With Caleb Martin and KJ Martin sidelined with injuries, the Sixers‘ forward depth was thin on Wednesday against New York. Kelly Oubre Jr. slid from shooting guard to power forward, delivering with 16 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and a block. While the Sixers lost for their seventh time in nine games, Oubre’s defensive intensity stood out, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“It’s just kind of getting back to the basics,” Oubre said. “I could speak for myself, like it’s bread and butter for me. If things around me are out of control, then I know I can focus on my energy and my effort on the defensive end.”
Oubre’s has had an impressive defensive season, ranking second in the league in deflections and tied for 14th in steals per game. The Sixers pushed the Knicks to overtime due in part to the defensive play of Oubre, who holds a player option worth roughly $8.38MM for next season.
We have more from the Sixers:
- Paul George, Guerschon Yabusele, Kyle Lowry, and KJ Martin didn’t practice for the Sixers on Friday, according to Pompey (Twitter link). However, Caleb Martin was a partial participant and Andre Drummond practiced fully after missing the last six games due to injury. In a separate tweet, Pompey reports head coach Nick Nurse said he has high hopes for Drummond playing Saturday against Indiana. Drummond is listed as probable for that game.
- The Sixers need George to step up without Embiid available, Zach Powell and Jared Weiss of The Athletic write. Philadelphia has obviously been worse off without their superstar in Embiid, but if they hope to make a run to the play-in, let alone the playoffs, George will need to play at a high level. It’s an opportunity for George to prove his star quality and to justify the Sixers’ faith in him, Powell and Weiss write.
- With the Sixers on the outside looking in for the postseason, Fred Katz of The Athletic notes that they owe their first-round pick to the Thunder if it lands outside the top six. The Sixers currently have the eighth-highest odds for the No. 1 overall pick. With that in mind, Katz ponders whether the Sixers could do what the Mavericks did in 2023, when they fell out of the playoffs and thus, kept their top-10 protected pick, landing a Finals contributor in Dereck Lively II. This stretch without Embiid ahead of the trade deadline could reveal their plans not only for February, but potentially for the draft as well.
The Process 10 years later
The Process finished 8 years ago when the NBA fired Hinkie… so since then there has not been any Process in PHI!!!
When will people get it, not that hard, right?
The Process was killed when Silver got the Sixers to hire Colangelo to sabotage Hinkie’s career.
It’s time to tear it down, Morey has failed. The process has been over for a while
Both Maxey and Paul George play poor defense.
Compare
Jalen Williams
Defensive FG 42.8%
LuDort
Defensive FG 41.3
Paul George
Defensive FG 45.2
Maxey
Defensive FG 46.8
How to fix it?
Trade Maxey for 3 top tier defender Amen Thompson, Eason, Witmore and fillers
Houston is NOT trading Amen. You are dumb
This trade idea is for fun only
Which means
76ers defense is 10 times worse than what the fans think
It’s impossible to fix
Curry makes all 8 3-pointers
“I don’t do stepping up. I’m bored.”
– Podcast P
Big difference in tanking to get a top 10 pick, and doing it for a top 6 pick. The eighth best chance at the top pick means their only about 25% to get any top 6 pick (and keep the pick). Throwing away yet another season for that chance (and more likely improving OKC’s position) is pathetic, even by the standards of the Process and the team that implemented it.
Just trade Embiid now. Sixers don’t deserve any more lottery picks.
Can’t trade him now, league rules.