Tag: Raul Neto

New Matisse Thybulle vlog has Russell Westbrook-Tobias Harris gambling

Philadelphia 76ers rookie Matisse Thybulle has a new vlog that includes Tobias Harris and Russell Westbrook gambling.

Philadelphia 76ers rookie Matisse Thybulel continues to take fans inside the bubble and a look at how NBA players are living at Disney World in Orlando. They have included a look at practice, a look inside their hotel setup, and they even include looks at team meetings and practices.

In Friday’s episode, the sixth video of his series, there was a huge focus on a cornhole tournament that was going on inside the hotel. Thybulle participates in a few tournament games and then Tobias Harris and Houston Rockets guard Russell Westbrook got into a funny story about gambling from their past and it then spilled over into another cornhole tournament.

On top of that, the team has another huge dialogue on what to do to spread the social justice message as they heard from Furkan Korkmaz and Raul Neto as well with Harris leading the meeting. It was very powerful to watch.

The rookie is now up over 337,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel as his videos continue to grow and they continue to have a lot of interest. It has been impressive to see how he edits everything and keeps the interesting content rolling. [lawrence-related id=35896,35904,35884]

Sixers star Joel Embiid will play vs. Pacers, Glenn Robinson III doubtful

Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid will play in Saturday’s restart opener against the Indiana Pacers.

The Philadelphia 76ers are officially getting back at it on Saturday and they will be taking on the Indiana Pacers in a big matchup for them. The Sixers and the Pacers are currently tied for the 5 seed in the East, but Philadelphia is sitting at the 6 seed as the Pacers have the tiebreaker.

Philadelphia was dealing with injury issues over their three scrimmage games, but they did receive some good news on Friday as they get set for the restart opener.

Big mn Joel Embiid missed their final two scrimmage games with a right calf issue and he is all good to go and will play on Saturday. Meanwhile, Raul Neto is dealing with lower back tightness and he will be probable while Glenn Robinson III is doubtful with a left hip pointer injury.

The Sixers and the Pacers will tipoff at 7:00 p.m. EST from the VISA Athletic Center inside the bubble in Orlando. The NBA has returned. [lawrence-related id=35884,35874,35865]

Glenn Robinson III out for rest of game vs. Thunder with hip injury

Philadelphia 76ers forward Glenn Robinson III will not return in their matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The injury bug is continuing to bite the Philadelphia 76ers inside the Orlando bubble at Disney World. After already being down Joel Embiid and Raul Neto before their scrimmage matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team is now dealing with another injury.

Wing player Glenn Robinson III, who scored seven points in the first half, suffered a left hip pointer after a collision with a few Thunder players. He left to go to the locker room with Philadelphia leading before coming back out to the bench. The team then made a decision at halftime to hold him out for the rest of this game.

The Sixers have to hope that their guys will get healthy before the season does officially resume on August 1 against the Indiana Pacers.

On the court, Ben Simmons is having another solid game on the floor and the Sixers hold a large lead over the Thunder in the third quarter. [lawrence-related id=35510,35504,35449]

Sixers will also be without guard Raul Neto in scrimmage vs. Thunder

Philadelphia 76ers guard Raul Neto is out for Sunday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Philadelphia 76ers are continuing to prep for the 2019-20 season resumption in Orlando and Sunday will be the second of three scrimmage games against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They will be heading into the game undermanned as big man Joel Embiid is already ruled out due to a calf issue, but they will now be without one of their ball handlers as well.

Backup point guard Raul Neto has been ruled out for the matchup on Sunday due to some back tightness that he suffered in pregame warmups. He will be re-evaluated on Monday as Philadelphia continues to figure out their new rotations moving forward.

As mentioned before, this is just a scrimmage game. This game does not matter in the grand scheme of things and it is smart to not push anything moving forward. This is just to get everybody back playing again and get used to NBA speed. The Sixers are making a smart decision to hold them out. [lawrence-related id=35504,35485,35449]

Multiple Sixers noticing Al Horford being much more vocal as a leader

The Philadelphia 76ers acknowledge the fact that Al Horford has gotten much more vocal on the floor.

