The Sixers annual Ice Capades road trip technically began with their head-scratching loss to the Wizards on Tuesday, but psychologically, it's always been all about the West Coast swing. The team opens this portion of the trip in Utah later tonight with the only thing looking worse than their play on the floor being the "chemistry" in the clubhouse which is quickly disintegrating. Preview and game thread after the jump.
Elton Brand
expanded on his comments from the other day a little bit on Thursday, here's what he had to say:
"Everyone makes mistakes," he said, "so I just felt that certain guys were playing pretty good on the defensive end and weren't playing. That's all. That's just my opinion."
The question is, was he talking about Speights playing over Dalembert or Lou playing over Jrue? The simple answer is there's no way to know, since the statement applies to both of them. The larger issue here is how Eddie Jordan chooses to react. He's had some puzzling comments about defense over the past couple of days. He was so angry with his team's effort in Tuesday night's game that he canceled practice Wednesday, which seems like an odd reaction to me. Typically, when coaches are pissed about something, they want their guys in the gym, and they want to hammer them until the problems are solved. Giving them a day off for a poor showing seems counterproductive. Although from my perspective, the less time they spend having Jordan's message pounded in their brains, the better.
As for tonight's game, the opponent is the Utah Jazz, who really delivered an ass whipping to the Sixers in the Wach back in mid-November. If you recall, the Jazz were extremely short handed for that game. Former-Jazz first rounder, Eric Maynor, made the first start of his career and essentially did whatever he wanted against Lou Williams' "defense." Tonight, the Jazz will have Deron Williams, one of the best points in the league, at their disposal. There's been no official word on the lineup yet, but I suppose Jordan will give the nominal start to Jrue Holiday.
Most likely, the starting back court will be Jrue and Lou, meaning Lou will be tasked with "guarding" either Williams or Ronny Brewer. Both are colossal mismatches. I mentioned Jrue would be the nominal starter above because unless he gets hot early and hits three or four jumpers, Eddie Jordan will undoubtedly make sure he sees the least amount of time among his regular guard rotation. It'll probably be Lou leading in minutes back there, with Willie trailing slightly behind. I firmly believe starting Jrue is something that's been forced on Jordan, so he does it to appease his bosses, then gets him the hell out of there so he can get his "offense" guys on the floor. Nevermind the fact that Jrue is the only guy who actively works to get the ball in the best offensive players' hands in prime scoring locations, that stuff is meaningless if you aren't hitting 20-footers.
Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver will both probably miss this game for the Jazz, which is very good news for the Sixers. Korver is their best shooter from distance, and Millsap can be a beast on the boards. Utah is a very poor three-point shooting team (33% on the season), however they did manage to hit 6/11 in that drubbing of the Sixers earlier this year. CJ Miles and Korver both missed that game, but Miles is back now and shooting well from deep recently.
I do believe Speights has a mismatch in this one, neither Okur nor Boozer will be able to handle him on the perimeter. Same goes for Thad, who can use his quickness to get to the hole. Iguodala should enjoy a similar advantage over Miles at the three. Brewer is a good defender, I expect them to match him up with Lou. Deron Williams will probably freelance a little bit unless Jrue gets off early.
Any potential mismatches the Sixers have on the offensive end are really meaningless in the grand scheme of things, though. They won't exploit them, because that's not what Eddie Jordan's system does. And even if they do score well against a good team, Utah is simply going to pick their defense apart.
Key to The Game: Epic hangovers for the entire Jazz roster.
If ____________ the Sixers will win: I've got nothing.
This is your game thread, I'll be here throughout so join me in watching what will hopefully one of Eddie Jordan's last games as the Sixers head coach.
Speaking of which, I'm making a prediction now. If the Sixers come back from this trip winless, Jordan is gone. There's no way Stefanski can continue to turn a blind eye if the team comes home with a 7-26 record. He may be gone if they win only one game, depending on who they beat. He still has his job, but it's on life support if they win two games. If they win three, we're collectively screwed.
Of course Boozer will have an epic hangover, he has a reputation to uphold with that name.
Brian, I hope you are right. My son got me great tickets for the TWOLVEs Feb. 9th. By then our new/old coach(Dileo?) should have us playing some defense. Looking forward to it. That was some scathing Christmas day Sixers article. About time.
