Would you look at that. Elton Brand can still throw down! And did so I believe 3 or 4 times last night.
Brand’s line was promising even against a terrible Bobcats team.
- 19 points on 8-17 from the floor and 3-4 from the line.
- 11 boards, 7 offensive and many of them converted for easy buckets.
- 6 blocks
- 4 steals (they actually gave Iguodala one of his so the boxscore only reads 3)
- 2 assists
- Only 1 turnover
- In 42 big minutes
There is really no reason to talk about anyone else on this team. After all that from Brand we still barely won against the Bobcats.
Thank God Charlotte doesn’t have one shooter on their entire roster. We gave them plenty of wide open looks last night and they couldn’t even hit the rim most times. It was one of the worst displays of shooting I have ever seen on the profession level. The worst was probably watching the Sixers shoot in games past.
Thank God Brand blocked 6 very make-able shots including one where he ran down Stephen Jackson on a fast break and pinned it against the board. Remember this was a 2 point game.
Brand made so many winning plays last night, including the last one it was ridiculous. His effort all night was great to watch.
The question remains though: Was this just an anomaly or something we can expect from him going forward? More importantly can he do it against a more formidable front court and winning clubs?
I don’t know. But at least we got to see what could be for one night.
The only other guy that came to play was Rodney Carney.
Iguodala and Thad had 8 of the ugliest turnovers one could imagine. Just dumb passes and for Thad a complete lack of ball control and handle.
Lou’s defense as tremendously horrible again.
This team is a hot mess anyway you look at it. They have not had win that looked good yet. They have not played one average game of basketball yet.
11 games in they aren’t getting even a little bit better collectively. What’s next for this team?
The next 10 games are pretty tough.
- Memphis
- @ Cleveland
- @ Washington
- @ Boston
- Atlanta
- @ San Antonio
- @ Dallas
- @ Oklahoma City
- Denver
- @ Charlotte
Given how this team has been playing and knowing Speights won’t be back for any of those games how many wins can you see? I won’t even asked you how many wins you are confident they would get because no one in their right mind should have any confidence in the Sixers.
For me I see a low of zero wins and a high of 2.
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{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
Memphis W
@ Cleveland L
@ Washington L
@ Boston L
Atlanta L
@ San Antonio L
@ Dallas L
@ Oklahoma City L
Denver L
@ Charlotte W?
Brand’s play was very encouraging, but it did come against a frontcourt of a recovering-from-injury Diaw and an apathetic Chandler. I just hope he keeps up the energy.
I agree with your previous comments about not playing Holiday too. Here’s how it was:
Williams – 36 mins
Green – 18 mins
Ivey – 7 mins
Kapono – 4 mins
Holiday – 0 mins
Here’s how it should have been:
Williams – 30 mins
Green – 4 mins
Ivey – 4 mins
Kapono – 12-15 mins
Holiday – 12-15 mins
I think Jordan just felt his seat getting warm and needing a W to take the heat off a little. That’s the impression I got from his playoff-like use of a 7 man rotation.
I understand Jordan needs to win some games. But my question for Jordan is what has Ivey done that suggests he is a better option than Jrue?
On top of that, Stefanski in his interview yesterday said they need to continue to focus on the young players and their development being critical the future success of the team. Well Jrue is a young player. You drafted him as your PG of the future. So I conclude his development is critical to the future of the team. So why the inconsistent minutes and DNPCDs all the time.
Just doesn’t add up for me.
Still waiting for that time when Stefanski just goes in and tells Jordan to play the damn rookie.
If they go 3-7 or worse over the next 10 I expect something to change.
I am actually pretty pissed of Speights got hurt for obviously reasons. But the not so obvious reason is that injuries to key players gives bad head coaches more rope. At this point I don’t think Jordan deserves any slack. He has been horrible in every aspect.
A Brand sighting and a win. Yes. I agree Dannie, Jrue needs to play. If nothing else when you are ES and see all the rookies who are playing at a high level around the league it begs the question.. Why isn’t my rookie playing and getting quality minutes? He should be playing ahead of Willie and Royal. He’s been through the camps in the summer, preseason and now a few regular season games. Let the kid show what he can do. I was happy to see Sammy on the bench, its been long overdue. Its funny it took Speights getting hurt to make the change when actually he should have been starting or playing Speights more and Sammy less from the beginning.
Sammy hasn’t been playing much all season actually 22mpg which is lower this his career low last season.
