Who would have thought the Sixers’ season would have ended like it did? The team started out with an opening night win against the Boston Celtics, followed by four straight wins after that. The team was 5-0, and there were no questions about fit or shooting. Fast forward to last week, where the Sixers were SWEPT by the Boston Celtics in the first round. Although Ben Simmons was out due to a knee injury, the team was no match for the Celtics. The team started the season out with championship aspirations but played up and down basketball all season. Some games the team would look like a lock for the Finals. Other games they played like a bottom team in the Eastern Conference. They had this weird thing where no matter who they played; they could barely win a road game. The team was also a whopping 29-2 at home before the season was halted by COVID-19.

Overall, this team underachieved all year. Some blame it on the lack of shooting and spacing. Some blame it on nonchalant attitude of the teams’ young stars. All and all, their underachievement lead to their first-round loss and the firing of Head Coach Brett Brown. Brown was fired the day following the Sixers’ Game 4 loss to the Celtics. It may have been time for Brown to go, but in my opinion others in the front office should have been relieved of duty as well. I personally thought the owners should have cleared house, but Sixers GM Elton Brand was deemed safe.  I know all the roster construction and front office moves weren’t all Elton Brand’s decisions. It is a known fact that Elton didn’t make decisions on his own. He was sort of the face the team put out there. Former Jerry Colangelo staffers and sleeper cells, Scott O’Neill (Sixers CEO) and Ned Cohen (Assistant GM), had their hands in a lot of the decisions. It was even reported when the Sixers were searching for a GM before Brand’s hiring, they were interested in current Pelicans’ GM David Griffin. In his interview, he was told that he would not have full autonomy to make decisions for the team and it would be a collaborative effort. David Griffin decided to not take the job.

Overall, there were a lot of reasons why we ended up with no coach and lots of confusion on the future. Here are some of my observations of how we got here:

• Started in the offseason- Letting JJ Redick and Jimmy Butler walk proved to be fatal for the team this year. Redick’s spacing and shooting was truly missed. The Jimmy Butler saga is something that we will never know the true story on, but clearly Brett Brown and the front office had problems with Jimmy. Jimmy also had issues with them and he decided to walk away. Not sure why they didn’t keep Redick, but both of these loses appeared to affect Joel Embiid a lot.
• Signing Al Horford- We quickly learned that Horford and Embiid could not play with each other with Ben Simmons on the floor. It was surprising to most that Sixers signed Horford to a 100-million-dollar deal. Some nights Al looked great, but most nights he looked a shell of himself. I honestly think Horford never got comfortable playing in Brett’s scheme or with Joel.
• Tobias Harris- Tobias Harris was maxed out this off season to a 180-million-dollar deal. He was steady all year until he disappeared in the playoffs. For a 180-million-dollar player, he can’t just be steady and fly under the radar. He should be commanding the ball and making more plays. He has to improve leaps and bounds.
• Offense was predictable and not having consistent shooting did not help.
• Josh Richardson underachieved all year, but actually played well in the four games in the playoffs.
• Brett Brown inability to adapt and change game plans put the team in a lot of bad spots.
• Joel Embiid spending half the season pouting because he didn’t have Jimmy Butler or JJ Redick hurt the team and its chemistry. Joel looked uninterested for a lot of the games the team played in the early part of the season. He even got into a spat with the fans.
• Ben Simmons- Ben Simmons not improving his game to shoot jump shots put the team in a bind with spacing.

Now that we are here, let’s take a look at how I would fix the Sixers heading into next season:

First thing I would do is fire Scott O’Neill and Ned Cohen to allow Elton Brand to have full decision-making power. If they are not fired, at least remove them from all basketball conversations. Elton Brand said in his recent presser that they would no longer be going with the collaborative approach. If this is true, get Jerry Colangelo’s old friends out of this organization.

Next, I would hire a Head Coach to replace Brett Brown. There are a lot of options and names being mentioned in connection to the 76ers’ vacancy. Former Cavs Head Coach and current Clippers assistant Ty Lue seems to be the frontrunner for the position. There has been multiple reports of the team and Ty Lue having mutual interest. Other names that have been mentioned include current Sixers Assistant Coach Ime Udoka, Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright, current Laker Assistant Coach Jason Kidd, Rockets Player Development Coach John Lucas, and former Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy. If you watched any Sixers games on TNT during the restart, Stan Van Gundy sounded like he was auditioning for the job while commentating. There are some good options available but with so many vacancies in the league, the search will be competitive. If I were the GM, I would hire Ty Lue. He has championship experience and is known for coaching stars hard. He held Lebron James accountable in Cleveland and was able to coach a team with so many egos.

