Three games since the all star break, three blowouts. The outlier is the win, of course, but it's hard to find much meaning in any of the three. The Sixers aren't nearly as good as they were against the Spurs and they aren't as bad as they were against the Bulls and the Heat. The schedule says the Sixers should lose four of their next five, but the trend says otherwise. What should we expect?
They play up to their opponents, using the competitive juices to fuel them on both ends of the floor. They play down to their competition, finding the fuel tank empty when the "we don't have a chance" card can't be played.
Where is it supposed to come from? How do teams prevent letdowns against lesser, or evenly-matched opponents? Typically, it's the big picture. A team like the Cavs knows every game is crucial when it comes to seeding in the playoffs. A team like Miami or Chicago knows a win or a loss could mean the difference between an early summer and a trip to the playoffs. Veteran teams rely on each other, pushing themselves to be better. Some teams rely on coaches, guys who demand a high level of execution, no matter who the opponent is.
But the Sixers? Who knows. Who knows what does or doesn't motivate these guys. The good ship playoffs has just about sailed. There really aren't any veteran leaders, the one guy who maybe could've assumed that position was publicly humiliated by the coach multiple times, and I don't think he's really cut out for the role. Their best player is 26-years-old and spends most of his time taking the blame for everything that goes wrong while never getting credit when things go right. Their coach is a dillweed who cares more about condescension and baffling riddles than he does about things like set roles, motivation and communication. To put it kindly, I don't think there's a "win one for the gipper," vibe in the locker room. In fact, if you could talk to them privately and tell them, "If you guys don't play hard, we're going to fire Eddie Jordan," I doubt you'd see an uptick in the intensity level.
It's been brought up in the comments that this isn't a new trend. The Sixers have fallen victim to the trap game plenty of times over the past two seasons. Each year, they didn't really hit their stride until their backs were against the wall, somewhat, but what I've seen this season is much, much different.
If you look back, yes, the Sixers played some bad games against bad teams. They didn't shoot the ball well, they settled for too many jumpers. They did any number of things teams do to lose games, but what they never did was quit. You never got the feeling they were simply going through the motions on the floor, and while they may have been over matched from time to time, they rarely, if ever, simply conceded.
I'm talking about two games here, but what worries me is that the trend is going to become the norm. At its heart, this roster is immature. They're young. They've played some big games, but they aren't what you'd call battle tested, and most of them are more AAU than NBA. They didn't have three or four years of college to hone their craft, they learned on the fly at the highest level. They bought into a philosophy, clung to that through tough times, and relied on it to carry them through. Right now, they seem lost to me. It seems like they don't believe in what they're doing. They don't believe that if they simply do what they're told it's going to make any difference. That's a very dangerous place to be.
It leads to regression. It leads to thoughts like, "Well, this isn't going to work anyway, so I'm just going back to what worked for me for years." Young players need to be developed, they need to be taught what needs to be done to win ball games. They need to buy into what you're teaching them, and they need to see results from it. Take away consistency, take away hope, reward the wrong things, and you're bound to see the worst from an immature player. When you have a roster full of immature players, well, let's just say it's not surprising they're 12 games under .500 and it will probably get worse before it gets better.
I don't know. Maybe the most important question is if the players wind up losing interest in this season, why should we keep caring?
Here's your rotation chart from the Bulls game:
I've loved the Sixers for over 40 years, but right now I'm trying not to care anymore. It's hard.
I haven!t posted much because the same issues continue to haunt this group; if our g.m. believes in our core than A.Miller should still be here, and Jrue couldv!e been brought along properly. From not playing to thrown to the wolves without a vet to learn from while Lawson has one of the best in front of him and is used situationally. I like Meeks but why limit your options with a 2nd rounder and more importantly , isn!t L.Will. our scoring 2 guard off the bench. I still think our G.M. plans on starting L.Will. next year at the s.g. spot.And the worst part we are getting in Sh. Wright territory; he was a 6th pick in a 5 player draft and there are about 10 solid players in this draft and we are teetering near the edge of that group also.
Lou Williams, E.Jordan, Stefanski, Snider, Brands Contract, Speights lack of giving a shit. The problem is that we are saddled with a bunch of losers.
I love it whenever I read...... Lou Williams was given the keys to the team after it was decided not to bring back Andre Miller.
Lou you drunk driving selfish little turd, you went and crashed the team bus you little prick.
I wouldn't say he crashed the bus, but he certainly failed his eye test and shouldn't have been given a license.
Metaphor Mondays!!!
Andre Miller was a great player.
Lou has stepped up big time this year and played some good basketball. He is having career years in eFG%, TS%, TO%, AST:TO.
