2023 NBA Off-Season: The Season Begins Now (Or As Soon As KD Says It Does)

[BuckeyeRed27]

I turned off the Bucks game when it was 90-69 with 4 minutes to go. How on earth did that get to OT?

[M2]

The Suns are melting, down to 9th in the West. They could be well off the pace of the top 6 in the conference by the time Booker gets back.

[SteelSD]

I turned off the Bucks game when it was 90-69 with 4 minutes to go. How on earth did that get to OT?

A Bucks turnover, a Van Vleet offenisve rebound on the subesequent possession, then a Grayson Allen flagrant on a made three-pointer turned it into a six-point trip down the court with 30 second left to go, then another Bucks turnover, leading to a Gary Trent three with 1.1 seconds to play to tie it.

The Sixers did something similar to that against the Lakers recently, but the Bucks just topped it, I think.

[texasdave]

76ers bench hoisted up 25 shots, and 19 dropped in. 76%. That will cover up a lot of mistakes.

[SteelSD]

The Suns are melting, down to 9th in the West. They could be well off the pace of the top 6 in the conference by the time Booker gets back.

You know when you take a steak out of the fridge that you think has maybe been in there a day too long, unwrap it, sniff it, and think, "Well, I paid good money for it. Maybe if I season it right and give it a good char, it might still taste ok..."?

That's the smell I get from the Suns right now.

[SteelSD]

76ers bench hoisted up 25 shots, and 19 dropped in. 76%. That will cover up a lot of mistakes.

This astounded me- The Sixers are 14-2 when Georges Niang scores 10 or more points.

[KoryMac5]

Dallas has opened up negotiations with Christian Wood...Dallas would like a 2 yr deal but I don't think Wood is going to settle. If the 2 sides can't agree Dallas will look to deal according to Stein.

[KoryMac5]

Kemba Walker waived...

FYI: the knee is toast...but man he could light it up in his prime.

Good player nice career...

[SteelSD]

Kemba Walker waived...

FYI: the knee is toast...but man he could light it up in his prime.

Good player nice career...

I'll tell ya', the Sixers should actually wait until he clears waivers and then try to sign him to a league-minimum contract just to have Walker around to be a designated late-game playoff ballhandler.

They actually need that.

[SteelSD]

Without Embiid, I figured it would be a competitive game against Chicago. And it was until Zach Lavine went nuclear in the third quarter- leading to finishing the night 11 for 13 from deep. For the Sixers, Maxey looks like he's starting to get back in the swing of things, finishing with 26 points and hitting 5 of 7 triples. On the negative side, while Harden scored 17 points, shooting 4 of 17 from the floor won't get it done when your top player isn't around. Nor is it a good thing to have P.J.-freakin'-Tucker attempt to guard Nik Vucevic. Tucker was, yet again, completely useless. I don't know if he hurt himself or if Rivers has finally seen enough, but Tucker disappeared after the first few minutes of the second half. After that, his minutes went to 'Trez and, eventually, Paul Reed. Harrell finished with 17 points and Reed gave Philly an energy boost- contributing to a run to get the Sixers within 7, before the Bulls chucked up more threes to put them away. The Bulls aren't a bad three-point shooting team, but they're not near the top of any beyond-the-arc lists. But they might as well have been tonight (58.8% from long range).

Overall, the teams were more closely matched than the final score suggests. If Lavine is a little less hot and Harden a little less cold, it would have been very tight at the end. But instead, what happened, happened. Tip of the cap. Moving along...

[M2]

I don't get the Bulls. Sometimes they're really good. Sometimes they're hapless. Sometimes it happens in the same game. They're Schrodinger's basketball team.

[SteelSD]

I don't get the Bulls. Sometimes they're really good. Sometimes they're hapless. Sometimes it happens in the same game. They're Schrodinger's basketball team.

I've found that just about any team is really good when they're hitting 60% of their threes. I wish someone would put P.J. Tucker in a box and never look in it again. That guy is at least three times more useless than Al Hoford was. He's probably twice as useless as Greg Monroe. And I might be talking about the current version of Greg Monroe. Right now, Paul Reed- who has almost no offensive game- is just about matching the stat lines that Tucker is putting up. Reed plays less than 10 minutes a game and Tucker is rolled out there for nearly 28 per.

I'm to the point where I'm becoming angry when I see Tucker on the court.

[texasdave]

What does that say about Doc Rivers, who I think is immensely overrated as a coach, that he keeps running Tucker back out there? 6'5' Tucker on 6'10" Vucevic? That is probably not going to end up well for Philly.

[Assembly Hall]

Indiana has won a league-high nine times this season after trailing by double digits.

[SteelSD]

What does that say about Doc Rivers, who I think is immensely overrated as a coach, that he keeps running Tucker back out there? 6'5' Tucker on 6'10" Vucevic? That is probably not going to end up well for Philly.

Oh, you don't have to sell me on that. I've been over Rivers for a while now, in part because of stuff like this. He gets himself too tied to veteran players and can't seem to identify obvious matchup problems. It's even worse in this case because Tucker has been banged up for a while now- including a "dead hand" issue that's causing the Sixers to run 4-against-5 on offense, in addition to him being overmatched far too often defensively. Roll in that Tucker can't possibly help in transition and you've got an analog coach riding, beyond reason, an analog player in a digital game.

And really, I'm starting to wonder how much of his banged-up-edness is real and what percentage might be the Sixers floating stuff to try to save face for both Tucker and themselves. "Oh...he's dinged up. Just wait until he's right..." Right. First, the guy is 37 years old, so I'll expect him to have that "tweak/strain/ding/bruise/cut/bump/rash" going on with his <insert random body part> for the rest of his career. Second, the guy has made as many as two threes exactly twice in two-plus months, so how much is any of it really affecting the guy? And that's supposed to be about 80% of his offensive value- corner threes. The other 20% is tied into "hustle" offensive boards he doesn't get, and floaters in the lane that he doesn't make, all added to the triples he's reluctant to shoot.

At this point, Morey needs to pull aside Embiid (who asked for Tucker by name) and Harden (out of respect for his history with Tucker) and simply tell them that it isn't working out (because it ain't), and then use Tucker as a salary match when dealing someone like Thybulle (who Rivers won't play) for something of value.

And while I'm celebrating my personal Sixers Festivus holiday this morning, I'd like to thank the Philly for training Isaiah Joe for the OKC Thunder. Joe, a guy I've been pretty high on since he was drafted by Philly, has worked his way into consistent rotation minutes with the Thunder while posting a three-point rate of 44.4% and 65% Shooting Efficiency this season. Grrrr...