Next, I would make changes to the roster to help build around Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. To maximize their talents, the best bet would be to put shooting and shot creation around them. First up would be trading Al Horford to try to get his contract off the books and creating more spacing for the Big Fella. I think the league knows that Al Horford still has value, but he was not put in the best position to succeed. I think due to this, we will have to give up an asset to trade Al Horford. The two teams I would contact about trading Horford would be the Oklahoma City Thunder and Sacramento Kings. Here are the potential trades:

Both of these trades would get Horford’s contract off the books, but I think the most realistic scenario would be the Thunder trade. Getting a true ball handler and shot creator in CP3 would be amazing. Also, getting some much-needed shooting with Muscala would help shape this roster. Saying goodbye to Josh Richardson would hurt as he has shown flashes on offensive, but ultimately he would be missed on defense. You would hope that Matisse Thybulle can grow into that 3 & D contributor that the Sixers need. I’ve included this years’ first round draft pick in those trades, but don’t be surprised if Thybulle is included in either of the trades instead of the draft pick. It will absolutely cost the Sixers to get off the Horford contract. After the trade, the roster would potentially look like this:

PG: Chris Paul
SG: Shake Milton
SF: Tobias Harris
PF: Ben Simmons
C: Joel Embiid

Bench: Furkan Korkmaz, Mike Muscala, Mike Scott, Matisse Thybulle, Zhaire Smith

Following that trade, I would call the Detroit Pistons and make the following trade:

Getting Luke Kennard would bolster the Sixers shooting and would allow for Embiid and Kennard to do a lot of dribble hand off action. Zhaire Smith would get a new start in Detroit and Mike Scott and Sekou Doumbouya are salary filler. The Pistons would be hard pressed to do this deal, but adding a future first round pick from 2022 would sway the Pistons. The Pistons are in full re-build mode and collecting first round picks would only help their cause. After that trade, the roster would potentially look like this:

PG: Chris Paul
SG: Luke Kennard
SF: Tobias Harris
PF: Ben Simmons
C: Joel Embiid

Bench: Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, Mike Muscala, Matisse Thybulle, Sekou Doumbouya

Following those trades, I would look to improve the team in the draft. After trading the 21^st overall pick in the 2020 draft to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Sixers have four picks left (second rounders):

34^th overall
36^th overall
49^th overall
58^th overall

I would trade the 34^thand 36^th picks with Sekou Doumbouya to the Los Angeles Lakers to get back in the first round at the 28^th overall spot. The Lakers won’t have any use for late first round picks. Moving back would suit the Lakers best, as it would not tie guaranteed cap space. I would pick Stanford PG/SG Tyrell Terry with the newly acquired first round pick. Terry is a 6’1 guard who is an elite shooter. He can shoot well off the dribble, the catch, and contested. Terry reminds me of the role that Landry Shamet once had on this team before he was traded to the Clippers in the Tobias Harris trade. He averaged 14.6 PPG with 40.1% 3-point shooting. He made plays for his team, but was a defensive liability when guarding bigger point guards. He is only 165 pounds so he could have trouble defending in the NBA. I think the upside and his shooting is something the Sixers would really need to take a chance on. He could be a contributor right away to a roster that needs spacing. Check out some of his highlights/draft profile below:

After the 2020 NBA Draft, the roster could potentially look like the below:

PG: Chris Paul
SG: Luke Kennard
SF: Tobias Harris
PF: Ben Simmons
C: Joel Embiid

Bench: Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, Mike Muscala, Matisse Thybulle, Tyrell Terry

Next, I would round out the team in free agency, but adding Chris Paul’s contract wouldn’t do any favors for the team and the salary cap. Chris Paul would be added out of necessity and for a better fit. Getting rid of Josh Richardson’s 11 million per year and renouncing rights to all other free agents on the roster should allow the Sixers to sign some one with their MLE (Mid-Level exception) or Bi-Annual exception. Any other signings would have to be at veteran’s minimum due to the Sixers being over the salary-cap and paying the luxury tax.

