Dirk was dreadful as a defender on the perimeter as he aged. even at his peak he was a mediocre to slightly above average defender at best

the value Dirk brought was his mid range and 3 point shooting, Horford has neither of those... and while he (Horford) was a good defender at one point, you can clearly see him losing a step especially when stretch bigs drag him out onto the perimeter and teams PnR him to death

as stated before; Brand and Brown thought that Horford could play alongside Embiid with the notion that Ben Simmons would improve his jump shot and Tobias Harris could play the 3. Neither of those things happened so now Horford's utility has been diminished to backup C

This post was edited by Giannis on Jun 12 2020 01:08pm

well, Dirk played until 40 yrs old. that is Horford in freaking 6 years. lol. dirk at 34 yr old took the spurs to 7 games with calderon and dalembert starting. the same spurs that made the heatles looked like fools in the finals.

thats were the majority of the players dont play anymore because they retire earlier.

This post was edited by darki99 on Jun 12 2020 01:10pm

again Dirk had value as a jump shooter that could stretch the floor with a deadly mid range and 3 pt shot even when contested. at best you could say Horford has a mid range shot when contested and is reliable from 3 when wide open

the teams Dirk and Duncan played on had different team makeups and the players you mention brought different skills themselves. this isn't transitive to the situation the 76ers have put themselves in with Horford

Horford isn't and has never been on the level of a Dirk or Duncan despite getting paid like one. he can't play in the starting unit for significant minutes because he can't stretch the floor to compensate for Tobias Harris being unable to play the 3 and Ben Simmons being totally unwilling to have any semblance of a jump shot

76ers biggest need entering this season by a long shot was backup center position.

Granted, Horford was signed to start and play a bigger role considering they gave him a max deal, the addition was expected to benefit the Sixers the most in the playoffs when Embiid sits or god forbid is hurt or has to sit out games during the season. There should be far less pressure to push Embiid to huge minutes like last season. We all saw what a disaster the Sixers big man depth was last season in the playoffs, they got obliterated the second Embiid stepped off the floor because nobody could defend the rim and they were all too slow to defend the perimeter too. Horford is/was an elite defender and while he has definitely not been as good on either end in Philly as he was in Atlanta/Boston we still have to see what he brings in the playoffs when the game slows down. At the end of the day the Sixers have to get through Milwaukee if they want to win a chip and having Embiid and Horford on the roster gives us the best odds of being able to slow Giannis as much as one can slow that freak slender man. They also expected Horford to be able to hit threes at a higher rate, considering he shot over 38% from 3pt in his previous three seasons while in Boston he suddenly forgot how to shoot consistently because he's really not a good fit at PF anymore and is best fit at C.

Tobias is best fit at PF, he stretches the floor and rebounds well. Horford is best fit at center, and PF really doesn't fit him anymore especially next to Embiid. So at this point even though his contract is huge, he's still best to come off the bench and spell Embiid. He'll still get 25 or more minutes a game depending on matchups, etc. He'll still play next to Embiid, just not AS much.

Plus, let's be real.... Sixers fans want and expect Shake Milton in the starting lineup. After seeing what he can do tearing it up when he was given his shot with Simmons out, the kid can ball and shoot lights out. BB has already said he's going to get big minutes when basketball returns and reports indicate he is expected to be a starter.

Ben Simmons
Shake Milton
Josh Richardson
Tobias Harris
Joel Embiid

Also, can't wait to see Shake pick up where he left off. This kid breaking out helps offset the terrible Horford contract, considering the Sixers wisely locked Shake Milton up to a long term deal before he was even established in the NBA and he's greatly exceeding the value of his contract (which is barely above vet minimum level of salary for the next 3 years). I think this could turn out to be one of the smartest signings the team has made in a long time value wise.

Loved watching him give Pat Beverly and the Clippers the business, just hope we can get him and Simmons to gel in the backcourt with Simmons back healthy

If nothing else, his 3pt shooting will be a great addition to a healthy team now.



