athleticalchemy
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John Pettus
I hate watching Embiid play. Not as much as Harden, but more than Luka. I hate these foul-grifters. It's just not fun to watch.
John Pettus
He was a whiner and a foul-grifter, even at his best.
John Pettus
Lotso junk in those trunks. Yabusele was so damn good in the Olympics. Dubs could use a guy like that, so bad.
John Pettus
As a frequent critic of JK, I want to say I thought he had a pretty good game. Still had some boneheaded plays, but honestly probably about the same number as Steph. And I don't think you can hold younger/bench players to higher standards than your stars. I was talking to someone on Blue Sky and said I wouldn't trade JK for Jimmy Butler straight up right now. But... a lot of that is because I think Jimmy Butler is a fading, untrustworthy drama queen. Could playoff Jimmy instead of JK at the 4 give us a puncher's chance of getting to the WCF? Maybe. But there's a big chance that Jimmy keeps falling off and JK keeps getting better over the course of this season. That's what I'm hoping for, anyhow.
Irritated Inanimate
Loved the play and the defense, team looking closer to how they should be playing together. I don’t understand the fascination for Embiid, but I’ve never really tried to watch him before. Between the Olympics and watching him during this game, he strikes me as a Harden type of player who plays the loopholes and the refs, which is not that appealing to me.
Dale Happy Knowles
20 pt and then some other attributes many of them don't have Consider JK was drafter 7th at the age of 18 having only High School and G League organized competitive play. Here is an AI generated comparison of JK and his draft class for your consideration. ************ Here's a comparison of Jonathan Kuminga's performance with notable players from the 2021 NBA Draft class, normalized per 36 minutes, based on the 2024-2025 NBA season statistics: *Note: These statistics are illustrative and based on typical performance trends for these players as of the 2024-2025 NBA season. For the most accurate and up-to-date statistics, please refer to official NBA sources or reputable sports analytics websites. This comparison indicates that several of Kuminga's peers from the 2021 draft class are outperforming him in key statistical categories when adjusted for playing time.
Rory Noone
Besides poor execution (throwing inaccurate fastballs) his passes usually go wrong because he is used to creating small windows of advantage where he can capitalize lightning quick with his athleticism, and literally nobody on the court could hope to be in sync with it. I think he is flourishing because he has finally developed the skill to control the ball safely and maintain his threat to score while moving as slow as his teammates so the play can develop around him. If Kuminga becomes a star the play making will be the key. Setting Steph a pick and hitting Draymond on the short roll is a something warriors fans should be excited about.
Dale Happy Knowles
This is about the time Kerr starts to shed his Mad Scientist mind and start to build chemistry. If he is true to form, by trade deadline GSW should be ramping up and after the All Star, go on a spree that will put fear in every Chip contender. With all the off season changes, lost of Klay, shackling of JK and new assistant coaches, I think GSW is well ahead of where I projected we would be at this stage of the season. I would love if we would get low taxing Jonas from Washington so we don't have to disrupt too much of the depth. Stay away from the big name veterans unless it's someone like a Jarred Allen that can bridge the divide.
Rory Noone
Kuminga has always intrigued me as a passer. By my estimation, he has been naturally creative with his passing in flashes since his rookie year whereas he is an incredibly capable scorer, but has clearly needed to develop a bag over time to score on nba defenses.
Dale Happy Knowles
Alc Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! I thought it was only me who thinks Embiid is a fraud. I painfully dislike his aura and impact on teammates game. It's clumsy drapped with fraud to cover up for a weak leadership skill. We know, "Success happens when Preparedness meets Opportunity" ~ Zig Ziglar and "Success is 98% Attitude, 2% Mechanics" ~ The Magic of Thinking Big Embiid has excellent skills but he radiates an attitude that stinks to high heaven. I just feel drained watching him so I don't. On the other side, Buddy is a high attitude player who prepares exceptionally well who right now has a twitch in his shot that is throwing him off and when not corrected early for the high volume shooter, easily can turn into a Steve Sax or Tiger Woods brain fart. They are such machines that when something goes off, it's hard to adjust because they think they are doing it right. I am not worried about Buddy beacse every year he makes a ridiculous amount of threes above the average of some of the best. His shooting coaches just need look to see what is out of align in his mechanics. He also need to not think about the misses as Sax did in his throws from second to first. Now for Steph why? I suggested before he is just missing the Klay factor and with Buddy woes it exasperated it. Kerr early season experiments to build a match up/rotation treasure chest to draw on during the playoffs has not helped as this team was not as big as previous GSW Chip teams but with the unleashing of the Leopard JK and the upgrade to Melton of Dennis, I can see this team going on a 20 and 5 run. All else fail, Kerr can take the team back to Hawaii for a day or two. 😁
Aben
Who was better than him from 05-08?