Below are some targets I think the Sixers could realistically sign with their MLE and Vet Minimum (roster fit also considered):

C Alex Len
PF Markeiff Morris
SG/SF Pat Connaughthon
SF Glenn Robinson III
SF Justin Holiday
C Nerlens Noel
SF Stanley Johnson
SF Jae Crowder
SG/SF Kent Bazemore
PG Jeff Teague

I would round of the roster with the following signings:

SG/SF Kent Bazemore (MLE)
SF Glenn Robinson
C Alex Len
PF Markeiff Morris
PG Jeff Teague

After all signings and trades, the 2020-2021 Sixers’ opening night rotation would look like the following:

Head Coach: Ty Lue

PG: Chris Paul/Shake Milton/Jeff Teague
SG: Luke Kennard/Tyrell Terry/Kent Bazemore/Marial Shayok (Two-Way)
SF: Tobias Harris/Matisse Thybulle/Furkan Korkmaz/Glenn Robinson
PF: Ben Simmons/Mike Muscala/Markeiff Morris
C: Joel Embiid/Alex Len/Norvelle Pelle (Two-Way)

Is this team a Championship team? I don’t know but they have way better roster construction and spacing. This team could easily complete for a top seed in the East and compete with the Bucks, Celts, and Raptors. Let me know what you think about this potential Sixers roster.

The Sixers and Celtics tipped off Game 3 of their first round series Friday evening. Down 2-0, Brett Brown said before the game he had to make some defensive and offensive adjustments. The first adjustment he made was inserting Al Horford back into the starting lineup. The game started out sloppy on both end for the Sixers. The Sixers couldn’t buy a bucket and defensive lapses happened time and time again. Shake Milton was struggling on defense in the first quarter giving up 3 or 4 open 3-pointers because he was ball watching or not paying attention to his matchup. Jayson Tatum tried to make his presence felt but he was called for 3 early fouls. As the quarter came to an end, the Sixers found themselves down 26-24, shooting 24 percent from the field.

The second quarter was a back and forth affair with the Sixers leading briefly by 3. After they lost that lead, they fought hard to stay in the game. It seemed like they had to work super hard for every bucket they scored. The pick and roll defense that Brett said would change ended up stayed the same.  Josh Richardson started hitting some 3-pointers to keep the Blue and White in it. Embiid fought hard in the first half with 22 pts and 10 rebs. Even with these efforts, they were down 51-49.

The second half began with the Sixers still trying to work through Embiid in the post. They had a couple fast break opportunities, but they were spoiled by bad passes and turnovers. Tobias Harris battled all quarter on the boards because his offensive game just wasn’t there. There was a stretch in the third where Korkmaz was subbed in the game. He switched out on Kemba and got cooked a few times. Korkmaz also shot a horrible transition shot that airballed. Brett pulled him immediately at the next dead ball to get him out of the game. Both the Sixers and Celtics shot bad and the Sixers tried to survive the third with Embiid on the bench with 4 fouls.

The fourth quarter began with the home team down 4 points and Boston was able to keep them at bay early on. A 3-pointer by Shake Milton helped bring the Sixers within one point and ultimately the Sixers were able to pull ahead by 2 point, 94-92. The next possession Embiid saw the double team and made the wrong read which led to a turnover and a bucket. The very next play, Joel went to the rim and tried to draw the foul, but turned the ball over which led to another score. Ultimately, the Celtics went on a 10-0 run to end the game and win 102-94. The Big Fella was the only reason they were in the game, but his costly turnovers led to their demise. The Sixers are now down 3-0, which is virtually impossible to come back from. The Sixers let an opportunity fall through their fingertips with Tatum having his worst game of the series.

Quick Observations from the game:

• Tobias Harris had 15 rebs and had 6 offensive board but his offense has completely disappeared. He hasn’t hit a 3-pointer all series. I like Tobias a lot, but there is no excuse for him not stepping up in the playoffs.
• Joel Embiid is putting this team on his back offensively, but those two late turnovers were crucial. You can’t say Joel quit on the team or didn’t give it his all this series.
• Pick and Roll defense was not adjusted throughout the game. Brett Brown needed to make an adjustment and stick with the outcome.
• The team misses Ben Simmons so much. He is the best defensive player on the team and could check Tatum 1 on 1. He also created so many Fastbreak opportunities and open 3-pointers. If anyone reading this can’t see the impact he has on the game just because he doesn’t shoot, you need to get your eyes checked.
• BRETT BROWN COUNT YOUR DAYS MY GUY!
• YOU TOO ELTON BRAND!

