Sixers - Revisionist history

[flyerhawk]

"Potential" don't mean shit. Darko Milicic and Kwame Brown also once had potential.

Potential means something when you are talking about teams that are expected to be on the rise. That is the entire basis of determining who the rising teams are going to be.

Darko Milicic and Kwame Brown had potential until they started to play and it became obvious that they were fool's gold.

Joel Embiid is an all-star in his 2nd year. Ben Simmons is almost certainly going to be the RoY and should have been an all-star. Dario Saric is one of the more promising 4s in the league. This has already happened. Maybe Fultz turns into something special, maybe not. Maybe the guy the Sixers draft in the lottery will turn into something, maybe not. But they are already a really good team and a desirable location. Something that the Pacers aren't.

The Sixers were 17-19 in 2017 of this season. They are 29-11 in 2018 and 22-6 since March 1st. Which isn't surprising given they are the 2nd youngest team in basketball.

So, yeah, there are some pretty good reasons to be optimistic about this team. They may never win a title. Winning championships is difficult and there are 29 other teams looking to do the same thing. But your argument against them seems to amount to "well just because they have all this young talent doesn't mean they are going to win anything" which is true and obvious and pointless.

 

[flyerhawk]

Nope. Does not get it.

He's framing it so that if his Pacers win the series, that proves that both either that the Sixers are overrated or the Pacers are underrated. Or, knowing him, it will "prove" both contradictions be damned.

I will say if the Sixers do get HCA for the 1st round and they lose in the first round I will be disappointed. They have lost 1 home game this year, to the Pacers.

Of course whether they win that series or lose that series means little in the larger picture. They aren't winning the title this year. It is very very unlikely they could win the east, although that is at least possible. At the start of the season I wanted 45 wins and a 1st round playoff win. Got the 45 wins already.

 

[tlance]

Potential means something when you are talking about teams that are expected to be on the rise. That is the entire basis of determining who the rising teams are going to be.

Darko Milicic and Kwame Brown had potential until they started to play and it became obvious that they were fool's gold.

Joel Embiid is an all-star in his 2nd year. Ben Simmons is almost certainly going to be the RoY and should have been an all-star. Dario Saric is one of the more promising 4s in the league. This has already happened. Maybe Fultz turns into something special, maybe not. Maybe the guy the Sixers draft in the lottery will turn into something, maybe not. But they are already a really good team and a desirable location. Something that the Pacers aren't.

The Sixers were 17-19 in 2017 of this season. They are 29-11 in 2018 and 22-6 since March 1st. Which isn't surprising given they are the 2nd youngest team in basketball.

So, yeah, there are some pretty good reasons to be optimistic about this team. They may never win a title. Winning championships is difficult and there are 29 other teams looking to do the same thing. But your argument against them seems to amount to "well just because they have all this young talent doesn't mean they are going to win anything" which is true and obvious and pointless.

Exactly.

For the record, I am not promising future championships here. But, if things break right for them they have a great shot. I can't say that about the majority of the teams in the NBA.

 

[Sparhawk]

I will say if the Sixers do get HCA for the 1st round and they lose in the first round I will be disappointed. They have lost 1 home game this year, to the Pacers.

Of course whether they win that series or lose that series means little in the larger picture. They aren't winning the title this year. It is very very unlikely they could win the east, although that is at least possible. At the start of the season I wanted 45 wins and a 1st round playoff win. Got the 45 wins already.

I do have concerns about Simmons getting to the basket in the playoffs.
If teams were smart, they would be fouling hard and sending him to the line.
Not only might the hard fouls discourage him form going to the basket again, but poor free throw shooting might affect other areas of his game. The playoffs are a different beast.

 

[flyerhawk]

Exactly.

For the record, I am not promising future championships here. But, if things break right for them they have a great shot. I can't say that about the majority of the teams in the NBA.

Exactly right. Embiid may suffer serious injuries every year. Simmons may not ever develop an outside shot and teams will figure him out. Fultz may never turn into anything but a bench player.

It's possible that the Sixers have hit their limit this season. But I wouldn't bet on it.

FTR, as you have said, other teams could certainly leapfrop them. The Celtics in particular could become really special if Tatum and Brown turn into superstars. The Suns could get Ayton next year and he could be a superstar to pair up with Booker and be a force to reckon with.

 

[HurricaneDij39]

Nope. Does not get it.

I understand completely what you were talking about, and was simply disagreeing with your opinion. People are allowed to do that since your opinion isn't actually God's gift to the whole world.

 

[flyerhawk]

I understand completely what you were talking about, and was simply disagreeing with your opinion. People are allowed to do that since your opinion isn't actually God's gift to the whole world.

But you weren't actually disagreeing with him. You didn't offer some alternative. You were just negging his opinion.

If you said something like "I don't think the Sixers are the team of the future, I think the Pacers are" at least you would be offering an argument. Instead you were saying "I don't think your opinion is 100% certain to be true but I am not going to offer any alternatives of what I think is more likely to occur"

 

[tlance]

I understand completely what you were talking about, and was simply disagreeing with your opinion. People are allowed to do that since your opinion isn't actually God's gift to the whole world.

