Have been banned from the other thread by an apparently sensitive snowflake (ironically after dozens of pages of political discussion from others) so I'll stick my thoughts on the NBA Playoffs here from now on. We needed a new thread anyway. [Reply]
Ok you lot have talked enough about my team..let me give you the real story about Simmons. Firstly there is no doubting his talent..great defendee, gets rebounds, incredible in transition and is an assist machine etc etc. However the writing was on the wall from his rookie season..if you watch him play you quickly notice he does most things RIGHT handed except when he shoots..he shoots left handed but passes, dribbles, dunks, blocks mainly with his right hand...so from the start that was a weird thing to see and when asked about it he admitted he is right handed but his dad encouraged him to shoot lefty (why the hell he did that is anyones guess considering the man was a pro).
Anyway his rookie year was impressive obviously and he'd actually take midrange lefty jumpers and make them...he was around 60% with his free throws aswell so we figured he would improve on that as he develops. We won our last 13 regular season games without Embiid and Ben really flourished at that time but still never took three pointers...that was fine as long as he took those mudrange jumpers and made his three throws though. We got to the playoffs..beat Miami 4-1 and then met the enamy that are the Celtics...they had a young squad at the time and big free agent signings Kyrie and Gordon were out...however Boston conpletely exposed Ben by sagging off and daring him to shoot..he refused to and in one game got ONE single point. We lost that series 4-1 and afterwards Ben promised he would work on his shooting and improve etc.
That offseason videos emerged online showing Ben in the gym sinking jumpers left, right and center..the whole fambase is excited because we know how great he could be with a consistent jumper..however preseason games came and there wasn't any jumpers. But in the vert last game before the season started he finally tried a three and made one..again we were all hyped. The season started and game after game went by with him not even taking midrange junpers anymore let alone a three. Our coach Brett Brown and GM Elton Brand knew we wasn't going to win whilst Ben was having these issues so they bit the bullet and traded for Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler. With them two 20 ppg guys on board we had a great starting five and Ben could blend into the background whilst Tobi, Jimmy, Joel and JJ did most of the heavy scoring. And also Ben was 16 ppg and 7 assist pg so he was contributing but his shooting just became non existent.
We went into the playoffs with confidence because our starting five was legit..but once again teams used the Celtics strategy of sagging off and daring him to shoot..so Brett Brown decided to take Ben off the ball and let Butler handle it..Ben didn't like it because he was just put in the dunker spot and didn't contribute much on offense. That playoff run ended in heartbreak as Kawhi beat us with a last season buzzer beater to win the Rapters the series 4-3.
Once again Ben promised he'd improve his shooting and we saw more videos of him sinking jumpers in the gym..but that year things had changed. Jimmy and JJ left so the ball was going to be In Ben's hands again and with our best shooter gone we needed more from him. The regular season started and he was trying fade away jumpers here and there from midrange and his free throw percentage had improved too. Then low and behold he started to take threes and made a few...Brett Brown said publucally that he wanted Ben to take one or two a game..but did Ben listen? No..he never took another three again after those comments. It was as if he proved he could make one and then shut it down.
The virus then hit the world and the nba obviously closed down..but when the our guys returned reports came out that Ben would be switching to a point forward role and Shake Milton, our backup PG, would be handling the ball more. They went with that plan in the bubble but Ben was still his same self not shooting. Then he got injured and that was his year and our playoff run done as the Celtics swept us in the first round.
Ben for the millionth time promised to improve his shooting and this time he had a new shooting coach who would post videos of Ben shooting...and hype up us fans with comments. But then Doc Rivers got hired as coach and he insisted that he's not gonna pressure Ben to shoot..we get into the season and before every game since his rookie year we'd see Ben taking threes in warm-up but never do it in a game..all of this stuff was getting old now. In the regular season he's do the same thing..make a three then never try one again for the next two months..and midrange stuff was off the table.