Game 4 is Sunday afternoon vs. Celtics. Let’s see if the Sixers put up a fight or lay down and get swept.

The Sixers and Celtics played Game 2 on their first round Eastern Conference series Wednesday night. 76ers’ Head Coach Brett Brown made a change to the starting lineup, substituting Matisse Thybulle for Al Horford. The Boston Celtics had to make a change of their own with Gordan Hayward injuring his ankle severely in Game 1. Marcus Smart replaced Hayward in the lineup.

The Sixers dominated the early part of the first quarter. Embiid got all his touches and the team played through him. The Sixers lead 21-9 and as much as 14 in the early half of the first. Richardson and Milton both were hitting 3-pointers early, but Jason Tatum got hot. Tatum led his team back into the game and ended the first quarter with an almost half court 3-pointer with Thybulle all over him. Sixers led 33-27 after one with Embiid leading the way with 15 points and Tatum led Boston with 11 points.

The second quarter began with a 16-3 Boston run to go up 43-36 and they never looked back. Boston led the way and the entire quarter and in the second half. The Sixers did a good job of getting Embiid the ball but the rest of the team (except J-Rich) didn’t show up. There isn’t much more to say from a recap perspective besides the fact Jason Tatum was able to do whatever he wanted, no matter who was matched up against him. The Celtics rout the Sixers 128-101 behind Tatum (33 pts, 5 rebs, 5 asts), Kemba Walker (22 pts) and Jaylen Brown (20 pts). The home team was led by Joel Embiid (34 pts, 10 rebs) and Josh Richardson (18 pts).

Quick Observation from the game:

• Brett Brown’s defensive game plan was horrendous. The pick and roll defensive strategy killed them time and time again. Kemba Walker and Jason Tatum continually got wide open shots and Brett Brown NEVER made an adjustment.
• Brett Brown played Raul Neto tonight, why? He got in the game and immediately was a -6 plus/minus. Why not go with Alec Burks and the hot hand?
• PAGING TOBIAS HARRIS!!! PAGING MR. TOBIAS HARRIS!! I can’t make any more excuses for him right now. The most consistent Sixer in the season and seeding games has disappeared completely. He was 4-15 and 0-2 from 3-point range. The team needs more from him if they are going to have any chance. The contract he signed always gets mentioned when he plays bad, but if you are getting paid 180 million, YOU HAVE TO SHOW UP!
• Every time Jason Tatum goes off, you can’t help but feel like a knife is in your back and is getting twisted and turned. Danny Ainge really fleeced former GM Jerry Colangelo out of drafting Tatum.
• Boston hit 19 3-pointers tonight and midway through the outside onslaught, Brett went to a 2-3 zone. We all know that the 2-3 zone encourages and leave the wings open to take those shots. Why would that be an adjustment you make?
• Seems like the team quit in the third quarter. Brett Brown is losing this team by the day. I think he’s absolutely fired.
• Elton Brand, don’t think we forgot about you! You are on the clock too buddy! You built this team in the off season and will have to live with their outcome and your outcome.

The Sixers and Celtics play Game 3 Friday night at 6:30 on TNT. Watching Game 3 may be painful but I’m hoping for the best.

The 76ers faced off with the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday evening with all the starters returning to the lineup. I wasn’t expecting Joel Embiid to play again before the playoffs, but it looked like they wanted to get another game to help bring cohesion to the starting unit.

The game started with Tobias Harris being the focal point of the offense. The Sixers went to Embiid a handful of times in the post against Marc Gasol, but Joel had trouble with the match up. Two of the early post ups, JoJo was fouled by Gasol, but the refs’ whistles were silent. One of those uncalled fouls was a hard slap on Embiid’s wrist that he seemed to favor the rest of the quarter.  With Tobias leading the way and the Sixers out hustling the Raptors, they led by as much as 15 points in the first period. The team ended the first quarter leading 32-25.

Early in the second period the Raptors started cutting more into the lead, but Al Horford was able to settle the team down and keep the lead intacted. Vanfleet and Lowry were able to keep their team within striking distance with Pascal Siakam struggling. The Sixers also tried their hardest to keep the “away” team in the game by committing 11 first half turnovers. Tobias continued his first half dominance going for 17 first half points pacing the Sixers to a 62-55 lead. Kyle Lowry managed to score 18 points in the second quarter alone, brining his first half total to 19.

