Of course there’s a level of frustration creeping in, being 3-4. We’re close to being 5-2 and it’s all smiles around here, but being 3-4, it’s frustrating, absolutely. ~ Elton Brand
Why the frustration?
3-4 team record - Not playing while the team is not winning should piss any respectable player off.
27.6 - The lowest minutes per game played in his career.
Benched at the end of the last three games: – “At least…” ~ Elton Brand
Plus/Minus – No matter where you look the best line-up for the Sixers includes Brand and Brand individually has a positive plus/minus (highest on the team per 82games.com).
Simply stated it appears the Sixers score more points than they give up when Brand is on the floor. That tends to equate to winning in basketball – right?
Look I have been extremely disappointed with Brand since his arrival. His performance has been lackluster for sure. But right now I am even more disappointed in his lack of playing time, lack of offensive opportunities and the “who cares” attitude Eddie Jordan has regarding the situation.
Jordan had the nerve to suggest Jason Smith has been playing well enough to warrant time at the end of games ahead of Brand. Give me a break. Smith has been playing okay. He’s made a couple of this three pointers and missed most of his 2pt shots. He is averaging a weak 5.5 rebounds per 36 minutes on a team getting killed on the boards right now.
Give Brand a real chance to fail.
That hasn’t happened yet and for whatever reason Jordan thinks not finding out what he really has in Brand is unimportant.
I’ll close with a theme I think you guys will see from me for quite a while:
I strongly detest Eddie Jordan!
Yeah its only been 7 games but I have not liked ANYTHING he has done or ANYTHING that has come out of his mouth regarding ANY aspect of the Sixers.
Keep an eye out for this year’s new post game staple (last year it was “Lou stinks”)…
“Sign of coach cluelessness.”
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Dannie, were those Nets teams he assisted on good defensively, and if so, was it mostly on J.Kidd; if so Holliday has to play sooner rather than later. As far as Elton, he seems to be a factor and the numbers prove it.We talked last year of him being one of five guys out there and not running the offense through him, and I agree with that, but Reggie got more touches last year, than he gets now. Good news/ bad news type of scenerio: good news- Spieghts could become an 18/8 player this year getting paid on a rookie contract to offset, somewhat the bad news; bad news- paying a solid, defensive role player [Oakley?] 15 mill. over the next few years. I gave Jordan some rope but my patience is wearing thin also; I may be wrong but I think the pieces are here to have a pretty good team, if they are used correctly. Danny, I know what I would do, but what would YOU do if you were coaching this team?
Brand needs to be on the floor. Although he isn’t playing well right now he’s still someone that warrants defensive attention. They leave Jason Smith open because he is no real threat to score. I also think Brand needs more playing time to a rhythm going. He looks so out of place with this team. Playing would help get rid of that.
The Sixers still play horrible perimeter defense something I guess ES didn’t look for in a coach. Someone to coach defense. They keep recycling these past Sixer coaches. Lynam, Ayers.. Its a joke. Defense is all about effort. Lou plays no defense and doesn’t seem to try hard either. Guys like Dahntay Jones, Udoka were available on the market who are good defenders on the perimeter. They signed some bum who never made it to a game and was cut. Yet Jones is a valuable contributor to the Pacers. GM who? GM what?
Suede – I think those Nets teams had more to do with Jason Kidd and Byron Scott (I don’t think he gets enough credit) than anyone else in that organization. Eddie Jordan, meh – little to no impact in my opinion. Jason Kidd can breathe life into any offense and in his prime was a willing and capable defender at the point. Byron Scott, championship pedigree. Played with winners and contributed greatly to winning ball clubs. He was the leading man on the bench.
Defensive accountability and motivation MUST be enforced by the head coach. Assistants can really help run a defense but the head coach needs to be behind them, accept suggestions from them and put line-ups on the floor that support strong defense.
I have no reason to believe Eddie Jordan played any role in the defensive prowess of those Nets teams.
What would I do?
Well that’s for a post all together. You’ll have it right after the 10 game mark. I have some thoughts about the starting line-up, defensively approach and how playing time is determined.
Dannie, watched Denver/ Chicago last night and was thinking how one player [Billups] changed the whole attitude toward defending with that group, and how adding defensive pieces [Anderson,(D.Jones now Afflalo) have made them scary good inspite of losing Camby.We have an above average defender at the 5 and 4, and a possible lockdown guy at the 2 and if Jrue can eventually be starting next year, how can this team not be good defensively?And can Holliday have a Billups like effect down the defensive end just by effort and attitude alone.
Suede – Billups has a big impact because he is a leader both verbally and with his play. You have to have both.
