A quick word on other games.....

[kg01]

25 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Id take "fake" Joel Embiid on the Hawks 7 days a week and twice on Sunday. They can gladly have our "real one" Clint Capela and Jon Collins in exchange. 

He'd just lead us to lesser heights than we've already achieved and would alienate everybody along the way. Don't believe the hype, bleachy.  The rest of the NBA world has.  You're better than that.

[Spud2nique]

Ouch  

[kg01]

Just now, Spud2nique said:

Ouch  

Keep in mind this is after he criticized Jokic for winning mvp but not ever winning anything.

[bleachkit]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

He'd just lead us to lesser heights than we've already achieved and would alienate everybody along the way. Don't believe the hype, bleachy.  The rest of the NBA world has.  You're better than that.

Then who are the players that will take us to new heights? You seem to have an awfully high bar. 

[AHF]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

Id take "fake" Joel Embiid on the Hawks 7 days a week and twice on Sunday. They can gladly have our "real one" Clint Capela and Jon Collins in exchange. 

You aren’t alone.  I would do that in a second as well.  I have no doubt that Trae would get more out of him than Harden and that Trae would not crawl into a fetal position down the stretch like Simmons and Harden.

[Spud2nique]

8 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Keep in mind this is after he criticized Jokic for winning mvp but not ever winning anything.

Meanwhile throwing everyone including his coach under the bus ! 
 

He might be the only African I don’t like in the league. Love me some OO, OG, Siakam, Giannis, etc.

This dude, something weird about him like Ben Simmons, Sixers got the faulty b!tchy goods. #thrusttheprocess (like hurl it into the sea )

2 minutes ago, AHF said:

You aren’t alone.

 

 

[bird_dirt]

11 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

He might be the only African I don’t like in the league. Love me some …Giannis, etc.

 

 

Whut?

You cooking with some of that African Tzatziki Sauce?

Edited May 16, 2023 by bird_dirt

[AHF]

19 hours ago, shakes said:

 

The Mikail Bridges screw up might low key be one of the worst moves in NBA history when you consider the following:

 

*Bridges played the exact position Philly needed

*Bridges is from Philly and just won 2 nattys with Villanova

*Bridges mom was a front office 76ers employee at the time fo that draft

*The guy the traded for has been the biggest bust of that entire draft.

*bridges has turned into one of the better 2 way wings in the NBA

 

No argument there.  I’m a big Bridges fan.  Bottom line is that good management can win taking a lot of different approaches but it doesn’t matter what approach you take if management stinks.  Philly is only any good because of all the assets that Hinkie left.  

[kg01]

26 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Then who are the players that will take us to new heights? You seem to have an awfully high bar. 

It's not that I have a high bar.  I just think people anoint guys way too fast and based on shaky criteria, if any at all.  I prefer to wait and see if they can and celebrate them when they do.

19 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

 

 

I now picture AH as this era Michael Jackson.

Also are we finally at the point where folks can admit the process was a failure?  And, no, I'm not buying the 'uh they fired hinkie too soon' nonsense.  

[macdaddy]

13 hours ago, bleachkit said:

Nor do really good wings want to stand around while Trae goes 7-30 from the field. Just saying. 

I don't know about that.  Trae at least leads the league in assists and points accounted for.  DJ, Bogi, Kev seemed happy to play with him.  Granted we haven't seen an all star wing yet unless you count DJ.  

[AHF]

Just now, kg01 said:

Also are we finally at the point where folks can admit the process was a failure?  And, no, I'm not buying the 'uh they fired hinkie too soon' nonsense.  

I'm not in that box.  If you ask a rebuilding team if they would be ok with a process that gets you Embiid, Simmons, Tatum and a half dozen other lottery picks along with the assets to get next level players like Bridges, Jimmy, Grant, Tobias, etc. and you just have to not screw that up too badly I think most of them will gladly sign up for that.

We've seen teams build through a lot of different approaches successfully and fail with those same approaches depending on execution.  I don't think the approach adopted by the Sixers is an approach where you can't succeed.  I also think the Sixers were in a fantastic position before Colangelo and company screwed the pooch picking up where Hinkie left off. You have multiple playoff teams this year built around the assets that Hinkie brought together.  I don't blame Hinkie for Bridges, Fultz, etc.

[AHF]

8 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I don't know about that.  Trae at least leads the league in assists and points accounted for.  DJ, Bogi, Kev seemed happy to play with him.  Granted we haven't seen an all star wing yet unless you count DJ.  

Trae ranked 12th in FGA/gm this season.  Do we really think nobody wants to play with these guys?