Just wondering, why does everyone assume he was referring to Speights with those comments? That seems pretty unanimous from clued in people. Did EB make a reference to boxing out and rebounding or just defense in general? Personally I thought Speights wasn't very good defensively, but he was hurt. On the other hand, Lou played some of the worst defense I've ever seen. Ever. He gets an F-minus for the game. Boykins just shredded him, which is very sad because he's 5'5 and has no great quickness advantage over Lou, and Arenas' eyes lit up when he got Lou on a switch.
Yeah. Right now Lou is to defense what Reggie Evans is to offense.
The thing that just kills me about Jordan is that Lou comes out of these games thinking, "I killed it tonight." He should be coming out of these games thinking, "Man, I got destroyed by my guy, I need to figure out how to play defense."
Meanwhile, Jrue's going to start thinking, "I need to score the ball or I'm not going to get any minutes."
Or like EJ said, "Our defense is good when Iguodala is scoring." Huh?
Speights doesn't play defense, injured or healthy. It doesn't matter.
The other thing Speights doesn't do is pass. His season AND CAREER high in Assists-per-game is 2.
The lack of passing suggest he isn't much of a team player, but rather, a pure scorer which is good as a role player. He'll never be an impact player because he lacks an all-around game that includes defense, passing, and scoring. He only scores, nothing else.
On the other end of the spectrum, look at guys like Lebron and Kobe. They both have all-around games that include passing, defense, scoring, etc.
So at this point in the season, are you still hoping for the 8th seed? To go .500 we'd have to go 34-20, which I suppose isn't quite impossible with our talent and a different coach. And of course, currently Charlotte is on pace to get the 8th seed and win just 33 games, so at that rate even going 26-23 could get us into the playoffs. In fact, right now you'd get a 6th seed in the East with a .500 record. But how that would benefit us, I don't know. I'm now hoping for the #1 pick.
No, we've pretty much made the 8th seed for the entire last decade.
The Sixers are stuck on the horrible "Yeah we made the playoffs! Only to lose to the 1st seed and then get a draft pick in the late teens" hamster wheel of mediocrity.
Usually when you get a first overall pick, you have a couple good chances to take some good players to build around him, but sadly the Sixers just couldn't find the correct pieces to build around AI in the draft with their high picks. (this is considering just how hard it was to build around AI, Larry Brown was the only person to figure it out and it was only good enough to win one Finals game)
So anyway, we need to tank it up until we get a real stud to build a team around. We need a Jennings, Evans, or Rose.
Sure we have Holiday, but he sadly hasn't gotten any regular playing time.
As much as we all love Iggy, the team probably isn't going anywhere until he is gone.
Of Jennings, Evans and Rose, I think Evans is the only one who might be the cornerstone of a contending team at some point, to be honest.
6th seed in the east was a .500 record last season, too. It was the Sixers.
As for the rest of this year, I completely understand wanting to lose as many games as possible. I don't agree with it, but I understand it. Even if that's the goal, though, I think Eddie Jordan is doing too much damage to this team right now to warrant keeping him around to lose. A few less ping pong balls is worth having a coach come in who's going to emphasize defense in my mind. Could they turn it around and make the playoffs if they get rid of Jordan? Absolutely, but if they improve that drastically under a new coach, with the new coach doling out minutes based on defense and playing guys in their proper position, then that tells us something about the team and it also will help determine who/what needs to be changed or blown up.
A horrible season under this moron is going to leave us with a better pick and absolutely no idea what the team really needs.
What makes you think that anything here needs to be changed or blown up? Or that we're somehow in a position of ignorance as to what in our team is worth keeping? We know that Iguodala's a keeper, that Speights is a keeper, that Thad's a nice scorer who you'd trade for a better one or someone with more of an all-around game, that Dalembert is what he is, and that Lou is probably your sixth man, at most, in an ideal world and that failing that he's hardly such an essential asset that you wouldn't be willing to dump him for the right player or as part of the right salary dump. Of course some people will disagree with me on some of that, but the point is, with a new coach we wouldn't reach perfect clarity on these issues; we'd still be disagreeing about them. I think we've seen quite enough of these guys that we don't need to hire a better coach who would interfere with our tanking efforts just for the purposes of talent evaluation.