With a roster like the one the Philadelphia 76ers possess, it can be tough to figure out how to best play with each other and figure out how to have team success. The Sixers had a lot of expectations heading into the 2019-20 season and they have not been able to live up to them due to the awkwardness of the roster.

That is where the veterans on the team have to step up and be more of a leader to guide a young team out of the issues they are having. For the Sixers, that guy has mostly been Al Horford lately.

As the team gets set to resume the season in Orlando, the Sixers are playing with new lineups and new rotations which means Horford has been relegated to the bench unit. However, he handles it with class.

“What I’ve been most impressed with is his him being vocal, his level of competitiveness,” said coach Brett Brown. “There has been a physicality, there’s a toughness, there’s a voice that you just feel. We’ve scrimmaged a bit, we’ve played a fair bit of 5-on-5 and I feel like Al has jumped into that environment in a significant way. I feel like his mood, his spirit, his toughness, his voice, and he’s just been very physical in the games and it has stood out to me.”

Horford has been in the NBA now for 13 seasons. He has made the playoffs his entire career, he has advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals three times, and he came to within one win of the NBA Finals in 2018. He is a guy that has been through the wars of the NBA and he has a wealth of experience. When he talks, the Sixers listen.

“Al has been huge for us since the beginning,” added Raul Neto. “At the beginning, of course, he was the new guy, he didn’t want to talk a lot, but now he feels comfortable and he feels like he is one of the leaders on this team. Everybody listens to him, he’s a vet, he’s been in the league for a long time, he played in a lot of playoffs and big games. Everybody knows that and everybody I think trusts him to be our voice most in the time in a game.”

Mostly, Horford was brought in to help Joel Embiid grow his game a lot more. He gave the big fella a lot of trouble during his time with the Boston Celtics and that is something that influenced the Sixers to bring him to Philadelphia. Now that he’s here, this gives Embiid somebody to learn from.

“Al is a great person so just being around him and seeing the way he presents himself, that’s what I’ve gathered from him,” Embiid said. “He’s a tremendous player. I played against him and now he’s on our team. Everybody’s trying to figure out how to play with each other. That’s what we’re here for and that’s what why we’ve got these couple of games before the playoffs, but he’s a great person and he’s a guy I love having on our team.”

The Sixers will play their first scrimmage game on July 24 against the Memphis Grizzlies before officially resuming the 2019-20 season on August 1 against the Indiana Pacers. [lawrence-related id=34653,34631,34632]

Multiple Sixers react to playing with Shake Milton as the starter

The Philadelphia 76ers react to Shake Milton being the starting point guard in practice.

The Philadelphia 76ers are looking a little different to begin these new practice days in Orlando. The Sixers are tinkering a bit more with their rotation as they have been starting Shake Milton at point guard in practice thus far and they have moved Ben Simmons over to the power forward spot.

A lot of this is still in the early days, but the idea is to create more spacing on the floor and allow Joel Embiid and Simmons more room to operate in the paint with a guy like Milton out on the perimeter and being an offensive threat. His shooting ability as well as being able to put the ball on the floor and create for himself is an addition that coach Brett Brown likes to have.

“It’s incredibly early, this is our fourth practice and we don’t really play a game until those first few days of August,” Brown explained. “So this is where I’ve started this particular camp with him with the ball and moving Ben all over the place.”

Simmons has praised Milton for his work in the past, but now that he is able to play with him in a new position and in a new light, there is a lot to like about his game. Especially when considering that he was shooting the lights out–51.2% from deep–in the final 20 games before the league suspension.

“He plays really well,” said the All-Star. “He can shoot the ball, he has a high IQ, he can get to the rim, he can finish. H’s just somebody you can play with and say something to him and he’ll put it in a play and try it out. That’s what you need in somebody like Shake. He’s developing still and he’s come a long way since the first day I’ve seen him play. He’s only getting better.”