[bleachkit]

6 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I don't know about that.  Trae at least leads the league in assists and points accounted for.  DJ, Bogi, Kev seemed happy to play with him.  Granted we haven't seen an all star wing yet unless you count DJ.  

I'm of the view, the Hawks can't consistently win the playoffs with Trae as our best player. Trae is not shooting us into the promised land. But as a maestro with a dominant big and/or wing, then I think we are in business. 

[macdaddy]

Just now, bleachkit said:

I'm of the view, the Hawks can't consistently win the playoffs with Trae as our best player. Trae is not shooting us into the promised land. But as a maestro with a dominant big and/or wing, then I think we are in business. 

Absolutely.  Well i think Trae will still be our best player but i agree with your point that we can't have a mediocre front court and expect to do anything.   We need another all star there to win a title. 

[Diesel]

There are two shortsighted opinions that have been given in this thread. 

1. Embiid wouldn't be good here.  First, he's the reigning MVP.   2nd, Trae is better than any player that he has played with.   3rd, if we dont lose too much in the trade, we'd be in the finals. 
2. Nobody wants to play with Trae.   Uhm... Trae has led the league in assists over the last two years and he hasn't had the best players in the world to pass it to.  Bogi is our best scorer and he has feasted playing next to Trae.

Shortsighted. 

 

 

[kg01]

@Diesel, JoeLLLL-o would be great here.  He'd put up mvp reg season numbers.  Then he'd fade and be a non-factor when it matters most.  Thats the problem.

See, you can navigate through the season.  Pick and choose when you play, who you play against (hello Cody Zellers of the world, no thanks to anyone with a pulse). 

But in the playoffs, you gotta play every game.  Even against teams that can tax you.  Embiid has never shown an ability to navigate through that.  Prove me wrong.

[Diesel]

14 minutes ago, kg01 said:

@Diesel, JoeLLLL-o would be great here.  He'd put up mvp reg season numbers.  Then he'd fade and be a non-factor when it matters most.  Thats the problem.

See, you can navigate through the season.  Pick and choose when you play, who you play against (hello Cody Zellers of the world, no thanks to anyone with a pulse). 

But in the playoffs, you gotta play every game.  Even against teams that can tax you.  Embiid has never shown an ability to navigate through that.  Prove me wrong.

I would say... what's getting JoeLLLL-o going to cost us.

That's the main thing.   What is the cost.   

Remember Trae took us to the ECFs without a player of Joel's ability on the team.  If we're not completely depleted, we may be able to not need Joel as much.  Plus we have a better coach (IMO). 

 

 

[bird_dirt]

16 minutes ago, kg01 said:

@Diesel, JoeLLLL-o would be great here.  He'd put up mvp reg season numbers.  Then he'd fade and be a non-factor when it matters most.  Thats the problem.

See, you can navigate through the season.  Pick and choose when you play, who you play against (hello Cody Zellers of the world, no thanks to anyone with a pulse). 

But in the playoffs, you gotta play every game.  Even against teams that can tax you.  Embiid has never shown an ability to navigate through that.  Prove me wrong.

Do you think he’d see any bump if he was getting coached by Quin instead of Doc? 
I bet Quin would hold him to a higher standard, push him more both on and off the court. Whether JoeLLLL would take that well is another story. 

[AHF]

26 minutes ago, bird_dirt said:

Do you think he’d see any bump if he was getting coached by Quin instead of Doc? 
I bet Quin would hold him to a higher standard, push him more both on and off the court. Whether JoeLLLL would take that well is another story. 

Even if Embiid didn't "level up", changes in personnel and scheme could make a significant difference.  In that game 7, for example, Doc clearly dialed up a "feed the 3pt shooters" offense where Boston left open players like DeAnthony Melton and he got 5 shots in the 4th.  13 of the 21 shots went to open role players.  5 went to Harris.  Is there any conceivable word where the Hawks are not starting with the Trae-Embiid two man game as the core of their gameplay?  

I won't lose a moment of sleep if we don't get Embiid because I'm not a huge fan but he is a very good player and would fit so very well with Trae.  Doc has gotten a lot of mileage off of that one year with KG, PP, and Ray Allen.  I kind of think the days of any contender handing him the keys are over.

[kg01]

42 minutes ago, bird_dirt said:

Do you think he’d see any bump if he was getting coached by Quin instead of Doc? 
I bet Quin would hold him to a higher standard, push him more both on and off the court. Whether JoeLLLL would take that well is another story. 

Why would he change?  He's been paid and he's tha MVP.