2001 Sixers Plus Moses Malone

[onedayattatime]

The Sixers get Moses for free, i.e., not replacing Mutombo. Do they beat the Lakers in the finals?

[sp6r=underrated]

The Sixers get Moses for free, i.e., not replacing Mutombo. Do they beat the Lakers in the finals?

The 01 Lakers played out of their mind that year in the PS. I do think the Shaq-Kobe lakers get overrated in retrospect. They easily could have only made 1 finals if a few breaks didn't go their way. But in 01 they just got on one of those runs where they felt unbeatable.

I doubt it given how LA they played but the idea of Moses cleaning up after AI is cool.

[tsherkin]

Can't see them beating the Lakers. Also don't see great chemistry between Moses and AI. And clogging the paint with Moses AND Mutombo probably renders AI even less effective.

[SportsGuru08]

Mutombo and Moses is a terrible fit. Same result.

[Owly]

First glance thoughts ....
Lakers still very much favorites. Primarily because they were (as things were - as a baseline), when healthy and motivated the much better team. The playoff performance overstates that, but they were certainly much better than their RS with health, effort and cohesion issues. The 76er conversely are by no means locked in to a finals birth so from a full reset it's hardly a given that they get to the finals again (what if no Ratliff injury, no trade is an interesting side-plot there).

Initially inclined to think the fit is a bit icky as several have suggested. Certainly the passing isn't a Malone stregth. On the other hand
a) their other big in the playoffs was a (very poor production version of) Tyrone Hill so not a passer, spacer etc there anyhow.
b) Malone improved his shot over his career. Notably at the line but I think (mostly off reading, and a little off clips) that he had a circa 15 foot and in J too.
So whilst I wouldn't necessarily want them to avoid smaller units and Malone's passing is bad ... he probably opens the floor up a little more versus Hill, is certainly a much, much, much better player and offers another scoring option so Iverson could be a little less taxed. This is - particularly for a deep advancing team - a team that missed enough that the offensive rebounding helps ... some diminishing returns with Mutombo and others perhaps but there are options and possibilities there too (Mutombo more able to get back or the pressure of the two bigs causing errors or otherwise limiting the Lakers ... and it's not like there are a lot of offensive boards where two offensive guys would be the the first two/highest probability to get the ball).

Don't know how people feel about peak Malone's man defense. He's another big body and one who was good at avoiding fouls so maybe that could be useful versus Shaq. On the other end does Shaq guard Malone and if so can Philly gain an advantage there (possibilities ... from motor, running the floor; moving away from the basket, setting screens; getting Shaq into foul trouble)? I don't know. Those possibilities probably represent an optimistic view.

[youngcrev]

Can't see them beating the Lakers. Also don't see great chemistry between Moses and AI. And clogging the paint with Moses AND Mutombo probably renders AI even less effective.

Would the paint really be any more clogged?

Eric Snow had the most range among starters with his TJ McConnel free throw line pull up. Ty Hill I guess had a decent 8-10 foot baseline jumper. Deke couldn't make anything outside of the restricted area.

[tsherkin]

Would the paint really be any more clogged?

Eric Snow had the most range among starters with his TJ McConnel free throw line pull up. Ty Hill I guess had a decent 8-10 foot baseline jumper. Deke couldn't make anything outside of the restricted area.

A valid point, yeah. I still think they get roflstomp'd by the Lakers, but as I reflect, it's likely that the spacing doesn't end up that much different.

[Rishkar]

I think they won it. Peak Moses would at least be a decent defender on Shaq who could pull him out of the paint a little on the other end

[Dr Positivity]

They make the finals obviously but I still like Kobe more than AI and Shaq more than Moses, so...

[onedayattatime]

I like this discussion so far. Here's my rationale for thinking it's an interesting question (that even if it's not enough, adding Moses does move the needle significantly). As was noted, the guy he's replacing was not all that good. More importantly, Tyrone Hill was quite bad in that series. He gave some defense and supplemental defensive rebounding, while at the other end, his 'contribution' was basically blowing a few layups per game. So adding Moses upgrades talent, and even if you think the fit isn't good, adding talent adds options for coaches. For example, the other two notable Laker bigs were Robert Horry (had a great series) and Horace Grant (important defender but struggled on offense in this series), and they played more or less equal minutes. So if I'm Larry Brown, maybe I can put Malone on Shaq and Mutombo on Grant but have him cheat off of him as a help defender, which sort of makes Grant unplayable. It's not a huge deal, but it's useful.

Meanwhile, on offense, Malone gives a secondary scorer to a team that desperately needs one, arguably the greatest offensive rebounder to a team that misses a lot of shots, and kind of puts the Laker defense in a difficult situation. Do you want Shaq or Horry guarding this guy? Neither seems great because while Shaq can probably guard Moses, it's not the vacation that he might have been expecting from guarding Mutombo.

[carlquincy]

Wouldn't Dr J be a better fit than Moses in this situation?