Mikkeman wrote:lipoli390 wrote:
As for getting Wiggins and Towns post-season experience to teach them how intense it is, I might agree with you if they had already shown an appreciation for the intensity of a battle for playoff position. The home loss the the Grizzlies and home blow-out loss to the Jazz tell me these guys aren't ready for the next step. The much younger Sixers' core have risen to the occasion and have emerged as winners down the stretch, even without Embiid the past few games. So I'd say they're ready to take the next step and get a taste of the playoffs.
Lip, Sixers core that is currently in their rotation is not that much younger.
Towns is 22, over 1.5 years younger than Embiid
Wiggins is 23, little over 1 year older than Simmons
Butler is 29, little over 1 year older than Covington
Teague is 29, about 4 years younger than Redick
Gibson is 32, about 9 years older than Saric
Crawford is 37, about 6 years older than Belinelli
Bjelica is 30, about 1 year younger than Ilyasova
Dieng is 28, little over 2.5 years younger than Amir Johnson
Jones is 21, little over 4 years younger than McConnell
The difference between average age of those guys is about half year. Of course if we look their NBA experience, difference is wider since Saric and Embiid didn't play in their two first seasons and Simmons missed his first season. Sixers have also much more impressive group of prospect that didn't yet contribute much in Fultz, Luwawu-Cabarrot, Korkmaz and Anderson.
It's more a matter of years of experience than age. That's really what I meant by younger. Bottom line is that the Sixers are a 50-win team, finishing strong, even though three of their 5 starters, including their two best players, Simmons and Embiid, started the season with one year or less NBA experience. Their starting PG is a rookie. Another starter on the Sixers, Covington, had 4 years experience going into this season (only one more year than Wiggins). Add in Redick, and the Sixers' starting lineup had a total of 17 years experience, 11 of those from only one of their starters (Redick). Compare that to the Wolves, whose starters had a combined 27 years of NBA experience to start the season. More importantly, no Wolves' starter had less than 2 years of NBA experience going into this season. Our best player, Butler, was a 6-year veteran, while our starting PG was an 8-year veteran.
The Sixers have been far more impressive than the Wolves this season in how well they've done and how strong they're finishing, especially when you factor in the Sixers' relative inexperience.