The issue with trusting Milton in such a high-pressure situation like the playoffs is the fact that he is still a young guy. He is only 23-years old and in his second season in the league. There’s a lot for him to still try and learn and be the guy to lead a team to a championship, but his poise is something Brown likes to have.

“His mentality and composure albeit at a young age and then you amplify it out to an NBA Playoff environment, there’s a poise that he has as a person that everybody feels,” said the coach. “I think that that can help him navigate through a pressure situation of the NBA Playoffs and I do believe how he’s wired from a human perspective can help him deal with that environment in a more calm way.”

Philadelphia has a history of doing this with Simmons. They take the ball out of his hands in the playoffs–they did it in 2019 with Jimmy Butler–and they play him off the ball. However, in a close game situation, who gets the ball? Will it be Milton? Simmons? Maybe Josh Richardson?

“You think about that and about 800 other things all the time,” said Brown. “I think as it starts to heat up and with 50 seconds left, 102-102, what are you going to do? I’m always thinking about that and right now, I have come into camp and playing Ben Simmons all over the place. He does have the ball at times, I have played him as a 4-man, and so I suspect that that will continue and I will use him in many ways.”

“He showed before coming here, before the league stopped, that he can be a huge piece for us,” added veteran Raul Neto. “He’s had great games, big games, he played great in LA in those two games, more against the Clippers. So I think he’s been practicing well and he’s got his place on this team. He’s doing a great job.”

Philadelphia gets back at it on August 1 against the Indiana Pacers. They will have time before then to make sure that they are all on the same page with Milton leading the way.

3 playoff goals for Sixers guard Raul Neto: stay ready for any chance

Philadelphia 76ers guard Raul Neto will need to make sure he’s ready for any opportunity that comes his way.

The Philadelphia 76ers are getting set to resume the 2019-20 season which means that they will have a chance to compete for and chase the 2020 title that they set out to win. Of course, they will be led by Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, but they will need help from the supporting cast to get this done.

For this series, Sixers Wire will be giving out three goals for each player to focus on during this 2020 playoff run. We start with Raul Neto who was the backup point guard behind Simmons, but he was then essentially replaced by Josh Richardson and Alec Burks. However, he could receive some playing time.

For Neto, his three goals are:

Stay ready for any opportunity

The Sixers could have a player test positive for the coronavirus and that means that player would have to be quarantined for seven days. On the off chance that a guy like Simmons, Richardson, Burks, or whoever comes down with the virus, that opens up a spot for Neto to step in and he will have to produce. As a guy who has played plenty of roles in his career, he will have to be sure to be ready for this specific situation.

Provide shooting

In the chance that he does play a role in the playoffs, Neto will have to continue to show off that 3-point shot he showed during the season. He shot 39.4% from deep in 49 games with Philadelphia, including three starts. At the end of the day, Neto is a solid shooter who is a threat from deep so that is the type of production that could prove helpful come playoff time.

Run the offense

Neto’s main role for this team initially was to run the offense and be a solid playmaker on that end. He is not that great of a defender as he stands at a smaller 6-foot-1 so his main production and contribution to this team will be on the offensive end. If he can just continue to limit the turnovers and also shoot the ball well from deep, then that makes the Sixers a little bit more dangerous as they get some help in that area. Again, all of this will hinge on him being ready for any opportunity that pops up.

Sixers express multitude of concerns about playing in Orlando bubble

A multitude of Philadelphia 76ers players have expressed concerns over the Orlando bubble.

The good news is, the NBA is returning! After being in suspension since March 11, the league has found a way to safely resume the season at Disney World in Orlando.

The bad news is, the world is still dealing with a global pandemic and it can be tough playing under such conditions and Joel Embiid already expressed that he hated this idea. The Philadelphia 76ers will be one of the 22 teams heading down to Orlando on Thursday to resume the season and it can be tough to play this way, but in the current circumstances, this is probably the best way they can handle things.

“I don’t think we should be playing, but I think the NBA is doing all that they can to make the environment safe as possible,” said Shake Milton. “So, my teammates want to play. We’re going down there to try and get a win.”