We got to the playoffs and Washington..noticing how bad his free throw percentage had become that year..decided to do "hack a Ben" and kept putting him on the line..his confidence slowly started to crumble to the point where he was hiding from the ball late in games. We won that series 4-1 but when asked about Ben Doc was defending him against all comers..fans, media etc
We finally get into the Atlanta series and yall saw what happened..he wasn't scoring points and he couldn't make a free throw...Doc had to take him off the floor late because he was so bad at the line..and that contributed to us giving away big leads over and over..him refusing an open dunk out of fear of being fouled was the last straw.
So NO!!..this is not about anyone throwing Ben under the bus..it's about him shooting with the wrong hand which makes him umcomfortable shooting and it's effected him mentally...that's the reality imo. There were reports out after we lost to Atlanta that he was considering changing his shooting hand but he's still too stubburn to do it so good riddings..I'm over it..let's get the best deal we can and give Joel the team he deserves FFS. [Reply]
Most of that shit everyone already knows, dude. Those videos of Simmons practicing his shitty jumpsuit in podunk gyms are memes at this point.
Bottom line is yes, Doc Rivers absolutely did throw Simmons under the bus after game 7, deservedly so, but after you make those types of comments it's time to move on. Morey fucked himself by not taking the best deal available when it's been apparent this relationship is shattered beyond repair.
They're desperately trying damage control now to salvage what they can with Rivers going on a media blitz trying to blame the media for misconstruing what he said. I guess at this point you may as well try every avenue possible but you're still most likely selling a toxic asset for pennies on the dollar unless some other organization royally fucks up too. [Reply]
76ers ALMOST had it, though. Stay pat for Tatum instead of trading up for Fultz in 2017 and they're pretty damn close to being a home grown perennial dynasty. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Superturtle:
76ers ALMOST had it, though. Stay pat for Tatum instead of trading up for Fultz in 2017 and they're pretty damn close to being a home grown perennial dynasty.
The reason why we went for Fultz is because they knew Ben couldn't shoot..but surprise surprise we took him and he couldn't shoot either :-) ..Boston were never gonna give us the number one pick if we intended to take Tatum imo. Anyway we may have struck gold with Tyrese Maxey who we got with the pick from when we traded Fultz to the Magic so we'll see. [Reply]
Not really their fault either. Never has been confirmed but it seems pretty obvious his nerve issues that fucked up his shooting so bad came from a motorcycle accident he didn't disclose. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jamie:
Didn't the Simmons/Harden deal fall though because of Houston? Philly thought they had a deal but Houston was just using them to get the best offer out of Brooklyn, and never had any intention of trading him to Philly because they were butthurt about Morey.
The main rumor is Tillman put an end to it out of spite because of Morey. [Reply]
Originally Posted by UChieffyBugger:
The reason why we went for Fultz is because they knew Ben couldn't shoot..but surprise surprise we took him and he couldn't shoot either :-) ..Boston were never gonna give us the number one pick if we intended to take Tatum imo. Anyway we may have struck gold with Tyrese Maxey who we got with the pick from when we traded Fultz to the Magic so we'll see.
Love Maxey, but Tatum was the pick at 1. Once the trade was made, it didn't really matter who they "intended" to take. [Reply]
Embiid finally letting some truth out about how he really feels
Embiid on Ben, partial: "Our teams have always been built around his needs. So it's just kind of surprising to see. Even going back to, the reason we signed Al, we got rid of Jimmy, which I still think was a mistake, just to make sure he needed the ball in his hands."
I just can't imagine they're going to get much in trade. He's a defensive 4 who can handle, pass, and guard multiple positions. That's worth something, but I don't know how much you get when the other team has to take on that contract as well. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla:
I just can't imagine they're going to get much in trade. He's a defensive 4 who can handle, pass, and guard multiple positions. That's worth something, but I don't know how much you get when the other team has to take on that contract as well.
I have one that makes all the sense in the world, but won’t happen. Kyrie. He said he’ll retire if traded, but as it stands now he won’t be able to play in home games. Don’t know if it makes the nets better, but that makes for a long, versatile defense. And they don’t need the shooting. Philly obviously improves, you just can’t count on the guy
Edit: after a quick search, I see this isn’t quite an original idea. And KD nixed a potential trade. Guess I’m out of the loop haha [Reply]