I disagree. We haven't even seen 40 games total over the past two seasons of Iguodala at the two and Thad at the three to know if that's a viable lineup for us. If it isn't, and we don't get John Wall, then we need to draft a shooting guard who can really shoot it. If it does work, then we need a center.
Questions like that need to be answered. We also need to know exactly how bad Lou and Speights are defensively, and whether or not it can be corrected by a coach who actually cares about that side of the ball.
It'd be nice to see what Brand could do if (a) he wasn't playing all of his minutes out of position (at the five) and (b) if he was actually integrated into a team's offense.
There's really nothing but questions at this point. I don't think the team is this bad, but do I really know? And how many bad habits are going to have to be broken if they're given a full year under Jordan to reinforce them.
So something close to 40 games isn't enough? We have seen enough of both of them, irregardless of position, to ascertain that they aren't viable at those spots.
Speights and Lou being that bad? Sure they are, because no matter the coach, will and want-to don't have to be coached. And since it's not sexy, defense has to start with willful effort.
Brand is serviceable, and necessary on good teams, but not game-changing or irreplaceable.
40 games is not enough when one of the players is 21 and has little experience playing om the wing.
We need to try and figure out whether they can be a great wing combo in 2 years. Which is not an easy task.
But its an impossible task when Thad is your starting PF- which is a joke unless you are O,K, with a starting PF who gets no defensive rebounds.
As if age and being 21 excuses him? He was exposed majorly earlier in the year when getting blown by nightly guarding the wing.
Being a great wing combo consists of at least one being a consistent shooter (off screens, spot-up, pull-up, good from deep). Neither will ever achieve, much less approach that. Waiting 2 years is just putting off the inevitable. Why delay?
ES had DiLeo play it that way last year, so what makes you think it would change now? ES apparently feels that something or someone doesn't fit with those positional labels. And frankly, they don't. At least not on the court together.
Its not excusing anyone. The question is not whether a player at 21 is well suited. Its trying to project what the player will be at age 24-28, when they are in their prime.
Iguoala at 21 never handled the ball at all. Now he gets 6+ assists per game. But the raw skills were there, even if he was not yet ready to produce.
You have to try and evaluate a young player. If you think he does not project to develop into a good SF next to Iguodala then you move one of them. But its based on where he will be in the future, when his handle and shot are more refined. I haven't seen enough to decide, but maybe you have.
Iguodala on the other hand is 25 and in his prime. He may add some polish to his game, but he's not going to fundamentally change that much as a player over the next few years.
Which is why I'm confused as hell as to which one you hold onto.
Thad looks to have the chance at the more refined handdle and shot, but he is questionable to give you much more than that (although I feel the possibility exists). Whereas Iggy gives you transient shooting performances from night to night, but trends to consistency regarding stat-stuffing. But after seven years, he does appear to have planed off as far as his upward trend. I mean, what more can he be?
I know this - regardless of what they decide, he (Iggy) can be a damn good SF, when burdened with less facilitating and scoring responsibility, and giving him more narrowed-down responsibilities like he used to do years ago (defending opposing best player, knock down occasional open jumpers, and slash and draw contact in getting to the line).
But it all comes down to money when it boils down to it. With Thad not having been extended yet, and Iggy's deal looking dire in these economic times, moving a big contract is vital. Thad won't re-sign for nearly that much.
But they both offer totally different things that you need one guy to offer. One gives you defense, boards, setting up teammates etc. while the other gives you the possibility of a better shooter and self-creator. A conundrum skill- and team-wise, but easily solvable financially.
I don't know either. But my guess is that Thad will get you a whole lot more value in a trade and is much easier to move. So if one is traded its probably going to be Thad.
If ____________ the Sixers will win
Here's my fill-in-the-blank for your question, Brian.
If [the Sixers fire Eddie Jordan, the players will all be SO HAPPY that will make them play harder and] the Sixers will win
Firing Jordan is short sighted as best in my opinion. Yes he is intolerable at times, but even if the Sixers fire him they're NOT going to make the playoffs. I'm starting to think Stefanski is trying to tank. When asked about Jordans job security a few weeks back, Stefanski said "We have to get better from top to bottom". I think you better get used to that, its going to be the company line for the remainder of the year.
Who ever said anything about trying to make Playoffs? Firing Eddie Jordan is the first step towards rebuilding this team. Nothing will get better until the guy who decides who plays or sits, is GONE.