Jimmy Ji
I noticed in the 2nd quarter Kerr rested Steph and JK together. It will be interesting to pay attention to, seems like we are involving JK a lot more as part of the offense. The amount of attention he draws in the post is crazy, all 5 defenders has their eyes on JK when he touches the post with the ball in his hands. Isn't JK the modern day prototype for Tim Duncan? Esp if he develops as a playmaker.
Cameron Beamon
Bro for real . The level of fans he got over the last month is crazy . And we still have some warriors fans saying trade him for Steph . He is the 20 point scorer they be asking for
Point Gawd
But it is a bad example because Kobe wasn't top-5.
Point Gawd
"Butler to the Suns and KD to the Dubs?" No.
deb m.
@Kevin Chan I think it’s nasty to watch for the Sixers fans, too.
deb m.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Slomo gettin’ rolled. Previous game: DNP Last game: garbage time! How insulting.
Stephen Jones
Butler to the Suns and KD to the Dubs?
Ejikeme Uzoigwe
I was hoping for it after Paris, for sure
Chip Tingle
Maybe the best example game for JK of “in the flow of O”, and making others better?
Chip Tingle
Thanks for spotlighting Dennis, something Dub media seems reluctant to do more than saying he made shots. Steph can’t equal that level of on ball D for many minutes, and you called it, a tone setter. For Wiggs, too! If he had bulk of Maxey minutes, he’s likely not a cutting, slashing scorer last night.
Chip Tingle
If he ever learned to run faster point Joel, they could take off, even improve his own looks. Teammates just stand n watch, no cutters. I would stop cutting too watching his game.
Chip Tingle
Gotta say I’d like to see a Dubs uni on Yabu as a bruising stretch 5. Wide body w feet and a shot!
Chip Tingle
JK, Dray, Dennis created gravity last night, had to be honored on O. Advantages created have to be scored upon, or they’re useless.
Chip Tingle
Arguably more Dennis n Dray’s pace difference next to Steph, no matter what pace Steph chooses, but ya, Steph dialed it up to his ‘22 speed. Guessing his knees are up n down.
Aben
I agree with judging players biased on team performance is stupid I was just highlighting that same point to another guy by using Kobe as an example he believes that embiid wasn’t top 5 in the nba because he didn’t make it out of the second round
Chip Tingle
Big, slower, older D’s don’t like Dubs pace O. Hustling, younger, faster D’s are still a problem. Let’s see Memphis tomorrow.
Ejikeme Uzoigwe
It’s nice to go on Twitter and see other teams fans running trade machine math for Kuminga the way our fans have slobbered over Butler & Cam & Lauri & PG & Siakam…
Point Gawd
I agree its a team game and so judging a player's world-classness based on team performance is shaky. The best player in the world doesn't control the coach, GM, and owner. Thus, the case against Kobe being top-5 has nothing to do with Kobe's difficulty succeeding in the playoffs without Shaq over those years. The case against him starts with his low efficiency.
Athletic Alchemy
Top 5 can become a very arbitrary subject. Joel has had some squads to get it done. At a certain point you got a win. Judging the entirety of his career so far he hasn’t delivered. Joel is becoming a “what if” story
Athletic Alchemy
That’s a great thought MP.. Kobe really struggled with that late in his career. The 5am workout at a certain point has diminishing returns
Athletic Alchemy
😆
Aben
I agree I don’t think there are a lot of casuals but saying that a top 5 player has to make it out of the first round when basketball is a team sport and he’s been injured as well is just silly and shows a lack of understanding basketball imo. Kobe from 05-08 didn’t make it out of the second round… up until that point he hasn’t made it out of the second round without shaq does that mean he doesn’t he wasn’t a top 5 player until he showed he could be the man on a conference finals team? No that would be silly. The product Kobe put out was at the best in the world level and embiid also put out a top 5 lvl product this narratives people put out are weird.
Ben
At the 5:19 mark about 20 seconds left in the first quarter you didn't show the part where Kuminga dribbled down with the ball, attacked the smaller defender, almost lost the ball, but kept the dribble alive. I feel a lot of other players would have picked up the ball at that point, and it's notable that Kuminga kept it alive and was able to find Buddy in the corner.
Athletic Alchemy
You may see things differently but there are very few casuals round here.
Aben
You just don’t know basketball 🤷🏾♂️it’s fine I don’t expect casuals to understand that
Sean An
At this point the only ppl defending embiid are either sixere die hards or fantasy players have him
Abhi Kelkar
Something tells me steph and dray dgaf about these young teams. They seem to get up more vs. their similar aged peers
ntare rugamba
I saw the pg curry thing coming …the team has to play in his pace,only way to win…funny how a 9 man rotations saved the team….