Glenn Robinson III agreed with Milton that this is probably the best idea the NBA could come up with to keep everybody safe at the moment.

“Obviously, you see all of the stuff on social media and hear all of the talks about it, but honestly, it’s as good of a job as they can do right now,” he echoed. “We see all of the money they’re spending. Just seeing the plan, hearing the action, I don’t know if we could get better than this right now for something that we’ve never done, but it should be interesting. It’s just the unknown, if someone gets it what happens? I think all of us are just thinking like that, but in terms of the NBA, I think it’s as good a job as they can do.”

A few members of the Sixers roster are fathers and they will be leaving their children for a while to go play basketball in the middle of a pandemic and a huge Civil Rights movement at the moment. All of that can be tough and draining for anybody.

“We’re just going off of ‘we’ll see’,” said Mike Scott “We just can only go off of what people are saying, explaining what it’s going to be like down there, and giving us an idea of what’s to come, but we don’t really know. We’re really just going off of ‘we’ll see what happens when we get down there’. Hopefully, they’ll try and make everybody safe, but that’s how I feel. We’ll see. I don’t know anything until I get down there and see.”

The Sixers will be staying at a hotel at Disney World for weeks and possibly months depending on how far they go into the playoffs. That can be really tough for a lot of guys to stay away from their family like that.

“I think the hardest thing will be just being away from the people we love and being away from our friends and family,” said guard Raul Neto. “I think that’s the thing I’m most concerned about and I think it’s going to be the hardest for me personally, because I think the NBA is doing a great job just setting the bubble the way they did with a lot of entertainment for us, with a lot of things that we can do besides basketball, protecting us.”

It is difficult for anybody to be away from their family and friends for this long time and try to focus on doing their job and playing basketball. None of this is going to be easy for anybody in the Orlando bubble.

“It’s pretty difficult,” Josh Richardson added. “I’m not excited to be in that situation, but I’m excited to play. I’m excited to go to war with my teammates so it’s a silver lining to everything so I’m excited for it.”

Even for a veteran like Al Horford, this is all so entirely new to him. He has been in the NBA for 13 years now and his mindset is so focused on just being prepared for any challenge thrown at him while in Orlando.

“The reality is that the world has changed for all of us,” he explained. “These are things that are unexpected and you can’t predict. Now, the way that I look at it we have another opportunity. We have a reset type of button and we’re healthy as a team. For me, it’s just about being as prepared as I can.”

Philadelphia begins their biggest challenge on August 1 against the Indiana Pacers. [lawrence-related id=34358,34321,34335]

Multiple Sixers give insight on daily practice routine amid new normal

Multiple members of the Philadelphia 76ers explain their new daily routine amid a new normal at the moment.

The NBA is working towards a resumption in the “bubble site” down in Orlando as they navigate through a difficult landscape at the moment and figure out what the next logical step is amid a global pandemic. Before the teams head to Orlando, they are beginning to get back to their specific team’s workout facility in their home markets under some restrictions.

The players have to work out with just one coach and one rebounder and the coaches have to be masked and wear gloves while the player works out. As the Philadelphia 76ers get back to work, their workouts are pretty different amid this new normal at the moment, but the most important thing is, they can continue to work and get back in game shape.

“I get to the gym and you have to wear a mask when you come in,” explained Glenn Robinson III. “My first week being back here, there was a lot of testing, but you weren’t allowed to get on to the court with a rebounder or another coach or anything. Then, moving forward just one coach. I come in, I have my treatment, I have my hour workout with a rebounder and my coach. Obviously, they’re masked, I can workout without a mask. I didn’t know how it would be if I had to wear a mask while working out, but it’s been good. You have to find a way to be professional and getting your work done in about two hours and get out so the next group can get in.”

Rookie Matisse Thybulle, who has not seen much of his teammates since the league was suspended, explained that players are very much isolated to avoid further contact at the moment. These are the protective measures that the Sixers have taken to keep everybody safe.