As the second half began, I noticed that Mike Scott started in the place of Joel Embiid. As the Raptors eventually went on an  8-0 run to take the lead 63-62, we learned Embiid would not return to the game with a wrist injury. The Sixers say its precautionary, but I know every Philadelphia fan is holding their breath as usual. Siakam started to heat up in third, getting buckets in transition and putbacks. The play of Raptors C Chris Boucher ignited the team and they fed off his energy. He hit timely 3-pointers from double teams on Siakam and blocked everything in sight. Midway through the quarter, Tobias Harris and Al Horford exited the ball game and we didn’t see them for the rest of the evening. The Raptors outscored the Sixers 35-26 in the third to lead 90-88.

The fourth quarter began with almost all bench players in for each team. Mike Scott and Furkan Korkmaz lead the Sixers in the fourth with timely threes and free throws. On more than one occasion, Korkmaz was able to create contact to get foul beyond the 3-point line. As the quarter progressed the reserves traded buckets until eventually the Raptors hit the knockout punch to win 125-121.

Quick Observations from the game:

• Tobias Harris was very aggressive in the first half. He was getting to the rim and finishing despite contact from the defense. That is the Tobias the team needs to see if they are going to have any success in the playoffs.
• Kyle Lowry has innate ability to drawl contact from players to get the refs to blow the whistle. It is unreal! It’s very annoying from the opponent’s perspective but if he was on the Sixers, I would probably love it.
• Norvelle “I foul everyone” Pelle played a ton of second half mins for the Sixers tonight with the team sitting its regulars. He had a few bad fouls in the fourth that I believed swayed the game in the Raptors’ favor.
• In most games, Joel Embiid has a bad game when being guarded by Marc Gasol. At this point there has to be something mental about facing the former Defensive Player of the year.
• The 20^th overall pick (formerly OKC’s pick), in this year’s NBA draft conveys to the Sixers due to their loss and Oklahoma City win vs. the Miami Heat. The Sixers got this pick from the Orlando Magic when they traded Markelle Fultz, but the Thunder’s record had to be within the top 10 in the league or it would turn into two second round picks. Former Sixer Mike Muscala hit a game winning 3-pointer to win the game for the Thunder and send the first- round pick to Philly. At least something positive came out of tonight’s game.

The 76ers faced off against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday afternoon. Each team’s mindset was totally different for this matchup. The Sixers are dealing with injuries and decided to rest all their starters except Shake Milton. The Suns are fighting for their playoff lives. They are 6-0 in the bubble and looking to force themselves into the play-in game for the 8^th seed in the Western Conference. The Sixers started Alec Burks, Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle, Mike Scott, and Kyle O’Quinn.

The first quarter kicked off with the Sixers running a lot of dribble hand-offs and pick and rolls and it proved to be effective. The Sixers lead 21-12 just over halfway through the first period. Mike Scott stood out in the first quarter being aggressive and led the team with 9 points. The key was on Devin Booker defensively throughout the first quarter being guarded by Matisse and GRII. Booker was initially held in check, scoring only 6 points with his Suns trailing 27-23 after one period.

The second quarter was a back and forth scoring affair between both the teams with the Suns taking some control late in the quarter. Suns SF Mikal Bridges, who was originally drafted by the Sixers but traded for Zhaire Smith, did a lot a damage in the second quarter. Devin Booker got going from the free throw stripe, but otherwise was 3-9 from the field. The Sixers were led by Mike Scott, Alec Burks and Kyle O’Quinn, who happened to be on triple-double watch in the first half (7 pts, 7 asts, 5 rebs). The Suns played their way into a 63-58 lead at halftime.

The third quarter opened with Matisse Thybulle picking up two early fouls attempting to guard Devin Booker. Matisse had to sit with five fouls, limiting the time he had to guard Booker. Raul Neto gave the home team some quality mins in the third quarter scoring 14 points, but I’d still rather not see him on the floor. Norvelle Pelle had to play mins in the third and really didn’t make a difference defensively (more on that in my observations). Unfortunately, the best play of the third quarter was when Devin Booker drove to the lane and put Furkan Korkmaz on a poster.