And last night him not playing probably had more to do with his fouls and Jordan matching up with Charlotte’s smaller line-ups than anything else.
Dannie: lol. i remember Ellington’s shot from the top of the arc that smacked the backboard 16 inches away from the rim. and then there was a corner 3 that Iguodala caught in mid air after it evaded the rim completely. if you take away a decent 1st quarter output by philadelphia, you could have sworn that the sixers were playing the sixers.
I spent all week trying to convince local Bobcat fans that they would beat us. I underestimated how bad they were. I guess there’s a lot of really, really bad teams in the NBA. It’s hard to tell exactly where we fit in right now. That’s what’s frustrating me the most. I’m not sure whether or not we will turn it around like we have in years passed. Right now there are few signs saying we will, but if you asked me the same question this time last year… I would have told you we wouldn’t turn it around.
If they win Friday, hopefully, they will be a 500 team, an improvement over the last 2 seasons recordwise BUT inspite of individual improvement by a few the team is playing terrible. L.Will. [under control], Iggy [jumpshooting], Spieghts [rebounding] all have improved over last year but , like always with this group, it is going to take a team effort to get back to the playoffs. I optimistically say 3 or 4 wins, depending largely on Thad improving his play and Elton getting 35 minutes per.
Suede - They need to play better defense if they want to win any games against teams not in the bottom 6 of the league.
Forget the individual improvement. I actually think it’s far to early to consider anything “improvement” for individual players. 11 games only can be categorized as hot or cold to start the season. Lou has chilled considerably since his first 5 games.
He had only 4 turnovers and some great offense in the first 5 games. He has had 13 turnovers and 3-20 from three in the last 6 games.
Would you categorized him as more under control really?
I wouldn’t need a larger sample before I consider something reliable improvement.
Same thing with Speights rebounding. And we could say Thad has regressed based on his early play. Just not a big enough sample size for individual players.
But as a team we know they still can’t defend and in fact look considerably worse defensively than they did before Eddie Jordan took over the team. We also know they still can’t shoot.
Those are two of the four factors of winning and we are quite bad at them both. That is why I bench Thad and Lou and start Jrue and Kapono. You add defense at the critical penetration point and add legit perimeter and three point shooting.
Jordan’s temptation with benching Brand was stupidly misguided and a clear tell he has no clue what he is doing as a coach.
I have been struggling with a couple things:
players or coach? yeah you got me there, i’m not sure which one is killing them more. BUMP
I think Andre Miller was not as important as you think. just because of the before and after shots. i think this year its a different metamorphosis of the same lingering problems we’ve already had; lack of discipline, consistent effort and shooting. Miller never solved these, at best he ameliorated it and masked some of it since it meant one less juvenile player on the floor.
i really like Elton Brand personally. such a likeable guy. i think i’m gonna start rooting for his individual success. part because of a possible future trade and partly bcos Dala carries too much ego (still love him tho, just a lil less now).
I think AMILL was that critical a piece. Once he got past his early season conditioning issue, he gave 35 minutes of concentration and effort. Don’t see that consistency out of any of these sixers. He also pushed/lead his teammates in the process. Sure he had flaws on defense and shooting but look at this team and who doesn’t? Hopefully, Elton provides that same leadership IF his coach gives him the opportunity.
Dannie, Agree on starting Jrue for up top D strength, court vision, positive vibe and possibilities (including on-job learning), not on Kapono, who can’t guard a lamppost … for every 3 he gets ya, he’ll give up 4; challenges Williams in the Fog & Windburn Division. Starting 1-dimensional players will get a coach fired … oh, I see.
Miller was a pillar of 41 win teams. His 1-man offensive surges were impressive at times but he had his share of sags too. Personally, I haven’t missed watching the split on-court adventures of Mr. Crafty/Mr. Drafty.
JJG – I am working with what I have. The Sixers aren’t a team full of multi-faceted talents. We are a team of one or two dimensional players who also have very obvious and gaping holes in their games. Until we upgrade talent every line-up and player rotation is going to be a give and take scenario.
I am making two choices:
My first choice is to strengthen up top defense because I think we can all agree its where our defense has the biggest and most profound leak.
My second choice is to replace Thad whose offensive contributions mirror what we get from Iguodala. Near duplicate players when it comes to offensive scoring (Iguodala is the far greater playmaker at this point).
So I trade some offensive versatility for proven and reliable perimeter shooting. And I basically swap where my biggest defensive liability is from the point to the wing. I can cover up Kapono better because I can always put Iguodala on the stronger offensive wing player. I have no way to cover up Lou’s defensive weakness from the point.
