The Sixers are a top-five League Pass option right now.
Until they win a game, they’re practically must-see, just for the historical importance of it all. And then even after they win, any time they’re close is worth flipping over to, because a loss to the Sixers will have more impact on a team’s playoff chances than a win over anybody.
That said, it’s got to be a bad time to be a loyal Sixer fan right now, considering both the current misery and long-term uncertainty surrounding the franchise. But maybe this news (via Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer) about Dario Saric is a bit of a bright spot:
Sixers draftee Dario Saric, 20, was named the Euroleague Basketball MVP for the month for November. The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 15.5 points and 7.75 rebounds to lead Anadolu Efes of the Turkish Basketball League to a 3-1 record for the month.
“I think it’s a fantastic example of [Sixers general manager] Sam Hinkie’s ability to draft,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said. “I think it’s a fantastic example of all we have to look forward to and be excited about.
“I think that at times as we go through difficulty and we lose, it’s easy to get down. But then you remind yourself, well, [sidelined rookie center] Joel Embiid is going to be a unique player. And Daric, being the youngest player of the Euroleague to be named an MVP validates his skill set.”
The Sixers traded 10th overall pick Elfrid Payton to the Magic for Saric, the 12th pick, on draft night.
Saric signed a three-year deal with Efes in the days leading up to the draft. He is expected to spend this season and next overseas.
Sixers fans, for instance, could hardly be blamed for looking wistfully up north, perhaps towards the Bucks, who, without undergoing the protracted intentional rebuild Hinkie has put the Sixers through, have already grabbed a blue-chipper in Jabari Parker and have maybe the NBA’s most exciting young player in Giannis Antetokounmpo. If this was Twitter, I might insert a snappy Kermit the Frog image after pointing out that Hinkie had two chances to draft the Greek Freak, and that maybe taking the consensus best player available four times in a row isn’t necessarily indicative of any particular skill in drafting, but it isn’t, and I don’t want to rub salt in any Sixer fans’ wounds, at least until they’ve won a few games.
Anyway, about Antetokounmpo. Truman Reed of Bucks.com has a nice profile up on his growth as a player and person:
Giannis Antetokounmpo grew two inches during the course of his rookie season in the NBA.
The game notes the Milwaukee Bucks have distributed during the 2014-15 campaign still list Antetokounmpo at 6-11, the same height at which he was measured late in his rookie year.
Those who have seen Antetokounmpo’s career unfold from close range since his arrival in Milwaukee, however, can attest to the fact that he continues to grow.
“He’s getting better,” Bucks center Zaza Pachulia said. “And now he’s getting a great opportunity. The coaches like his game. We all do, because he’s so unselfish. He can score, obviously, but he can make plays for others as well. He enjoys that. Most importantly, he’s willing to play the right way. That’s what I love about him.
“With a lot of rookies and younger players, their mentality is to score and they think they’re good players. But this guy plays the right way, so as a teammate, you can’t ask more than that. I love what he brings to the table for this team.”
No one could have blamed Antetokounmpo for becoming overwhelmed, intimidated and withdrawn during his imposing introduction to the NBA and American culture.
But he won over his teammates with his happy-go-lucky lease on life and an almost ever-present smile.
“Off the court, he sometimes acts goofy and silly, but he’s 19,” Pachulia said. “That’s normal. We all have been there.”
Now, on to the rest of the latest news from around the NBA:
MANIMAL NEEDS A RESET
Coming off a stellar summer for Team USA, Kenneth Faried has been maybe the most disappointing NBA player to date. Maybe that’s a little too lenient. As Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post writes, Faried himself might think so:
Faried knows the start of his season hasn’t been up to standard — by his standard or anyone else’s who knows he has so much more to give. So he doesn’t mince words. He has been a shell of himself, a half-Manimal through the first 16 games, desperately seeking his whole self again.
