1 hour ago, mr_hunt said:

maxey is a better overall player than curry, imo. the only thing curry might be better at is shooting threes. 

anyway, harden looks turrible. i hope it's the hammy because if it's not, dude is washed & shouldn't get anything near the max. 

I do think the hamstring is an issue. You could see him grabbing it last night while he was just standing around off ball. They really need to just rest him up for the playoffs and hope that’s enough time for it to heal. Because they aren’t doing much damage in the postseason with him hobbled like this. 
 

They’re going to finish with a top 4 seed either way, they can get that done with Harden sitting out until the playoffs. 

We have to forget about Houston Harden and realize that numbers are what they are.  This season he is shooting 41.4% FG and 33.6% 3pt; that's in the ballpark of AI type efficiency. Against the Clippers Harden shot above average.  Yesterday he was well below average against the Suns and it was sort of predictable.  Likely he'll have another Clipper-like game against the Bucks or Pistons this week to even out his season average.  Harden is just not a very efficient shooter so we have to hope that the other things he brings to the table balances that.

Likewise, this is why I never get too concerned about Tobias' shooting slumps.  In this supposed down year he's having he's shooting 48.2% FG and 35.6% 3pt.  What frustrates me about Tobias is not the contract but that he won't shoot more.   He's too efficient and our depth is too shallow for him not to shoot more.  He's our Joe Johnson.  He needs to shoot that thang. 

 

It was the last game of a west coast road trip, and they were playing the best team in the league. And hung with them for 3.5 quarters. 

Why is the sky falling?

Just now, vikas83 said:

It was the last game of a west coast road trip, and they were playing the best team in the league. And hung with them for 3.5 quarters. 

Why is the sky falling?

It's Philly, bro  

13 minutes ago, mikemack8 said:

It's Philly, bro  

The correct answer.

33 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

It was the last game of a west coast road trip, and they were playing the best team in the league. And hung with them for 3.5 quarters. 

Why is the sky falling?

Because is that 0.5 of a quarter, Suns are playing on another absolutely level. Their clutch numbers are outlandish 31-6, #1 in offensive rating and #2 in defensive. Sixers had a chance to change some narrative but Suns proved they are just better than everyone. 

2 hours ago, mr_hunt said:

maxey is a better overall player than curry, imo. the only thing curry might be better at is shooting threes. 

anyway, harden looks turrible. i hope it's the hammy because if it's not, dude is washed & shouldn't get anything near the max. 

Yeah but he ran up and down the steps after a loss! 

5 minutes ago, DaEagles4Life said:

Because is that 0.5 of a quarter, Suns are playing on another absolutely level. Their clutch numbers are outlandish 31-6, #1 in offensive rating and #2 in defensive. Sixers had a chance to change some narrative but Suns proved they are just better than everyone. 

The Suns aren't just a talented and deep team, but also one that has been built to be a very balanced team.  The players games fit together perfectly.  It's one of the best FO jobs I can recall in the NBA when it comes to getting great young talent and then putting quality complementary pieces around them.

2 hours ago, Shepard Wong said:

The Suns aren't just a talented and deep team, but also one that has been built to be a very balanced team.  The players games fit together perfectly.  It's one of the best FO jobs I can recall in the NBA when it comes to getting great young talent and then putting quality complementary pieces around them.

The key is that they are now winning without Chris Paul. 

 

It’s pretty clear they aren’t winning anything this year.  Harden is not what he used to be and they have absolutely no depth. They may make it to the second round but I think that’s about it.

Easy remaining schedule after tomorrow.  

5 hours ago, GoEagles5921 said:

It’s pretty clear they aren’t winning anything this year.  Harden is not what he used to be and they have absolutely no depth. They may make it to the second round but I think that’s about it.

Some of us said that before the trade and were told we were wrong. They should have gotten him this summer for free and traded Ben for the depth that would have made them a lot more complete next year.

https://thesportsrush.com/nba-news-8-more-years-before-allen-iverson-can-access-his-32-million-how-reebok-set-up-a-trust-fund-for-the-answer-and-saved-him-from-bankruptcy/

 

Just like another current Sixers player, AI used to frequent strip clubs too, blowing $30-40k in each trip. 

I know there’s going to be plenty of disagreement, but I still think a lot are overreacting to losses. I still think this team can put together a postseason run and has the talent to win it.
 

I do think they would be smart to get Harden a lot of rest down the stretch to let the hamstring recover, but I still think they’re contenders. Not saying they’re favorites, I’d go with Milwaukee to repeat as Eastern Conference champs and the Suns to win it all if I had to guess right now. But the Sixers are at least Eastern Conference contenders IMO, along with Miami, Milwaukee, and unfortunate Boston. 

15 minutes ago, nipples said:

I know there’s going to be plenty of disagreement, but I still think a lot are overreacting to losses. I still think this team can put together a postseason run and has the talent to win it.
 

I do think they would be smart to get Harden a lot of rest down the stretch to let the hamstring recover, but I still think they’re contenders. Not saying they’re favorites, I’d go with Milwaukee to repeat as Eastern Conference champs and the Suns to win it all if I had to guess right now. But the Sixers are at least Eastern Conference contenders IMO, along with Miami, Milwaukee, and unfortunate Boston. 

well, the sixers should be built a little better for the slower pace of playoff basketball...considering they already play at a slow pace & no longer have simmons killing the spacing. 

