I keep on seeing this idea that the Sixers should trade Ben Simmons and well that may be a indicator of low intelligence it did get me thinking about another player on the team that they could consider trading. JJ Redick the 3 point shooting specialist, who makes $12.5 million for this year. (Yes I know that the JJ has essentially a no-trade clause because of early bird rights so this us ultimate purely a hypothetical) JJ is an extremely important part of the Sixers offense as he is the only pure shooter of the sixers starters, a five man group that ranks as on of the best in the NBA, but he is having one of his worst seasons from the behind the arc in his career and cannot cover any one which can cause issues when the sixers have to go to the bench and do not match him with above average defensive players like Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Jimmy Butler.
If JJ could be traded there are only two types of trade that would make sense from a Sixers perspective. A trade where his 12.5 million salary is used to match up with a higher paid player, like Otto Porter or Bradley Beal. The issue with these trades is that from the Sixers perspective Wilson Chandler would be the better player to send off and the Wizards, or other rebuilding team are not going to want JJ so it would need to be a 3 team trade.
The other type of trade is moving JJ to a "contender" for a few young players that would fit into the Sixers bench. The team that appears to need shooting more than anyone, outside of maybe the sixers, is the Lakers. It would fulfill the destiny of JJ to play with Lebron and take the Kover role for the twilight of his career. Now looking down the Lakers roster what would the Sixers want. Well the first option would be Ball and Ingram, if the two former number 2 picks continue to show that they cannot work with Lebron would they consider shipping the duo out of town for a player that fits perfectly with Lebron, yes they would but that player is not JJ so unless Ingram starts joining Ball in the airballing layup line the Lakers are looking to turn these pieces into a bigger prize like Anthony Davis
(http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ya7ffp6j)
The other option for the Sixers Lakers would be a deal of Redick for Caldwell-Pope and Hart. The philly fans be all over this because it would bring the Villanova product back to Philadelphia and provide the team with two wing players that could defend. Both Lakers players shoot over 36% from behind the arc but neither are on JJ's level of threat from three. KCP like JJ is a free agent at the end of the year and Hart is on contract of under 2 million for next year so the trade would not be a major impact either teams ability to go after free agents in the off season.
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y89zqff6
Now would this trade fix the Sixers bench problem possibly due to the increased amount of players that can actually play defense but it would would hurt from a spacing point of view because neither has the ability JJ has to hit shots on the move or off the dribble. It would also create an issue for the Sixers offense as the Redick Embiid DHO is such a large part of it. Would Brown move Butler into JJ's role in the offense or would they change things completely.
The Lakers would prefer to include Ball in the trade instead of Hart which would mean the Sixers would need to send more salary back which would make the trade impossible.
Now there is no way that this trade would ever happen because of JJ's early bird rights but if people are willing to consider trading Ben maybe the sixers should also consider trading JJ.
Showing posts with label Ball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ball. Show all posts
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Sixer's bench is not as bad as you think, it's actually worse
There are a few age old rules of the NBA based around the idea that since only 5 players per team are on the court at a time and one player can dominate the ball on both sides of the court in a fashion unlike any sport you always want the best player in a trade. The Philadelphia 76ers were presented with the opportunity to turn to 7/10 players, Covington and Dario into a 9/10 player in Jimmy Butler. In terms of team building you do the trade 10 out of 10 times as you should be able to fill in the other roster spots with players that can provide positive contributions in limited roles. Turns out that when you make the trade 10 games into the season instead of before the season starts it is a bit harder to find those other pieces.
From the sixers perspective there was no chance that they were going to win a NBA title this year prior to the trade, unless the Warriors had some major injuries. After the trade it is arguable that the starting lineup can match the fire power but being realistic the trade decrease the sixers odds to win the title because it removed all depth on the team. Assuming that Butler replaces the minutes that Covington gave the team, there are still 32 minutes that Dario played that need to be filled with no good answers on how to fill them assuming playing Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid more minutes is out of the question because you want them to have long and healthy careers.
The options are Mike Muscalla, a player who struggled to make it on the floor for one of the worst teams in the NBA last year and is best suited to play 10 minutes at the 5 against smaller backup centers when Embiid rest and a few minutes a night next to Embiid at the 4, not close to 25 minutes a game as he struggles to shoot from behind the arc. Shooting 34% from 3 so far he has not provided the constant perimeter threat that Dario did at the beginning of the season or last season.
