RE: More proof the Sixers are a bad organization with a bad owner who makes bad decisions
As an avid sixers fan, I do love TJ. The guy hustles his a$$ off and does everything he can to get a W for his team. My only defense of Brett Brown and his ridiculous accent (his interviews are brutal) is he obviously has an idea in his head of how he wants their system to work.
TJ and Bellinelli are completely different players. One runs a true point, can dart to the basket, plays good defense, and for the most part is a poor shooter (last 10 games = 38% from the field). The other is a perimeter guy who will help you spread the floor and make 3s (although looking at his shooting percentage, he isn't all that great). This does makes sense since whenever Ben Simmons is on the floor you have someone who can drive the lane out there and need as many guys on the wing as possible.
The only other real defense of Bellinelli is size. The guy has 3 inches and definite wingspan to hang with some of these freak NBA players, whereas TJ is more of a bump and grind defender but you can shoot over him.
..... even after all of this I still love TJ and think he is a great energy guy off the bench. Hopefully Brown can figure it out.
JCP, love the comments, thanks.
Yep, we'll spot you Brown "has a plan", and we'll raise you that Brown was pretty decent at development (TJ prolly didn't need any, but Covington and Noel advanced nicely under Brown) so long as you weren't a 99 percentile traditional center (eh hem OK4); BUT we also haven't even mentioned Brown's "Oh-fur" in last-play playcalling, it's almost comical how badly his "final shot" plays have become, like a parody of a good coach.
Also hear you on the 3 pointer spread, but Since Ersan and Belinelli (vs Booker, Amir, Richuan and TJ) were signed the Sixers have been awful. So it makes sense if your shooter is also playing defense Covington-style, but getting Ersan/Redick/Belinelli defense along with your shooter is only good if your shooter is elite like Redick (and for the money, we'd take Stauskas' cheap contract and upside vs Redick's $25mm and not going-to-get-any-better status). Even Carmelo's superior shot can't overcome what an absolute load of crap he's always been on the defensive end.
TJ might not have the height, but you can bet he's disrupting those shots with swipes and deflections and general pest-ness. Remember the biathlon, if you're being forced to run around with high heart rate, your shooting goes downhill fast.
Back to Stauskas, sure he was slow developing, probably bc he's a immature personality, but he WAS improving on both sides, and Brown actually managed to get him to care about defense enough that his offense was awful. Brown actually did this with Covington too, and now look at Covington after he finally got a real offense around him. Stauskas was probably the right guy to give one more half-year of reserve sG status, and if not satisfied we're sure the Sixers could've found something about the same as Redick and for cheaper at the deadline. Christ, it's not like Colangeloser doesn't know how to overpay for stuff!!
So we aren't terribly anti-Brett as this article would seem, we're more anti-philly-owner. Brett isn't the best, and it's true the accent drives stakes thru our brains, but he's the least of the evils which is the Sixers pathetic organization. It starts at the top, and Joshie is a born loser who's probably going to luck-himself into a Finals appearance despite being a total bozo. That's what really hurts. The ghost of Sam Hinkie 2 years removed is still on par with the Ainge's of the world, and that's saying something as the team slowly deteriorates from the dynastic power it COULD have been had Joshie grew a set. for Brown, sure, we'll spot him the playoff appearance and see what he can do, accent and all. If he can outperform expectations, sure, give him another year. But we'd have him on a much shorter timer than the love-affair which is taking place in Philly with the guy.
In depth analysis. Love it. Would be happy to have Stauskas back, agreed there as well. Regardless, Sixers are a fun squad to watch even if they can be annoying / aggravating at times!