 Warriors East Pound Warriors West A struggling, deeply flawed team limped into the Wach last night to play another struggling, deeply flawed team. Eddie Jordan looked at the matchups and made two decisions. The first was to start Jrue Holiday and put him on Monta Ellis. A smart move that played a huge part in the quick start and eventual blowout win. The second was to bench and further alienate Elton Brand. We'll see how that one plays out.
Listen, the Sixers won in a route, a win they desperately needed after dropping a dozen in a row. I probably should just be happy they got the monkey off their back, but it's hard. I am happy Jrue got the start over Willie. I'd be even happier if the starting lineup was Jrue, Iguodala, Thad, Brand and Sammy, like it should've been, but whatever. Jordan got a chance to play a small lineup pretty much exclusively. He got a chance to stick it in Brand's face, playing him only 17 minutes. He got a chance to prove his point against a pitiful team, so good for him. I don't have the energy to get into the precedents this game set, so let's just take a look at the rotations:  Two things jump out at me from the rotations: (1) Jrue saw 39 minutes of action, and they were a stellar 39 minutes. Forget about the shooting numbers (15 points on 50% shooting), and the stuffed stat line (7 boards, 6 dimes, 3 steals), the thing that stood out about his game was his stifling defense on one of the best driving perimeter players in the game, Monta Ellis. Ellis was in chains whenever Jrue was on the floor. This kid is already something special on the defensive end and he's only going to get better. (2) Andre Iguodala left the game in the first quarter with bruised ribs. They had to take x-rays, then he came back into the game, but you could see him clutching his ribs throughout. At the end of the third, the Sixers held a 29-point lead. Jordan played AI9 10 out of 12 minutes in the fourth. Why? Why wouldn't he get the guy some much-needed rest? I don't get it. Anyway, this game was won on the glass, as you can see in the advanced stats:  The first half was dominated by three things. Jrue's defense on Ellis, Dalembert all over the offensive glass and Thad's ultra-aggressive offensive mindset. Thad was a beast in the first half, dropping 23 of his 26 points and taking the ball right at whichever Warrior was unlucky enough to be "guarding" him. Thad's scoring was very impressive in the first 24 minutes, but his hustle all over the floor and his rebounding are the parts of his game that have been missing all year. In the past five games he's grabbed double-digit rebounds three times. Prior to that, his season high was seven. In the second half he jumped in front of drivers a couple times to draw charges and he didn't lose his man too much in rotations. The Sixers got excellent games from 4 of 5 starters, Brand was very effective in the limited minutes he saw off the bench and that's all it took. Willie got 11 shots up in his 10 minutes of action, which is really what we should expect by now. The Warriors shot 50% from three and went to the line 40 times, but there was just no way they were going to overcome the 25 offensive boards the Sixers grabbed, it really wasn't fair. So the streak is over. No matter how poor the competition was, and God were they awful, you have to be happy for the players. In the grand scheme of things, Jordan has taken another step toward the small lineup. He moved Iguodala away from the two (3:08 at SG), he moved Thad away from the three (0 minutes at SF), a trend which will probably continue, meaning another year without finding out if those guys can coexist. Elton Brand is bordering on disgruntled at this point, and the less you play him, the further his trade value drops. A bad situation is getting worse by the day. But, Jrue did play almost 40 minutes, so it wasn't a total waste. Given the idiotic choice of playing Jrue for heavy minutes or benching Brand, I'll go with extra minutes for Jrue every time. Player of The Game: Thad Team Record: 6-18 (tied w/ Sixers West for 4th worst record in the league) Up Next: Cleveland 
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Check this out:
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20091215_Phil_Jasner___Everything_is_hard_.html
""You believe in the principles, no matter what,'' Jordan said. "You have to have more belief. You look for adjustments, but you don't change your style of coaching; you don't change your whole demeanor. I am who I am as a coach, and I have beliefs, and I know in coaching, Jerry Sloan has his beliefs and he's had tough stretches; I know Pat Riley has his beliefs and he's had tough stretches. The same with Larry Brown. That's naming three of the top coaches in the history of basketball; they've all had tough stretches.'"
I especially loved him referencing Riley or Brown, both of whom had tangible legit success they could cite of how their philosophies worked. Not just 45-win seasons, either.
Riley's case should've been an interesting case study for him, if he were paying attention. His complete reversal from LA to NY is a textbook example of coaching to talent.
Brown was also capable of adjusting his methods depending on his given roster at the time(exhibit A: the guy Jordan now has in his lockerroom). Through everything, the one constant was they both emphasized defense, no matter what. Guessed he missed that lesson too...
