​by Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

Musta missed the memo. Kawhi Leonard is a top-5 player in the NBA, huh?

Coulda fooled me.

Not for nothing, but the post-“bounced by Boston” craze circling the 76ers and the “positively imperative” moves-making mania, headed by the talking heads on sportstalk radio, heightened by the team's brass, and forever fueled by a panic-stricken and, frankly, pretty ill-informed fan base (thanks in large part to those aforementioned talking heads), is outta control here.

Sorry, get the desire masquerading as need for a marquee acquisition, come free-agency or wheeler-dealer insanity (trading Dario Saric, Markelle Fultz and a first-rounder … or even Ben Simmons – really?!!) when it comes to landing the likes of Leonard, but settle down, people.

Professed experts and Johnny Come Latelies, one and all.

If you ask me, the club is OK as is. Just needs some tweaking with the hands on deck. Specifically the main guys, Simmons and Joel Embiid.

One needs to work on an outside shot – first and foremost the willingness to take one; he already has a solid stroke – and the other a serious reality check. Yo, Joel, the fans over-valuing your game is one thing. You, dude, need to grasp what you can do … and dribbling more than once is beyond your scope, as is planting yourself outside the arc at the top of the key, thinking you can “run the show” or shoot it into oblivion.

Hey, Simmons has the innate skills to handle things out there … and he struggles to do it. You don't have that ability, brother. At all. Never will. Give it a rest, even before your adoring and ever-excusing faithful does. It'll do all parties involved good.

But the real issue here is in valuing property, or commodity. Make fun of his geekiness all you want, but Sam Hinke grasped that with players and draft picks. Meanwhile, forced-down-the-Sixers-throat GM Brian Colangelo gave a crash course in stupidity on that front just a year ago when he traded two first-round picks to move up two spots in the NBA Draft to select Fultz at No. 1.

Forget the 1-for-1 silliness most whine about when seeing how ineffective Fultz has been while the Celtics, their comrade in trading arms, have received major contributions from Jayson Tatum, the guy they chose at No. 3 … and would have chosen at No. 1 had they stayed there.

It matters, sure. But the real issue is, the Sixers lost another asset in the deal … that they didn't need to – a future first-rounder. Here's the point on this one point: Imagine that Fultz, shockingly, turns out to be better than Tatum over the long haul. Wonderful, right? OK, great. The bad news: It's impossible for him to be better than Tatum AND another asset, though. Not unless the Celtics totally blow it with their selection, or back luck follows the three-leaf clover crowd.

Which brings us to Leonard and his blatantly overrated status.

Time to slow the roll with that, or give up puffing from the ganga pipe.

The guy is solid NBA player who, maybe, has been the best player on his own team one season in his seven-year career. Yes, he's an elite defensive player whose efforts on that side of the ball have earned him top honors in the league twice already. He's also a 16.3 points per game performer who has never played a season injury-free and is coming off a ridiculous pout-fest that saw him skip 73 games with the Spurs this past regular season, not to mention their five-game series loss to Golden State in the playoffs.

Top 5? Heck, he comes to Philly and he's immediately No. 3 in the lineup – that is, unless Colangelo turns out to be brain-dead enough to move Simmons in a deal for Leonard.

LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, John Wall, Giannis Antetokoumpo, Anthony Davis … hmmm, by my off-the-cuff count, Leonard would be lucky to check in as a top-10 guy – without even considering Embiid or Simmons.

Just stop the insanity, and start valuing reality.

Make a play for LeBron? Hell, yeah. Trade a bunch of assets for Leonard? Get a grip.

Sixers need to think value, not splash – especially one that wouldn't be nearly as big as it is being pitched.

by Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

Standing 7 feet, 2 inches, and weighing 270 pounds, he, amazingly, remains invisible.

Doesn’t matter the situation, the stakes or his all-too-often Bambi-on-ice footwork. Whenever criticism or complaint arises among the Sixers faithful, the masses, including the Philly media, somehow don’t see Joel Embiid factoring into the equation.

He just – poof – disappears from their thought process.

Completely.

Nothing more than a puff of smoke for the haters to chase and never find.

It’s a remarkable, blinders-wearing psyche that seems to permeate the city and beyond.

The big fella can do no wrong … no matter how much wrong he does.

Or, at worst, he is so impractically forgiven that whatever turnover, errant shot or bonehead decision he makes is deemed unworthy of mention, never mind – gasp – accountability.

Yes, all hail the self-anointed “Process” and whatever tripping over his own feet fate await.

Sorry, no can do on that here. Won’t be joining the non-stop hero worship because, gee, we’ve had it tough, so we gotta cling onto something or someone – at all costs. Even at the expense of reality.