John Z
Well that was a nice win. Glad to see another game with Steph as the hub, passes are a bit better when he has some time with the ball, hopefully we see more of it. I think last year you were talking about him maybe average a little less and set guys up more, think we've seen it a few times this year when he isn't trying to bail us out. Embiid definitely a slob.
Offtopic K
Yes sometimes its the organization like fox and the kings but they’ve made the team surrounded by quality players since he’s been drafted. It’s usually Embiid as the reason they couldn’t go further
Offtopic K
Nah Embiid sucks. Top 5 players get past the 2nd round
balkonski15
Casio :)
Strong Foru
Steph has not been the same since clay left and I'm not sure he will ever be again
Russ
Hell Damn NO. I am not giving up Wiggs straight up for Butler right now. GP2 they can have for free as he's costing us 9.1 million, and now that his 3 is back to his normal, he doesn't deserve half that money.
Russ
Agreed and you know the entire league is expecting it.
Russ
Embid is a mud slide and he can't for the life of him stay vertical. It's a shock that he gets down the steps of a bus without injury. Flails his arms and falls down like he was born to do it. Casio is a good line Alch.
Ryan Farber
Bigger caboose - Yabuselle or Jared Sullinger?
Kevin Chan
It’s the way he plays, nobody denies the talent and the effectiveness, but it’s nasty to watch for a non-sixers fan, that’s not the type of basketball that sell tickets to the general audience
Sensible Gooner
You are harsh on Embiid Unc. The guy is injured bro. Prime Embiid two years ago was clearly the best player in the league and was very good defensively too
Neal X
Refreshing to see a vintage Steph performance, refreshing to see JK still improving, refreshing to get a win, even if it was against a team that felt like it didn't even show up to play. We looked in this game the way Cleveland looked against us, out hustled, out muscled, missing open layups and giving up open threes . However, I still have to say that from what I saw, still some sloppy stuff we have to work out, and of course Buddy is just kind of a Greek Tragedy at this point, that sad story everyone told you was going to end the way it did. I am on board with giving Moody his minutes, but when GP2 and Podz are available again would I put odds on it? And man I feel for Slow-Mo, he's a playoff-caliber player warming his ass on the bench... something about that has to give.
Kahlil Baker
I think a couple of drays lob attempts shoulda been floaters or layups but still a good performance
Aben
I was the complete opposite I used to be very anti Joel because I thought jokic was better but I feel like the pendulum has swung the other way a lil too much which is weird after the last two season being all time levels of great, and I understand you can keep your weight down but it become harder when you’re struggling to walk imo
G 2tha P
I feel you, I’m just saying you’ve named 3 players who were/are the teams #1 and shit hasn’t worked. Maybe they’re picking the wrong guys or not developing them correctly. Embiid looks checked out to me. Why can’t the 6ers get the best out of him
Athletic Alchemy
For me it’s much different than Kawhi, who is always in tip top shape and does not play recklessly. But I hear you! Part of it for me is my disappointment and where this has ended up with him. I was a Joel guy, but too me he deserves a good amount of blame for his sloppy play style. You can also still keep your weight down when injured.
Aben
They were one of the worst team in the league now they are a few games back from a playoff seeding since embiid has been back
Aben
Yeah I can agree with vibes being bad and it’s been bad for years but I can’t agree with the revisionist view that embiid compared to other top guys doesn’t have the same impact on his team, and his body of work in previous season is is somehow in question based on this season where he’s clearly not the same. The eye test doesn’t back up this and analytic don’t as well. According to both the sixers have always been 100x better with embiid and he’s routinely been one of the most impactful players in the league as well up there with jokic. The sixers are one of the worst offences and defences without embiid and when he’s there they become one of the best… his impact since 2020 cannot be denied at all, to say anything else is simply rewriting who embiid is and that’s such a shame because he’s been such an outstanding player.
yan't get right
hard agree. he likely sees the game so differently at this age that the real practice is in refusing your routine
yan't get right
I can remember that most of the games in the past 3 years that felt like that 2016 warriors nirvana were when Point Steph was in full effect. He got everyone involved and got all his shots easily. Last night was a much needed win, but it's pretty true: if he's not gonna find his 37-year old why (very different from a 32 and 33 year old why) and be able to impose it on a game by game basis then this team is gonna fluctuate. Would be cool as HELL to see him embrace distributor right out the gate every night
yan't get right
none of what you said is wrong, but he still has terrible vibes though
Diego
They want Kuminga apparently
Gary
Embid looks like he still shouldn’t be out there. Agree - Steph has lost the underlying motivation and his knees. He needs to become a #2 and support and play point and not carry a team. Dubs have to wait till that’s available or (more likely) hope Kuminga can.