I don’t think just leading by example is enough.
On top of that the rest of the guys have to respect and most importantly follow him if he did decide to become a verbal leader on top of his play.
Tough situation to predict with a 19 year old rookie and the cast of characters we currently have. Including the head character at head coach who doesn’t seem to care much under the surface about defense.
One that isn’t being mentioned at all here, but I think is relevant is us, the fans.
We are dead last in the NBA in average attendance so far this year. We average 11,537 in paid attendance and looking at the crowd, it might be half that. We have filled 56.8% of seats this year. The 2nd WORST (Memphis) is not even close to us, 70.6%.
Our job is to give our team a home court advantage, and the Sixers have none right now. If anything, it’s depressing for them. Speights hit a huge shot against the Suns and came back down the court trying to fire up the crowd, but there was no one to fire up. That has to be a downer in some way.
Obviously there are MANY MORE problems with the team, but the fans certainly aren’t helping.
At Depressedfan I threw out a hypothetical trade to dump bad salary in order to keep most of the young core and regain financial flexibility:
Sam+Brand+Young
For TMac + 6M filler (lots of options)
Not to win with TMac, but to dump salary and get his 22M expiring.
This would leave the Sixers with only 35M in salaries next year (20M+ under the cap) and with a decent young core of Lou(22)/ Iguodala(25)/Speights(21)/Smith(22)/Holiday(19) as well as Carney and Kapono.
Houston would love to get Young and would take on 1 year extra year rental of Sam. Not sure they could be sold on Brand… but they at least would be buying Young/Brand for basically nothing. Maybe Young/Brand/Yao could be seen as a strong core?
As for the Sixers, I’d hate to lose Thad, but getting that far under the cap would open up a world of options. Not only could they be a player in the 2010 mega FA market (with a decent core to attract a star)- but even without a big splash, just having young players and lots of cap space puts you in perfect position to make a big move when the team is really ready to compete.
The issue with Brand wasn’t so much that he could be a bust. The bigger mistake was putting themself in a win now mode (with a capped roster) before the roster was ready to compete at a high level. Even if Brand was playing at his pre-injury star level, this team would still not be a contender, and would be in trouble financially going forward as Brand aged and the young kids needed to be paid.
Pete that is a very striking stat right there. I am amazed that our attendance is so far behind the likes of the Bobcats, Bucks, T-Wolves, and Memphis. These franchises not only are consistantly mediocre, but dont really have much star power or exciting play save for Memphis. Hopefully some of that statistic has to do with playing a few games with either the Phils or Eagles playing in the complex, but Im surprised Sixers attendance isn’t 75%-80%.
56.8% is pathetic, that to a professional NBA squad isn’t an Away, it’s more like playing at neutral site.
I agree that Brand has to play more, especially late in games. But I have to say that I didn’t question not playing him in the 2nd half against the Suns. He didn’t play much in the 1st half at all and the Sixers ended up holding a substantial lead heading into the locker room. I don’t blame Jordan for trying to rely on that same bench energy the fueled the team for the first two quarters.
Having said that, Jason Smith really doesn’t deserve to play any amount of minutes over Elton Brand. Others have already said that teams have to account for Elton defensively. That only can open things up for our offense. And the numbers don’t lie, we have played better with Brand on the court.
The bottom line concerning Brand: Right now he’s not our biggest problem. Lack of perimeter defense, and defense all together, is much more frustrating than anything I’ve seen from Elton. As mentioned before, the coaching staff has proven to not give a damn about defense, while maintaining zero offensive flow- A Sign of Coach Cluelessness.
Admittedly I haven’t ANY 6er’s games being down here in the Dirty, Dirty. That being said, why are people (Dannie) blaming the (new) coach for the lack of defense after 7 games? It seems to me that this is the same problem we’ve had for years.
Granted, Jordan and company should have a defensive plan/scheme in place but, we know the saying about “old dogs”
The Sixers have the smallest fanbase. the AI years were an abberation due to a finals appearance and a new building.
back was Moses, Dr J and Cheeks were playing they had playoff games that failed to sell out. There are passionate Sixer fans (myself included) just not nearly as many as for the other pro or college teams in Philly. Marketing, management players and even winning won’t completely reverse that. If you don’t go to see Dr. J and Moses….
Agree, Dannie, 100% with everything you say in this post. I too have been watching the games, the +/- statistic, and listening to the Jordan interviews. His treatment of Brand has been abysmally bad.
Can’t quite figure how a coach with a career losng record and a team currently getting its ass kicked by better, by weaker, and by injury-impaired teams thinks he should be sticking his chest out confidently and implying “this is a Brand problem, not a coach problem.”