No you clearly don't. You keep coming back to this year's playoffs as a way of "proving me wrong". You are not disagreeing with my opinion. You are attempting to judge my opinion using current performance when I am talking about the future.

That is every bit as stupid as me judging the 2018 Pacers based on their record in 2023. But I would not try to that. Because it is stupid.

 

[trojanfan12]

You don't get it at all.

This year means nothing. It is an experience builder for the 6ers. I keep saying they are the team of the future, not the team of the present.

Now, if your Pacers beat a healthy 6er team in 2-3 years, then you can say you are right. Not now.

You know he's still not going to get it, right?

Yes I do

Afraid they might actually lose or something? Looking of strength of schedule the rest of the way, they should indeed have HCA in the first round. No excuse for them to lose the opening series this year, especially considering our roster has the same amount of meager playoff experience as theirs does, if not moreso.

Nope. Does not get it.

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

I understand completely what you were talking about, and was simply disagreeing with your opinion. People are allowed to do that since your opinion isn't actually God's gift to the whole world.

 

[Mecca of the “B” Team]

So, I rushed home from work expecting to log in and find Cane lying in an e-pool of his own e-blood with Mecca standing over him holding his still beating e-heart in her e-hand.

Imagine my disappointment.

I can't even motivate myself to eviscerate this Dude.

It's not even fun anymore.

 

[tlance]

I can't even motivate myself to eviscerate this Dude.

It's not even fun anymore.

He really seems to enjoy being eviscerated though.

 

[Black Adam]

He really seems to enjoy being eviscerated though.

well, some folks DO get off on pain...

just sayin'...

 

[HurricaneDij39]

No you clearly don't. You keep coming back to this year's playoffs as a way of "proving me wrong". You are not disagreeing with my opinion. You are attempting to judge my opinion using current performance when I am talking about the future.

That is every bit as stupid as me judging the 2018 Pacers based on their record in 2023. But I would not try to that. Because it is stupid.

No dude, you were already stating excuses for the Sixers to potentially lose a first round matchup with the Pacers by saying "they're still in building mode" or "they don't have the experience yet". The reality is, there aren't any legit excuses for them to lose in the first round if they do in fact draw the Pacers, because we're the one team in this year's east playoffs with even less experience than Philly. Turner and Thad Young are the only players on this roster that were even in the rotation on last year's team.

 

[tlance]

No dude, you were already stating excuses for the Sixers to potentially lose a first round matchup with the Pacers by saying "they're still in building mode" or "they don't have the experience yet". The reality is, there aren't any legit excuses for them to lose in the first round if they do in fact draw the Pacers, because we're the one team in this year's east playoffs with even less experience than Philly. Turner and Thad Young are the only players on this roster that were even in the rotation on last year's team.

I am literally without words. You can't really be this dumb.

 

[HurricaneDij39]

I am literally without words. You can't really be this dumb.

Because I'm not going to sit here and predict what's going to happen in 2023??? Ok then

 

[flyerhawk]

No dude, you were already stating excuses for the Sixers to potentially lose a first round matchup with the Pacers by saying "they're still in building mode" or "they don't have the experience yet". The reality is, there aren't any legit excuses for them to lose in the first round if they do in fact draw the Pacers, because we're the one team in this year's east playoffs with even less experience than Philly. Turner and Thad Young are the only players on this roster that were even in the rotation on last year's team.

You're just trolling, right? That's the only possible way you could try and argue that the Pacers have less playoff experience than the Sixers.

The Sixers have all of ONE player in their starting lineup has has ANY playoff experience. The Sixers have ZERO playoff experience as a team. They are the 2nd youngest team in the league.

The Pacers top 10 players in minutes played this season have playoff experience, and only 2 of them didn't play in the playoffs last year.

Of the Sixers top 10 players in minutes played, only 3 of them have ANY playoff experience. And of those 3 players, two of them came on board in the past month.

Yet you want to claim that the SIXERS are the more experienced playoff team. That is utterly absurd.

I get it, you want a no lose scenario in which the Pacers are expected to lose so that if they do lose that is the expected result whereas if the Sixers lose it is PRUF that the Sixers are some sort of mirage.

But this is just a ridiculous argument.

 

[flyerhawk]

Because I'm not going to sit here and predict what's going to happen in 2023??? Ok then

I must have missed when someone predicted what was going to happen in 2023. Who did that? It certainly wasn't Tlance.

 

[tlance]

Because I'm not going to sit here and predict what's going to happen in 2023??? Ok then

No.

Because their two best players have never had playoff experience and a large part of my superteam prediction hinges on them getting another star, which they obviously don't have yet. They are very much a work in progress and that is assuming Embiid is healthy for round 1.

You completely fail to see the big picture time and again. It really is staggering.

 

[HurricaneDij39]

No.

Because their two best players have never had playoff experience and a large part of my superteam prediction hinges on them getting another star, which they obviously don't have yet. They are very much a work in progress and that is assuming Embiid is healthy for round 1.

You completely fail to see the big picture time and again. It really is staggering.

Redick and coach Brown (Popovich protege) have enough big game playoff experience that should give them the edge over the Pacers. But whether their young stars are disciplined enough in big moments will be the big question.