5 Big Sixers Questions
It won't always be this bad (maybe).
1. What’s a reasonable expectation for the look and feel of the team should Joel Embiid actually come back during the regular season?
I’m really banging my head over this because I genuinely don’t know. There’s so much about this team that we honestly don’t know, to be fair. We do know they’re a mess on defense without him and generally not good in transition —and to put a bow on this whole thing, they’re a tier-2 lottery team in his absence. That aside, the original Maxey-Melton-Harris-Batum-Embiid lineup incinerated every team put in front of it, and if that’s what Nick Nurse decides to run with come Jo return and round one playoffs, I can’t imagine a deviation from the original norm.
2. Do you foresee a playoff rotation with less Tobias Harris?
Bluntly, the team seems hellbent on breaking him out of his slump (which is the right thing if you’re continuing to start him) — so no, I see him starting the rest of the season and playoffs, unless he really keeps stinking shit up and Nurse has literally no choice. Let me be clear though, I very much don’t think he’ll break this funk anytime soon, which is horrifying but truly my belief. Ricky Council IV deserves some of those minutes, and I know it’s been said that he will get a chance to keep showing and proving, but time will tell just how true that will hold.
3. Is there a backup big problem (again)?
NO.
No. There’s a problem where Paul Reed intuitively is a herky-jerky movement guy and people (his coaches/some fans) have yet to catch up, so every time he does something that doesn’t look fluid or overthinks with the ball on his hands, he’s probably got it in his head that the hook and Mo Bamba at the scorer’s table is on the way. The conversation about who should/shouldn’t get minutes in general is exhausting, albeit necessary in some cases — except BBall’s, he’s earned them, and unless you decide to run Batum as the small ball five, until 21 returns there’s no better option.
4. Given his play, have your Kyle Lowry expectations changed at all?
Yes but not really. Not sure what his legs are going to give him each night, but damn if he doesn’t still have that stone-cold dog in him. The barking instructions, staring guys down after mistakes, shit-talking walking back to the huddle. Real Catholic Leaguer right there, check his resumé.
5. Who wins the quiet tournament (love you for life, Brett) for fifth and final starter once Embiid returns?
My early vote would probably be for Melton, given the reasons discussed already on The Danny. But Buddy Hield is going to make that an extremely tough decision for Nick Nurse. Love Kelly Oubre but I really don’t trust him enough at the moment; we’ll see how he ends the season, though.
SPIKE’S CORNER - I'M GOING TO LET TOBIAS GO IN PEACE
Every week, Spike or Mike will write a column here about something they care about. This week is Spike's turn, and he's explaining why he’s (probably) not going to bother getting mad about Tobias Harris anymore (for now).
As MOC has documented previously, there’s always a balance of good Tobias stretches, bad ones, and normal ones. Over the length of his contract with the Sixers, approximately 32 years, we’ve seen plenty of all three.
It’s been a bad Tobias week. It’s been a bad Tobias few weeks, if we’re being honest.
He looks HORRIBLE. As bad as he can possibly look. He’s smoking layups at a Melton-like rate, his off-ball defense is atrocious, he will not BEND OVER AND GET ONE FUCKING LOOSE BALL. Just bend over! He shoots two threes a game and lots of times doesn’t make either of them. He’s been really bad, and without Embiid (and with the losses piling up), everyone seems to notice.
But I’m done piling on. I think for the rest of his tenure here, I’m going to let it all slide. I’m going to let Tobias Harris go in peace. As he walks through the door one final time in Camden, with a book in one hand, and a bindle in the other, I’m going to allow him to do it in silence.
I was scrolling through the internet on Tuesday night, and the anti-Tobias sentiment had hit an understandable fever pitch. The entirety of the Sixers Reddit was posts about how much he’s getting paid per point, pleas to cut him, to bench him, all of it. Twitter wasn’t any different. And I get it, I do. I’m not going to try and talk you into being nicer, you’ve got every right to hammer away at your keyboard that he got paid $400,000 to score seven points. But me, I kinda feel bad at this point.
Tobias Harris is who he is, and he’s always been who he is. He’s a pretty good player that is way overpaid. I am actually doubtful that he’s a starter on a championship team, and he’s on the final year of a contract that pays him the most amount of money that a team was allowed to pay him per the collective bargaining agreement. But I no longer feel like I can publicly be mad at him for just being himself. I don’t think he wants to suck and I don’t think he has the ability to change much of it. This is his 13th season, and there aren’t a ton of examples of a player hitting his prime a decade and a half into his career.
You may say, “he’s getting paid $40 million, he should be better!” You’d be correct. You may say, “I have every right to boo the shit out of him and tweet till my heart is content that he sucks.” You are correct. This is not a plea for you to stop, I am just letting you know that’s what I’m gonna do.
I do reserve the right to curse at him out loud at home as I watch the games. I also reserve the right to objectively talk about his play on the Ricky. It’s also fair to note that I may change my mind in a fit of rage. Or if Mike does the thing where he says how good his on-ball defense is.
We don’t want him here, true, but he doesn’t want to be here. The season is going to end and he’s going to leave. We will talk about him in the same “can you believe that happened” way that we’ve talked about so many players and things over the last decade plus of Sixers basketball. I look forward to the day when we can remember him as a pretty good player who read a lot of books, was on the Ricky once and was just one of the hundreds of questionable decisions made by Sixers leadership during the Process era.