Welcome to the season's final installment of monthly rankings from The Committee (of One) ... with Phoenix maintaining its stranglehold on No. 1 in 2022
Re: the Sixers...for the record, "a mere 13-7 record" is a .650 winning percentage, which is better than all NBA teams currently except the Suns (.795) and Grizzlies(.705). That's a 53-29 team projected over the entire season. The only teams who have (or can possibly) hit 53 wins this season are: Suns and Grizzles (already done it), and the Heat (have to go 2-1 in their final 3 games) and Warriors (have to go 3-0 in their final 3 games). Also, what suggests that Embiid's pairing with Harden was "lukewarm" to start? They've paired pretty seamlessly in the pick-and-roll game and have genuinely seemed very happy to play with one another the entire time (I've watched every single Sixers game this year). It hasn't been perfect, but they're still learning to play together. Also, despite his poor shooting, Harden still has a true shooting percentage of 61.2% thanks to his free throws.
It may well be (I haven’t seen that but do not doubt it), but that sort of talks past my point? I’m not saying they’ve lit the world on fire, but I’m also not turning my nose up at 13-7 while they’re working out the kinks and Harden is slumping on his shooting.
I have seen glimpses that make me happy and others that don’t. I think it’s VERY much a work in progress, and Harden’s (lack of) burst troubles me. I think we will have difficulty with switching defenses in the playoffs (someone like Toronto comes to mind in early rounds), where the pick and roll won’t work as well. I guess at this point I’m hoping they continue to develop chemistry and am more frustrated at 1) Doc’s stubborn unwillingness to play Reed or Bassey over completely cooked DeAndre Jordan or Paul Millsap; and 2) Daryl’s inability to swing a separate trade to meaningfully upgrade our bench unit (especially to backfill losses in the BKN trade). Not perfect, but Joel and James together specifically in a vacuum has made me happy. Not trending great into the playoffs, but we’ll see what happens!
Re: the Sixers...for the record, "a mere 13-7 record" is a .650 winning percentage, which is better than all NBA teams currently except the Suns (.795) and Grizzlies(.705). That's a 53-29 team projected over the entire season. The only teams who have (or can possibly) hit 53 wins this season are: Suns and Grizzles (already done it), and the Heat (have to go 2-1 in their final 3 games) and Warriors (have to go 3-0 in their final 3 games). Also, what suggests that Embiid's pairing with Harden was "lukewarm" to start? They've paired pretty seamlessly in the pick-and-roll game and have genuinely seemed very happy to play with one another the entire time (I've watched every single Sixers game this year). It hasn't been perfect, but they're still learning to play together. Also, despite his poor shooting, Harden still has a true shooting percentage of 61.2% thanks to his free throws.
Isn't it a 6-5 record against winning teams with three of those wins against Cleveland? Think that was a John Schuhmann stat.
It may well be (I haven’t seen that but do not doubt it), but that sort of talks past my point? I’m not saying they’ve lit the world on fire, but I’m also not turning my nose up at 13-7 while they’re working out the kinks and Harden is slumping on his shooting.
So you are happy with the pairing and believe they are trending in the right direction heading into the playoffs?
I have seen glimpses that make me happy and others that don’t. I think it’s VERY much a work in progress, and Harden’s (lack of) burst troubles me. I think we will have difficulty with switching defenses in the playoffs (someone like Toronto comes to mind in early rounds), where the pick and roll won’t work as well. I guess at this point I’m hoping they continue to develop chemistry and am more frustrated at 1) Doc’s stubborn unwillingness to play Reed or Bassey over completely cooked DeAndre Jordan or Paul Millsap; and 2) Daryl’s inability to swing a separate trade to meaningfully upgrade our bench unit (especially to backfill losses in the BKN trade). Not perfect, but Joel and James together specifically in a vacuum has made me happy. Not trending great into the playoffs, but we’ll see what happens!