Wilson Chandler- A player who is near the end of his nba journey. Injuries have sapped most of his athleticism and at times he can bring positive play if he goes over 20 minutes in the game you can see the decline in his play. It is hard to get more out of him then the sixers are getting as he is a role player that understands he is meant to play defense and hit open shots. So far the defense has been decent as long as he does not get switched onto the opposing point guard and the shot has been connection at 40% from beyond the arc. He currently is starting and plays 26 minutes a game which is already to many minutes for a player with his injury history.
Amir Johnson- yeah he is currently just a waste of a roster space. He aged about 5 years in one season last year and it is clear that he just does not have it athleticaly to play the way the sixers need him to play. Any time given to him is just asking for the opponent to go on a 10-0 run.
Jonah Bolden- The kid is raw and there are issues with the defense and it is unclear if he can consistently make shots but he has more athleticism than any the above 3 players combined. It is unlikely that the 1st year player could make a major impact but he could provide another player who can switch on most players and put up some resitence when players attack the rim. Something the sixers struggle at when Embiid is not in the game. Earlier in the season the 76ers started Fultz and brought JJ off the bench to develop confidence in his game well the rotation could use some tweaking again and injecting Bolden into the lineup could allow Chandler to help with bench units and keep the team afloat when two of Butler, Embiid and Simmons are on the bench.
The sixers have another major problem with the players off the bench at the guard position. TJ is not good enough to be the best guard off the bench and run the point for 20 minutes a night. Shamet cannot cover anyone, though he will get better with experience and Korkmaz is a plus shooter but negative defender like Shamet. Korkmaz and Shamet provide spacing as both are above average 3 pointers but at this point in their young careers they give little in terms of ball handling or defense. Both are thin bodies but it appears that they may be able to work there way into being average to slightly below average defenders instead of turnstiles, which they currently are.
The Sixers need a guard who can cover the opposing teams point guard for extended minutes a night. The player that was supposed to fill this role was either Markelle Fultz or Zaire Smith both dealing with injuries that are keeping them off the floor. Even when Markelle struggled with his shoot he showed that he could be a dominate defensive players when he set his mind to it. The issue was at times when the offense was not going well he would become disinterested in the defensive part of the game. Smith has not played this season, due to a broken foot and allergic reaction. Out of Texas Tech he appeared to be a tenacious on ball defender who had elite NBA athleticism. With a floor of Tony Allen he was the type of player the Sixers were missing when they faced off against the Celtics in the playoffs last summer.
The Sixers once again have on the best starting lineups in the NBA but when the star players are off the court the bench proves unable to do anything. The large load on the starters will continue to take it's toll on the starters and the players will show more fatigue as the season goes on.
The team is far from a finished project and needs another wing and big man to fill out the roster. The player could be waiting to return from injury or may be lurking on the roster of team that is heading towards the lottery this year. The sixers still have the mid level exception but there is no one worth using it on just yet. The problems facing the team are fixable but a reminder that it takes a team to win in the NBA today not just 3 great players.
From the sixers perspective there was no chance that they were going to win a NBA title this year prior to the trade, unless the Warriors had some major injuries. After the trade it is arguable that the starting lineup can match the fire power but being realistic the trade decrease the sixers odds to win the title because it removed all depth on the team. Assuming that Butler replaces the minutes that Covington gave the team, there are still 32 minutes that Dario played that need to be filled with no good answers on how to fill them assuming playing Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid more minutes is out of the question because you want them to have long and healthy careers.
The options are Mike Muscalla, a player who struggled to make it on the floor for one of the worst teams in the NBA last year and is best suited to play 10 minutes at the 5 against smaller backup centers when Embiid rest and a few minutes a night next to Embiid at the 4, not close to 25 minutes a game as he struggles to shoot from behind the arc. Shooting 34% from 3 so far he has not provided the constant perimeter threat that Dario did at the beginning of the season or last season.
Wilson Chandler- A player who is near the end of his nba journey. Injuries have sapped most of his athleticism and at times he can bring positive play if he goes over 20 minutes in the game you can see the decline in his play. It is hard to get more out of him then the sixers are getting as he is a role player that understands he is meant to play defense and hit open shots. So far the defense has been decent as long as he does not get switched onto the opposing point guard and the shot has been connection at 40% from beyond the arc. He currently is starting and plays 26 minutes a game which is already to many minutes for a player with his injury history.
