**Official Philadelphia 76ers Thread 2022/2023 Regular Season*

[Gannan]

10 hours ago, JohnB said:

I can't believe we're talking about trade values and dismantling the team. Guys, there's potentially 2 games left. Let's stay away from the defeatist mentality. 

We will never win a championship with Simmons. Never. Simmons might win later in her career as a 4th banana on a stacked team, but he isn’t a star 

player. I forget who said it, but they were right when they said if he was 6’5 he’s be playing in Europe right now.

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

2 hours ago, eagle45 said:

The Bucs playoff loss is the best possible comparison.  

While the '04 Eagles got to a superbowl, featured TO, and were very hyped, the '02 Eagles were really as tuned up and primed as any Eagles team in that era.  That was their peak.  And their competition cleared a path for them that year.  Same thing with these 76'ers...this is as good as their stars are ever going to be and the NBA has cleared a path.  If they can't escape Atlanta, it will be one of the biggest failures in the city's history.

I'd throw in that Phillies team with the historic pitching staff that lost to the Cardinals, although I can't totally blame that team.  That was just horrible luck.  They faced an epically hot lineup in a short series.  But that team really should have won a title.

What makes the 2011 Phillies loss worse is that the last weekend of the year they didn’t have anything to play for and they were playing the Braves who they’ve dominated all year. They swept the braves and knocked them out of the playoffs and it put the cardinals into the playoffs. And the cardinals eliminated them. 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

2 hours ago, eagle45 said:

Things have passed beyond the point of no return for Simmons in Philly, unless they escape this series and win a title this year.  

While we can say all the bad things we want about Simmons attitude and how he is what he is (and I'd agree), the only warning worth issuing is to never say never about an immensely talented player on the brink who gets a complete change of scenery.  It's not going to happen here and I don't think it ever will for him, but you just never know for sure what the wakeup call with a new team might do.  It sure would be a dagger in the heart of Philly if he started knocking down jumpers somewhere else.  Again, not expecting it...and it definitely won't happen here either way.

That’s always been the concern with trading him is that one day the light bulb would go on for him and he’d eventually add that to his repertoire and at that point he becomes one of the best players on the planet. Unfortunately i don’t ever see it happening here. I actually think he needs the trade to potentially wake him up or get him out of his comfort zone in order to start that process. However i also think he’s the type of guy where it won’t bother him and he just goes about doing the same thing. I do think at some point it’s going to dawn on him but i think it’s 3-5 years down the road when he’s older at 28-30 and at that point it might just be too late for him.

At 24 i think his immaturity and being uncomfortable with failing at something repeatedly until he finally gets better at it is too much mentally for him. I want to say it was that Keith smith interview i posted but he made an excellent point the FT issue has caused him to regress even more to the point he wants to hide behind defenders at the end of the game and not touch the ball. That potentially is so damaging to him that he’s never able to fully recover and get out of that mindset. 

[Diehardfan]

24 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

That’s always been the concern with trading him is that one day the light bulb would go on for him and he’d eventually add that to his repertoire and at that point he becomes one of the best players on the planet. Unfortunately i don’t ever see it happening here. I actually think he needs the trade to potentially wake him up or get him out of his comfort zone in order to start that process. However i also think he’s the type of guy where it won’t bother him and he just goes about doing the same thing. I do think at some point it’s going to dawn on him but i think it’s 3-5 years down the road when he’s older at 28-30 and at that point it might just be too late for him.

At 24 i think his immaturity and being uncomfortable with failing at something repeatedly until he finally gets better at it is too much mentally for him. I want to say it was that Keith smith interview i posted but he made an excellent point the FT issue has caused him to regress even more to the point he wants to hide behind defenders at the end of the game and not touch the ball. That potentially is so damaging to him that he’s never able to fully recover and get out of that mindset. 

I've never seen a player who made an All-Star game drive to the outside of the paint and then turn around and desperately look to pass the ball. I hope he comes out tonight and finally plays with fire and passion, but he has never shown anything for me to truly believe he has it in him. The kid is weak.