You can have the NBA All Star Starters w/ a terrible coach lose every game because he'll put all the scrubs in instead of the All Stars. The impact of a coach is HUGE on the team, making decisions on who plays, who sits, what to do on offense, defense (or the lack of), etc.
You want to improve the team? Start by firing the coach. That's Step 1. Nothing else matters...you can get John Wall next year and we'll still suck. Nothing will get better until Eddie Jordan is gone.
Yes, fire Jordan but only after the season is over. I don't want to do anything right now to hurt the chances of getting a great pick this season.
I hear you, but rooting to tank is a tough thing to deal with. It may be beneficial to tank in the long-term, but before this season a lot of us thought we had a pretty solid core to build around. It's tough to just throw a season down the drain when you know that talent is there.
Thad, Speights and Lou are too important to be corrupted by E.J.'s defenseless approach to the game for an entire season.
E.J. coached teams:
10 wins and 36 losses in the last 46 games. As E.J. said, time to go up town!
I'd like to see some stats on Lou's value to the team. He's been here for a bunch of years so we should have a decent idea of what kind of player he'll be for his career. Also, there's a pretty large sample size to draw from. I hate to kill the guy, because I always had high hopes for him and was excited to see him finally get a chance to start, but it seems like he's done more harm than good this year, and I'm wondering if that's true for his tenure thus far. So does anyone have any hard statistics as to the value/effectiveness of Lou Williams?
Jordan has definitely put the focus on defense after that 4th quarter against WAS. Here's his starting lineup for tonight:
PG: Lou Williams
SG: Wilie Green
SF: Iguodala
PF: Thad
C: Dalembert
Shocking. 15 minutes tops for Jrue.
I would have liked to see Jrue match Deron and see what he did with his strength.
"He still has his job, but it's on life support if they win two games. If they win three, we're collectively screwed."
Well played, sir.
Looks like I'm getting Utah's broadcast of the game on league pass. It's always funny to hear other teams' guys make fun of the Sixers.
I got a blackout for leaguepass(?)
What should we track tonight, points off the P&R?
Jordan is now 72 games under .500 for his career. Awesome.
Well, at least Lou owns Williams for one possession on both ends.
Iguodala on Williams, Lou on CJ Miles to start. Funny.
Time out Jordan with 8:48 to go.
Willie looks like he's off to a bad game. Two bad shots already in three plus minutes.
Pretty pass by Iguodala to Lou on the break. Lou goes 1/2 from the line.
2-2-1 press wrinkle thrown in by Jordan.
Lou and Willie in the back court. You might as well not show up for the game. Even in a 40-min college game you'd give up 100 points.
God, this has been ugly so far. Nice block by Sammy.
Sloan is going after Lou, his man has just missed three bunnies already.
Heck, I'd fancy going past Lou, and I've got no handle whatsoever.
I have a problem with a full possession going by with only Lou, Willie and Sam handling the ball.
Well we thought EJ was an offensive-minded coach. Maybe even his idea of offense sucks.
Willie hit a 20-footer, I think EJ wet his pants.
wth is sammy doing? he wanted to go sit didnt he?
The 3rd was Thad's fault but yes. He does want to sit down.
Well, I mean. Thad is guarding Okur on the low blocks because Jordan has him playing the 4. I'm not sure that's exactly Thad's fault.
But it sure is Sammy's fault for just mauling a guy.
I miss Ratliff.
And Donyell and Miller, those three were the leadership - off and on, the court that is.
Since the first minute Sixers have been shooting jump shot after jump shot.
If the Jazz don't blow us out it would only be because they are conserving energy.
hahaha i thought it was funny when Iguodala tried to get fancy with his dribbling.
Jrue on Williams.
jrue!!!
Damn, Jrue does need to play pick and rolls better. He went way under on that one.
Down 6 after one Q. 19-25. It's only going to get worse from here. The Jazz kind of look like a varsity team scrimmage the JV squad.
This is hard to watch.
Thank you Jrue.
Brand, Smith, Speights up front to start the second. Sweet.
Wholeheartedly agree on the watching. And it's hard wishing for it too. Man...
But really, why didn't Ed give Matthews a look, and sign Price rather than Ivey.....
Oh,.. I forgot that the conglomerate owns them, therefore limiting his spending. .
...............Ain't that a bitch!
....a conglomerate that limits spending.?
