Series Thread: 1st round 2) Knicks vs 7) Sixers

[Tai Chi≈Surfing]

https://athlonsports.com/nba/nba-knicks-fans-roasting-joel-embiid-fourth-quarter-performance

 

[The Q]

Any idea what his off season workouts are like? AD has had similar issues, changed his off-season workouts, played in 76 games this season and is healthy for the playoffs.

@fightinfunbags has a point re: having available space to land some FA's...maybe they can try to get him to change his off-season workouts and add some different pieces in FA?

I hear James harden is available


Guys like him don’t become available everyday


Only an idiot would alienate and trade a guy like that…

 

[Iggloo]

The only reason Philly is even relevant is embiid got hurt 4 months too early

They’re hopeless and likely still worthless without that

They are not good enough to beat the better teams even with a healthy Embiid and this same roster, that's true. Soft roster.

I hate to say it but I much prefer the way these Knicks play than my own team. Much scrappier team.

The same is true of the Celtics, and I hate it.

 

[fightinfunbags]

“The Sixers need to trade Barkley and rebuild if they want to ever win a championship”
- Barkley traded. Ugly basketball ensues. No championship.

“The Sixers need to trade Iverson and rebuild if they ever want to win a championship”
- Iverson traded. Ugly basketball ensues. No championship.

“The Sixers need to trade Embiid and rebuild if they ever want to win a championship.”

I’ve seen all of this play out many times before.

 

[The Q]

“The Sixers need to trade Barkley and rebuild if they want to ever win a championship”
- Barkley traded. Ugly basketball ensues. No championship.

“The Sixers need to trade Iverson and rebuild if they ever want to win a championship”
- Iverson traded. Ugly basketball ensues. No championship.

“The Sixers need to trade Embiid and rebuild if they ever want to win a championship.”

I’ve seen all of this play out many times before.

I don’t think they traded AI as a pure rebuild…and that is what cost themb

 

[fightinfunbags]

I don’t think they traded AI as a pure rebuild…and that is what cost themb

What cost them is the thing that always costs them- incompetence and poor leadership. It’s just a poorly run franchise and has been for most of my lifetime.

 

[trojanfan12]

“The Sixers need to trade Barkley and rebuild if they want to ever win a championship”
- Barkley traded. Ugly basketball ensues. No championship.

“The Sixers need to trade Iverson and rebuild if they ever want to win a championship”
- Iverson traded. Ugly basketball ensues. No championship.

“The Sixers need to trade Embiid and rebuild if they ever want to win a championship.”

I’ve seen all of this play out many times before.

How many titles did they win with those players?

Outside of AI's stepover on Lue in a finals they lost 4-1...what did any of them do?

Seems like the issue is they struggle to put the necessary pieces around the stars they get.

 

[Iggloo]

By the time they traded Iverson he had really fallen off. But that’s a fair comp on Barkley who did go on to contend elsewhere.

Here’s the thing though: Embiid running out of gas in the playoffs happens pretty much every year. Specifically in the fourth quarter of games because he is usually playing hurt. His conditioning has improved but remains an issue.

 

[fightinfunbags]

How many titles did they win with those players?

Outside of AI's stepover on Lue in a finals they lost 4-1...what did any of them do?

Seems like the issue is they struggle to put the necessary pieces around the stars they get.

They entertained me.

 

[fightinfunbags]

By the time they traded Iverson he had really fallen off. But that’s a fair comp on Barkley who did go on to contend elsewhere.

Here’s the thing though: Embiid running out of gas in the playoffs happens pretty much every year. Specifically in the fourth quarter of games because he is usually playing hurt. His conditioning has improved but remains an issue.

Crazy! You’re telling me the guy out of basketball shape 12 weeks removed from knee surgery playing at 75% and averaging 37.7 ppg has tired shooting legs in the 4th quarter?

Your takes are retarded. Dude has no help and you’re coming at him for why they can’t win?

 

[bksballer89]

Crazy! You’re telling me the guy out of basketball shape 12 weeks removed from knee surgery playing at 75% and averaging 37.7 ppg has tired shooting legs in the 4th quarter?

Your takes are retarded. Dude has no help and you’re coming at him for why they can’t win?

I thought the beef between you 2 was settled?

 

[PnkPanther]

At least Philly will be done with Tobias Harris contract.

