The last #Bendall update went something like this:

1. Terez Owens claimed the pair had broken up.
2. Philadelphia papazarro HughE Dillon called bullshit.
3. He later apologized to Terez.

Along the way, that Robert Littal guy at Black Sports Online reported that Kendall had been hanging out with ex-boyfriends Blake Griffin and Jordan Clarkson. Blah blah blah and so on.

Anyway, Kendall is on the June cover of Vogue Australia, and the entire story is posted online. There’s a section that touches on Simmons, who is from Melbourne, that reads like this:

Navigating her way, on her own terms, is an approach that has spilled over into Jenner’s personal life. She is dating Australian-born basketballer Ben Simmons, also 23, and although the pair do not talk openly about their relationship, they are clearly smitten. Jenner revealed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in February that they’d been dating “for a bit now” and on the day of Vogue’s shoot she streamed Simmons’s game for the Philadelphia 76ers while she was in hair and make-up. Later, she Face-timed Simmons, cheekily holding up the March/April issue of GQ Australia that had him on the cover.

“she is dating Australian-born basketballer Ben Simmons”

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There’s a story at The Wall Street Journal describing John Wick 3 and Boban Marjanovic’s cameo in the film.

If case you’ve been living under a rock, the Sixers’ free agent center makes a brief appearance as a villain who tangles with Keanu Reeves.

There’s a pretty funny passage in the write-up explaining how Boban was asked to kick Reeves’ stunt double during the filming of the scene:

When it was time for action, (director Chad Stahelski) directed him to kick (the stunt double). Boban, being a nice guy, said, ‘No, no, no, you don’t really want me to kick him,’ Stahelski said.

No, no, no, they said. That was exactly what they wanted. Only when they assured him that it was (the stunt double’s) job to get kicked in the chest was Marjanovic comfortable mangling his friend. We had calculated the stunt man was going to land about eight feet away, Stahelski said. He landed about 15 feet away.

How about that? Boban kicked a grown man a full 15 feet across the set. The director explains that they had to do the take a second time, because Boban immediately apologized and messed up the shot.

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It’s Friday.

I’ve got one more Sixers story for you, and it’s a dive into the numbers. It’s not really a deep dive, since you could really spend days poring over and parsing data; this is more of a shallow dive, kind of like jumping into your neighbor’s pool, going underwater for a few seconds, then coming back up for air.

When looking just beneath the surface, how did the Sixers fare this season? What was good? What was bad? Do the numbers tell us anything about what needs to change next year, to get this team over the jump and into the Eastern Conference Finals?

Using NBA Stats, Here’s how Brett Brown’s team finished and ranked in a number of categories,  beginning with:

Traditional stats

• 115.2 points per game (4th)
• 47.1% on field goals (8th)
• 35.9% from three (8th)
• 30.2 three point attempts (19th)
• 27.5 free throw attempts (2nd)
• 77.1% from foul line (16th)

Two things jump at out me here, two disparities.

The first is the fact that the Sixers were the 8th best three-point shooting team while only attempting the 19th most threes per game. That’s fantastic efficiency, unlike the Rockets, who shot 45 three-pointers per game at a 35.6% clip.

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Happy Friday morning.

Let’s check in on former Sixer Markelle Fultz, via Magic head coach Steve Clifford at the NBA Draft Combine:

Orlando Magic Head Coach Steve Clifford just gave an update on ex-Sixer Markelle Fultz #Sixers #HereTheyCome #PhilaUnite @MarkelleF pic.twitter.com/nX9kwf3Fbp

— PFO – Blue Route (@PFOBlue) May 16, 2019

Clifford:

“I think we have the same philosophy with Markelle as when he got here. He’s been with us for about 5 or 6 weeks. He’s still strengthening the shoulder, he works with one of my assistants, Steve Hetzel, every day, and he’s made good progress. We have no timetable on his return, but so far, so good. He’s obviously super talented, a great person, and working really hard.”

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Whether you like him or not, Brett Brown is here to stay.

The Sixers’ head coach was never in jeopardy of losing his job, assured by managing partner Josh Harris that he would be returning for a 7th NBA season no matter what happened in the playoffs.

For whatever reason, people in this region seem to be totally split on Brett Brown. He’s either loved by Process types or totally hated by old school Philadelphia sports fans. Then people accuse the media of being in the bag for him because “he’s a nice guy,” which I read on Twitter every third day. I feel like zero Brett Brown middle ground exists, like our 2019 political climate, where you’re either a Republican or a Democrat and moderate ideas get shouted down by both sides via partisan frothing.

So it’s with a neutral approach that I’ll try to explain why I think the stated problems with Brett exist on a macro-level scale, a more general philosophical plane rather than than one exhibiting more discernible shortcomings.

To start, let’s actually go backwards, let’s start micro, and I want to use Mike O’Connor’s story from The Athletic, titled “The Ten Things We Learned About the Sixers During Their 2019 Playoff Run.” Mike is one of the best basketball minds in town, and he lists the following as adjustments Brett made in the Brooklyn and Toronto series:

• Benching T.J. McConnell after Game 1 of the Nets series and playing Butler as backup point guard
• Shifting to more aggressive off-ball defensive schemes against Brooklyn
• Picking apart the Nets by adding layers to their “Hawk” play against Brooklyn in Game 3
• Shifting Simmons onto Leonard at halftime of Game 1 against Toronto (And subsequently tweaking the rotation to align Simmons’ and Leonard’s minutes)
• Slotting Embiid on Pascal Siakam, and Tobias Harris on Gasol starting in Game 2 against Toronto
• Sending double teams against virtually every mismatch starting in Game 2 against Toronto
• Benching Boban Marjanovic for Greg Monroe in Game 2 against Toronto
• In general, shifting to an offense based more on the pick-and-roll throughout the playoffs

All of that is 100% spot on, and I’ll add a few, after the jump:

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