I didn't think so.
....a conglomerate that limits spending.?
Yes, they're called budgets, another thing you seem unaware of
Heh....you seem unaware of the definition of oxymoron.
If you've achieved conglomerate status you had to spend to get there. You easily miss points in others' posts, so no surprise here that you missed this *simple* one. Hence what makes up part of the word referenced in the first paragraph above.
And save the retort that the Sixers have a budget - yes they do, but that is called the subsidiary which was never mentioned here.
Struggling with that 'most compelling accurate analysis you've seen' of ignoring, huh?......No surprise again.
You're still wrong, you still don't say anything and yet you have so many ways of not saying anything, I guess that's a talent in and of itself.
You do not provide any kind of 'analysis' that's worth reading...trust me on that
Yet, you still read it... and the kicker - you can't save yourself from responding. Trust me and everyone else here on that one.
that three was a bad shot by Jrue. Glad it dropped, but he shouldn't be taking it. Brand has a mismatch w/ Okur on him, unfortunately they'll only give him the ball 23 feet from the hoop so he has to back him down from there.
i'm rooting for the 0-6 road trip. Stefanski can't possibly ignore 7-28 can he?
The power forward is the one that has to back their defender to the paint is not the other players fault. Brand is just wanting the ball 23 feet from the basket
Have you watched this team at all this year? Jordan's offense only gives the ball to Brand on the wing, he's constantly out there for meaningless dribble handoffs.
more like this joke of an offense says Brand should get the ball 23 feet from the basket. He never got the ball beyond the arc as a clipper - or a bull.
The flyers game going to a shoot out. Had jason Smith played small forward this year before today?
he did against Washington I think.
Running Jrue around screens while Lou dribbles the air out of the ball at the time line is useless offense.
Speights is hurt. No explosion at all.
He did create two steals, which is a rarity. Marreese
This really has been a lethargic unprepared effort. We're not going to score with AI9 posting up AK-47.
If, as stated, EJ isn't trying to get the boot, then..........the players sure want him to get it - ten-fold. Wow
In the context of a gross analogy, the team looks like they are pissed, as if they couldn't see Mickey and Minnie tonight instead.
This probably isn't a terrible unit to play zone against. Okur is the only shooter on the floor and you can get a small on him if he's out behind the line.
Willie's hurt.
Jrue is starting to have one major weakness in my book- Shot selection.
These are not high percentage looks that he is taking.
I liked the drive early, both jumpers were bad shots.
Yeah I liked the drive too. that was the first Sixer going to the hoop in 10 minutes.
Really, I remember it being an off-balance lefty scoop in a ton of traffic. Early in the shot-clock too if I remember correctly.
Terrible shot early in the clock as well again. We can get that one later in the clock. Good steal to fuel the break though.
Didn't say I liked the finish, just the drive :)
He got to the hole, didn't go up strong.
Of course Jordan encourages that shot from other people, so I can't kill Jrue too much. I just hold him to higher standards.
Well we've got Lou, Willie and Iggy taking bad shots from time to time too.
Ah beat me to that one. I just hold Jrue in higher regards, that's all. The coach liked when Lou and Willie take them, and it may be influencing Jrue to take a few. And when I mean may, I mean definitely is.
prediction: fresh off hurting his ankle willie green will fire up a 20-footer.
4 on sammy
How long did Sam stay in before getting that last one?
Yeah, Dala.
Nice drive by Thad. Jrue is lightning fast getting back on D
that shot by jrue is exactly why i don't like eddie jordan as the coach. he's screwing up the young talent on this team.
This is so depressing to watch. Holiday is not playing well but do ya'll notice how he often is open down by the hoop but the team NEVER passes the ball to him down deep. He is almost screaming for the ball but without any hope. Certainly would give him some confidence IF they would give him a chance once in a while!
Really though, I don't think he can screw the youngins up. They will just rebel like they're doing now.
You can't permanently infect a young person's basketball mind. They know.
how many times coming OUT OF A TIME OUT are the sixers unable to inbound the ball and have to call time?
Cut it 8 by half?
Just for fun, I mean. They aren't going to win this game.
wow that was a disaster of a press attempt.
Did EJ think that 2-2-1 would work? Wow.
Holy crap nice dunk AI9.
Nice hands, Speights.