The fourth quarter was pretty much the same, as Booker controlled every offensive possession. He got to the line, made pull-up jumpers, and found his teammates after double teams. The Sixers got the lead down to 5 but ultimately lost 130-117. The Sixers were led by Alec Burks (23 pts), Raul Neto (22 pts), Mike Scott (17 pts) and Kyle O’Quinn (9 pts, 10 rebs, and 11 asts). The Suns leading scorers were Devin Booker (35 pts, 7 asts, 9 rebs) and Mikal Bridges (24 pts).

Quick Observations from the game:

• Norvelle Pelle is a fouling machine. It is hard watching him play and foul everyone moving in an opponents’ jersey. He had some good spurts in some earlier regular season games but I can’t watch him any longer.
• It is good to see Glenn Robinson III back in the rotation trying to work his way back from his injury. It had been said that he had one of the best bubble camps out of all the players and I can see him really helping in the playoffs.
• Kyle O’Quinn is such a good passer. He had a career high 11 assist tonight. Earlier in the season when he received regular rotation mins, he showed he can operate from the high post and create for others. I still wonder how or what caused him to fall out of rotation.
• Devin Booker is such a savvy player. He knows how to get to all his spots on the floor and has great body control to finish through contact. It is a shame that he’ll never get a chance to play meaningful basketball in Phoenix long term.
• Brett Brown should never play Raul Neto that many mins ever again no matter what the situation is. I’m just not a fan of his game and I think he’s a huge liability on defense.

The Sixers faced off against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday afternoon. We all wanted to see how they would play after playing sub-par and escaping with a win vs. the Spurs. Although the Wizards are a low level Eastern conference team, they historically play the Sixers tough and scrappy.

The first quarter began how the last game ended, with Shake Milton hitting a 3-pointer to begin the scoring. The Wizards played the Sixers tough in the first quarter, double teaming Joel on every touch in the post. As a result, Joel had to pass out to his teammates to make plays. On one occasion, the ball made its way to Ben Simmons on the corner and he did shoot an open corner three. The first quarter ended with a Milton 3 pointer as time expired. He paced the team with 8 points as they lead 26-20 at the end of the first.

The second quarter was a back and forth affair with the Sixers building a lead up to as much as 10 points. The home team went to the locker room leading 54-47. Balanced scoring was led by Joel Embiid, who had 11. Richardson followed with 10 points and Simmons and Shake both had 8 points at half. Ish Smith and Jerome Robinson paced the Wizards at half time with 11 and 8 points, respectively.

The third quarter was not a good quarter for the Sixers in many ways. The Wiz started the quarter on a 15-4 run to take a 4-point lead with just over 6 mins remaining. Not only did they lose the lead, but they lost Ben Simmons to an apparent left knee injury. Ben Simmons limped to the locker room with Elton Brand following him. Briefly after the injury, ESPN Insider Adrian Wojnarowksi reported that Ben Simmons didn’t have any swelling or major pain in his left knee. This news had the city of Philadelphia hoping for the best. The Sixers eventually took back control of the third period and led 77-74 after three.

The fourth quarter was dominated by Joel Embiid. He made mid-range jumper after jumper and fought for every rebound. He also passed out of the double team to set up his teammates. The Big Fella picked up his 5^th foul about 6 mins into the final period. In the last two games, when Joel Embiid went to the bench, the Sixers have collapsed. They lead 89-84 when Embiid sat and managed to front run the rest of the way. The 76ers won 107-98 to improve to 41-27 and 2-1 in the bubble. Joel Embiid dominated once again with 30 points and 11 rebs. Tobias Harris scored 17 and the back court rounded out the scoring with Richardson and Milton combining for 31 points.

Quick Observations from this game:

• Health Update for Ben Simmons- NBA Insider Sham Charania reported that Ben Simmons’ left knee MRI came back clean and he is considered day to day. I would expect for Simmons to sit the remaining seeding games to get ready for the playoffs.
• Alec Burks got all the “back-up” point guard mins in this game. He scored 9 points in 20 mins and was 2-2 from 3-point range. In my opinion, Burks is a better option than Neto
• With Simmons out, the rotation will change. I think whoever is healthy first between Mike Scott and GRII will pick up mins in Simmons’ absence.

The next game will be against the Orlando Magic, this Friday at 6:30PM.