The Sixers will take the floor in Milwaukee tonight without Elton Brand, Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young for a game that I honestly don't want them to win. The result is only meaningful if they somehow pass the Knicks over these final two games, but that doesn't mean they should turn this into a Summer League game. There's work to be done.
Again, please lose the game. I don't want to watch another first-round series against Miami.
That being said, there are a couple of things I do want to see tonight. First, give Jodie Meeks 20 three pointers. Run your entire offense with the sole purpose of getting Meeks as many open looks as possible. It's seem obvious Doug Collins will start Meeks, and play him somewhere around 25 minutes, when the playoffs start. Give him every opportunity to shoot himself out of this horrible shooting slump, because if he's going to be in there when the games count again, he has to hit his shots.
Second, loosen the reins a little bit on Jrue and Turner. Give those guys a little more rope on the offensive end, let them spread their wings and build up a little bit of confidence, and most importantly, let them play a decent chunk of time on the floor together. You may see some benefits if they can get each other's rhythm down in these two games. The main purpose of this is to get Collins to feel comfortable with JTI for long stretches in the playoffs.
Finally, give Lavoy more burn and give Voose the ball in the post. Lavoy is probably a borderline NBA big man, but his strengths lie in this team's area of great need. He's strong, he's physical and he fights under the boards. Spencer Hawes is useless. If it were up to me, Lavoy would be starting at the five when the playoffs come around, and I believe there's at least an outside chance Collins is on the same page. Voose should get solid minutes in these two games. I'd like to see him operating closer to the hoop instead of 20 feet away chucking up jumpers. He's got the best post game of the three centers. If they can go to that for a hoop every once in a while, it would be a nice way to deal with scoring droughts in the playoffs. The added benefit is that if you get Vucevic and Lavoy going, Hawes' minutes can be trimmed even further, as they should be.
So if you needed something to watch for, there you have it. The tip is at 8pm. Game thread will land around 6. Are we all in agreement that we want the Sixers to finish 8th?
yes, i would also rather face the bulls then the heat and for those wondering the knicks have 2 games left against the clippers and bobcats, so as long as the sixers dont win both they will probably be the 8th seed
So what is the starting lineup tonight? Does Brackins start at the 4?
jrue,meeks,turner,lavoy,hawes
lou resting tonight, jrue tomorrow
@preston76 Coach Collins tells media that he will give Lou Williams rest tonight v. Bucks, then likely do the same w/ Jrue Holiday tomorrow v. Detroit.
By resting Lou doesn't that just mean too many minutes for jrue? How about just like 20 minutes each, each night
My guess/hope is a bunch of minutes for Silas and Sam Young. Hopefully less than 30 for Jrue tonight.
btw, just say in a David Thorpe chat that Josh Childress hasn't hit a free throw this season. 470 minutes, 0/2 from the line.
Dude must REALLY hate his coach
Yeah, he takes it a step further by refusing to even go to the line.
Why is Lavoy a borderline NBA big?
A lot of people just seem to dismiss him, but he's a talented kid, he's big, and when he's active (I know I know...) he's been a very useful player for this team.
Maybe I appreciate him just because our front court is so weak, like a hot girl surrounding herself with ugly friends to make herself look better... but really, I like what I see from Lavoy so far.
Yeah, that's my impression.
But does that really make the hot girl look better? I mean sure if you're shallow empty and vapid she looks better to you - but if you look beyond the surface - it's ugly what she is doing - thus look beyond the surface and see that Lavoy isn't much better than the rest - they're all junk
by the way, I've caught the end of the last two Utah games. they've been going w/ a superbig front line (Jefferson, Favors, Millsap). Favors is already a really, really good defensive big. Makes me sick.
I was thinking about what it would have meant to have drafted Favors. Honestly, the biggest difference would be in having a trade chip if they wanted to trade for an established star big from a team that wanted to rebuild.
I think pretty much everyone wishes they took Favors, but he's still has questions. His team defensive rating is closer to average, and he still doesn't block a ton of shots. He ate up Gortat last night though.
BDL had a piece about that big lineup and how in a 90 minute sample size with those three guys they are better than the leagues most efficient offense and defense. And way lower on D, something like 82 points per 100 possessions, which is insane even with the sample size.
I find it extraordinary that they are that good on the defensive end with those three guys. First, Jefferson is a bad defender, plain and simple. Second, how the heck can Millsap not get killed by small forwards? Last night, I saw a tired and truthfully pretty bad Suns team get a lot of wide open looks from three against that lineup that they plain missed. It will be really interesting to see how that lineup holds up against the Spurs' lethal combo of penetration and three point shooting. That could be a fun series, but I'd say Spurs in 5.
Drafting Turner never makes me sick b/c he was so easily the consensus #2 pick. However, drafting Vuc over Faried makes me violently ill.
Just don't see how any player in any league can *easily* be a *consensus* whatever pick when you have countless talent evaluators and input from numerous decision makers amongst each and every team. In basketball specifically, as scarce and as valuable as big men are, it just doesn't seem possible to label or consider a ball-dominant wing, without a true position and consistent shot, a consensus anything; even moreso when you take into account possible, but ever important, fit.
What I mean by that is that I don't think you could find a mock draft (even before Sixers snuck into #2) that had Turner anything other than #2.
Lebron James waves hello
I could see Turner having a big game tonight, just hope it's not enough for a W