Amir Johnson- yeah he is currently just a waste of a roster space. He aged about 5 years in one season last year and it is clear that he just does not have it athleticaly to play the way the sixers need him to play. Any time given to him is just asking for the opponent to go on a 10-0 run.
Jonah Bolden- The kid is raw and there are issues with the defense and it is unclear if he can consistently make shots but he has more athleticism than any the above 3 players combined. It is unlikely that the 1st year player could make a major impact but he could provide another player who can switch on most players and put up some resitence when players attack the rim. Something the sixers struggle at when Embiid is not in the game. Earlier in the season the 76ers started Fultz and brought JJ off the bench to develop confidence in his game well the rotation could use some tweaking again and injecting Bolden into the lineup could allow Chandler to help with bench units and keep the team afloat when two of Butler, Embiid and Simmons are on the bench.
The sixers have another major problem with the players off the bench at the guard position. TJ is not good enough to be the best guard off the bench and run the point for 20 minutes a night. Shamet cannot cover anyone, though he will get better with experience and Korkmaz is a plus shooter but negative defender like Shamet. Korkmaz and Shamet provide spacing as both are above average 3 pointers but at this point in their young careers they give little in terms of ball handling or defense. Both are thin bodies but it appears that they may be able to work there way into being average to slightly below average defenders instead of turnstiles, which they currently are.
The Sixers need a guard who can cover the opposing teams point guard for extended minutes a night. The player that was supposed to fill this role was either Markelle Fultz or Zaire Smith both dealing with injuries that are keeping them off the floor. Even when Markelle struggled with his shoot he showed that he could be a dominate defensive players when he set his mind to it. The issue was at times when the offense was not going well he would become disinterested in the defensive part of the game. Smith has not played this season, due to a broken foot and allergic reaction. Out of Texas Tech he appeared to be a tenacious on ball defender who had elite NBA athleticism. With a floor of Tony Allen he was the type of player the Sixers were missing when they faced off against the Celtics in the playoffs last summer.
The Sixers once again have on the best starting lineups in the NBA but when the star players are off the court the bench proves unable to do anything. The large load on the starters will continue to take it's toll on the starters and the players will show more fatigue as the season goes on.
The team is far from a finished project and needs another wing and big man to fill out the roster. The player could be waiting to return from injury or may be lurking on the roster of team that is heading towards the lottery this year. The sixers still have the mid level exception but there is no one worth using it on just yet. The problems facing the team are fixable but a reminder that it takes a team to win in the NBA today not just 3 great players.
Monday, December 17, 2018
Where better to start than the beginning
Hi, world.
I guess the best first post, or at least the way I am going about is to explain what this blog is going to be about and provide some of my motivation for starting to write a blog. Well, the main reason I decided to start this little pet project is that I am a bit bored and wanted to share some of my thoughts with no one in particular. I don't expect many people to read this since I don't plan on advertising that I have been writing till I have a couple months of content. (It would be interesting to see if people go back and read the old articles plus I want to fool around with the formatting and seeing what works and doesn't work) Sorry to those that end up here in the early part of the blog. Come back in about 3 months to see if I figured things out.
I see there really being three main topics that I am going to write about; Movies, sports and Food (mainly BBQ). The movies are going to be reviews of the movies I see in theater so mainly newer ones, but there might be some of older movies that watch on TV as well as trends I see in movies and a general this is what I like about movies and this is what I think does not work. That might touch on narrative structure, example I enjoy the non-linear story, think pulp fiction but that doesn't work in ever movie, or what makes a great modern day villain.
Sports wise I see this touching on any subject that is interesting to me at the time. There is going to be some personal moves, roster construction, strategy, recaps of games, random Sixers rumors, and maybe some of how my golf game is going this week. When the summer comes around I'll start doing some preseason fantasy football rankings and maybe some strategy and how I see roster construction
Que wise is for BBQ, but it will cover other food options as well. It is going to explore the South Jersey BBQ scene as well as other areas that I travel too. I just got back form a trip to Kansas City which is where I came up with the idea so there will be a post about that trip.
I might do some other fun posts like random power rankings or short stories that I feel inspired to write. Possible interviews of grill masters or just people that enjoy eating.
Well that covers the topics and on some philosophical points this blog is mainly for my enjoyment and I hope my readers enjoy but that means I will not be going off on politics even as relates to sports. This is supposed to be a fun escape from life and I hope it can be for others as well.
Well I believe that introduction are best short, sweet and to the point, hopefully people enjoy this a tenth as much as I enjoy writing it.
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