One round of applause for Beltin’ Elton Brand (uses jab and hold in combat more than Ernie Terrell did back in the day) for an energized 41:44.
And how about that ‘Iggy Love Shimmy’? Chubby Checker said post-game, “I’ve been vanquished in my own town by a remarkable talent. For the very first time, ‘The Twist’ and ‘The Hucklebuck’ don’t matter.”
every line-up and player rotation … give and take scenario - so true. Interesting reasoning, Danny. I just can’t tolerate ’shooter only’ players for more than spot time. And ultimately a leak in the dike is a leak in the dike (teams will locate and exploit wherever it is). On a team with no true deep shooters but Kapono, I understand your proposal.
Memphis W
@ Cleveland
@ Washington W
@ Boston
Atlanta
@ San Antonio
@ Dallas
@ Oklahoma City
Denver
@ Charlotte W
And maybe one surprise.
I think replacing Brand with Carney in the lineup is not the answer. I would replace Thad with Carney. If I’m the coach I coach for defense first and I might replace Lou and Thad with Carney and Jrue, utilizing Lou and Thad with the second team. This improves starting perimeter defense and second team offense. Unfortunately, Jordan seems to have defense as a secondary issue so all the lineup changes will probably be geared to offensive improvement. This team might be athletic enough to win games on defensive effort and just running and scrapping for offense until the PO can be fully implemented. However there is no coordinated defensive effort or attitude. This is a coaching issue and, while it is unrealistic to fire the coach after 11 games, I see no healthy signs that he has a winning philosophy in place. Since many of us fans think we could do a better job with defense and rotations, ES could hire one of us and barely lose any more money since most of us would be willing to work cheap for the remainder of this season. They might even draw more fans if they could go from 4-6 to 6-4 per ten games.
Duracorr, I doubt they’d be interested; team has already mastered “Recliner” defense.
Play Jru, have a phantom injury to Iggy, and tank. It’s our only hope for the future.
Everyone says we need a superstar. Maybe we have a superstar on the roster in Speights, Thad or Jrue. For sure AI, Thad, Lou and Maurice would all be taken higher than actual if their classes were redrafted today. We don’t know about Jrue yet. There are some examples of superstar players who did not come into their own until a few seasons into their careers. Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce were mid-1st round selections. There are others I’m sure. Give this some time. This is a work in progress.
Ultimately, the team needs a true starting quality SG. The hope, which I held at one time, was that Igoudala at SG and Thad at SF would be strong enough defenders to mask the lack of shooting ability. That hasn’t worked out. From the current group, my starting lineup would be:
C: Sam
PF: Brand
SF: Igoudala
SG: Carney
PG: Jrue
This lineup is probably the best defensive group, and Carney can at least shoot league average from 3. Lou and Thad would be your offense off the bench.
Duracorr, that would be my lineup also, Carney may not be as good a shooter as Kapono but the energy he brings defensively may allow for quicker starts. I just don!t see Jrue starting yet, though I want that. Dannie, 2/3 of the defensive equation for this group was given to our new coach the other night; Elton getting more minutes and Carney getting more minutes , hopefully for Thad. The final 1/3 will be when Jrue starts. Jumpin, I think a good coach finds 15 minutes a game for Kapono. Korver was overused here and that hurts defensively but depending on matchups you have to work him in, he gives something this team needs. Morty, Iggy IS playing real well as our shooting guard but Thad is hurting this team bigtime. Dannies point about repetative talents at the 2 and 3 is correct, but I hope Thad and Iggy are given a chance to succeed, especially if our backup 4 [Spieghts] and backup 5 [Jason] and our future starting p.g. [Jrue] can be good 3pt. shooters.
In the “bad habits” category for this group; L.Will. constantly driving baseline jumping in the air with nowhere to go, 1/2 his turnovers seem to come from this circus act. And Sammy putting a bearhug on an opposing player to grab the ball and not realizing it is a foul, his stupid fouls are killing this team. He needs 28 minutes, at least, per game. Dannie, even when he is not shooting well I feel L.Will. has gotten better this year and hope he plays THIS way when he returns to the bench, but the 3 pt. shot has to get better.
I would NOT start Carney over Thad. Carney is not an upgrade over Thad shooting the ball – 33% vs. 34% shooting the three isn’t significant enough and doesn’t outweigh the fact that Thad scores more efficiently in general so his eFG% and TS% are better and is an even weaker rebounder and passer. Career stats.