We need Young to get active. Getting some steals and breaking in transition gets him going and makes such a difference.
Refs aren't helping the SIxers at all. AK-47 took 4 steps there. No call.
fouling jumpshooters (shakes head)
Nice move by Thad.
Let's see that proverbial run. Turnover. Convert......?
Yes Dala.
Lou gave it right back.
Utah's playing so sloppy, and they're up by 10. Just sad.
These guys are going for their own stats at this point.
Nice D by Lou there.
AK47 fouled Iguodala on a buzzer-beater. Heh.
holy crap that almost went in.
O-boards and missed free throws. It almost sounds like 2007, except with a much worse coach and a much worse record.
You notice how when Jrue goofs and leaves his man open, he sinks the shot. When awesome Willie Green leaves him open more often, he he misses many of them.
Awesome free throw shooting shooting by our team.
annnnnnnnd...
1/3 from the line for AI9 on the charity foul.
39-48 at the half.
At least Speights usually gives effort on defense but he's clearly hurt now. He looks like a corpse or better yet, Amare, out there right now.
8 minutes for Brand in the first half. Here's Jordan's payback for the comments EB made about him.
Didn't get one touch in the post all half. Let's be honest that's not Brand either. He wants the ball, but one he gets a few touches 20 feet from the hoop what can he do.
He should just mutiny and set up on the block and order Jrue to give it to him there. Jrue's young and smart enough that he would listen.
Man, this looks so much like a farce that upper management must be in seclusion or something.
If the hands-on lower level management is present, and we're still getting these blatant results, then what are the higher-ups waiting on?
Looks like another shot at a potential Iverson-type pick.
6/12 from the line, 10 turnovers in the first half. Sweet.
Utah's shooting 52.9% from the floor, but they've also turned it over 10 times.
But the thing with EB is... EJ can't have more say and clout than ES does, to the point of only giving the guy scrub minutes, while considering that the latter had a signature-signing of him.
He wouldn't let his prize-catch be made a mockery of. Or would he?
It's a mockery when one of your best offensive players is not given a chance to succeed.
But doesn't that mockery fall back on the boss and not the employee, particularly at this obvious point?
In other words, that is pretty much his defining moment. And 8 minutes?... You wouldn't let your hired help act in such a way.
With hired help being EJ. Especially if that is your guy that he is toying with.
Fair point. The presence of ES in all of this sure is a mystery.
Giving him enough rope to hang himself, is the only guess I can come up with.
5 on Sammy
He seriously doesn't want to play anymore much less tonight.
Good offense there. That's the PO at it's finest.
Yeah he can only play against second stringers. SMH.
Hate to say it.
Calling it now.....they will rear their resilient head and win this damn game. Wishful thinking? I hope....
Trading hoops. Thad on Boozer is not going to work.
I just checked the line for this game- Utah by 8...
I'm really suspicious from the early calls that one of the refs this game is dirty.
Never commented like that before, but the calls in this game are really fishy...
We'll have to see how it ends.
Timeout to set up a contested 20-footer for Iguodala. But at least they got the ball in w/out using another timeout.
Thad cannot handle Utah's bigs inside.
Nice D Willie.
fuckin Willie. It's a Team Game dammit.
I've given up a lot of hope for this season. One of my big hopes is looking for Thad to take the next step into being an elite, efficient and versatile wing scorer. Anybody else agree that he easily could take that step with a few more touches?
I need to actually see him on the wing, which we haven't been at all.
By 'the wing,' do you mean by playing the 3? I think he gets a lot of his stuff on the wing with a 4 guarding him. That's not his fault though, his coach puts him there.
Yeah, I mean at the three, being guarded by threes.
jumper after jumper after jumper.
Dre can't guard him, Lou can't, Willie can't, I guess Jrue can't. Somebody just man-up Deron.
I don't think anyone in the league can, to be honest. Deron's one of those you hope he comes out cold. Nothing much you can do to stop or limit him.
His combination of strength and quickness is sick. His ball handling is way up there and he has great court vision. I like him more than CP3 to be frank.
Oh, not even close. Their scouts made the right pick. He was nasty in college and is now.
He just has that feel, or that innate ability which is basically IQ.
ugh. Lou and Willie.
did Eddie Jordan just put in a lineup for defense? Royal and Jrue in for Willie and Lou.