“I just haven’t been playing my game,” Faried said. “I know it. My teammates know it. My coaches know it. Hopefully, this month of December, I turn everything around. But for me, it’s awful. You’ve got to be able to look at yourself, look at the man in the mirror and say that to yourself. And be able to correct yourself.”
Faried’s averages — 11.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, 50 percent shooting — all are down from last season. And this was to be the season of his true ascension, when he built upon his strong finish of 2013-14. It still can be.
He made national headlines with his play for USA Basketball last summer. He was rewarded with a $50 million contract before the season, mostly for his work with the Nuggets last season in which, frankly, he dominated during the final two months.
Now? He seeks a reboot.
What needs correcting?
“Everything,” he said. “Everything.”
Not just one category?
“Nope, just everything.”
PISTONS NEED TO IMPROVE MOTOR, SVG SAYS
Stan Van Gundy is a great coach, but he’s never faced a challenge like rebuilding this mess of a Pistons team. And he’s not shy about admitting it.
Fast forward to Saturday, the day before Golden State’s well-oiled machine rolled into The Palace to complete a perfect five-game road trip. Here’s what Van Gundy said to a question about whether he was satisfied with the pace of his offense and the number of possessions the Pistons got per game.
“Our energy level in general, at both ends – half court, full court – needs to improve. We’ve talked about that a lot as a team. It’s probably the No. 1 priority and encompasses a lot of things. We’ve got to get a higher energy level, a better motor. I don’t totally know how to do that. A lot of that is within you. If I could only change one thing and I could wave a magic wand and change it, that would be my thing. We have to play with higher energy because it would take care of a lot of things. We do a lot of walking and jogging.”
Maybe not a lot, but against teams like Golden State, or many other NBA teams, really, a split second is enough to get beat for a fast-break layup or an uncontested transition 3-pointer. The Pistons are last in the NBA in shooting percentage, making 41.2 percent of their attempts, and so many of those are right around the rim. As Van Gundy said after Sunday’s game, they’re also last in the league at finishing in the restricted area, 3 feet and in, and those misses make teams especially vulnerable in transition.
The split second of head hanging that often accompanies those near misses is all the opening a semi-proficient team needs to exploit a defense on the move. Remember, a defense doesn’t just have to get back at the same time as the offense, it has to get back in some semblance of position to adequately defend and match up.
“I think guys are trying,” Greg Monroe said after Sunday’s loss. “It’s just more the communication aspect of it. Guys are getting back, but not it’s about communicating and understanding, just taking the closest man until you can get back and we can settle into our half-court defense.”
GRANGER HEALTHY, BUT NOT PLAYING
That’s about as clear as I can make it. I’ll let Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel take over from there:
The other injury updates have been pretty much straightforward: Dwyane Wade was waiting out a strained left hamstring, Norris Cole is playing through a dislocated left middle finger, Chris Andersen will be out a while with a sprained right ankle.
But then there’s the curious case of Danny Granger, who either is injured, rehabilitating or simply not a part of Erik Spoelstra’s rotation.
When it comes to clarity from the Miami Heat coach regarding the swingman signed in the offseason as a free agent, there has been little.
Going into Wednesday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks at AmericanAirlines Arena, Granger had been listed as “DNP-Coach’s Decision” the past five. He had played the two games before that, even starting one, but was listed as being sidelined for the season’s first 10 games with a strained left hamstring.
“Yeah, he’s healthy. He’s available,” Spoelstra said when recently asked for an update on Granger. “Right now, we’ve had so many guys in and out that we’re just really trying to find some consistency.
“But he’s on my mind. It’s still very early. So where we had planned for him in August, he’s way ahead of schedule and that’s the perspective we want to keep.”
Granger was coming off a hamstring issue when he was added by the Heat, previously limited with the Indiana Pacers by knee issues.
“The plan was build up his body,” Spoelstra said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, getting healthy, feeling better, in better condition than what he’s felt in two years. That’s been the number-one objective. And then, from there, we’ll find a role for him.”