Just not gonna happen.

Look, got no issue with head coach Brett Brown taking most of the heat for the team’s 0-3 nosedive in the current best-of-7 Eastern Conference semifinals of the NBA playoffs against Boston. Or Ben Simmons being next in line on the bitchin’ chopping block.

But ripping the likes of all-out, balls-out J.J. Redick, Marco Belinelli or no-minutes Markell Fultz while excusing Embiid?

Gimme a freakin' break.

Yo, Brown has been brutal in this series. Simmons, too.

Guess what – so has Embiid.

That godawful, lazy inbounds pass by Simmons with 5.5 seconds to play in Game 3 Saturday didn’t exactly have Celtics steal, foul and two Al Horford free throws to set the final margin of 101-98 rubber-stamped on it. No, Embiid’s outta-gas, ridiculous “sitdown like I’m accepting an entry pass to the post” attempt to grab the ball made certain of that.

Frankly, everyone’s favorite tweeter was an albatross to the Sixers’ effort the entire overtime. In that extra five minutes, Embiid committed three personals, missed two shots, had one blocked by Horford, got caught in a switch that allowed the Celtics to grab the lead right before that end-game dagger and threw the ball away on another possession. No points. But he did pull down one offensive rebound.

Wow. Almost sounds like time for some confetti.

Not for nothing, Jo-Jo Nation, but your guy shot 10-for-26 in the contest just two days after going 8-for-22 in a Game 2 loss in Boston. Heck, he’s shooting just 42.6 percent from the floor in this, his first postseason. Not to mention an absolutely dreadful 18.8 percent from beyond the arc.

Umm, why in Wilt Chamberlain’s name is he even out there anyway?

Enough already with the excuses about youth or injury or facemask or whatever else comes down the pike. Wake up out there. That’s all part of the Embiid package.

Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. Nor does rationalizing it make it lessen in terms of impact.

Yeah, got it. He does some great things. In some games he does a lot of great things, in fact.

But his game, and effort, also shows massive holes at times, due to lack of conditioning, bad luck, massive ego and the most undeniably maddening combo of athleticism and awkwardness the eyes behind this ramble have ever seen.

It’s not invisible, people. It’s there.

Right there, produced in the flesh, all 7-2, 270 pounds of it.

A consistent rumbling, bumbling, stumbling exercise of dribbling the ball off sneaker tops to match every wondrous display of power with a thunder dunk.

Just a reminder, Sixers fans: Fault, thy name is Embiid, too. Not just Brown or Simmons or someone else.

Trust that.​

​by Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

Now comes the cruel part. Hope. False hope.

As the 2018 NBA playoffs have proven thus far, home court is an advantage. A big one.

The top four seeds in the East advanced to the conference semifinals. The top two in the West reached the conference semifinals, and the two upstarts out there are now 6-1 on their own floor.

Boston, though, is the ultimate Jekyll-Hyde team out of the eight still alive. The Celtics are absolutely dynamite in their friendly confines and positively dreadful on the road.

So, Sixers fans, beware. Down and seemingly out with your boys taking an oh-2 shot to the chin up in Beantown, much of that pre-series bluster and blowhard talk siphoned out of your system in the process, you're now looking at a life raft and lottery ticket headed your way.

The Celtics are 6-0 this postseason at TD Garden, performing at optimum level enough to either blow out the competition or just get by it, “your team, your town, your 76ers” included.

They're 0-3 away from it (and a combined 4-9 the previous three postseasons), and looking pretty ugly, if not pathetic.

Don't expect that to change tonight when the legendary rivals of the 1960s and '80s meet up again at the Wells Fargo Center, with the trap-door bravado likely to emerge from within Sixers fans.

Here's the rub, though. Even if the Sixers knot the best-of-seven series at 2-all with Games 3 and 4 wins in South Philly, they still gotta go back to Boston … and the Celtics feed off that crowd and adrenaline and vibe it supplies.

Frankly, no argument here that the Sixers, right now, have more skilled basketball players across the board. It's not just Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. It's guys such as Dario Saric, Ersan Ilyasova, Marco Belinelli, J.J. Redick and, heck, Robert Covington, too.

But Boston has good players across the board, and they're a much more athletic, physical and fast team all around.

That extra “ummph” being at home provides really matters for the Celtics. Even against more hoops-specific talent.

Especially when the latter's coach refuses to adapt to situations that scream for change … or a timeout.

Not for nothing, but if we're going to en masse rewrite the narrative to Brett Brown's coaching abilities once his squad started to put things together the second half of the regular season, then we damn sure need to hold him accountable for silly stubbornness or outright stupidity.