 

[Iggloo]

Crazy! You’re telling me the guy out of basketball shape 12 weeks removed from knee surgery playing at 75% and averaging 37.7 ppg has tired shooting legs in the 4th quarter?

Your takes are retarded. Dude has no help and you’re coming at him for why they can’t win?

You can cite all the injuries and circumstances you want, the question is this: what makes you think it will ever be different at this point, after years of this same thing in the postseason?

Yes, you can always say, he needs more help, blah blah blah. Another way to think about it is that he is a flawed piece to build everything around because he himself cannot be relied upon.

 

[tlance]

Fuck it.


My damn fan base is fucking retarded.

This summer I’m exploring free agency. All of you will have a chance to make an argument as to why I should pick up on rooting for your team. I’m sick and tired of associating with these stupid fucks.

“Trade the best player!”
“Don’t trade the best player. Just don’t play him for like 45-50 games.”

My pitch on why you should be a Wizards fan:

The team is constantly mediocre-bad.

So you never have expectations and therefor you are never disappointed by their performance!

It is awesome!

 

[tlance]

That's certainly one way to look at it. I think the truth is that they blew the talent evaluation part of the process in general.

They drafted mentally weak guys like Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz, and anachronistic bigs like Jahlil Okafor whose games did not translate to the modern NBA. The failure was in how they used their draft capital poorly. Simmons was always a bitch, it just took a while for his true nature to become clear, once he was exposed by the Atlanta Hawks as a coward. He never recovered from that.

I fought with my stepdad a lot because I was convinced they should trade Simmons pretty early on, the year before the Atlanta playoff loss to be specific, because I didn't think Simmons loved the game enough to improve, and he thought it would be insane to trade a budding superstar.

Same debate we are now having with Embiid. Obviously Embiid is a much, much better player, no doubt there, but just like Simmons I think it is going to be very obvious in a few years that Philly should have traded him while he had peak value, knowing what they knew in that locker room. One more season and @fightinfunbags will come around to my thinking, but that may be too late to get any value in return.

Fultz was a bad pick.

Simmons was not.

He was one of the most valuable assets in the league for the first few years he was in Philly. Anyone saying they should have drafted Ingram over Simmons is not right.

Philly’s huge mistake was in not trading Ben Simmons. They should have known what they had in him. And they kept trying to make it work until they ultimately grew tired and then all the public drama which completely cratered his value.

Obviously Ingram is the better player today, but really not much more than a younger, slightly better Tobias Harris. They could have gotten more mileage out of the Simmons asset if they had the foresight to sell high at any time in his first 4-5 seasons.

 

[DJ]

My pitch on why you should be a Wizards fan:

The team is constantly mediocre-bad.

So you never have expectations and therefor you are never disappointed by their performance!

It is awesome!

LOL.

 

[fightinfunbags]

You can cite all the injuries and circumstances you want, the question is this: what makes you think it will ever be different at this point, after years of this same thing in the postseason?

Yes, you can always say, he needs more help, blah blah blah. Another way to think about it is that he is a flawed piece to build everything around because he himself cannot be relied upon.

So present a better option.

 

[Iggloo]

Well, I disagree with you on Ingram, but yes, at a minimum they should have traded him sooner once they had him in their locker room and realized he was never going to improve because he didn't love basketball.

This is specifically what I argued with my stepdad about. He is a lifelong Sixers fan going back to Wilt, and basically felt that you never trade a unicorn in the NBA. But Simmons was a deeply flawed unicorn.

So present a better option.

Trade Embiid for assets while you still have a chance. The alternative is to test Einstein's definition of insanity, trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

 

[fightinfunbags]

Well, I disagree with you on Ingram, but yes, at a minimum they should have traded him sooner once they had him in their locker room and realized he was never going to improve because he didn't love basketball.

This is specifically what I argued with my stepdad about. He is a lifelong Sixers fan going back to Wilt, and basically felt that you never trade a unicorn in the NBA. But Simmons was a deeply flawed unicorn.



Trade Embiid for assets while you still have a chance. The alternative is to test Einstein's definition of insanity, trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

You’ve isolated the wrong variable.

Present a deal for “assets”. Why are you trusting the same shitty organization that can’t put a winner around Embiid to construct a winner? They’re lucky they even have Embiid. If they had their choice, they’d have Jabari Parker or Wiggins.

 

[Iggloo]

Well, you definitely need a new GM after this season. Morey totally failed.