Will Allen Iverson hinder the development of the young players on the Sixers roster? Maybe. I think he will, but there's a chance he'll inspire them to play harder and maybe even help develop a killer instinct. What's not debatable is how our head coach is not-so-subtly using the media and playing time to shift the priorities of his young players away from defense and strictly toward offense. As far as I'm concerned, this is the opposite of developing a roster into a champion.
I'm going to use one example, because it's fresh in my mind. Here's what I wrote about Jrue Holiday after last night's game:
Jrue Holiday - A Plus. The rookie is the only Philadelphia player who should be able to look himself in the mirror tomorrow morning. He had a tough cover all night long in Russell Westbrook and he completely stoned him. I mean, shut him down. Westbrook shot 1/11 from the field, the one make being a contested pull-up jumper from about 20 feet. But forget the shooting numbers, they could be deceiving. What I want to focus on is how Holiday controlled Westbrook's penetration. All night long, Holiday got beat one time. It was on a pick-and-roll, he correctly bounced under, got tangled up with Dalembert, Westbrook reversed course and drove the lane on the same side he started on, got to the hoop, then kicked out for an open three in the corner. That was it, that was his one blip in 37 minutes of defensive work. A lot of people are going to look at Westbrook's line, see the 15 assists and try to somehow blame Holiday for that, but 13 of those assists came on jump shots, and only one of those jump shots was a drive and kick. The rest were simply guys getting stuck on picks or completely losing their men on the perimeter. Westbrook passed the ball from the perimeter to the perimeter to a wide-open man for an easy shot. That's not on Jrue, not one bit. Westbrook made it into the paint two times all night against the kid, the fist time, Jrue muscled him up, didn't need any help, and forced him to take a fallaway jumper from about 8 feet away, he bricked it. Add in the two steals and a couple big hustle plays and I feel 100% comfortable with the A+ grade for the kid's defensive efforts tonight.
Last night, as I cried myself to sleep, I thought about Jrue's game again, and the amazing 37 minutes he was allowed to play and then something struck me. The superb defensive game the kid played had nothing to do with it. Not a single thing. It was a footnote
that the coach didn't even bother to mention in any post game comments (He actually did mention it, CSN had the tape, none of the write ups in the papers had the quote. I'm an idiot). The one and only reason Jordan left Jrue on the floor was his 4/6 start from the field for 11 points in the first half. That's it. Jrue shot the ball well, so he got more minutes. That is the only priority on this team right now, and it's a big reason why they are a pitiful team.
Jordan didn't come out and say he only played Jrue extra minutes because he was hitting shots, so I can't directly prove it, but there's more than enough circumstantial evidence to support the claim. For one, Jrue has really been defending like this since he took over the starting spot. Mike Bibby got hot from deep for a stretch early in the Atlanta game, but other than that five-minute stretch, he's been nothing short of stellar with the occasional blip mostly from overplaying a pick-and-roll. Take a look at the point guards he's matched up against in the first five starts of his career:
- Rajon Rondo - Rondo scored 2 of his 10 points against Jrue. Rarely got in the lane.
- Mike Bibby - Bibby exploded against Jrue early, did nothing against him the remainder of the game. Never got in the lane.
- Tony Parker - Parker hit two 20-foot jumpers and had a layup in transition when Jrue was on the floor. Never got into the lane and caused damage. Jrue only played 18 minutes due to poor shooting.
- Jason Kidd - Kidd scored 2 points on Jrue, abused Willie. Jrue continually kept him out of the lane.
- Russell Westbrook - See above.
This goes beyond Jrue, though. The evidence is a mile high. When Brand's shot wasn't falling early in the season, he was benched for long stretches. The only player to receive any kind of praise from Jordan is Lou Williams, who has played maybe two quarters of spirited defense all year long. Iguodala was benched when his shot wasn't falling. Willie Green's minutes continue to increase, despite putrid defensive efforts on a nightly basis.
At every single possible opportunity where Jordan could dole out minutes based on offensive performance or defensive performance, he's chosen offense. For most young players, the ultimate goal is minutes. Getting on the floor, having a chance to contribute. What do you think having a coach who
only rewards offensive performance is going to do to these players? What message does it send when busting your ass on the defensive end gets you a quick trip to the bench, but jacking 20-foot jumpers elevates you into the starting lineup and gives you 40-minutes a night?
Rhetorical questions, but I'll answer them anyway. Eventually, this type of reward system turns guys who take pride in their defense into apathetic (and pathetic) defenders, who focus all of their energy on the offensive end, because that's the only thing that matters in any tangible way to the guy who's doling out minutes. Considering this team's performance and problems, Jordan's approach is the equivalent of Pavlov giving his dog a treat every time he took a dump on the carpet.
Since we're talking about Jordan absurdity, consider
this quote after last night's game:
"Those guys just kicked us on the boards. It might not show up tremendously dramatically in the numbers, but it was timely offensive rebounds and putbacks for them," Jordan said.
This quote is coming from a coach who played a small lineup for 37:52 out of a possible 48 minutes. Yet still, no one from the traditional media is holding his feet to the fire. No one is questioning the sanity of going small now, nor planning to go even smaller when Iverson suits up. And no one seems interested in asking Jordan, Stefanski or Snider how signing Allen Iverson is going to do anything but exacerbate the team's two glaring weaknesses.
Watched some of the 2nd and 3rd quarters last night and my only real reaction was "way to go, rook!"
Is Jordan giving someone the finger in that picture? I just noticed that.
I think its his response to all the criticism.
Yeah he is giving all the diehard Sixers fans, who actually care about winning the middle finger, either that or Sammy.
