I thought they said yesterday Okafor is cleared for back to backs. That being said, I want no part of them on the floor together.

 

[Taddy Mason]

First time trying to see if the TNT app along with my VPN will get me the game. So far so good.

 

[BPNAZ]

Some amazing stuff tonight so far. 33 pts at halftime

the guards on this team are some of the worst in all of NBA, there are college backcourts that are better by miles. Its so fucking embarassing watching this shit. I get Simmons is out, Embiid on minutes restriction, Noel being out

but newsflash, none of those guys are guards. This team needs a thousand times better talent at the guard position and its not even funny. Ive never seen guardplay worse in my entire life

 

[knowyourenemy]

Some amazing stuff tonight so far. 33 pts at halftime

the guards on this team are some of the worst in all of NBA, there are college backcourts that are better by miles. Its so fucking embarassing watching this shit. I get Simmons is out, Embiid on minutes restriction, Noel being out

but newsflash, none of those guys are guards. This team needs a thousand times better talent at the guard position and its not even funny. Ive never seen guardplay worse in my entire life

Once Bayless is back, they'll get a little bit of a boost. They played poorly against Minnesota but they've stepped up at different times this year. Against Washington, Stauskas and Thompson combined to go 11-16 for 26 points. Sergio had 12 assists. Henderson went 6-11 for 14 points. In the win against Indiana, Stauskas and Thompson went 7-10 for 19 points. Sergio had 9 assists. Henderson went 5-12 for 12 points. In the overtime loss against Indiana, Henderson went 8-14 for 17 points. Stauskas and Thompson combined to go 8-14 for 22 points. Of course, Sergio sucked and went 1-14 and only had 5 assists. Against Cleveland and OKC, they played respectably.

The guards are not super-talented. We've known that. But I don't think you're being fair to them. Henderson, Bayless, and Sergio are all surefire NBA-caliber players. Maybe they're playing more minutes than they would on a better team but they're not complete slop. Stauskas (.400) and Thompson (.375) have been great from long distance this year.

The big disappointment, in my opinion, is Covington. He's been terrible offensively this year. He's shooting .260 from the field and .247 from 3. And he's taking 6 3-pointers per game, which means he's missing a whole hell of a lot of 3s. In his last 3 games, he's 3-26 from the field and he's 1-18 from 3-point range. Dude needs to get his shot together.

But to circle back -- yes, we need more talent at guard. I'd love to see them land a top-level guard in the draft this year. Maybe even two guards. But to be fair -- Stauskas has looked better this year than he's ever looked (which, admittedly, is a low bar to reach.) Thompson has, as usual, been a consistent shot from long range. Henderson is a better guard than anyone that's played guard for the team in the last two years. And Sergio's deficiencies will be minimized once he's able to split time with Bayless instead of McConnell. Then you've got TLC. I haven't seen much of him this year but they're trying to get him playing time -- hopefully he can emerge as a contributor by the end of the year.

 

[knowyourenemy]

I thought they said yesterday Okafor is cleared for back to backs. That being said, I want no part of them on the floor together.

Correct. Okafor is cleared for back-to-backs. I didn't realize that but tried to correct myself a little bit later on that point. I'm ok with them both on the floor if the matchup dictates it. Not many teams will allow that. I thought Dieng/Towns would be a good opportunity to get them both on the floor at the same time.

 

[knowyourenemy]

A nice home stand of Phoenix, Miami, Memphis, Chicago, Cleveland coming up. Ideally, they'll win 1 of the next 2 games. Memphis, Chicago, and Cleveland will be tough.

I'll be interested in the Memphis matchup. Again, an opportunity to go big and put both Okafor and Embiid on the floor at the same time. Not sure how much of it we'll see.

Chicago looks like the exact opposite of the 76ers. All they have are guards (not really, but sort of). And they don't seem to care if any of them are all that good. Of course, there's Butler, Wade, and Rondo. But we'll also get to welcome Canaan and MCW back to Philly. Plus, Chicago has rookie guard Denzel Valentine, Boston castoff R.J. Hunter, and former Notre Dame star Jerian Grant, brother of former 76er Jerami Grant.

In theory, Chicago could be a matchup nightmare for the 76ers and run out pretty much all small-ball lineups. But . . . MCW is rehabilitating, R.J. Hunter doesn't even play, and Valentine and Grant don't get consistent minutes either. In reality, I think Chicago will have trouble defending our big men and they may lose the 3-point battle since Wade and Rondo are not reliable three point shooters. Ultimately, I see this game as winnable. I guess we'll see.

 

[knowyourenemy]

So I didn't watch the whole game but noticed this on ESPN.com. Isn't Lavine supposed to remain behind the 3-point line?

http://www.espn.com/core/video/iframe?id=18076692&endcard=false

 

[knowyourenemy]

Up by 10 at half. Embiid having a great game so far. Sergio with 8 assists. Stauskas with 11, including connecting on a prayer right before the half. Gotta love it.

 

[Taddy Mason]

Up by 10 at half. Embiid having a great game so far. Sergio with 8 assists. Stauskas with 11, including connecting on a prayer right before the half. Gotta love it.

watching it now. finally figured out i just needed to sign out and sign back in for my brothers league pass to work for me. have the scores hidden, but in trying to get it going after the fact, they had the records posted. so, yeah, 20 minutes in and not too hard to figure out how this one is going to turn out... not that it's a bad thing.

 

[Taddy Mason]

PS running slow as fuck. ended up watching the first quarter on my phone. 3mbiid with a great Q in that one. Just going to watch some highlights now. Sauce like a boss.

 

[knowyourenemy]

So that terrible guard play . . .

Sergio -- 8 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals.
Henderson -- 11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals.
Stauskas -- 21 points (on 8-9 shooting).
Thompson -- 14 points (on 5-9 shooting).

Even McConnell had 5 points, 6 assists, and 3 steals.

And don't get me wrong, the team needs to upgrade the guard positions. But the guards have some good games every once in a while. You take the good with the bad.