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

7 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

I've never seen a player who made an All-Star game drive to the outside of the paint and then turn around and desperately look to pass the ball. I hope he comes out tonight and finally plays with fire and passion, but he has never shown anything for me to truly believe he has it in him. The kid is weak.

I doubt he comes out of it tonight or even next year or the year after. I think this is something that will take multiple years if ever to get out of. I just know there’s a lot of 24 year olds in the world who aren’t mature yet and are still learning to be comfortable with failure. instead of failing they just avoid the potential failure/obstacle cause they don’t want to deal with the mental side of being able to overcome it. I tend to think as you get older that you generally become more comfortable with yourself and understand failure happens more often. the only way you improve upon yourself is getting back up after failing and make strides in that area and i think as you age it tends to be something you acknowledge and are more comfortable with.

Unfortunately we as an organization don’t have that time to waste hoping he gets to that point sooner rather than later. 

[DaEagles4Life]

We joke, but the pressure in Philly compared to San Antonio or Orlando or even Portland is on another level. Simmons just doesn't have the make up to handle it.

He has been told he is great since he was a kid and combined that with a poor work ethic is what we are seeing in front of our eyes. A kid absolutely cracking under the pressure of high pressure situations. 

[JBENT87]

39 minutes ago, DaEagles4Life said:

We joke, but the pressure in Philly compared to San Antonio or Orlando or even Portland is on another level. Simmons just doesn't have the make up to handle it.

He has been told he is great since he was a kid and combined that with a poor work ethic is what we are seeing in front of our eyes. A kid absolutely cracking under the pressure of high pressure situations. 

the really incredible part is, you can argue this is the third time in the last three years we're experiencing something like this.

First with Fultz in 2019 (obviously he never had it - but he still was a first overall pick which carried those expectations even if for a short amount of time) and then back to back situations with needing to get out from another supposed franchise player, with Wentz and now Ben. 

Stuff can get ugly pretty quickly around here. 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

2 minutes ago, JBENT87 said:

the really incredible part is, you can argue this is the third time in the last three years we're experiencing something like this.

First with Fultz in 2019 (obviously he never had it - but he still was a first overall pick which carried those expectations even if for a short amount of time) and then back to back situations with needing to get out from another supposed franchise player, with Wentz and now Ben. 

Stuff can get ugly pretty quickly around here. 

It’s a tough city but if you put the work in and show you are giving it your maximum effort the fans will love you for it. The problem with Ben is there’s literally been marginal improvement overall. Either you’re not working hard enough or the old adage that he’s working harder but not smarter. Defensively he’s good and improved but offensively he’s been stagnant since college. The fans aren’t stupid. When he posts propaganda shooting videos no one buys that crap anymore. We did after his rookie year but now we know it’s just BS. 

At least with wentz it was never about work ethic and trying to get better. Or lack of trying and just failing. I could never question that he wanted to be better and be the best. With Simmons he’s so talented i think he skates by on it and really is afraid to fail so he doesn’t want to put in the work in that area of his game. 

[JBENT87]

Just now, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

It’s a tough city but if you put the work in and show you are giving it your maximum effort the fans will love you for it. The problem with Ben is there’s literally been marginal improvement overall. Either you’re not working hard enough or the old adage that he’s working harder but not smarter. Defensively he’s good and improved but offensively he’s been stagnant since college. The fans aren’t stupid. When he posts propaganda shooting videos no one buys that crap anymore. We did after his rookie year but now we know it’s just BS. 

At least with wentz it was never about work ethic and trying to get better. Or lack of trying and just failing. I could never question that he wanted to be better and be the best. With Simmons he’s so talented i think he skates by on it and really is afraid to fail so he doesn’t want to put in the work in that area of his game. 

yep, the Ben thing was a long time coming. Judgement Day arrived, officially, the other night. There were smarter/holier than thou Sixers fans too out there who defended this guy to their death and shamed anyone who harped on the shooting thing too much. The end to that game and his historically low FT #s this playoffs so far has thankfully dropped a nuclear warhead on those people though. Hopefully. 

