 Smith Over Speights? With game one of the preseason in the books, we have our first glimpse into Eddie Jordan's substitution patterns. Obviously things will change, but coming out of camp and into the preseason opener, it appears as if Jason Smith is above Marreese Speights on the depth chart. The game deteriorated into nothing resembling an actual NBA game in the third quarter, but I think Jordan's substitution pattern in the first half is telling. With 5:59 left in the first, Elton Brand picked up his second foul and Jordan tapped Jason Smith as the first big off the bench. This was a surprise to me, and if he was subbing in for Dalembert, I may not put too much meaning on it, but the fact that he came in at the four means, to me, that he played his way in front of Speights in training camp. Overall, it's probably not that big of a deal, but it was really the only shock of the night. There's plenty of time for Speights to work his way back up, and I do believe he's the more talented player. If he's motivated, he'll move back up. Either way, there will be plenty of minutes available. Willie Green was the second man off the bench, for Lou Williams with 4:55 to go on in the first. When Lou hit the bench, Iguodala really got on a roll dishing the ball. I believe he had 6 assists in the first quarter. Speights came in for Sammy with 2:23 left in the first and Kapono for Thad a little less than a minute later. Ivey started the second quarter for Iguodala, meaning the Sixers started the second with their second unit out there: Ivey, Green, Kapono, Smith and Speights. This team struggled rebounding the ball, but they really turned the screws on the Raptors defensively. Personally, I hate rotations like this. I like the continuity of always having a starter or two on the floor together, but time will tell how this works out. Right now, those guys are accustomed to playing together, and it seemed to work well. Jordan rotated the rest of the starters back in throughout the second quarter and they finished the half together. Refreshing to see Sammy let back in the game before the third quarter with two fouls. For the game, they went twelve deep, with Jrue playing 14 minutes (straight) and Dionte Christmas as the last man off the bench. Thoughts on Jordan's rotations in the comments. 
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Brian, my 2 main reasons Jason goes in over Marreese are the following; defensive energy, he can play the Reggie role without all the stupid gambling and seemed to do that numerous times his rookie year and secondly,he was the best screen setter on the team his rookie year and screening seems vital in this offense.A side note is Jordan may be pushing Marreese!s buttons a bit to get him to work harder on the defensive end.We have 4 decent shotblockers on this team so whoever plays more physical out of these two may get more minutes.
From what I saw last night, Smith was really active on defense. A little late to get there to challenge a driver once, but overall, very active. It's a good thing if he's got those two pushing each other.
Brian how or better yet where did you watch the game last night?
Someone posted the link on the site last night, but the feed was only available late in the game. Someone will probably post here tonight if it's available, but I'm going to be watching the playoffs.
Since Speights was playing C and Smith PF during the training camp the substitution pattern may have simply been based on who needed to come out 1st (Brand.) If Sam needed to be pulled for early fouls I'm guessing Speights would have gotten the nod.
To you and I PF and C may seem interchangeable... but in the Princeton Offense the assignments are not the same. I'm sure eventually both Smith and Speights (and all the bigs) will learn both positions. But at this stage I'm guessing Speights has been taught the 5 and Smith the 4 in terms of offensive sets so they will stick to those positions in the early pre-season.
Again, just an educated guess based on what the beat writers have said about the practices (Smith playing PF matched up on Brand and Speights as C covering Sam.)
Anyone have the link for tonight's game?
I could use a link as well.
http://www.justin.tv/jhundan
http://www.justin.tv/jhundan
it moved
http://pelipinoy.blogspot.com/2009/09/watch-cinema-one-live-streaming_27.html
this p2p thing is brutal. do you guys have a live link?
link not working for me. i am giving up. At least the phils won.
have to use firefox they said
It's tiny, but it seems to work well on Firefox browser.
The Sixers don't look very good tonight. So many missed shots and turnovers. I'm also not seeing much motion offense. The defense doesn't look so good either considering two of their best players aren't playing. They are making Weems look like an all-star for Toronto. At least I think it's Weems, the screen is a little hard to see. But it' satisfying my basketball craving!
Ryan,
Thanks for the link. I was so frustrated last night by not being able to see or even hear the game.
The Sixers pulled it out after all, though I thought they were very sloppy. Maybe that is what to expect from a makeshift lineup like they were playing in the 4th quarter. Perhaps the game will look better statistically than it did on the little screen.
It's the second game of the preseason and Thad still has 0 rebounds.
Tray, it is weird but Thad looks more uncomfortable the further he is from the basket although he had a nice drive and baby hook in the 4th quarter. Elton is getting less touches than Reggie got for us last year. And Brian, I was shocked at how many "athletes" Toronto has. Weems, A.Johnson, Derozen, J.Jack and Bosh may be enough to counter the slow, sub-par defensively group that will get the bulk of their minutes.