Jrue and Ivey in for Willie and Lou. I have no idea why, those guys were really getting after it with effort and harmony.
Prediction: during Eddie Jordan's postgame interview he will say at some point that "sometimes the best defense is the best offense" and cite points off turnovers. Anything to shift the focus back to the offense.
When is Brand going to learn that you shouldn't hustle on the defensive end?
wow. c'mon refs.
young has to pull that back out in that situation. can't put up that tough shot with the clock like that.
8-point game after three.
So do they put together a run?
No Speights in the third quarter, wondering if it's because he was 0/5 in the first half, he's hurt, both or neither.
Ivey's not a terrible option to put in with Jrue. He lets Jrue handle the offense, doesn't take anything but a wide-open look, and defends pretty well. With EB, AI9 and Thad as the other three guys, it's not a bad line-up with Jrue and 3 scorers. All you need is a defender at the other spot.
6-point mini-run there when he put Jrue/IV in for Lou/Willie.
Wow Thad is a plus-11 while anyone else except Ivey is all under even. That is a crazy stat.
hahah i think brand fell on williams on purpose.
Shoot. Come on finish that Speights. Our ball off turnover.
what a BS call on Ivey. clearly standing there on that bogus blocking call.
Nightmare game for Speights. Matthews beasted him there on that follow too.
No cohesiveness whatsoever. Everyone just gunning for theirself it looks like.
9 assists on 24 buckets. Utah has 18 on their 29.
This one's over. Bet Willie, Lou or both come back in here.
And here it comes.
Thad's all, folks!
And that isn't a foul? More like mugging Iggy!
Actually no. Just an aggressive swipe by Millsap that was clean.
The facial rake before the swipe should've been called though
At least the T-Wolves won tonight.
So true, if only NJ would just win some.
I love that shot by Lou of the offensive board. Nothing better than a 26-foot three by our "pg" who can't shoot. Awesome.
PHI shooting this quarter - 0-10 so far with half the quarter gone. Stellar. 0-11 now
Keep on jacking long jumpers, Lou.
Man we don't share the ball like we used to either. No ball movement whatsoever.
Boing! Clang! ................So familiar
Man, that "defensive boot camp" Jordan ran on Thursday sure paid dividends.
This team is lost, and they've completely tuned this joker out.
i'd be very worried if they haven't tuned this joker out. As pros they clearly know this guy is whack. It'd take an idiot to listen to him.
It pains the hell out of me. But I just keep telling myself that it will all be for the better.
Something good has to result from this..... Because it can't be worse can it?
They haven't scored yet in the 4th. 8 minutes, scoreless.
Korver on Kapono. That should be thrilling.
whenever I watch Kapono play, I miss Korver. At least he tries on the other end.
Wouldn't a "chalk talk" involve any passing whatsoever? The only time we have played well offensively the last two games is when we dumped the PO in the middle of the Washington game. We don't keep the ball moving at all, except when we have dribble handoffs.
thank god for Thad we just made an fg!!
I like how Carney doesn't even bother fouling to prevent the dunk.
Replying to you earlier, Brian, how could Iguodala and Thad not "work"? If you mean that collectively they're a little short on the ball-handling and three-point-shooting you expect from those two positions, yeah, that's true. But they score enough, score efficiently enough, and they defend enough, or at least Iguodala does. I think you can definitely live with Iguodala at the two if we only had a point who could shoot; the more valid concern is that Thad is a bit of a 3/4 tweener, but we already know that. I think we also already know that Brand will never be what he was but definitely brings something to the table defensively and even offensively when given the chance at the four. Nevertheless, we also know that Speights is such a good scorer, but such an indifferent rebounder/defender, that as he gets better and better you'll be more or less forced to start him and start him at the four, which means that Brand will have to take on some kind of Carl Landry/Corliss Williamson first big man off the bench sort of role. Of course the chances of our getting Wall are slim, but our chances of getting either Wall or Favors if we continue to tank are pretty good, and Favors is reportedly a fine defensive power forward and an explosive enough athlete that he has Stoudemire-level upside.
I see what you're saying, I'm just not sure I'm sold on any of those things. And if the Sixers don't wind up in the top two, which is really likely no matter what their final record is, what do you look for in the draft?
I don't know, more than anything, I don't want to have to watch this shit basketball for another four months.
