The Sixers
moved to 2-0 on the preseason with their second win in as many nights against the Hedo and Bosh-less Raptors. After the jump let's talk about a troubling sign.
Unfortunately, I was only able to watch a couple minutes late in the second half of the game, so I can't get into too many specifics on how the ball moved etc. I will say this, however, 23 turnovers is just unacceptable. In the action that I saw over the past two games, I saw every imaginable type of turnover: lazy passes, bad passes, lazy catches, bad dribbling, bad hands and an awful lot of bad decisions.
The knee jerk reaction is to a number like 43 turnovers in two games and chalk it up to (a) the new system, (b) extended garbage time and (c) guys playing out of control to win a possible roster spot. I'll give out half of a pass for all of the reasons above, but there really needs to be some accountability. We aren't talking about the second and third units here, we're talking about the starters.
Elton Brand (4), Andre Iguodala (4), Lou Williams (3), Thad Young (2) and Sam Dalembert (2) combined for 15 of the team's 23 turnovers last night.
There's definitely a learning curve involved with the implementation of the Princeton offense, hopefully they'll get these things ironed out before the season starts. The mistakes I've been seeing aren't really of the, "he zigged when I thought he was going to zag," variety. It's almost like they're so focused on the movement and reactions in the offense that they're neglecting to pay attention to the small details, like "Hey, that guy's playing the passing lane." Eventually, when a guy like Sonny Weems is over-playing the passing lane on the wing, the backdoor will be wide open and what was a turnover will suddenly be a thunderous dunk. It's simply a matter of getting from here to there, and doing it quickly.
In other news, someone had a firm talk with Marreese Speights. In game one he jacked up 16 shots in 25 minutes. In game two, he limited himself to only 3 FGA in 20 minutes. He backed up his solid rebounding effort from Tuesday with another last night, 9 in 20 minutes, 2 on the offensive glass.
Jrue played 20 minutes, chipping in 3 turnovers and nailing a big three down the stretch to help secure the win. Primoz, Bowman and Singletary saw their first action of the preseason. Thad has now played 48 minutes without grabbing a single rebound.
What station are these games on?
They were on www.justin.tv, various channels.
Seriously? You're worried about turnovers in the preseason when the team is learning a new system that's predicated on ball movement? C'mon - unless this is the regular season, you shouldn't be getting alarmed about turnovers.
Yeah, I'm worried about it. Their ballhandlers are young, they don't have Miller back there to settle things down and they need to make smart decisions with the ball. Above I said I thought they'd get it ironed out, but it's still a concern. Especially considering they just played two games against the worst defensive team in the East, well, second worst.
Well, regarding the Raptors, I'd almost argue that the starters they used(Evans instead of Bosh and DeRozen over Turk) made them better then they should be.
Still, your point does stand. Iguodala admitted as much on his Twitter.
Here is another pundit's preview on the Sixers :
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/BDL-s-2009-10-NBA-Preview-Philadelphia-76ers?urn=nba,194646
That wasn't too bad. I really don't like it when people say things like a fast pace would be good because it plays to Willie Green's strength, but whatever.
Brian,
You know the thing is I think Willie is finally where he belongs-on the bench. We may wind up only seeing him for 8 or 9 minutes a game when it all shakes out.
Unfortunately, I'll believe it when I see it.
Brian, according to your thoery, if Reggie Evans is disrupting us, doesn't that mean we're a pretty good team?
Not worried about TO's except with regard to Iguodala. He's started off the last two seasons as a turnover machine before settling down, which I think had something to do with the team's slow starts.
Doesn't mean we're necessarily good, but does mean that our half-court offense relies on timing and precision. Makes sense that he'd raise hell in the half court, of course, you can punish them for basically playing 4 on 5 with Evans out on the ball.
Brian do you kno what channels can we watch sixers preseason game on justin.tv
No, it changes pretty much every time. Just do a search.
Jordan on Sam from Tom Moore:
“I love Sam,” Jordan said. “I love what Sam’s doing for us. I like his whole personality. I love his approach, his attitude. I love his enthusiasm. I like the fact that he likes to be involved. He’s enthusiastic. He’s talking. He’s very, very coachable. He’s got probably the second-best shot on the team – maybe he’s even with Andre (Iguodala).”
"He’s got probably the second-best shot on the team – maybe he’s even with Andre (Iguodala).”
Um, these are two of our team's worst shooters. Our best shooter is Kapono, obviously - after that, Speights, Smith, Young, Green.
Just finished watching the entire game. Hard to learn much from this type of sloppy pre-season action. I also think a lot of players are playing at 3/4 speed since they are still learning new offensive and defensive schemes.
That said,still hoping to see some signs of Brand playing lie a dominant/franchise PF. I'm just going to continue hoping he can return to some semblance of his pre-injury form because he is making a TON of money these next 4 years.
My other main concern regards Miller. They need Lou and Iguodala to show they can settle the team down when things start turning against them. I think Iguodala can do this,but Lou seems to get tight and force things (like jump passes) when the other team is making a run.
This is a really good point about Miller. I just hope Iguodala will be that steady hand on the tiller when things get rough. It used to be Miller would slow the ball down, take his man to the post and get a hoop when they needed to stop a run by the other team. Someone needs to fill that role, or maybe the PO can be used for it. Who knows.
It would be nice if it involved some sort of go to play- like a 2 man game of Brand and Iguodala. But I just have not seen anything like that, but it is early.
It seems L.Will. is making an effort to give the ball up early and make his cuts, maybe our coach is encouraging this because of his quickness. Iggy started and assisted more in the offense than our p.g.!s when I watched, he may get 8 assists per game in that role , which I am fine with if his turnovers are down. I think he will play our [A.Miller] role more than anybody else ,I think, and Ivey seemed to be handling more than last year.Jordan seems to be adjusting things to fit his players , Iggy being a vet and L.Will. learning the ropes at p.g.