Dre – I want to give you my thoughts on your question “why are we (me)blaming the new coach”
1. Coaches are part of the team just as much as the players
What I mean by that is while the players play and deserve a lot of blame (which I have given), they are suppose to be playing the way the coach dictates and conditions them to play.
Further, the coach directly determines which players are on the floor as well. So if the defense has been poor that has a lot to do with who the coach puts on the court. (that might be the biggest reason for blaming the coach)
2. Focus
I think it’s pretty clear Eddie Jordan is an offense first, second and third coach. His comments after games against both the Suns and the Knicks especially signify that. He talks about “scoring with the other team” “keep scoring” rather than “getting stops.”
In my opinion that attitude rubs off on the players. If you hear the coach saying we need to keep scoring 80% of the time and half-hearted comments about defense 20% of the time where do you think they will focus their energy?
How much time do you think Jordan spends on defense in practice when he makes comments like those above and has to teach an unnecessarily complicated offense to a bunch of weak minded players?
This is also Ed Stefanski’s fault. He hired this coach knowing damn well he wasn’t going to do much to improve the defense. I’ve had an issue with that since the hire.
3. We have players who do play defense
For the first time in a long time we have a point guard who can and is willing to defense. I don’t care if he is a 19 year old rookie. He brings a highly coveted skill defensively to your team.
Iguodala is playing defense just fine in my opinion.
Conversely, Thad has been quite poor. Yet his minutes do not reflect his weak defense and rebounding nor his ineptness to start the season offensively either. I am not saying bench him I am saying taper his minutes until he at least increases his effectiveness on the boards and defensively. He got destroyed by Jared Dudley last game – give me a break. And no more excuse of playing against bigger PFs now that he is spending a lot more time at the three.
Sam and Brand are still your two best defensive bigs. End of games neither of these guys are on the floor. I think it’s pretty clear why we can’t stop anyone or secure defensive rebounds.
4. Jordan selected the assistants
Randy Ayers as your defensive coach? Really? First off he sucked as a head coach. And he sucked as a defensive assistant in Washington as well.
If you can’t coach defense bring in someone who has proven they can. Not a retread.
5. Acknowledging the problem and making adjustments
Jordan has already flat out denied that the Sixers even have a problem with their perimeter defense.
Nothing will change until Jordan first acknowledges we have a problem – a serious one.
I had planned to save a lot of these comments for my 10 game post but it seems they couldn’t wait.
I said yesterday everyone is to blame for how poorly the team has played from the players, to the coaches to the GM. You can put whatever weights you want on who is to blame more. So far my focus has been on the coach more so than the players and I haven’t even dug into the GM yet.
The record is not a true indicator of how bad the Sixers have been. The attendance certainly is. But look at their point differential: -3.7.
That number is tied for 6th worse in the entire NBA to start the season. I’ll be keeping an eye on that over time.
Hopefully that at least gives you what I am thinking. You may not agree but at least you know clearly where my comments are coming from.
As for Jordan, its hard to hang a guy after only 7 games. Even if we had signed a defensive mastermind its likely their defense would struggle early on. I prepared to give him more ‘rope’, but not overly optimistic based on early signs and past history as a coach ( of teams who do not guard the 3 ball.)
That said, I share your concern over how Jordan is handling rotations and statements in the media. He comes across as a poor leader and in denial/defensive about the defensive mess that is obvious to any observer.
Quick trade idea – I’d do this: Andre Iguodala for Kevin Martin and Sergio Rodriguez. We get a point guard and someone who can put it in the hoop EFFICIENTLY, and Sactown gets the perfect 2nd banana for what looks like a future borderline superstar in Tyreke Evans.
7 games in and our first trade proposal. I guess I better start logging these huh?
Zack hold that thought. I might actually create a post or page to log all these trade proposals so everyone can comment in once place.
Would I do that? Probably not. While Martin is a nice scorer that’s all he does AND I am not as high on Thad as everyone else and if I had to pick between Thad and Iguodala as my 3-man for the next 4-5 years I prefer Iguodala. He just does so much more and I don’t know if Thad will every become a complete player.
Zack, I wouldn!t trade Iggy straight up for K.Martin; he ,once again, is out for 8 to 10 weeks with an injury, something that happens every year it seems. And with a soft s.f., Thad, teams would bully us all over the court. I love Evans, and the reason he is a king is he could play 3 positions in case their star[see above] got hurt again. Dannie, I have a trade proposal I would do in a heartbeat , but I am biting my tongue till a later date.
suede, when was the last time a bad or mediocre team made a trade that completely reversed their fortunes? I don’t think Stefansky can do anything to immediately right the ship, and no GM is going to help him. I think the Sixers should consider going the way of the Thunder or the Blazers – try to get rid of your longer contracts and trade your vets to the contenders, not for an equal haul in talent, but for some hope in the future. Notice that I didn’t mention the Grizzlies, their GM is terrible.