This post was edited by Sixers on Jun 12 2020 02:16pm

Simmons/Burks/Neto
Milton/Korkmaz/GR3
Richardson/Thybulle/Zhaire
Harris/Scott/O'Quinn
Embiid/Horford/Pelle

Bledsoe/Hill/Mason
Matthews/DiVincenzo/Brown
Middleton/Connaughton/Korver
Giannis/Ersan/Marvin
Brook/Robin/Thanasis

Bucks have a deeper rotation of guys that won't be liabilities, 76ers more exposed to injury to any role player

This post was edited by Giannis on Jun 12 2020 02:35pm

Come playoff time depth really doesn't matter outside of your top 8 or 9 guys, and that shrinks as the playoffs go on. When push comes to shove and the big games come up the star players will give you 40 minutes or more a night and you may really only rely on one or two guys off the bench. I mean look at the 76ers vs Raptors playoff series last year, Embiid was playing 35+ minutes in 3 of the last 4 games and in game 7 he played over 45 minutes lol. Now with this huge layoff, guys are going to come back rested and the normal playoff fatigue from a long regular season won't be an issue. This will allow starters to play bigger minutes without getting dead legs. There also won't be the whole traveling fatigue either, so it's going to be a different game that's for sure.

Either way though, the Sixers have more reliable depth this season than they did last year in the playoffs so they have that going for them. Last year the only reliable guys off the bench were Mike Scott and James fucking Ennis who came out of nowhere to be an energy guy. and somehow hit shots


In regards to the backup PG spot, Milton will just shift to point (where he has been excelling this season anyway when Simmons was out) and he'll run point when Simmons is getting a breather and vice versa. You'll probably see Milton come off the floor first, and then when Simmons is slotted to get his breather you'll see Milton step back in to take that role. You won't see many instances (if any) where at least one of them isn't on the floor. I doubt we see many situations where Alec Burks is running point in the playoffs, let alone seeing much time on the floor. Fun fact: Over the 16 game stretch of starts prior to the shutdown, Shake Milton was averaging 28 minutes a night, shooting 53.9% from the field, 50% from three, averaging 14.1 points on 9.5 shots (67.2% true shooting) for an eye-popping offensive rating of 128. In his last 7 games games, Milton was averaging 20 PPG and 4 APG on a ridiculous 59% FG and 61% 3pt.


Starting lineup will hopefully be:

Ben Simmons
Shake Milton
Josh Richardson
Tobias Harris
Joel Embiid

Horford and Scott are the primary backup bigs for the 4/5, but if Mike Scott shoots like shit i'm sure BB will pull the plug on him early because he hasn't looked great this year by any means. Horford (despite his underachieving play this season) is "built" for the playoffs and should give the Sixers a much needed boost as 6th man and big man depth that they lacked last year, even if he's not what we expected for a max contract he's going to see big minutes and i'm sure there will be games where he may close games out (depending on matchups) instead of someone like Milton due to the fact that Milton is so inexperienced still.

Thybulle and Korkmaz will split minutes depending on matchups and situations, there aren't enough minutes to go around for them both to get consistent rotation minutes in the playoffs. Thybulle being the defensive ace, and Korkmaz being the shooter. Thybulle being a rookie will play against his favor, but if his ankle is healthy and he can get back to shooting like he was the first half of the season then his role should be solidified because of his excellent defense (while Korkmaz is shit defensively).

RGIII is like a better version of James Ennis (who somehow played 21 MPG off the bench in last years playoffs), so he will get minutes for sure especially as a primary wing stopper if Simmons is on the bench at any point. He will be a key part of the bench rotation.

Read an article earlier though and this pretty much put it into perspective:




Anyways, i'm done ranting. In reality who the fuck really knows what BB will do rotation wise, he could plug Raul Neto in there randomly like he did at random points int he season (he seems to love him for some reason).

Haven't been able to talk basketball in a while so feels good to actually discuss rotations and matchups and shit. Can't wait for this shit to kick off.

This post was edited by Sixers on Jun 12 2020 03:43pm

the Bucks could feasibly play a dozen guys in meaningful playoff minutes

Bledsoe/Hill
Wes/Donte
Middleton/Connaughton/Korver
Giannis/Ersan/Marvin
Brook/Robin

Marvin for defense. Korver for 3's. it's possible that Hill doesn't play; he says his mind is more on the movement. He grew up in a racist town in Indy, witnessed family members brutalized and killed by the police.

if that's the case then we'll have to move Connaughton into a guard spot and run Sterling Brown

No team in the league is more dependant on one player than the Bucks though lol. Its the Giannis show, if he went down they'd free fall.

Dude is a monster though, and the Bucks have nicely built a team of shooters around him.