I also think people are overvaluing Carney in general and his defense and I really have no idea why.
Also if Thad is part of your future who does benching him impact his confidence at a time when he is already struggling? I personally am not one to care about players egos but I do understand that human psychology does play a part and should be considered. It’s a reason Brand wasn’t benched .
We have a team full of redundant players between Lou, Iggy, Carney, Thad and to a lesser degree Willie (his efg% on jump shots isn’t as bad as the rest but he also can’t shooter threes well) and that’s not the way to build a team. Just a bunch of “me toos.”
Team’s are suppose to be dynamic with varying talents. Aside from Kapono all our wing and backcourt players score the same way. That’s a big part of the reason the offense sucks.
We are missing two critical skill sets that the P.O. (ANY offense) needs.
Shooters and passers.
Swapping Thad for a redundant player changes what? You MIGHT get a slight increase in defense and I think it wouldn’t be consistent it would vary game to game.
On the other hand Kapono has proven over 6 years he is going to shoot the ball at a very high rate. And he is the only player on the roster with Speights gone who can do that consistently. Gotta find a way to get him more playing time to add balance to the offense and interject a missing skill set. Also he compliments the other players who penetrate or post up. He spreads the floor so there is even room for back cuts. He opens up a little more room to drive. That’s what shooters of his caliber do.
Also just because I start Kapono doesn’t mean he plays 40 minutes per game. No one has or should have set minutes. They play it’s based on performance, match-ups, game flow, situations. If Kapono isn’t making shots or is giving up more than his offense is worth you make a move when needed.
But not playing him at all is a waste of money and a necessary basketball skill.
Duracorr – I question what you consider is a “superstar.” Specifically as it pertains to winning.
Can you clarify please?
I think there are two types of superstars.
At this point I don’t think the Sixers have either category of star on this roster nor do I see anyone developing into one. AND if one did they their ceiling would only be tier two.
Suede – Iguodala is the king of the jump pass turnover.
Lou is just following in his “shimmy” buddy’s footsteps. (that [most celebrating like that] made me sick by the way and is a major reason I don’t like either of those clowns).
Dannie, I almost hoped Charlotte made a game winner after that display , it was ugly. That part of Iggy has to change for him to win his critics over, win AND lose with class!! As far as Carney, I think he is a better spot up shooter than Thad if given minutes and tends to stay out wide ,allowing Lou and Iggy driving lanes where Thad seems more effective in the midrange area. With Spieghts injury, it is a good time to approach Thad with the right words, ” we need a lift off the bench and you will be our spark for the 2nd unit”. Maybe he picks up his defensive energy to win his spot in the starting lineup back.
Jumpin, Red Robbins passed away last night, a double double machine in the old A.B.A. . For those that never heard of him picture a red-haired pale Bobby Jones type body that was a ferocious rebounder and I believe a fairly high draft pick in the N.B.A. that went for the bigger money the A.B.A. offered. A shout out to the Hornets rookie backcourt [D.Collison/M.Thornton] who came up big last night in a victory over Pheonix. And finally, how do these Lakers match up with the all-time great teams if Bynum stays healthy? They are so friggin long!!!!
Suede – Carney is more of a spot up jump shooter than Thad for sure. But he hasn’t shoot the three much better over time. So while there is some value in having him out there as the threat, he still has to make them at a good rate. That is something we know Kapono will do.
Actually this give me an idea for a post. haha
Dannie, one drawback that I see to Kapono playing a lot – we don’t really have an offense, it’s like an every-man-for-himself type of deal. The concept of trying to find the most efficient shot on every possession is – at worst - not understood, or - at best - not applied very often. I still think Doug Collins would’ve been the best person to instill this type of thinking for this young, undisciplined team of brats. Anyway, I would say that the players don’t really know how to play with Kapono in terms of taking advantage of his particular shooting skills, and when he gets something up it always seems like it’s part of this Sixer team’s “fuck off, it’s my turn” offense.
Zack – No doubt this Sixers team is not very smart and they don’t know how to play winning basketball.
But what they do know how to do is draw the defense which works directly with Kapono.
When Iguodala drives he draws defenders. When Lou drives he draws help and to a lesser degree so does Thad (to bad he has no clue what passing is). And for whatever reason teams have been doubling Brand.
