Series Thread: 1st Round: Boston Celtics vs Philadelphia Sixers

[Stakesarehigh]

For at least right now anyways, you are correct.

Boston is loaded at the wing... loaded. Even their 4th, 5th and 6th wing on the roster has some utility... even on the stage of the NBA playoffs. Coach Stevens can point at even a Romeo Langford and get some good, versatile defense.

Credit Danny Ainge.

Wonder if they can move that contract as an expiring

 

[RubinRock]

Really glad we gave Tobias Harris all that money to puss out.

Also...apparently the Celtics have never committed a foul. They cry with every whistle.

Cry? You ever watch embiid?

 

[Gman]

Wonder if they can move that contract as an expiring

Maybe... it would have to be a good deal for both sides.

Because Hayward isn't a scrub or anything. He's a good (maybe even very good) player. He's just not worth $30+ million.

So Boston isn't necessarily in a rush to trade him, nor is any team out there in a rush to trade for him.

 

[RubinRock]

Gordon Hayward makes 35 million a year. And the team barely misses him.

Yeah definitely has been a waste. Such a big what if, if he didn’t have that brutal injury

 

[DirtDirtDirt]

Difference in coaching ability is more glaring in this series than any other

 

[tlance]

I disagree. Butler and Redick made a huge difference. That team last year was literally an unbelievable bounce away from knocking out the Raptors and I think they would have advanced to the Finals. I don't think they should have traded for Tobias Harris though. I would have rather had Landry Shamet and the two draft picks. Even with the awkward Simmons/Embiid fit, those two with Redick, Butler, Shamet those picks and fill in the rest is championship quality. So "The Process" worked. It got them a bunch of draft picks (which they turned into Simmons and Embiid) and asset flexability to put pieces around that (Redick, Butler). Colangelo/Brand just made other moves that bungled it all.

That isn’t the point though.

They had cap space to sign a max player like 3 summers in a row.

Yes, Reddick and Butler made them better.

But they still failed miserably. I believe they should been able to get a stud in FA with dealing Covington.

And, their worst transgression, like @fightinfunbags was keeping Brett Brown.

Butler was never going to resign in Philly because their culture was/is a bad joke.

 

[tlance]

All my keep Embiid trade Simmons guys, are you watching? Jo is dominant. The Cs have no answer. It doesn’t matter. Embiid can’t make guys better. Simmons is the piece that can make the other pieces better. The days of the dominant 5 running the game are over. Trade Embiid for a shooter that can run next to Ben. Try and work something for Beal down in Washington.

Embiid is dominant.

Offensively.

The 6ers defensive game plan for the Kemba pick and rolls is atrocious though.

The 6ers can’t win and games giving up 115 a game.

And the Celtics are going to average about that many against this big 6er lineup.

They need Simmons.

 

[Iggloo]

Series is over. Sixers lack heart and are being horribly outcoached.

Tobias Harris is one of the bigger frauds I have ever seen in NBA ball. Come playoff time he disappears every fucking time.

 

[Iggloo]

Fire Brown, but also Elton Brand. The makeup of the team is fundamentally flawed and Stevens just running pick and rolls at the top of the circle all fucking game and they can't stop it. What an embarrassment.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Fire Brown, but also Elton Brand. The makeup of the team is fundamentally flawed and Stevens just running pick and rolls at the top of the circle all fucking game and they can't stop it. What an embarrassment.

even without the Simmons injury I don't like what they did with the roster this year versus last.

 

[ericd7633]

Gordon Hayward makes 35 million a year. And the team barely misses him.

This is Tatum and Brown's team IMO.

 

[ericd7633]

even without the Simmons injury I don't like what they did with the roster this year versus last.

Horford was an atrocious signing.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Horford was an atrocious signing.

Oh my

They signed him for four years?

Jesus.

 

[Gman]

I know it's desperation time... but the '6ers are never gonna mount a comeback playing this candy zone defense they're playing.

That stuff only works in the NBA as a quick change-of-pace... you run it for a trip or two to throw a curve ball and maybe confuse the other team for a moment... when you run it every trip, a team like the Celtics is gonna carve you up.

 

[ericd7633]

Oh my

They signed him for four years?

Jesus.

Yeah. He already sucks this year. It's gonna be awesome seeing him in year 3 and 4 of the deal. Brogdon, Barnes or Bogdanovic would have been much better IMO.

 

[tlance]

I know it's desperation time... but the '6ers are never gonna mount a comeback playing this candy zone defense they're playing.

That stuff only works in the NBA as a quick change-of-pace... you run it for a trip or two to throw a curve ball and maybe confuse the other team for a moment... when you run it every trip, a team like the Celtics is gonna carve you up.

I agree.

But like I said before the series started, the Sixers just can’t match up with the Celtics. They are just too slow to effectively guard the perimeter.

So while gimmicky and unlikely to work as more than a change of pace, it is still probably the 6ers best chance.

Because playing straight man they gonna get swept.

 

[RubinRock]

Pray for the process

 

[RubinRock]

I agree.

But like I said before the series started, the Sixers just can’t match up with the Celtics. They are just too slow to effectively guard the perimeter.

So while gimmicky and unlikely to work as more than a change of pace, it is still probably the 6ers best chance.

Because playing straight man they gonna get swept.

Maybe it’s just the system he’s in? Because he was such a huge piece in the Celtics team. Or maybe age?

 

[bksballer89]

Sixers are an embarrassment

 

[tlance]

Maybe it’s just the system he’s in? Because he was such a huge piece in the Celtics team. Or maybe age?

I wasn’t really talking specifically about Horford.

But I think a bit of both. He has definitely declined some physically. But the 6ers also brought him in to play alongside Embiid at the 4.

That means he is often guarding perimeter players.

Now, a couple years ago, Horford could do it. He was about as good as anybody guarding guys like LeBron and Giannis. But I think he has lost a step or 3.