Dein erstes Forum » declaration came as soon as Azhar crossed 3

PHILADELPHIA -- Ask Brett Brown to describe what its like figuring out how to use his big men and the Sixers head coach makes it sound as if there are complex formulas scribbled all over his coachs board, like something out of A Beautiful Mind.If you went into my office, you would see it is a Rubiks Cube, Brown said of his minutes plan for Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor. I need an abacus.Through the first two weeks, fantasy owners of Embiid and Okafor can empathize with Brown. If you own Embiid, Okafor or some other Sixers, you will have to embrace Embiids nickname and understand that you will be following The Process. You will need some patience but some of these Sixers fantasy options could pay off for you later this season.Lets start with Embiid. The rookie is showing that his versatile game is well worth the two-year wait. Already, the raw 7-footer has a plethora of moves and you can actually see how he can do a bunch of different things but hasnt come close to mastering any one thing yet, a scary thought for opponents.One move during his rookie debut last week -- on a missed shot, no less -- might best sum up his vast talent. Embiid pump-faked a 3, put the ball on the floor, delivered a crossover before backing in his man at the free-throw line, showing the ball and pumping with one hand like Hakeem Olajuwon used to do, before turning around and missing the attempt.Embiid has a nice, soft shot from the arc. He can face up and pop the short jumper or put the ball on the floor and drive past a big man like a guard or forward. He has back-to-the-basket moves, rebounds and he already has blocked Russell Westbrook and Dwight Howard in his first two gamesThe Kansas product started the first two games with a 20-minute playing-time restriction. That was lifted to 24 on Tuesday night and he ended up playing 25 minutes and putting up 18 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and three assists against Orlando.Brown played Embiid in four-minute segments in the first two games and Embiids minutes restriction will continue for the foreseeable future, although its rising a tad. The Sixers are cautious with their big man, understandably, and will hold him out of the tail end of their first back-to-back set on Wednesday at Charlotte.So in season-long fantasy, you will have to monitor reports on his minutes restriction and see if the Sixers have any back-to-backs and adjust accordingly. So far, despite the restriction, Embiid is averaging 17.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks while shooting 45.9 percent from the field, including 2-of-5 from 3-point range -- all in just 20.6 minutes per game. And that is with him still very much learning every nuance of the game.In leagues where you can set your lineup daily, Embiid is worth using unless you have better options that you know will get a double-double and see 30-plus minutes that night. In daily contests, Embiid is worth using if his price is cheap and his minutes are at 24 or more. He doesnt need much time to flirt with a double-double and the blocks and ability to hit a 3-pointer makes him worth it if the price is right.There will be road bumps and inevitably Embiid will get into foul trouble as he gets more playing time. But already, he is the Sixers go-to guy.We all see different things every time he plays, Brown marveled. To start the [Hawks] game, him trailing and hitting the 3-point shot and in the second half, him up-faking and taking one dribble and making a move a guard would make to get to the rim...We look forward to when we have more minutes available for him.Okafors situation has been a bit more complicated early on. His minutes restriction was shorter until now and the second-year big man did not play on Tuesday night as he continues to come along slowly after right knee surgery. Brown also brought Okafor off the bench and primarily brought him in when Embiid sat.Okafors fantasy value will depend on his minutes and volume of touches. Hes rusty and needs to play more minutes to be more of a fantasy factor. Through his first two games, Okafor played 15 and 16 minutes and managed to get up a total of 17 shots, but scored just eight points in each game. He also is averaging just 3.5 rebounds.It will be interesting to see what Okafor will do on Wednesday against Charlotte in his first start with Embiid resting. Okafor, a former Duke standout, is expected to play in the 20-minute neighborhood,so it might be best to hold off on Okafor for now.Moving forward, season-long fantasy owners might want to hold on to Okafor and wait and see how he does with more minutes and monitor when the Sixers have back-to-backs. But compared to and because of Embiid, Okafors ceiling is limited right now.Eventually, Brown will look to play Embiid and Okafor more together when the minutes restrictions get looser, and that will be another thing for Brown to figure out. So besides adjusting to the playing time, Embiid and Okafor will also have to adapt to each others game on the court together, which could lead to some growing pains.You just feel like it is cookie-cutter stuff, Brown explained of the restrictions and playing the two together. It is a very rigid road map and that is OK. Nobody is crying about it. It is a challenge.Other Sixers to keep an eye on from a fantasy perspective:Dario Saric -- The rookie forward struggled badly in his first two games in the NBA with a total of 10 points on 4-for-21 shooting. But he finally gave a glimpse of why the Sixers had been high on the Croatian. Saric hit 9-of-15 shots, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc, for 21 points last Tuesday against the Magic. Newly-acquired Ersan Ilyasova might eat into Sarics playing time and could start at power forward instead of Saric. But the rookie should still have value in deeper leagues because the Sixers want to develop Saric and give him experience.Robert Covington -- He looks like rapper Q-Tips doppleganger. Unfortunately, Covington left his jumper in El Segundo, having missed his last 11 shots in each of the last two games. He does have six steals during that span, however, and the minutes and shots should still be there, especially with Jerami Grant gone. Its just the inconsistency that can be frustrating.Sergio Rodriguez -- Spanish Chocolate had his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 assists, hitting two treys. Brown clearly likes the point guard, who is averaging 12.7 points, 8.