[DrPhilly]

2 hours ago, DaEagles4Life said:

We joke, but the pressure in Philly compared to San Antonio or Orlando or even Portland is on another level. Simmons just doesn't have the make up to handle it.

He has been told he is great since he was a kid and combined that with a poor work ethic is what we are seeing in front of our eyes. A kid absolutely cracking under the pressure of high pressure situations. 

Philly is tougher yes but I don't think he does any better anywhere else.  The bottom line is that he is a regular season player when it come to O and come playoff time is only of value on the D side of the equation.  The problem is that you can't even keep him on the court though if he is going to pack a 33% ft rate.

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

Heading into tonight’s game like 

[Diehardfan]

2 hours ago, DrPhilly said:

Philly is tougher yes but I don't think he does any better anywhere else.  The bottom line is that he is a regular season player when it come to O and come playoff time is only of value on the D side of the equation.  The problem is that you can't even keep him on the court though if he is going to pack a 33% ft rate.

Yep. Every March and April he sucks people back in, but they can't keep him in there with that rate...UNLESS Doc maybe gets the hint to try that if they get up another 20 points tonight on Cap. Even typing this it drives me up a a wall. Do something to change the momentum and the answers to the test were right in front of him.

[vsptroops]

I'm not a huge basketball fan so I don't know the x's and o's of it like I do the other sports but what would happen if Doc made Simmons just a bench player for this game (other than his feelings getting hurt)? Who could start in his place, Thybulle? Maxey? Would they really be sacrificing that much offense without Ben? I know Ben is know for his court vision but what would they be sacrificing if they tried this?

[hukdonfoniks]

7 minutes ago, vsptroops said:

I'm not a huge basketball fan so I don't know the x's and o's of it like I do the other sports but what would happen if Doc made Simmons just a bench player for this game (other than his feelings getting hurt)? Who could start in his place, Thybulle? Maxey? Would they really be sacrificing that much offense without Ben? I know Ben is know for his court vision but what would they be sacrificing if they tried this?

You're definitely losing something on the defensive end.   Offensively, you're not losing a thing. 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

47 minutes ago, hukdonfoniks said:

You're definitely losing something on the defensive end.   Offensively, you're not losing a thing. 

I’d also say none of those guys are good enough. Ben has massive flaws but at this point of his career he’s still worthy of starting over those guys. The thing doc really should do is when they start hack a Ben, he should hack a capela if he’s in the game. Then it becomes mind games with atlanta and they’ll have to remove him which means embiid is going to get a much easier matchup or they’ll move Collins on embiid (still a mismatch) and Harris gets an easier matchup 

[TEW]

7 hours ago, JBENT87 said:

no way NOLA does that.

The only thing that is working for us winning tonight is the fact that a lot of people are anticipating and expecting us to lose on Friday based on emotion. I know I am at least. I am white with rage after that performance and sure, I can name the xs and os like anyone else as to why we will probably lose, but the biggest reason for me personally is due to prisoner of the moment disgust towards Simmons. Usually when someone makes choices or holds beliefs based on emotion they're usually wrong. 

we're "the better team" in a holistic, traditional sense. Sure, we are the 1 seed, they're the 4/interchangeable 5. We're the better team and should win for 19 reasons out of 20. 

HOWEVER, that 1, single reason is also our achilles heel. And that is Ben Simmons, and not just the way he's defended by competent teams in the playoffs with the sagging off to take away his passing lanes he so desperately wants to get to, but it's now the Hack a Ben thing that he has proven he cannot conquer. It is an embarrassing, achilles heel, kill card that the Hawks are playing, and they're going to continue to do it. 

We are the more talented team. Not sold on us being the better team.