I think people need to get off his back for not being a great player like Andre Miller was.
ANdre Miller was not nor was he ever a 'great' player...to call him that is to diminish every great player who ever played the game.
Lou Williams is a defensive liability and really all he can do is score - he's a 20 mpg sixth man when you need points (only, he can't defend worth shiza) - but he has no 3 point range.
He's slightly better than Willie Green in terms of scoring efficiency
Outside of that, he's pretty much just as fungible.
Andre Miller was a great player. He was a top 5-10 PG for quite a few years of his career. That qualifies as great for me. If that isn't great for you, ok.
Lou's defense isn't good or anything, but it isn't crippling.
After all is said and done, Lou is a good player, productive player. The numbers really do speak for themselves here.
Joe, Lou Williams is a horrible on the ball defender. Teams are intentionally running pick & roll on him when he's in the game. I personally viewed this against the TWolves. Every time they got a good offensive opportunity when they ran pick & roll with the player Lou was defending. His effort on 'D' is his main flaw as far as I'm concerned.
The offensive numbers speak for themselves this year, not so much last year.
Agreed on Miller being a top 5-10 PG for most of his career, don't think he's there anymore, though.
Portland had to get him off the floor last night after he got repeatedly abused on the defensive end in the second half. Portland blew a 25-point lead and wound up losing in overtime. I definitely don't miss his defense on the ball.
One thing we sometimes forget to mention is the lack of financial motivation for many of the players. Kaponos chillin, lou's chillin, brand's trying a little bit, thad believes he's done enough to get paid, but i dont know if he's chillin. willie green's paid, and knows he'll never get paid again - chillin. carney is sad.
strangest case so far though is speights. maybe he's just crazy though. he does have crazy eyes.
I'm done with that guy Speights, we need to trade him for a SG or Center. Lou also needs to go, I will even take back a box of shit for him.
They keep putting guys in roles they aren!t meant for, I won!t put it all on the players, with the exception of Marreese. Lou [6th man], Thad [s.f.],Jrue [ come in behind a vet.] are all common sense things but Marreese should wake up and smell the coffee.His minutes are down and he doesn!t seem to care. I wonder if Tom sees enough of practice to see if he is going hard, like Jason seems to do. Spieghts is a major key to this core group ever becoming a contender, and that is scary.
I'm 100% on dealing Lou away.
I don't know what to think about either Thad or Speights. They're both bench players, for sure, and bench players can be somewhat one-dimensional and still contribute to their team's success. You just have to limit their minutes, play them at the "right time", and put them on the court with players who'll complement their game.
Jrue
Good SG
Iggy
Brand
Sammy
Could Thad and Marreese be suitable bench players with this starting lineup and a decent coach? That's a good question.
i think everyone in Sixer Nation wants to trade Lou away. But what can we get for him ? no one has ever proposed a trade that might work. this deadline just showed us that you cant always get fair value or any value in return.
Below is Lou's remaining contract. Seems pretty steep for what he brings (or at least what he has brought to the Sixers). And the contract is a 3 year committment. A team is really going to have to believe that Lou will be much better in a different situation.
2010/11: $5,445,000,
2011/12: $5,917,500,
2012/13: $6,390,000
Easy - cap space - the sixers will give someone a draft pick this summer to take lou's contract so they can get under the tax
I think there are teams that want Lou. We could easily get back an expiring for him.
I also expect Lou to opt out of his final year. He may not make as much, but guys will take a 1st year pay cut if they can sign a 5 year guaranteed deal- of course the new CBA could change things.
Unless the contract taken back is much lower than lou's it doesn't help you get under the tax if it's expiring
The goal - getting under the expiring - is easy to meet this off season when all these teams with extra cap room miss out can absorb a contract without sending stuff bac k.
It's unfortunate these teams won't have cap space until after the draft. You may find a team willing to give up a pick for him after they miss out on landing LBJ/Wade/Bosh.
I just looked it up, and essentially to play the same role, Nate Robinson has better career numbers than Lou in every meaningful offensive category, save assists. Nate returned Eddie House's expiring contract, and he's going to be a free agent this summer, so it may be harder than I originally thought to move Lou, especially if there's a better option on the FA market who you may be able to get cheaper.
The problem with Lou is the years, but if you look at the deals a team like NO made this year where they traded a 2nd round pick they'll never give up (or vice versa) that's the kind of deal I see made.