Unlike the intricate patterns of the Princeton Offense, the Jazz keep it simple offensively. Simple flex sets, 1/4 high, pick and roll. Whatever it is, they are efficient and share the ball. I've always admired Sloan teams on that end of the floor. Sometimes they've faltered on the other end, but I love their offense. They've had good players too, but they always run good stuff.
Co-signed.
When they gave the team the name 76ers it wasn't cause we intended to score 76 points every game.
Well, I'm thoroughly disgusted with this entire franchise. I'm going to take the rest of the night off, read a book, get some sleep. I'll be back with my wrap tomorrow at some point, hopefully my batteries will be recharged by then.
Thanks for hanging in there, guys.
Keep hope Brian.
Let's go Birds.
Let's go birds is right.
Defensive Boot Camp...
FG% .522
3pt FG% .545
Allowed 24 asst on 26 baskets
Reb:
Thad, your starting PF 2 in 32 min... 0 defensive boards
Brand: 3 in 27 min... 1 defensive board
...boot camp...
meant 24 asst on 36 baskets
Phoenix and the Warriors each scored 70 points in their first half of their game! Hum..
Can anyone here conceive of a good offensive team that starts Lou at PG and Thad at PF?
I guess they can further upgrade the defense when AI returns to the starting line up as the SG next to Lou...
But there is always Defensive Boot Camp.
EJ even has me confused.
Meant to say can anyone conceive a good DEFENSE.
Forgot the word becasue I haven't seen it in a while. I guess EJ'm mind works the same way.
"Any potential mismatches the Sixers have on the offensive end are really meaningless in the grand scheme of things, though. They won't exploit them, because that's not what Eddie Jordan's system does."
Therein lies the flaw in the Princeton offense, and why it can't succeed at the pro level. It's based on minimizing middling (jump shooting) talent, not overwhelming the other team's weakness.
8 Minutes for Elton Brand in the first half is ridiculous. You're right Brian, it definitely seems like "punishment" for speaking his mind about the poor defense and bad coaching.
It's no surprise the Sixers were never close in the 4Q and lost big tonight. It's sad watching everyone playing as individuals instead of a team, both defensively and offensively.
And whose fault is that when a team doesn't play together? THE COACH, of course! If players can play team-ball w/o a coach, why bother even having one.
Eddie Jordan is such a loser, finger-pointer, excuse-giver, and hypocrite. Sitting one of his best players on the bench, Elton Brand, for speaking the truth...is just petty and ghetto. Fire Eddie Jordan already!
In the past, when I complained about Miller artificially keeping this team afloat, one of the counter arguments was you need structure to evaluate/develop your young talent. I'm starting to see how important this is.
Yes, getting a high pick has the potential to save this franchise- if we get lucky. But Its hard to actually figure out what this team has when it implodes on a nightly basis. On top of that they seem to be playing non-traditional schemes on offence and defense, further muddling player development and evaluation.
I hope management can make heads or tails out of what we are seeing from some of the young players- because I sure can't. It will soon be time to decide whether to build around or trade some of the young mismatched players while their value is high.
Some interesting stats I posted at realgm, looking a defensive rebounding. Keep in mind Sam plays next to Thad, so this probably bump's Sam's numbers for lack of competition...
For his career Brand is a good but somewhat over-rated defensive rebounder. For his career Elton Brand's defensive rebounding percentage (estimate of what % of available defensive rebounds he grabs) is 19.1% (range 18.2-20%) This is good, but elite defensive rebounders like Duncan and Boozer are 26% for career. Most top defensive rebounders are 34% or better. For example, Sam is 24.6% for his career.
So if 18% is good and 24% is elite... for this season:
Brand: 15.9%
Speights: 18.1%
Young: 11.4%
Sam: 27.4%
Stats per Basketball reference.
Speights said he had not spoken with Brand about the comments. "I ain't going to talk to him about it," he said. "He did it, so he can't really take it back." Sixers coach Eddie Jordan seemed to think the pair had addressed the situation. "It's just something that happened in the game - they talked about it," Jordan said. "And Elton is a veteran, and I would think the younger player at least listened to the vet and talked about it in the locker room or behind closed doors. Being a young player, I think he's learned that." Philadelphia Inquirer
So speights says they haven't talked about it (and acts like a child in the process in my opinion) but Coach knows they talked about it.
This is going to get fun folks