Philadelphia 76ers press conference

[ballsohard]

Welcome everyone to the 76ers press conference. I wanted to begin today talking about last season. First off we had a huge season despite falling to the hawks in round one of the playoffs. Our team went quickly from rebuilding mode to a 50 win squad that pressed a much more mature team to the brink.

We had a bunch of break out seasons, from Gordon Hayward to Ben Simmons. Simmons finished second in the rookie of the year contest, which we don’t agree with but respect. Ben also has never been about that type of reward and that’s why he began the season off the bench. He earned a starting role by sim 3 and the rest is history. Gordon had another great year in being moved to the point guard spot , which paved the way for some of our offseason moves that I will discuss later.

What we did learn though is that we had a team that could challenge for a few years while our core of Simmons and Grimaldi grow. With Hayward leading our team at the pg spot, we decided we could move on from Chet Dooley , who we didn’t have major plans for and Kemba walker who was a good player for us but always struggled to find a spot on our ever changing depth charts.

We moved our 10 pick for Harrison Barnes. Barnes gave us the flexibility to move GH to the one full time. We also made a move for Enes Kanter who as you may remember we thought we had in RFA a few seasons ago. Enes is an elite rebounder, a strong defender and can score. He’s a two way player we covet. With that we were able to snag a young guy In Kevin Whittaker.

With Walker out of the lineup we have high hopes that Grim and Kanter can pick up his slack and add to our somewhat anemic offense last year.

Along with these additions, we also have Marcelle Fultz who is fresh off of his redshirt season which we tend to do to our rookies. We probably see Kevin taking the same redshirt this year.


Our starting lineup to start the season will look as follows:

C Enes Kanter
PF Ben Simmons
SF Harrison Barnes
SG Grim Reaper
PG Gordon Hayward

With that I’ll open it up for questions

[garbageman]

The 76ers came out of pre-season with a defense ranked 2nd to last. Was that just a fluke, or do you have adjustments planned for the regular season?

[digiskunk]

What do you expect out of Markelle this upcoming season?

[WigNosy]

Do you feel that your younger talent - like Grimaldi and Simmons - is ready to handle full-time starters minutes against the stars of the league like Anthony Davis?

[ballsohard]

The 76ers came out of pre-season with a defense ranked 2nd to last. Was that just a fluke, or do you have adjustments planned for the regular season?

Preseason results are like a fart when you have diarrhea, don’t trust em.

[ballsohard]

What do you expect out of Markelle this upcoming season?

To be completely honest , to show he’s deserving of minutes over a min level guy. Markelle has the potential to be a player on Gary Harris’ level , but he’s got a lot to prove before we can make a real comparison.

[ballsohard]

Do you feel that your younger talent - like Grimaldi and Simmons - is ready to handle full-time starters minutes against the stars of the league like Anthony Davis?

I feel like this is a two part question so I’ll answer it like one. I think they’re ready to handle the league and hold their own.

I don’t think anyone is ready to hold their own versus AD. In short ad is spectacular and to be frank and a seemingly unfair advantage. But we will give him our all!

[kucoach7]

What do you want to say to the Knicks? Do you think you'll take them down this year?

[NOLa.]

Are there plans to get an actual PG? Hayward has shown he can handle those duties, but there’s a noticeable lack of passing on your team. Could Fultz possibly be used to trade for a capable PG?


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[false9]

Is the acquisition of Kanter in preparation of a playoff meeting with Anthony Davis and the Pistons?

[ballsohard]

What do you want to say to the Knicks? Do you think you'll take them down this year?

We’d want to say that we’re coming for them, but also we have a tremendous amount of respect for what The Knicks have done. down two guys to end the season really didn’t give ground in the division race. Gary Harris and Jokic will be a thorn in the leagues side for years to come. I guess the big thing to remember is to not sleep on the Nets. They added Westbrook for peanuts and in my opinion are the favorites in the division.

[ballsohard]

Are there plans to get an actual PG? Hayward has shown he can handle those duties, but there’s a noticeable lack of passing on your team. Could Fultz possibly be used to trade for a capable PG?


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I think from a build perspective it would have been nice to have one on the roster already. I think we’re going to go into the season and see how big of a need there actually is got us and go from there. If we are tearing through the league then there’s no need. I’ll also say we’re really high on Markelle so moving him is low on our priority list.

[ballsohard]

Is the acquisition of Kanter in preparation of a playoff meeting with Anthony Davis and the Pistons?

Yes and no. I don’t think you can even slow down that guy. So to say we went out to get a guy to offset Davis in any way shape or form would be kind of silly. What Kanter was brought in for was a skillset we just didn’t have. Hayward moving to the one mostly full time as our best rebounder made it tough for me to see us winning a lot of battles. Sure, it’s fill up his stat sheet but we’ve never been about that in philly.

[TheSyndicate]

Can you win a championship with Hayward at PG? Asking for a friend...

[IamQuailman]

With many of your young players coming off rookie deals in the next season or 2, which do you see as the most "expendable"?

[Conroy]

The East is absolutely stacked, you've made it no secret taking a slow build approach. How do you feel about the 'openning' of your window coinciding with the Eastern Conference maybe being as strong as it's ever been before?

[Xist2Inspire]

Do you feel as if your depth, especially in the frontcourt, will be a key component to success this season? Who are you looking towards to step up the most?