The problem has been three fold in that regard:
That second point hurts even more for one gigantic reason:
This team has sticky hands. So even if the double team forced a defensive rotation we don’t swing the ball quickly or sharply enough to take advantage of it.
i think that this year this team will not win as many games as last year. it seems everyone is just a little better but most importantly i think we got lucky with a lot of terrible play from all those lower caste teams last year. even with good effort from our team we lost to Chicago and barely beat Charlotte. I’m not expecting a playoff run this year.
JKay, it is funny you say that because our coaching was supposed to be a major improvement.Zack, hopefully our coaches strength [offense] shows itself by the 2nd half of the year, and he learns how to use the pieces he has properly. Dannie, L.Will. seems a lot better shooting the 3 from the corner than the top, which bodes well for playing off the ball more, if Iggy is better from the top [he seems to be] don!t you run things differently to take advantage of that?
Suede - Lou is not shooting better than 28.6% from anywhere beyond the arc.
His only hot spot shooting jumpers is the right elbow area.
Iguodala does shoot threes better from the top of the key.
Suede, no matter how you look at it those two dudes can’t shoot. Haha.
Danny, good one!!!! Speaking of shooting, good article on H.Magee in today!s daily news; 2 things he did to play that top me; I have shoveled snow and worn gloves to [cut out fingers] to play but he had a friend climb a telephone pole to put a brighter bulb in to light a homemade alley hung hoop and had friends call from payphones to let him know if a team he was part of was losing, to leave a game he may have been winning to save the other team, without cell phones, pretty amazing stuff!!!
From Marc Stein’s Weekend Dime. The reason they need a 3rd team is because Philly wants no part of Nocioni’s contract; letting Andre Miller go for nothing is starting to make more sense (as to why they let it happen). Is Stefanski planning to make a big free agent splash in 2011? Here are some interesting names: Caron Butler, Kirilenko, Tony Parker, J-Rich, Pau Gasol, Vujacic, Dunleavy Jr., Tayshaun, J.R. Smith
Celtics executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge was adamant Wednesday in a radio interview with Boston’s WEEI that he is not close and never was close to joining Philadelphia and Sacramento in a three-team deal that would bring Andres Nocioni to the Celts.
So unless that changes, Philadelphia and Sacramento will have to find another third party to help them complete a discussed deal that would essentially swap Samuel Dalembert for Kenny Thomas.
ESPN.com reported Tuesday that the Sixers and Kings — in talks described as exploratory — tried to recruit Boston to be the third team in a deal that would send Philadelphia’s Dalembert to Sacramento and Thomas’ $8.8 million expiring contract from the Kings back to the Sixers.
According to NBA front-office sources, Philadelphia and Sacramento initially discussed a deal featuring Dalembert and Thomas, but the Kings wanted the Sixers to take back Nocioni instead of Thomas’ cap-friendly contract. The search then began for a third team, and the Celtics were inevitably targeted after Boston’s widely reported interest in Nocioni around the trade deadline in February after Sacramento had acquired the rugged Argentine.
Ainge, though, insists that he is not talking with either team.
As our initial report stated, just as in February, Nocioni’s contract would make it very hard for the Celts to join in even if Ainge wanted to proceed. The Celts have had a need for a versatile forward since the free-agent departure of James Posey, but Nocioni has two seasons worth $13.5 million on his contract after this season as well as a team option worth $7.5 million for 2012-13. That’s a big expenditure for another role player after Boston just signed Rajon Rondo to a lucrative extension and with decisions about the futures of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen looming.
Yet Philadelphia remains determined to move Dalembert, who’s earning just over $12 million this season and is scheduled to earn $12.9 million next season. Dalembert’s agent, Marc Cornstein, has had the blessing of Sixers management since February to help assemble a workable deal after the Sixers said they would try to honor Dalembert’s request to be traded.
The Kings have shown a fluctuating level of interest in adding Dalembert as a third big man to a frontcourt rotation headlined by youngsters Jason Thompson and Spencer Hawes. To make a three-teamer with Boston work, Sacramento would have been required to send Thomas to Philadelphia along with Boston’s Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine. The Kings would have received Dalembert and Boston’s J.R. Giddens, with the Celtics getting Nocioni.
One source close to the situation insists that Philly is still prepared to move Dalembert — if it can fetch payroll relief through expiring contracts in return — even after the recent injury to Marreese Speights sliced into the Sixers’ frontcourt depth.
Zack, good stuff; Another team that won!t take Sammy unless we take a longer contract, thanks but no thanks. Boston got their versatile 2/3 in M.Daniels, they are set.