"The superb defensive game the kid played had nothing to do with it. Not a single thing. It was a footnote that the coach didn't even bother to mention in any post game comments. "
Actually, he did.
http://www.csnphilly.com/pages/sixers
Click "Jordan talks about making improvement".
It was actually one of the clips I want to use tonight :)
I stand corrected. Fixed in the text. Glad he at least recognized what was going on, but doesn't change how I feel about this subject.
You know, I had a thought about this whole thing. I really think Jordan might've been on board about getting AI because he might think it buys him another year. From Fagan's article today, a Jordan quote:
"When I talked with him, he knows what we do. I would like for him to know the minimum part of it, not necessarily the intricacies of it . . . we'll just do the minimum part, and that's all he needs to be successful."
This tells me they are essentially scrapping the PO for the year, short of AI blowing up and being gone by Jan.
By doing this, it provides yet another excuse Eddie can point to when(if?) he gets called out on his piss-poor record/performance, besides 'injuries' and 'learning curve'. This might save his job for a year.
Thoughts?
Reminds me of how last year they scrapped the whole Thad/Iguodala wing (SG/SF) combo after Brand went down. For a team that is rebuilding, they sure do a lot of odd things to win now at all costs.
I'm not a fan of EJ, but to scrap the P.O. for a year because they sign AI is crazy. So next summer are they going to talk about how they will again try Iguodala at the SG and Thad at the SF in 2010... just to abandon it after 20 games for the 3rd straight season? And are they really going to give the majority of the guard minutes to AI and WG? Might as well bring back Barros and Maxwell.
For such a losing organization they seem afraid to actually risk losing a few games to actually grow and learn what they have.
That's because they are feeling the heat. So they have this false sense of urgency. I mean, they fired Mo after giving him an extension for having a record of 9-14. Right now, Jordan would need a 4-game win streak just to match that record, with virtually the same talent, being the genius
Can't wait to see a Green/Iverson backcourt against Billups and Affalo.
Also, I finally figured when I've felt this low as a Philly fan. Ironically, both of them have to do with the Eagles.
One recent time was the infamous Winston Justice game, when he gave up 12 sacks because Reid kept wanting to pass the ball in a close game w/o giving the kid any help, despite the facts that he was being blowtorched & that Buck had 100 yards on limited carries.
Another time was the Carolina NFC title game, when I watched McNabb with a broken rib repeated dropping back to throw to receivers being manhandled by the Panthers steroid-freak secondary, once again displaying Reid's playcalling blindness & faith in system over talent.
To me, I don't get disillusioned if a team gets beat because they lack talent to compete. If you're not good enough, you're not good enough. You might be able to make up some of that gap with wits, savvy and effort, but only just so much, right? I can deal with that, it becomes a "hope for the best..." type situation.
However, when the talent is there, but the Coach blows it through blatantly arrogant foolishness, willful blindness and/or piss-poor strategy, it is maddening. Especially because it tends to be followed by that same coach shamelessly saying disingenious things in the media that are either flat-out lies or utterly wrong.
That is Reid, that is Jordan. At least with Reid, the West Coast has a legacy of championships to fall back on, including his own personal experience. Jordan ran the PO with Jersey when they went to the Finals twice during one of the weakest eras in the Eastern Conference. One ironic thing is that I remember those teams tended to suck in the half-court.
My only question now is how were Jordan's teams in Washington above-average? They had some star power I guess, but the guy doesn't know how to spell defense, or care that his 5-14 team can't play a lick of it.
Loaded on offense. They were a top-10 offense when they were "winning." Winning here is defined as a 45-win season. It was very much a working-class Phoenix-East type of deal.
At their best:
Arena>>>>Lou
Jamison>>Current Brand or Thad
Butler=AI9 (at least in the P.O., Iguodala better on a trapping/fast break team like the Sixers once sort of were.)
heck, even F'n DeSwawn Stevenson is a better shooter than W.G.
I understand that was not "winning" in the sense a true fan ultimately wants, but at least they were friggin competitive. Plus, Phoenix at least had a system where they would run people out of the gym and play no defense to speed up the game. There was a reasoning behind the whole thing and they were a very successful regular season team. Not so with brace-face. They had Arenas, Butler, and Jamison, which certainly is good, but what have they done without him? Absolutely nothing. The whole era where that team was able to go over .500 for four straight years is starting to become mind-boggling.
Its hard to know given how they never all stay healthy and now Arenas is not nearly the player he once was (and Jamison is 32.)
What about a petition for firing Eddie Jordan Brian? I would sign immediately.
It's time to make them clear that we fans are not happy with him at all.
Has one of those ever worked in the history of mankind?
Well, I don't think all this constant complaining to each other is helping one bit! All this does is make all of us depressed (maybe that is Brian's goal?).
I think we need to do something other than complain to each other. I think we ALL agree! Ideas?
Depends on whether we could get access to people. I have not been listening to Sonny Hill, but he does a sunday morning radio show on 610 and he works for them. We should try twittering Mike Preston about getting a blogger conference call soon. Maybe up the pressure that way too. Try to communicate with several national bloggers as well, since AI helps put us on the map again. Getting on the blog roll to get the issue mentioned by ESPN, Yahoo Sports et al, could do it.
Also, the Sixers normally do a season-ticket holders event, perhaps Stefanski might hear an earful then if people don't flood it with haikus and sonnets about AI.
We could always try psy-ops, send emails to Media with "info" from insiders & sources stating elements of management are unhappy with Jordan's defensive strategy & rotations. This theme repeated could help generate articles and stories which might help bring the issue forward.
Who knows...
This is why I don't really have a problem with the Iverson signing. Sure, he'll get in the way of the young guys developing, but do you really think any of the young guys will ever become above average with Eddie Jordan coaching them?