In order to maximize their chances of winning a championship, the Sixers need to reinvent themselves around an injured Joel Embiid, David Murphy of the Philadelphia Inquirer opines. Embiid is dealing with ligament damage to his thumb and will undergo surgery after the playoffs.
As we relayed, he has no intention of sitting out, but he clearly seemed bothered by the injury in Game 4. The MVP candidate still finished with 21 points and eight rebounds, but he was frequently grabbing at his hand during stoppages of play.
The Sixers have enough talent around Embiid to close out their series against the Raptors, but advancing beyond the second round without his usual level of production would be difficult. Embiid is coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 30.6 points, 11.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks on 50% shooting.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe takes a look at the Celtics’ hopes to bring the All-Star Game back to Boston. The Celtics are preparing a bid, Washburn notes, as Boston hasn’t hosted an All-Star Game since 1964. The team would likely look to host in 2025 or 2026.
- Nets veteran Blake Griffin provided a lift off the bench in Game 3 against Boston, Peter Botte of the New York Post writes. Griffin played for the first time since April 2, recording eight points in nearly eight minutes. He could see action again in Game 4 on Monday.
- A trio of ESPN hosts — Stephen A. Smith, Jalen Rose and Michael Wilbon — ripped Nets star Kyrie Irving and believe the team shouldn’t sign him to a long-term deal, as relayed by Adam Zagoria of NJ.com. Irving didn’t get vaccinated against COVID-19 and couldn’t play in home games until late March this season due to New York City’s vaccine requirement. That, combined with a midseason James Harden trade and key injuries, have harmed the Nets’ ability to build chemistry. Irving could decline a $36.5MM player option for next season and become a free agent this summer.
Heat guard bench
Herro
Strus
Oladipo
Vincent
76ers guard bench
Danny Green
Milton
Korkmax
GMs need to give Rivers the best bench in the nba if they want to win champs
Harden is still top 25 best player in the nba
Between 20th and 25th best
disagree on Harden, unless he’s injured still. if his name was anything but “James Harden” he wouldn’t be considered the #2 on the Sixers.
How the hell hasnt the AllStar game been in Boston that long yet the same places get it every few years
No one wants to go to Boston, specially in February!
Yup. Because the games are outside. Right?! BRILLIANT TAKE
Seems like the All Star game should be rotated evenly between existing franchises… Why do cities who have a team in the league have to “prepare a bid?”
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got cha-ching…
Cut loss on Kyrie and dont look back. He may be talented, but he’s unreliable and a liability.
LOLZ
Griffin is like his old sponsor, KIA Optima – obsolete and discontinued. Stick a fork in him he’s done.
Dude actually played stupid well when he came in. I love my Celtics but damn. Dude played his ass off on defense and hit back to back 3’s. Dude stayed ready.
Kyrie is a mess but Nets knew that when they acquired him. Everything Kyrie has (and hasn’t) done is right in line with typical Kyrie. Would be silly of the Nets to suddenly cut bait now.
Can’t cut Kyrie loose anyway, Nets would still have no cap space to replace him with anything of value, and Simmons/Durant aren’t getting you to the promise land.
This is the problem with signing a Big Three. If you don’t nail it with all three of them, you’re pretty much screwed for a bunch of years unless you can deal one for multiple depth pieces. Even then, if two of them came together in the case of Durant and Kyrie, dealing one may piss off the other.
How much better were the Lakers when they had depth. AD misses a game? You had Kuz. Needed a couple of shots and quality defence late in games? You had Caruso and KCP to give you that.
Who won the Chip last year? A team with one Superstar and many very good pieces around him.
Agreed – I could see Kyrie doing a 1+1 if there are no other suitors giving him a max (which there might not be) and trying to come back next year on his best behavior. But letting him walk isn’t on the table for Brooklyn.
Yet while I don’t necessarily object to people s***ting on Kyrie, the Simmons element of this is probably more concerning. If his brain-back issues subsist then he’s going to become a sunk cost sooner than later – at this point he seems like more of a charlatan to me than Irving.
I remember when Kenny Atkinson had a bunch of relatively unknowns or at least non-stars, playing hard competitive basketball and overachieving. They had a good young core, draft picks and financial flexibility. Now they have an aging, disgruntled and overpaid core.
RIP Nets
Yup. KD and Kyrie had Atkinson fired for starting young Allen ahead of their buddy Jordan. No accountability with players being gm and hc, and surrounding themselves with only “yes” man. :(