Classic Sixers: Stinking It Up in the Cup Tourney to Enjoy the Extra Five Days of Rest
Zo catches up with the Sixers at the end of their unofficial winter break.
Team Ricky Rundown
Mad Max becoming THE GUY earlier than projected, is putting some serious pressure on the PG/Embiid situation and resolution.
Bron continuing to show his love of Philly and going full 2017-2019 against the Sixers certainly contrasts with Jo’s empty shell of a night.
The VJ/Maxey game, the most fun of the early season. (Sorry Melt.)
MOC with multiple avenues the Sixers could use to address the Maxey timeline speeding past the Embiid/George one.
Finds Around the League
A calf strain used to sound like something a weekend hooper would shake off. Now? It’s basically a red alert. Giannis goes down with one, and the whole Bucks universe hits pause. Tyrese Haliburton tweaked his, (admirably) tried to play through it and it turned into the achilles rupture seen and heard around the world. Soft-tissue season is real, and calf strains are running the league right now like a storyline nobody asked for. Until sports science catches up, and/or Snake Silver decides 82 games and 20 back-to-backs is too taxing, NBA fans are going to keep treating those two little words like the jump-scare we all see coming — but still aren’t ready for.
Ausar Thompson isn’t anywhere close to his brother offensively but that aside the Pistons are so very real. They look terrifying with Jalen Duren, Catholic League legend, on the floor patrolling both ends of the paint, and Cade Cunningham making dudes look silly up and down the court.
If you’ve been watching the Sixers this season and felt a weird mix of hope and a weird mix of confusion and anger every time Joel Embiid steps on the court, to quote Bruce Willis in America’s favorite Christmas Movie, “Welcome to the party pal.”
My only commentary on these rankings is they are most absurdly silly. Banking on any kind of consistency from an NBA rookie is dumb enough, but ranking guys on it is just stupid.
Lawrence Frank & Steve Ballmer directly responsible for what’s quickly shaping up to be basketball’s next dynasty. State of Oklahoma should plant 2,000 trees in their honor.
Five things to care about
College basketball’s top 10 includes Duke, Arizona, Michigan and Purdue all being in the top 5. I know I’m such a boomer with this take but the sport is just so much better with the blueboods doing well.
I’ve waivered back and forth, not really sure where I land, but I think for the first time ever, I’m finally ready to join Team Trade Jo. Ironically, for me at least, it has been about the fact that he just can’t do much of anything anymore and it’s going to/starting to hurt the team more than help now and in the long term.
Those couple games on Trendon Watford looking like a real dude feel like literal ages ago. I like him a lot and feel like he’s still serviceable when he’s back, or if he’s back in the rotation if for nothing else than as a guy who can help push the pace a bit.
MOC hit on it in his Maxey article, but the new NBA is going to be really fun. OKC aside, there’s no empires on the horizon, and those guys care too much about public perception to be heels so we’ll see. The bigger point should be that if you have a consensus top 10-12-ish guy, you’ve officially got a chance each year, and should keep working to maximize his backing cast.
My Nick Nurse grade so far is incomplete. We’re not even sure if this is the final form of his roster but if so, I think he gets a C+/B. He doesn’t deserve to be canned and honestly probably doesn’t even deserve the hot seat — but also, he’s really just been living and dying with turning Maxey into dust up until this point. So really, who knows.