Hey, considering the above ode to Boston's play at home, it's likely the Sixers were going to lose Games 1 and 2 no matter what. But Brown's decisions sealed that, particularly Thursday night.

This is no time to adhere to the process learning curve. It's the playoffs. You do what you can to win. Period.

Why? Because there is no guarantee you ever get back to that point.

Sports, if you want to be successful, are the essence of being in the moment. No more so than in the postseason.

You can worry about “the kids” dealing with a dwindling lead some other time. Same thing with Simmons' ego when ridiculously undervalued sub T.J. McConnell is ridiculously outperforming Mr. Transcendental Player.

The fact Brown continues to keep his bench on a leash, failing to utilize the energy and aggressiveness that McConnell, Justin Anderson and Richaun Holmes could provide an outfit in dire need of it against a team like Boston.

Enough with the protection of Markelle Fultz, too. Those who dime out mob bosses fade less into the deep-cover abyss.

Look, the kid's play ain't ever going to be able to justify that idiotic trade between the two teams that saw Sixers get last June's No. 1 pick and him cemented in warm-ups while Boston get two top-5 picks, including one, Jayson Tatum, who already is showing himself to be cusp of All-Star caliber in his rookie season.

But that ain't the fault of Fultz. That's the fault of the Sixers' personnel people, who failed to grasp the potential immediate returns, or lack there of, and the reality that the difference in talent between Fultz and Tatum PLUS whoever that next draft pick turns out to be was never enough to justify such a move.

Not playing him only compounds the confusion.

Which may be off the charts anyway should the series head back to Boston at 2-2.

by Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

Not sure the Sixers were overconfident.

Oh, the fan base was, and the blowhard group of talking heads feeding that ever-expanding rabid fan base with inane, half-baked “juice” damn sure was.

But the team itself, the players, the coaches … nah, not buying it.

As the undercurrent of concern already swirls after a Game 1 loss in a best-of-seven, with itchy trigger fingers seemingly set to push the panic button at the slightest sign of trouble in Thursday night’s second edition of the Eastern Conference semifinals, here is what we now know:

• The Celtics, as presently constituted, are a faster, quicker team across the board than the Sixers.
• They are a better defensive team, particularly on the perimeter.
• They are a better-coached team – sorry, Brett Brown.

Are they better overall? That remains to be seen. With Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons leading the way, the Sixers do possess more “transcendental” star power, they are far bigger and, if they get hot from the outside, they’re capable of being just as dangerous as the Celtics were during a 17-for-35 barrage from beyond the arc in Boston’s 16-point victory Monday night as the teams renewed arguably the NBA’s most storied playoff rivalry.

Here’s the thing. The Sixers knew all this going in. Or should have.

The fans? The “geniuses” in Philly and across the nation with mic or keyboard at their disposal mocking the Celtics’ chances heading into the series? Umm, probably not.

Check that. Definitely not considering the arrogant, “Boston is beneath ‘us’” BS that permeated the predictions and putdowns that overflowed in such short order. With the Sixers still chilling after dispatching Miami in five games in Round 1, Celtics players barely had a chance to shower following a Game 7 Battle Royale to outlast Milwaukee before being hit with the “mere fodder” label since they had the suddenly immortal Sixers next.

Not for nothing, but that was nothing short of stupid … and uninformed.

Apologies to Vegas, or those forever beholden to its oddsmakers, not forthcoming, either.

The Sixers may, indeed, turn things around. Perhaps even quickly. Especially, say, if they pick up their own defense, they start hitting shots from the field and the line, and they stop viewing one guy as the end-all, be-all on both ends of the floor.

Yo, got it. Embiid is fun, and when you look at the boxscore after each game, there is no doubt the big fella produces. But at what cost? He is an enigma of the highest order, his jaw-dropping athleticism interminably intertwined with his trip-over-his-own-feet awkwardness just as his brain-fart bad decision-making is with his “atta guy, nice move” stuff.

Brown may have to suck it up and get more quicks on the floor at times with – oh, my … gasp – Markelle Fultz, and make more use of hard-nosed guys such as T.J. McConnell and Justin Anderson, too, to combat the Celtics’ toughness.

Because, we learned two other things the other night about the Sixers’ combatants:

• They clutch and grab all over the place … and get away with it.
• They push and shove all over the place … and get away with it.

Frankly, the Sixers didn’t handle either very well.

​Fairing better against Brad Stevens’ schemes and rotations would be wise, too.

Otherwise we might be listening to an entire city, previously torn at the thought, unite in a quest to acquire LeBron James for next season.

Haters and chemistry experts be damned.

By reality and common sense.​