Now, I know Sactown isn’t a contender, but I think Iguodala-Evans is a great duo to build around, and could be a playoff team in the West in 2~3 years. For us, I think Martin is exactly the scorer we need and complements everyone else’s talents; it isn’t an equal trade talent-wise but I think we win more games. If I’m wrong about this, who says we have to keep Martin? I think he’s far more tradeable than Iguodala – he makes less than Iggy and it’s a reasonable salary to boot. He’d be easier to combine with other players to get assets of some sort. And if Martin sucks and is perpetually injured, we’re in the lottery for a shot at a Tyreke Evans or James Harden. And I didn’t even get into how much more watchable this team would be with Sergio at the point; I know the numbers say Lou’s doing well, but he’s no Dana Barros, that was a fun player to watch.
I think what would be nuts is for the Sixers to keep going the way they are. Still, after messing up the flexibility Kyle Korver trade gave us, I don’t totally trust Stefanski.
Dannie,
in you opinion, at what point would you start Jrue at the point? I wouldn’t blame Lou for all of the issues and I’m a little apprehensive about taking his job from him but you’ve got this kid who is apparently the point guard of the future. And if not start him, bump him up to, say, 25 minutes a game? Played 16 in the Phoenix game in which he looked very good.
I think this team would be significantly worse with Martin in place of Iguodala. Shooting/scoring is not everything. Now Iguodala and Martin would be a great combination.
For greater results, starting 5 should be Holiday, Green, Iguodala, Brand & Speights; would provide 4 strong defenders to set the game pace along with offensive versatility and better floor sense. Tell Williams & Young that ”main stage” minutes can be reestablished according to both-ends production.
tk76 – do you think the Sixers are capable of getting a Martin type of player to put next to Iguodala in a trade? Without giving up our young talent (Speights, Thad)? How close are we to being a contender this year? 2~3 years from now?
I ask anyone – give me a reasonable trade that the other team would do that would take us from mediocre to contending for the East in the near future. I don’t think there is that sort of obvious trade out there, it would have to be an extremely high risk/high reward deal – we get players who haven’t really done much of anything in the hopes of unlocking their untapped potential somehow, like what Phoenix did with Steve Nash. I’m thinking, just maybe, Kevin Martin’s talents complement the talents of our other players much more than Iggy does, and vice versa – can our peculiar mix of players turn Kevin Martin into Ray Allen? I think there’s a chance of that. And how can Iguodala fulfill his destiny of becoming Scottie Pippen 2 without pairing him up with his MJ?
Zack, watching Iggy shoot this year has changed my view on him, albeit it is a small sample size. I actually think he may become a 22 to 25 ppg. player if what we are seeing isn!t a mirage [shooting wise]. I wouldn!t trade him but for a handful of players right now with age,salary, durability and work ethic. He is winning me over and may, I say may get to the #1 level Dannie talks about.
Zack,
That player that you are looking for in a trade… was supposed to be Elton Brand. We didn’t have to trade any of our young talent to get him, we just screwed it up and signed the wrong person. I like Kevin Martin as a scorer, but right now, Andre is our team. One of the best defenders, proven he CAN make the big shot when it counts (Lakers game, Magic game in the playoffs). Not to mention the assists and rebounds he puts up. Kevin Martin average wise, would only give us 7-10 ppg more than what Andre does. Wouldn’t be worth it in my opinion.
I agree Dannie, I don’t think Brand has been the biggest disappointment at this point in the season…it’s been Eddie Jordan. Every game I watch or box score I track shows the deficiencies in his coaching strategies. His substitution patterns are terrible and he never seems to allow a 5 to keep a hot streak going while they’re playing well together.
Speights has to get more playing time, doesn’t he? I’d like to see Smith eliminated, except for necessary situations, from the rotation and go to a strictly Brand, Speights, and Dalembert rotation for the front court. Give these guys some consistent minutes together and see what happens.
Also, I was reminiscing the summer of ‘08 the other day, and I was thinking about how it seemed we were either going after Brand or Josh Smith that summer. I don’t remember if we ever went after Smith very hard, but could you imagine him in this line up? Oh hindsight…
Dannie, thanks for your explaining your mindset and answering my question. I tried to word it where it didn’t sound critical of your position but rather information gathering, I’m happy you understood my point.