Rob was kind enough to send along his thoughts on last night's event, I would've gotten them up earlier than this, but I've been under the weather. After the jump, Rob's take.
Rob's notes:
When I first got there I noticed a smaller crowd than the past couple years.
Sure enough my instincts were correct. In previous years they had name tags with different colors because there was 3 groups. The GM, Coach and VP and people were split into those 3 groups and rotated throughout the night. Last night they just had one group on the concourse with Dileo, Lara Price and Stefanski. So it wound up to be almost 2 hours of Stefanski fielding questions.
First question or comment out of the box this guy said "Why the heck did you hire that idiot, moron Jordan. He can't coach and his team plays no defense. This was a recurring theme throughout the night. The people even asked why Jordan was not there and Stefanski joked "Believe me I wish he was".Because of the smaller group everybody got to ask probably 2 questions a person. I would say 90 % of the people had some derogatory comment about Jordan or coaching. Stefanski did go into some of his reasons for hiring Jordan, mainly because of Half Court Offense. Stefanski agreed that player development was not happening to his liking, the regression of Thad Young although he is still high on him and speaking of Jordan's yo-yo- rotations which hurt player development.
I walked away with the impression like a stockholder at a company meeting that 100 % he will fire Jordan at the end of the season. I believe Dean even made a comment that he and other Season Tix Holder's would not be back if Jordan was back.
Some of the STH talked about the team needing a player with an Edge, a more vocal leader, killer. Stefanski eluded to that realizing he has a nice bunch of guys but no player on the team that can be a killer.
Somebody had asked about the Jodie Meeks trade and Stefanski said that we will see him in upcoming games which leads me to believe he will step in and give Jordan a mandate.
I had taken the locker room tour 3 times in past years, so when everybody went down I got Stefanski alone for about 10 minutes which by the way I will give him this he never shies away from speaking basketball or Sixers with anybody. I asked what the thought process was with Miller this summer and he simply said I couldn't see paying a player that kind of money and a 3 year contract at that age. I would have to agree. The STH that were there 90 % of them don't like AI9, I talked with Ed about him and we both agree he is a complete player and a lock down defender. He is also high on Jrue and we talked about the game on Sunday and his play. He commented to me and this kind of surprised me , not that fact but because he told me but he said Speights doesn't put the time and work in the gym and he feels he is overweight. I noticed that part myself. We also discussed Jason Smith and I said one thing about Jason he knows where to rotate defensively which Ed agreed. He said Jason will be better next year which will be the 2nd year off the surgery. He didn't like the fact that he was dribbling too much instead of putting up his shot. He also said that Jason is getting pushed around out there because he is not strong enough yet.
To put a capper on this one STH asked or commented "The product is bad now , what incentives do we have to renew" ? Stefanski comment by saying I agree and "I promise we will rectify this in the off season". I guess the fans question is do we believe this ?
Many, many thanks Rob. Preview for tonight's game will be up in an hour or so (if I can keep my lunch down).
Here's a question to ask yourself.
Is it feasible to rectify this in the off season - there's a lot of issues and jettisoning the coach doesn't solve all of it.
he said Speights doesn't put the time and work in the gym and he feels he is overweight. I n
so now we have 2 IMG guys AND his GM saying the same thing about Speights.
Oh lord of lords, if you have any compassion for one of your chosen, please allow demarcus cousins to somehow magically end up a sixer.
very telling that EJ wasn't there. i wonder if ES has privately told EJ of his imminent firing, being that it must be the elephant in the room whenever EJ and the brass get together, and that they have a personal relationship, fractured as it must be.
Yes, it could be very telling.
Or since the sixers were probably in Indiana already, it might mean nothing at all.
fair point. probably would have been impossible to schedule the event when the sixers were at home.
Perceived attitude issues aside, I also want Cousins. I don't see him wasting his talent as Speights has. Last year I thought that Speights at the 16th pick was a steal, not him turning out to be anything but a bust would be a pleasant surprise.
Cousins requires some lucky bounces in the lottery
Remember how lucky the sixers got when they could have gotten tim duncan and paired him with allen iverson
Oh right
Are you saying that you didn't appreciate Tim Thomas's impact on the sixers? Who needed Tim Duncan anyway!
I would have appreciated Duncan a bit more I think :)
Course that's the luck of the bounce - it's not the stupidity of targeting sean bradley so badly that #1 and #3 can have a pre draft trade in place cause they know #2 is run by idiots
Even worse then the Bradley pick for me was when we traded the number one pick for Roy Hinson. Hinson was the original bone to bone.
Worst #2 pick (considering who was available)
Bradley or Darko? I think Darko would win out since there were quite a few better options
Darko is easily worse, hell that stork Bradley averaged 3.5 blocks a game. Darko greatest contribution was berating those european officials.
After Darko came 'Melo, then Bosh, then Wade, right?
Who went after Bradley?
God, only Penny and Mashburn. Yeah, Darko wins that hands down.
But the worst #2 pick ever was clearly Sam Bowie. Taken before both Jordan and Barkley.
I'll give you jordan but your sixer fanness might be showing
Bosh Wade Melo is a bigger miss than Barkley (and besides barkley is only one guy - remove one of these, melo is probably the best player, for jordan and you still have two left)
Jordan ..... Barkley .............................. Wade, Melo ............................ Bosh.
That's the order of those five players. Take a look at Barkley's numbers, none of those guys even come close.
Are you comparing entire careers versus unfinished careers?
Compare best seasons, entire careers, three-year peaks. Whatever you want. None of them is close to Barkley.
I suppose it's possible, i find him so irritating post career that i think i discount his career, his hatred towards phiadlephia is palpable every time he talks about em on TNT - i wish he would just run for governor already
Thabeet has a chance to be worse than Bradley, Darko or Bowie.
Also great job Rob, really appreciate the inside look into what these goofballs are thinking. Is this the same rob from recliner gm that Is always really positive ending post's off with "lets go sixers"??
No I am the Rob from the loyal Depressed Fan readers. Appreciate the commentary. The thing is Ed Stefanski is very convincing, he would make a good politician. Every time I see him he gives me a big hello like I am his next door neighbor.
Thanks Brian for bringing this information to us!
Thanks Rob! I feel even better than I had earlier today.
Hopefully, ES can rectify the putrid coaching decision. I do hope he gets 1 more chance.
Rob,
Excellent thoughts. I am not a writer and I should have failed English in High School.
Agree 100% with all your thoughts.
And, btw, I do think I will be renewing my tickets next year.
I can read this only now, great stuff, many thanks to Dean and Rob (and Brian)