[TEW]

35 minutes ago, vsptroops said:

I'm not a huge basketball fan so I don't know the x's and o's of it like I do the other sports but what would happen if Doc made Simmons just a bench player for this game (other than his feelings getting hurt)? Who could start in his place, Thybulle? Maxey? Would they really be sacrificing that much offense without Ben? I know Ben is know for his court vision but what would they be sacrificing if they tried this?

Thybulle for Ben doesn’t really get you anything. About a wash defensively, you lose passing and rebounding, gain a bit in 3 point shooting and FTs but not enough to make a huge difference. That move doesn’t really make sense to me.

Maxey would be interesting and at least shake up the dynamic of the team. You lose a lot of size, defense, some passing, but you’d get a guy who can hit a mid range jumper, draw contact and hit free throws, more energy on offense.

Hill SHOULD be the guy — he’s a point guard who is supposedly a good defender with a 3 point shot, but he’s sucked so far.

Honestly, I’d be fine keeping Ben as a starter, but you need to pull him late in each quarter. And I want to see Maxey in the game every time we see the momentum shifting. Our problem hasn’t been building a lead, it’s been keeping it. I think Maxey can get you points to stop the bleeding when there’s 6 minutes left and ATL is on a 10-0 run.

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

24 minutes ago, TEW said:

We are the more talented team. Not sold on us being the better team.

I would say our starting lineup with Danny green out there and even if you just put kork or thybulle in there is better than the hawks. The issue is more the bench for the hawks is light years better. Gallinari, Lou Williams, huerter (when Hunter is healthy) and reddish (when healthy) is way better than the sixers. I get huerter isn’t bench right now (was earlier in series) and reddish is out. And it shows when the sixers bench is out there. They get more consistency from their bench so their starters get more rest or they can rest them more. Whereas the sixers can’t so every start is playing significant minutes. The hawks last game had two starters play 21 and 27. And Lou and gallinari played 22 and 30 off the bench. 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

19 minutes ago, TEW said:

Thybulle for Ben doesn’t really get you anything. About a wash defensively, you lose passing and rebounding, gain a bit in 3 point shooting and FTs but not enough to make a huge difference. That move doesn’t really make sense to me.

Maxey would be interesting and at least shake up the dynamic of the team. You lose a lot of size, defense, some passing, but you’d get a guy who can hit a mid range jumper, draw contact and hit free throws, more energy on offense.

Hill SHOULD be the guy — he’s a point guard who is supposedly a good defender with a 3 point shot, but he’s sucked so far.

Honestly, I’d be fine keeping Ben as a starter, but you need to pull him late in each quarter. And I want to see Maxey in the game every time we see the momentum shifting. Our problem hasn’t been building a lead, it’s been keeping it. I think Maxey can get you points to stop the bleeding when there’s 6 minutes left and ATL is on a 10-0 run.

Hill is absolutely killing them. The thought when they acquired him was he could be put into end of game situations cause he was a good defender, could run the point if need be and shoot it well. He’s been a disaster outside of game 4 against the wizards. It really hurts cause that was the only move they made at the deadline and at that point we knew the bench wasn’t consistent or really good enough. 

[DaEagles4Life]

So intrigued on the mentality of the team today and what players show up. 

[mr_hunt]

if they lay down like dogs, it's gotta increase the odds of major moves being made this off-season. 

[DaEagles4Life]

Nevermind, not interested anymore 

 

 

[20dawk4life]

Lets get ready to suuuufferrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

12 minutes ago, DaEagles4Life said:

So intrigued on the mentality of the team today and what players show up. 

I hope they come out playing well. I just think that type of loss at home is a lot to overcome. I hope they prove me completely wrong. 

9 minutes ago, mr_hunt said:

if they lay down like dogs, it's gotta increase the odds of major moves being made this off-season. 

Oh for sure. I’m shocked the line for this game is -3 sixers 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

5 minutes ago, DaEagles4Life said:

Nevermind, not interested anymore 

 

 

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