joss gitlin
Capella is right behind him who woulda thought
Major Powers
They said Steph didn't practice before this game. Coincidence? I know as a 20+ year touring musician sometimes less practice is better before the big show cause you have more energy, you feel more inspired, you can hear the music better, you feel looser and freer, because you didn't grind yourself down to a nub doing some uninspired routine shit right before. Maybe old man Steph should practice a little less? (Yes I am the Steph Curry of music lol)
KuraiT
It looked like early season Warriors
KuraiT
I don't know if I've ever seen a professional team play so different when they remember it's a game and play with joy. Curry was absolutely right, when they lose that joy of the game everything snowballs and when they are having fun you see the ball hopping, the defense locking down and shots start to fall. It was nice to not have an opponent turn into prime Larry Bird against us for a change too
JoeyD
Time to string a couple wins together
Nathan Glanzer
Whoa I totally forgot about Kyle Lowry I thought he was out the league lol
Nathan Glanzer
I don't see how anyone possibly thinks Jimmy fits
Dr. Sanjin
Damn, those charts are looking bad.
Aben
I agree
Aben
I understand that it’s hard to be sympathize with Joel but he’s done a lot to try and win shaved off parts of his meniscus (they don’t grow back) multiple times to make it back early and try to compete for a championship and we’re seeing the consequences now of forcing himself back with these injuries. He’s also just an injury prone guy, it’s lower body injuries too so it’s harder to keep in shape consistently. He was injured before he even stepped foot on an nba floor. They’re just guys like him n Kawhi where it’s kind of chronic lower body injuries. Him being injury prone is a fair critique though because that’s part of who he is but even in the past he wasn’t this bad when he came back hobbled from injuries.
Offtopic K
Was it the warriors or Wilt chamberlain as to why he didn’t win more with us? I feel the best player always has the biggest impact on winning or not. Especially Embiid, he’s had help nearly his entire career
Athletic Alchemy
Its horrible too watch man!
Athletic Alchemy
yeah I dont like it
Athletic Alchemy
This version of Joel.. I do!
Athletic Alchemy
You are right I am not being fair big picture but Its hard to have and sympathy for Joel.. he has done it too himself over and over flopping and refusing to keep his weight down.
G 2tha P
Maybe it’s time for the organization to take a look in the mirror then
Dr. Sanjin
The Bay Area cant stop talking about trading for Jimmy Butler today, people keep saying the talk is real and Vegas has GSW as the leading landing spot for him. Do you really think the front office would trade 48 million in contracts for him? That would be Wiggins and Draymond, or Wiggins, Dennis, and GPII. Seems like we'd be giving up a lot for a potentially no difference in contender status.
Athletic Alchemy
oh idk lol
Sarcasm 360
Finally a Schroeder game 😭
Athletic Alchemy
you right
Jeffery Rosario
The offense was great finally using pick and roll and pick and pop this is what I like to see but those three guard lineups need to go tho plus not playing slomo is a crime
Dr. Sanjin
😂
JW
Yesterday looked different.
Lionel Deejay
No more excuses fore TJD. Dude is older than Wiseman but we treating him like an up an coming prospect yet he is way worse at any sort finishing. It's time to call it as it is, he is a bad NBA level finisher that can only dunk, maybe shorter Gobert. https://x.com/automaticnba/status/1874914718667964800
Said Sharif
Or maybe someone sent Steph the "6th man" clip
G 2tha P
“The Big Skidmark” lollol- you’re a legend for that. Do you think that will catch on?
Aben
Using this game or season as an indictment on embiid’s game in general is crazy especially when in the past he was unguardable and an elite defender and in the past when embiid was injured the sixers sucked and he would come back and they would play elite so yes his impact on his team is right up there with the other top 5 players
Offtopic K
Embiid is my least favorite superstar in the league. His mentality on the game will cause him to be a forgotten talent. If he ever demands out of Philly I wouldn’t even want the warriors to trade Podz for him. I feel for sixers fans simmons, Butler and Embiid all considered generational talent were on your team smh
BruceWayne
Sixers look slow and old with their full roster.
Dashaya Toney
Sorry Alch but you're out of your mind if you think the Sixers are actually better without Embiid. Sure they play faster and it's more enjoyable to watch but they're not nearly as effective with him off the floor. Especially defensively, he got cooked last night but their defense is simply atrocious without him generally.
MaxShade18
Great way to start off the year
Diego
Yurrr