44 minutes ago, nipples said:

I know there’s going to be plenty of disagreement, but I still think a lot are overreacting to losses. I still think this team can put together a postseason run and has the talent to win it.
 

I do think they would be smart to get Harden a lot of rest down the stretch to let the hamstring recover, but I still think they’re contenders. Not saying they’re favorites, I’d go with Milwaukee to repeat as Eastern Conference champs and the Suns to win it all if I had to guess right now. But the Sixers are at least Eastern Conference contenders IMO, along with Miami, Milwaukee, and unfortunate Boston. 

Problem is its unclear that this team has established familiarity, and understood roles since the trade. In years past we have seen Embiid play hurt, and sick, to try and get as many games in to establish continuity with the new lineups. 

Its impossible to balance that with getting Harden plenty of rest. Both cant happen. 

Trade took too long to happen. And its unclear it was even the right move. Something should have been done sooner. And possibly something better, should have been done sooner.

Team isnt going to be ready for playoffs whether it be due to health, or gelling. 

https://heavy.com/sports/philadelphia-76ers/james-harden-contract-extension-brian-windhorst/?fbclid=IwAR0t2WmIiYGX-FpXm4kiDrZ_AFpb92yAWtaMUfs9qZ771MBrousZAIWhyhc

surprising to hear Windhorst who must have incredible Harden sources (scooping Woj) cautioning the 6ers against re-signing him for that max deal.

Hes not wrong. But that could damage relationships.

All I can say is we are so damn lucky that opt in paperwork didnt get filed in time so we can walk away. 

 

18 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

https://heavy.com/sports/philadelphia-76ers/james-harden-contract-extension-brian-windhorst/?fbclid=IwAR0t2WmIiYGX-FpXm4kiDrZ_AFpb92yAWtaMUfs9qZ771MBrousZAIWhyhc

surprising to hear Windhorst who must have incredible Harden sources (scooping Woj) cautioning the 6ers against re-signing him for that max deal.

Hes not wrong. But that could damage relationships.

All I can say is we are so damn lucky that opt in paperwork didnt get filed in time so we can walk away. 

All Morey has proven in his time as a GM is he can make trades for big stars that don't pan out because they don't have the support around them. We are seeing that yet again and he'll stick them with a massive contract because he can't admit he was wrong by not doing so. There is no way Morey walks away.

Look at teams like the Jazz and the Suns who have GMs who actually do a good job of building rosters. It doesn't always work, but compared to one disaster after another since Hinkie left (he blew a pick as well) they are miles ahead vs what the Sixers have done.

1 hour ago, HazletonEagle said:

https://heavy.com/sports/philadelphia-76ers/james-harden-contract-extension-brian-windhorst/?fbclid=IwAR0t2WmIiYGX-FpXm4kiDrZ_AFpb92yAWtaMUfs9qZ771MBrousZAIWhyhc

surprising to hear Windhorst who must have incredible Harden sources (scooping Woj) cautioning the 6ers against re-signing him for that max deal.

Hes not wrong. But that could damage relationships.

All I can say is we are so damn lucky that opt in paperwork didnt get filed in time so we can walk away. 

Signing a 33 yr old who does not take care of his body and wants to bail at the first sign of trouble at 230 million dollars would be an absolute disaster. 

We are 14-6 since the Harden trade (.700 winning %, a pace of 57-58 RS wins, right now only Suns have a better winning %). 10-4 in games Harden played (.714 winning %). Harden is putting 22.4 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 9.9 APG on .618 TS and 3.3 TO (his best since OKC days).

And yet, the world is falling. 

With a better coach and bench (which I expect to happen this offseason), this team is a championship contender for the next couple of years. 

13 minutes ago, Blazehound said:

We are 14-6 since the Harden trade (.700 winning %, a pace of 57-58 RS wins, right now only Suns have a better winning %). 10-4 in games Harden played (.714 winning %). Harden is putting 22.4 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 9.9 APG on .618 TS and 3.3 TO (his best since OKC days).

And yet, the world is falling. 

With a better coach and bench (which I expect to happen this offseason), this team is a championship contender for the next couple of years. 

Yeah… Harden clearly isn’t quite himself with the hamstring obviously nagging him, but the doom and gloom around here is a bit much. 
 

So if they get a win against the Bucks tonight does that mean the parade is back on?

10 minutes ago, Blazehound said:

We are 14-6 since the Harden trade (.700 winning %, a pace of 57-58 RS wins, right now only Suns have a better winning %). 10-4 in games Harden played (.714 winning %). Harden is putting 22.4 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 9.9 APG on .618 TS and 3.3 TO (his best since OKC days).

And yet, the world is falling. 

With a better coach and bench (which I expect to happen this offseason), this team is a championship contender for the next couple of years. 

@4for4EaglesNest knows how much I like Harden but he hasn’t been good enough yet. This Harden gets us eliminated in round 2. Some of it is not his fault because he was overused all year and he looks to be playing injured but either way, it won’t be good enough. I hope they give him the last 3-4 games off for the playoff run. That would be like 12 days off for him. 

6 minutes ago, nipples said:

Yeah… Harden clearly isn’t quite himself with the hamstring obviously nagging him, but the doom and gloom around here is a bit much. 
 

So if they get a win against the Bucks tonight does that mean the parade is back on?

No. I need to see hardens legs come back. It’s messing up his step back 3’s and midrange game.