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds in 31 minutes per game so far. Rodriguez is owned in 14.4 percent of ESPN leagues, so keep an eye on how he continues to play while Ben Simmons rehabs.Ersan Ilyasova -- The Sixers traded the athletic Grant for Ilysova to provide another shooter who can space the floor for Embiid and Okafor. His value, like many of the other Sixers, could rise later this season if or when pass-first Simmons returns from injury. Ilyasova provides the Sixers with another big on nights when they rest either Embiid or Okafor as well. Monitor Ilyasova if you need a big who can provide some 3s and rebounds.Richaun Holmes -- Keep an eye on this athletic big man if theres an injury to Embiid or Okafor.Luc Robitaille Jersey . The 27-year-old Scrivens will be joining his third NHL club since signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2010. The move also reunites with him with head coach Dallas Eakins from their time together with the American Hockey Leagues Toronto Marlies. Tom Kostopoulos Jersey . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey, that is. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/2191q-kevin-stevens-jersey-penguins.html . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. Rob Scuderi Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Brian Dumoulin Jersey . -- Josh Sterk scored once and set up two more as the Oshawa Generals edged the visiting Belleville Bulls 3-2 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action.Pakistan opener Azhar Ali, after making his teams historic 400th Test even more memorable by scoring a triple-hundred, has rued the lack of crowds at the Dubai International Stadium. Unable to host matches at home since 2009 due to security concerns, Pakistan now play their home matches in the UAE, but they rarely get big crowds for Test cricket in venues like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. While the whole idea of day-night Tests is to attract bigger crowds to the ground, the second day of the Test - a Friday and public holiday in the UAE - had mostly empty stands despite Pakistans batsmen scoring runs with ease.If I had scored this at home, it would have been much better feeling and a better crowd would have made this occasion better, but a 300 is a 300 and I will take that any day, Azhar said on Friday night. But I would love it if more crowd came in and watched the day-bight Test. I would want to dedicate the innings to my parents and my country, who live cricket so much and support Pakistani cricket even through tough times when we cant play at home.Azhar, who also crossed 4000 Test runs in this his 50th Test, became Pakistans fourth batsmen in the triple-century club after Hanif Mohammad (337), Inzamam-ul-Haq (329) and Younis Khan (313). He spent two minutes short of 11 hours at the crease to score an unbeaten 302 off 469 balls with the help of 23 fours and two sixes.I cant really explain my feelings, the way the team and captain supported me through the last few runs, when I was nearing 300, it was exceptional from them, Azhar said. It is a great achievement and I will remember it all my life. It is a proud moment for me, those who have already scored triple-centuries have been exceptional and world-class players, I am still working hard on my game but getting on that 300 list is a proud moment for me.Opening the batting in Tests is a new role for Azhar. While he had done it earlier only in four matches between 2013 and 2015, he was asked to open again recently, during the fourth Test in England, as Mohammad Hafeez was dropped after a poor run. With Shoaib Malik also retired from Tests, Azhar seems to have now taken the role on for a longer run. One consequence of opening also means Azhar would have to bat for longer periods when he scores big, and its effects were seen when he started cramping after reaching his hundred.It was hard and I was sweating all the time, Azhar said. Even yesterday I was feeling cramps but today I was getting runs; you get motivated with what is in front of you and that keeps you going. When you get pitches like this, you want to score big and when the chance comes, you convert hundred iinto double and triple, and that really boosted me.dddddddddddd It has been tough overall but I kept going on and I am really happy that we have also set up a big total. I dont think a lot about records while batting but instead kept my focus in the game, went with the flow and let things unfold on their own. Obviously, when you are set, you have to maintain the pace of the runs as well but for such a big score you also require luck factor despite how good the pitch is. So I did my hard work and was pushing myself when I was approaching 300 because you cant really reach 270-280 every day in your career. Scoring a double is tough and think about how hard it would be to score triple. All I did was to keep things simple because when you are approaching a big milestone, the pressure naturally increases and at that stage even the non-regular bowlers are creating trouble.Azhar had earlier said that he was not completely comfortable with the pink ball, when they experimented with it in Pakistans domestic cricket. But after batting for nearly two days against the pink ball in Dubai, Azhar said the visibility of the ball was clear but was reluctant to give a broader projection about its future.I did see the pink ball clearly as the wicket was good and the ball didnt do much for most parts of the couple of days we played, he said. These were different conditions. In the first [day-night] Test in Australia, the ball was swinging around in the evening so I think in different conditions this ball will do different things. You cannot just decide on this pitch how effective the ball is going to be - whether it is more favourable for batsmen or bowlers. I think we need to see more games and then see what happens.While the declaration came as soon as Azhar crossed 300, he was asked if getting to 400 was on his mind or if he thought of reaching big scores when he began his innings.I didnt want go beyond 300 because there is a team plan and winning is important, he said. To continue batting from there could have hurt our teams plans. Actually, I never thought about scoring 300 but was thinking about the teams needs. But yes, when I start my innings, I do think about scoring big.Double-hundred was what I was looking at and I got a lot of messages to get that as a triple looked quite far away. We had a plan and there was a shortage of time as we had to declare. We played according to the time we had and I knew I had to score a triple-hundred before that. It came easier but I did play big shots as well. ' ' '