However, since it's a multi year deal - if it's Lou - i expect a protected first round pick has to go with
If it's willie or kapono - then it's one of those moves similar to the moves made by various teams earlier this season
I think Kapono or Willie is more likely as a strict dump. If they move Lou, I think they get something in return. Not that it's likely, but I doubt Stefanski is going to give away a young guy he signed without getting something of some value in return.
If he can get value in return, I'm sure he will
I'm not sure he can
Lou's also never been flat out benched (dnp-cd) by his coach for en entire month immediately preceding his trade. That probably had a slight impact on his trade value.
so because the Sixers want to get under the cap, another team will take Lou? why does a team want Lou and 3years/$17mm?
He's saying the Sixers would have to include a draft pick of theirs in the deal to entice someone to take the remaining three years on his deal. If that's the case, I don't think they move him. If there's a market, which there has been according to rumors, then I'd move him for something of some kind of value.
I'm always shocked when I read about how teams want Lou. That contract looks bad to me, but maybe I'm in the minority.
He's probably the guy who has benefited the most from Jordan's system, followed by Willie. Offensively, he's definitely taken a giant leap forward this year. His offensive numbers are impressive in some areas, and they're important areas.
Whether these improvements are sustainable or not is another question. This is a guy who shot under 40% from the field last season and under 30% from three. He also led the team in FGA/36 minutes, FTA/36 minutes and usage %, and he led by a large margin in each category. His improvement can be traced to a couple factors, statistically:
1. He's taking fewer shots. Down to 13.2 FGA from 15.8 last season per 36 minutes.
2. He's taking fewer long jumpers, including threes. Down to 7.2 long jumpers from 8.9 last season, per 40 minutes.
3. He's finishing better, FG% inside 10 feet is up to 60% from 49% last season.
4. A drastic drop in usage percentage, from 27.7% to 21.4%. Meaning, he isn't hogging the ball as much as he used to.
The oddity is that he's going to the hole more frequently, and converting at a higher rate, but his free throw attempts have dropped precipitously, from 8.0/40 minutes to 4.8/40 minutes.
My problems with Lou come on the other side of the ball, but as a scorer, he is having a fine season. The level of production he's at right now is a sure positive, I just don't think the whole package is worth the money he's being paid. If there's an opportunity to move him in the offseason, I'd do it. Mainly because at this level of production he's basically a swapping buckets zero sum game, possibly trending a little toward the positive. If he reverts to how he shot last season, or even splits the difference, I think he's costing you being on the floor.
Looking at the numbers for shooting guards (because he really is not a point), you can get this level of offensive production for less or equal money without the defensive liability on the other end.
If the next coach can motivate Lou to play 'D', I would leave him in his current role and turn him loose. If not, outtahere.
WHy does a coach need to motivate lou to play D - this isn't new - this is Lou his entire career in the NBA
boom...outta here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH8iaayMSnU
http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/64937/20100222/sixers_consider_severing_ties_with_iverson/
I know a lot of you on here think this would be great. Honestly, i think its a complete nightmare from a PR standpoint. AI is probably the only liked figure associated with the franchise in the last 15 years, and they're going to cut him while he tends to a hospitalized child?
Yeah, it sounds like he's gone for the year and maybe his career.
This franchise needs to be sold. If they actually do this to AI and its not a mutual decision, they will have managed to alienate the remaining 5000 sixers fans in the city
I did not want them to take on AI in the first place. But you don't cut a guy because his daughter is sick. He is a part of the Sixer family forever.
I certainly would not guarantee him a starting spot. I would not even give him more than 15 minutes a game (even in ideal circumstances, since we need minutes for Jrue and Meeks.) But you don't cut him. That is just classless.
He can go hang out with Mo Cheeks after he gets cut, seems like this regime is trying to do whatever they can to alienate Sixers greats. I haven't been too hard on Stefanski, I've focused most of my blame on Jordan, but the fact that this story even got out is a blemish that this franchise doesn't need right now. WTF are they doing?
If they cut him, they eat the rest of his salary, correct? This is BS it should be money spent to get rid of Jordan. If you are willing to just eat AI's salary (which really is not a necessary move right now), then you better be able to get rid of Jordan, which is freakin imperative.
I didn't want AI back simply because I wanted to develop this young team, but I feel that he gave a world-class effort. I will always hold him in a positive light, because he played his ass off for every minute he played here (Minus the few games before he was traded, but it's the NBA so I'm not going to hold that against him).
what about michael redd. He would fit in well for the sixers. A SG that can defend and hit 3's consistently. He's only 30.
Redd can't defend, and hasn't really done much of anything else either for the past couple of seasons. I'd trade EB for him, though, because his contract expires after next season. Highly doubtful MIL would do it, though.
made michael redd for elton brand and willie green