“Within the facility, we have these small bubbles,” explained Thybulle. “I’m only coming in contact with two guys and it’s the same two guys at a time so it makes it weird. Like I haven’t heard from some guys, I’ve bumped into KO (Kyle O’Quinn) riding his bike in Fishtown and I get to rub past Al (Horford) and Tobias (Harris) in the facility, but other than that, it’s very much in passing.”

Robinson III further explained it was that the players don’t have all of the time in the world to get stuff done. They only have a couple of hours or so to make sure they come in, get their work in, and then get out so the next group can come in and work.

Robinson III explained:

It’s a little weird. It’s basically one person at a time and they have us on blind schedules. Ben’s (Simmons) here and leaving as I’m pulling up and as I’m leaving, Furk (Furkan Korkmaz) is coming in and doing his work so it’s about an hour on the court and about 30 or 45 minutes in the weight room. I think the Sixers are doing things the right way. I don’t know about any other teams. I don’t know if they’re playing or 5-on-5 or 3-on-3, I just know we’re doing things the right way and I’m glad about that because I think that we can get everybody healthy going down to Orlando. I think that’s the game plan and getting the ball rolling. The most important thing is keeping everybody healthy. We cant afford to miss a couple of weeks of training because of a slip up so I take my job very seriously and I keep myself isolated. Hopefully, my teammates and the whole staff are doing the same thing which I know they are.

Backup point guard Raul Neto revealed that he had just returned back to the Philadelphia area recently and that he had to be tested and in self-quarantine before he could get back out on the floor.

“I got here two weeks ago on a Monday, then we got tested Tuesday, and then I had to be quarantined and working out by myself with no coaches close to me for four days and then Sunday was my first workout with my coach and since then, I’ve been doing a 45 minute/50 minute workout a day and then a little bit in the weight room,” he said. “It’s been good, it’s good to be back at the facility even though I can’t see any of the other players, it’s been kind of weird, but it’s nice to be back and able to put my work in and be able to be here.”

These will have to be the rules moving forward to try and keep everybody safe at the moment. The Sixers will get back to work on August 1 against the Indiana Pacers and then the team will be able to continue their championship chase. [lawrence-related id=34070,34063,34053]

Raul Neto says Sixers see Orlando as a ‘new season’ to achieve goals

Philadelphia 76ers guard Raul Neto says that he and the team see Orlando as a new season for the team.

The Philadelphia 76ers had a lot of expectations heading into the 2019-20 season. They had come so close to advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals the season before and they then made a big move to sign Al Horford in free agency and then acquire Josh Richardson from the Miami Heat to join Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Tobias Harris to chase a title.

Things did not go as planned throughout the season as the Sixers struggled to find any chemistry and they slumped to the 6 seed in the East before the league went into suspension on March 11. However, they have their second chance to right things as the season gets set to resume in Orlando.

“I think everybody’s excited,” said Raul Neto. “Even though it’s a training camp in the middle of the season, we feel like it’s just the beginning of a new one. We’ve been away for so long, we’ve been forced to be home, forced to not do anything in the weight room or the court so I think it just feels like a new season for us.”

Neto is a guy who is in his first season with Philadelphia and he understands where the Sixers are trying to go and the team’s expectations. He also understands that the team might need him to play much more should any Sixers test positive for coronavirus and he needs to stay ready for that opportunity.

“I’m just excited to be back in the season and looking forward to seeing what can I achieve on this team and where I can be on this team,” he said. “If it’s playing 20 minutes in case something happens and coach needs me out there, then I’ll just be confident and ready to go. I think I’m feeling pretty confident. My body feels great, I think those 2-3 months that I got were easy on my body. Personally, I’m excited to get back on the floor.”

The Sixers will officially get back to work on August 1 against the Indiana Pacers and that is when they will get their first opportunity to get back to work and get back on the championship chase that they are on right now. Neto may have to play a factor in this run and in that case, the Sixers will have to be ready for any scenario that gets thrown at them during this season resumption. [lawrence-related id=34053,34038,34039]