Yeah, he's an obstinate, arrogant bastard, and he seriously has no point here. None whatsoever. Jesus, this just got me all riled up again.
BTW, Warriors East made me laugh, especially because I've been thinking of Jordan as New Nellie for weeks now. At least Nellie had a few 50-win seasons under his belt. Jordan is the Homeless Man's Nellie.
Guess it escaped Jordan's attention that the moment they replaced Nellie with a defensive coach, that's when Dallas took the leap.
There was actually a really funny comment on that story on Philly.com:
smellynuts
The captain of the Titanic stayed the course and stuck to his beliefs and look where that got him...
lol. That is perfect...
Shame Iverson can't be an actual team guy and do his best to help his team win because he'd really make up for a weak ass bench, and I'd much rather see him off the bench than Willie Green.
Very glad Jrue played so well on both ends of the court, and if this is the only way he starts, I'll take it until Louis Williams comes back...then who knows what Eddies gonna do
Oh I'll be absolutely shocked if the starting lineup isn't Dalembert, Thad, Iguodala, Iverson, Lou when Williams comes back.
You're right, though that practically should guarantee his firing and a high pick
Sixers west - that gave me a good laugh.
By the way, I want to say your post about EJ the other day was great. I really enjoyed reading it. If only Stefanski would give it a look-through.
I just don't understand how Jordan rewards players. Brand came off the bench and played very well, but only got three more seconds of playing time than Willie. In the future I would prefer to see Jrue not starting, but rather 20-25 mpg. However, I thought tonight was good to start him and put him on Ellis. Good match-up for Jrue. I just don't see how Brand is going to get any respect from this coach. When Lou comes back, they're going to play small and Brand will see even less time.
Besides a coaching change, there are some pieces on this team that will need be altered/changed. Like you said, we need to see if Thad and Andre can play the 2 and 3 together. We need to see if Brand can round into at least a 15/8-9 player. Should Speights play the 4 or 5 and can he defend/rebound better? Why are the following players on this team: Kapono, Ivey, Smith, Carney, Brezec. What bench players can this team acquire that could play better with the starters? Which of these guys, if any, should the team keep for next year?
I wouldn't be surprised if we were half-way into March and still not seeing a consistent rotation.
Kapono is worthless. He needs to go back to Toronto or at the very least, receive 20 lashings every time he passes the ball when he has an open shot.
He doesn't pass when he has a wide-open shot, only when it's a somewhat open shot. If he doesn't have a 100% clean look from three, he won't take it. Too worried about his precious 3P%.
And you're absolutely right, we're going to head into the summer, again, with absolutely no idea what the team needs, what pieces are keepers, what we have. This is just a disaster that keeps getting worse.
is there anyway to get rid of green AND kapono? that's 10 million off the books we could have used to sign some decent bench players (channing frye, sheldon williams, hakim warrick)
The Sixers offered more for Hakim Warrick than MIL did, he went to the Bucks because he thought he'd start there. The other two guys weren't really in high demand, just looks like they landed in good situations.
But to answer your question, it's highly doubtful they'll ever be able to move Green. He's a minimum salary guy being paid way too much. Kapono is doubtful, at least this season. Next year you may get really lucky and find someone who REALLY needs a shooter and/or is interested in picking up his $6M+ expiring deal, but I doubt anyone is going to trade for him this season.
Hurray Ultimate Eric Snow. Playing that D, running that O.
The only bad part about the game is that we won. No more wins. We need John Wall to complement ES Ultimate.
Also, does any other team have as many unmovable pieces as because of Garbageness as the Sixers right now?
Hmmn...that's a tough call. Sixers have probably 4 unmovable pieces of note: Kapono, Dalembert, Green, Brand.
The Warriors have bad contracts, but I'm not sure they're unmovable. Washington has Gilbert probably another one or two.
Toronto probably couldn't move Hedo right now, Bargnani, Reggie Evans, Jarret Jack is overpaid, I believe. They're right up there with us.
New Orleans? Peja, Okafor, Posey, is Morris Peterson still there? They're up there.
Eddy Curry and Jared Jeffries are pretty unmovable
I am not ready to give up Kapono just yet, he has a skill we still need on our 2nd unit and if used properly, oh that!s right Jordan!s our coach, he could still produce. I have less of an issue with Elton not starting as I do with him getting 28 to 32 minutes.He is without a doubt our best backup 5 and as long as he gets his minutes, and Thad continues to rebound aggressively, I can live with it.Elton seems to be getting a lot of touches and so far A.I. seems to be sharing the ball.