FanPost

Kept All the Bigs!!!

OMG! OMG!

We are only six weeks out from the first preseason game!!!

"The Sixers will tip-off the preseason on October 4 with a tilt against the Boston Celtics at 7:00 p.m. at the Mullins Center on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The Sixers two home preseason games will be against Washington (October 6) and Detroit (October 15), with tickets available for purchase online at Sixers.com or in person at the box office starting on August 22. The team will visit Cleveland (October 8), Memphis (October 11), Washington (October 13) and Miami (October 21) as part of the preseason slate."

I love me some Brett Brown. If for no other reason than his interviews.

Asked whether he is expecting to have both Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel at the beginning of the season, he answered, "Yes, I am. And I’m excited about that!"

Keep All the Bigs, Baby!

He’s been telling anyone who’ll listen that Ben Simmons will have the ball in hands controlling our offense. No matter what position you call him on offense, Simmons also has the lateral and horizontal quickness and intelligence to defend lots of guards in the NBA. We should also recognize that the guys Simmons would have trouble defending can also destroy Sergio Rodriguez, Jerry Bayless and Nik Stauskas. None of them can hold their own one on one with James Harden. Simmons has.

With Simmons in the backcourt and Joel Embiid in the middle, the Sixers will benefit far more than by just having each of them on the team. The Sixers have room and roles for all six of our bigs--Embiid, Noel, Okafor, Saric, Landry, Holmes.

I’m not a believer in WinShares. But let’s play with the concept for a minute.

Simmons skills will project to add "X" to our win total. And Joel Embiid will add "Y". Then of course there’s Dario Saric "A", Sergio Rodriguez "B", Jerryd Bayless "C", and Gerald Henderson "D". We can also add a little off-season development and conditioning from existing players Robert Covington "E", Jerami Grant "F", Jahlil Okafor "G", Nerlens Noel "H", Richaun Holmes "I", TJ McConnell "J".

Just to keep it simple, if we say Simmons adds two games by himself, and if Embiid adds two games by himself, if Saric and the signees add just one game apiece, and if conditioning and development can give us just a half-game: That’d be 11 more wins. 21 total.

The reason I think that’s wildly conservative is because not only do Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid represent an increase in wins if they were the only addition to a team, the combination of the two brings on a multiplier effect. When you add outliers like Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, an offense with no identity gains one immediately. Rebounds and fast breaks. Picks and rolls. Posts and kicks. When you add Brett Brown’s assessment of Simmons’ and Embiid’s shooting ability—that he already counts 7’2 Embiid amongst the team’s three point shooters and that he believes Simmons’ jumper is not broken—the combination of the two will be much, much greater than the sum of their individual parts. Any team centered around Simmons and Embiid in the pick and roll would win more than the 10 games we won last year, without any regard whatsoever to who’s around them.

Now let’s also think for a moment about the myriad ways an offense designed around Embiid and Simmons helps make our other players better.

Remember that efficiency and development, while not mutually exclusive, are in serious tension with each other. Development requires one to do that which he is uncomfortable and will often fail. This hurts one’s efficiency ratings in the short term, but is best for the player and the team in the long run.

Nerlens Noel handling the rock and going one on one in the post. Robert Covington and Jerami Grant playing isolation ball, awkwardly taking their man off the dribble and literally crashing into help defenders. Each was designed to make them more complete players. But it was painful to watch. And didn’t help the team win much, obviously.

Now…. Each of them will improve their efficiency simply by doing less. By staying within themselves.

With Simmons and Embiid on the floor on offense, Nerlens can play exclusively above the rim, were he’s at his best. He’s DeAndre Jordan in a Clippers offense centered around Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. On the ground, Nerlens is a good passer, and will serve as a good outlet for when Simmons and others are trapped. Nerlens has to keep developing. But after the last two years of training, he’s not completely useless on the offensive end as your last option. Better than Tyrone Hill, right? Lol.

On defense, Noel guards centers when Embiid is not in the game for rest or health. He doesn’t have to guard the behemoths, since Jahlil can be brought in to do that. And Brett Brown can stick him on any player at any position who is giving us the business one on one. With Joel in the game, I’d have Nerlens Noel shadow Kevin Durant or Carmelo Anthony or Paul George. We’d switch everywhere else except with Nerlens on the other teams’ wing or forward scorer. Like #24 Bobby Jones, the legend.

Robert Covington is a three and D players if there ever was one. He has no business trying to beat people off the dribble in isolation. That he tried to do it last year means that he will be much better at pumpfaking and punishgin overaggressive closeouts this year. That’s the point of development. Each time nowadays he should have a clear path to the basket, instead of trying to be all creative as the focal point.

Since he will no longer have ballhandling responsibilities, Covington long-armed defense can guard other 3 and D types, regardless whether they are designated shooting guards or small forwards. Kentavious Caldwell Pope, Rodney Hood, Kris Middleton, Evan Fournier, Klay Thompson, etc. Covington got that.

How high will Jerami Grant’s shooting percentages climb when he’s on the receiving end of inside passes and lobs from Simmons, Rodriguez and Saric??? No need for Jerami to go isolation anymore. Which means about a hundred less offensive fouls and other turnovers over the course of a season! From now on, Jerami can simply copycat Eddie Jones’ career on the baseline. His PER will go up because of it. More from less.

Embiid’s presence is a similar blessing for Okafor’s weak defense. With Embiid and Noel, not to mention Richaun Holmes, Okafor gets better simply by not having to play center. The Modern NBA is asking power forwards to shoot more and create off the dribble (post) less. Closing out on fours is something Okafor will not be great at. But there are fewer and fewer fours who have any handle at all.

Besides not playing center, Okafor will be assigned to the least threatening forward because we can have Nerlens, Jerami, or Covington playing next to him taking on the more challenging offensive forward. Against Charlotte, Okafor guards Michael Kidd Gilchrist. What’s he gonna do?

Even Saric’s defensive question marks against NBA power forwards and smalls are mitigated by having a legitimate NBA center at the rim, protecting Saric by himself, and at the same time allowing Nerlens and Jerami to provide help defense from the wing. Other teams don’t want a convention in the paint with us. They will lose every time.

There’s some other intangible benefits from our off season moves, including anticipating TJ’s accelerated development with Sergio in the fold, and simply not having Isaiah Canaan or Nik Stauskas on the floor ever again. When either was on the floor, the other team’s offense quickly focused on pulling up their skirts. No more!

Bad players not only kill coaches, they make good players look weak. Good players make others better. We are bringing on several good players who will increase this team’s win total by more than just their individual performances!

Maybe not to start the season, maybe not to start a game, but at some point this season you will see the tallest lineup in NBA history--Ben Simmons, Robert Covington, Nerlens Noel (Grant), Dario Saric (Okafor), and Joel Embiid--and it will be beautiful.

Whatever the line is in Vegas, I got the over!!!

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