Quote (piatek @ Jul 15 2020 06:48pm)

RIP Allen Iverson about to be cancelled.

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Every minute Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Al Horford shared the court this season, Philadelphia’s offense looked stuck in the mud, scoring less than a point per possession (0.98) and with all the spacing of a New York subway at rush hour.

For a few games in February, coach Brett Brown came upon a “this might save my job” solution — moving Horford to the bench to get more shooting on the floor. That lasted just three games before reality hit hard, first Simmons’ back pain had him out (meaning Horford was back in as a starter), then came the coronavirus and the interruption of the season.

In Orlando for the restart and with a fully healthy Simmons (something the 76ers would not have had if the playoffs started as scheduled in April) Brown is leaning into his February idea:

Ben Simmons has been practicing at the four, Shake Milton moved in as the starting point guard, and Al Horford has slid to the bench.

On paper, this looks like the kind of move that could unleash the sleeping giant that is the 76ers.

However, the reality is this new starting five — Milton, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, Simmons, and Embiid — has not played one minute together this season, and after just eight seeding games they are going to be asked to play important minutes together against quality teams.

It’s a move that has the league saying, “but if it works…”

Brown’s high risk/high reward play makes the Sixers the most interesting team to watch in Orlando.

If this comes together quickly, Philadelphia is a threat to Milwaukee to come out of the East. Or, the Sixers could continue to be an all defense, no offense team that finds itself leaving Florida after the first round of the playoffs.

Quote (Embiid @ Jul 20 2020 05:08pm)

Shake Milton is gonna show what the sixers were supposed to look like if Markelle Fultz didn't go full retard

Quote (Giannis @ Jul 20 2020 06:18pm)

Dragic will toy with him. Sixers are built to protect the painted area but the Heat have the shooters to punish them from playing big

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We left the NBA just after trade and buyout season. Top teams were incorporating new players and adjusting after injuries.

Here are 13 new or newish lineups I'm excited to watch when the games start.

Philadelphia 76ers

Shake Milton (!), Josh Richardson, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid: 0 minutes.

Just when I think I'm out, the Sixers -- my preseason pick to make the NBA Finals, my siren song -- pull me back in. Philly experimented with Al Horford as sixth man before Simmons injured his back. The Sixers liked what they saw -- including a Feb. 11 home win (because Philly only wins at home) over the Clippers that was one of the most intense and well-played games leaguewide all season.

The Sixers are minus-9 with Simmons, Horford, and Embiid together, and their offense has disintegrated. Their now-mothballed starting five has scored at the rate of the Bulls' 29th-ranked offense.

It's not that Horford is a bad 3-point shooter, or much worse than Milton, though he has been this season. (Milton is shooting 45% from deep.) But Horford is 6-foot-9, and 34, and has lived most of his basketball life from the foul line in.

It just looked slow and unnatural -- like everyone was thinking too much about where to stand. There will be more flow with Milton in Horford's place. Richardson and Harris will find their water levels as ball handlers.

The tradeoff is opponents having a safer haven -- Milton -- for their weakest defenders, but the benefits should outweigh that. An opposing wing still has to guard Simmons or Harris, giving the Sixers a second bully-ball threat alongside Embiid.

Philly's defense should be fine with Embiid, Simmons, and Richardson. Horford becomes a traditional backup center and the hub of a second-unit offense. We will still see the Horford-Embiid pairing when matchups and situations dictate.

Brett Brown had four choices to replace Horford: Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, Matisse Thybulle, and Glenn Robinson III. Korkmaz is the best pure shooter, and formed a funky pick-and-pop partnership with Simmons. Milton has learned the same action:

Milton has more north-south zip, and the Sixers really need that. He's longer than you think on defense.

Thybulle is a strangler on that end, and the Sixers can use him with this group when they have a lead in crunch time. He's a standstill type on offense, and I understand Brown searching for more shake. (Sorry.) Robinson is meh.

Brown has said in recent interviews he is using Simmons more off the ball, and that gets easier with better spacing and more speed. Simmons is a veteran of the dunker spot, and can be a devastating cutter from outside the arc. He's a nasty screener, and plays that role more with Horford on the bench, per Second Spectrum. The Milton-Simmons pick-and-roll has worked in small doses; Milton has nice touch on entry passes.

Simmons will still have the ball a ton, and he should be more effective with it in this arrangement. (Milton loves to run the wings for Simmons in transition.) The smaller Sixers have made good use of the "snug" pick-and-roll between Simmons and Embiid on the block -- a play that works better with three shooters buzzing around it:

Switching creates bad mismatches. Ducking Embiid's pick is dicey, because it allows Simmons to get too close to the rim:

This all makes sense. A Sixers team that makes sense is scary. I can't quit them.

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ESPN’s Adam Schefter is best known for his status as a premier NFL breaking news reporter.

He has some knowledge about other sports, too, and gave a few of his NBA opinions on the latest Habershow podcast with NBC Sports NBA Insider Tom Haberstroh.

An avid fantasy basketball player, Schefter thinks the Sixers “could be very good” when the season resumes.

He’s a big fan of the new starting lineup Brett Brown has been using during the team’s practices at Disney World.



Haberstroh also agrees with inserting Milton into the starting lineup. The second-year guard was excellent before the NBA season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, averaging 17.8 points and 4.1 assists over the Sixers’ final nine games, and shooting 60.4 percent from three-point range during that stretch.