The Sixers once again will face a team that is not at full strength. The Jazz will be without Deron Williams who was excused from tonight’s game for personal reasons.
That’s a good and bad thing in my mind.
The good is obvious. The Sixers clearly have a better chance of getting a win with Williams not on the court. Brian broke down how opposing point guards have killed the Sixers so far this year due in large part to Lou’s matador defense.
The Deron lead Jazz are 7-1 against the Sixers. Williams has averaged 31mpg, 12.1ppg, 10.9apg, only 2 turnovers per game and shoot 44% from the field, 39% from three and 82% from the line.
So once again the Sixers have gotten a break. Question is can they capitalize?
The bad thing is I hate watching games where key players are hurt. They don’t give you an accurate judge of either team. Particularly I am looking for games for the Sixers where they are playing 2nd and 3rd tier teams. I think those squads are the right barometer and that level is the ceiling for the Sixers.
With Deron out there is a bit missing now.
Also, Thad is a game time decision. He has a stiff shoulder. I think he’ll play but if he doesn’t who would you all want to slide into the starting line-up?
- Jason Kapono
- Rodney Carney
- Willie Green
- Jrue Holiday (slide Lou off the ball and Dala to the three)
Me personally I’d love to see Jrue get the start. Put Lou in his rightful position of off-guard gunner and let Jrue run the show and control point penetration.
Think about it. Utah is going to run tons of pick and roll. Jrue is easily our best guard at defending it.
My second choice would be Kapono for the simply fact that every starting line-up should have a plus-shooter in it. As currently assembled the Sixers do not. Kapono would change that.
Finally, let’s hope for minimal coach cluelessness tonight against Utah and maybe we’ll have a good chance of winning against the Deron-less Jazz.
{ 56 comments… read them below or add one }
DWill and DHarris are just dodging Lou. yes, they fear the Lou and being shredded by the guil-LOU-tine… or maybe not
I don’t mind them playing weakened teams. The Sixers are weakened since they are still trying to acquaint themselves to a new coach and the P.O. They probably need some practice against weakened teams, and getting demoralized against better teams won’t really help. We don’t need more 30 pt losses to know the Sixers are struggling.
its a HUGE break. Williams has always carved our suspect defense up. more than those numbers indicate. doesnt help that his rang extends beyond the arc. so now the questions is; how the Sixers gonna lose this one? not trying to be pessimistic, but this is the just the sort of game the sixers lose. a good team without its best player……
Korver returns…old news.
Dannie: Ivey and Holiday are our best pick and roll defenders. would like to see them together but they’re pretty offensively challenged.
multiple pick and rolls from Utah, with Boozer rolling and OKur popping from beyond. so is it Price, Matthews? dont even know thosae guys well. will proably mean more spacing and passing around the perimeter and less penetration. after facing new jersey twice i’m not sure if that helps.
TK76 – You and I are completely different when it comes to watching basketball then.
I can’t stand watching games with teams missing key players.
And I don’t agree at all that the Sixers are “weakend” because they have a new clueless coach and a dumb ass offense to figure out.
They are playing at full strength with all their guys healthy. At the end of the day basketball is basketball regardless of the coach and offense and the Sixers simply don’t play it well period.
Korver is hurt he isn’t playing. I think C.J. Miles might also be out.
Ivey and Jrue can’t play together – redundant players for the most part.
Once the Sixers show me something, then I’ll look forward to them matching up with the best. But I can’t enjoy watching stars tearing them up- which sadly is all we would see if DWill was playing tonight.
I’d rather watch the Jazz against a good team if it is about watching the game at its highest level. But I’m a Sixer fan and they play like a crippled team. I’d rather see them steal some wins at this stage. maybe that would get their confidence up and lead to improved play.
Now when the Sixers are playing well I enjoy seeing them matched up against top teams. I wanted to see the Phils/Yanks and like to see the Eagles clash against strong NFC East competition.
But its hard to get fired up to see my B-League Sixers go like lambs to the slaughter against the upper division NBA squads.
Based on basketballvalue.com’s “Overall Ratings”, putting in Rodney Carney instead of Thad would be the best choice (+75), but that lineup – Sam, Brand, Iguodala, Carney, Lou – has only played together for a whopping 2 minutes and 4 offensive possessions.
with Kapono, -43.33 (5 mins, 9 off. possessions)
with Green, n/a
with Holiday, n/a
From TrueHoop/Wayne Winston on jazz lineups:
The Jazz are 3-5, which is probably a worse record than most fans expected. After adjusting for strength of players facing Jazz, however, they have played 2 points better than average. The team, however, has many surprising strengths and weaknesses. Here are some key points.
AK 47 and Millsap have been fantastic, especially on defense.
Boozer, Brewer and Price have killed Jazz on defense.
Williams has keyed offense
Fesenko has played great and deserves more minutes. When he is in Jazz play 16 points better than average.
In their limited time Maynor and Koufos have killed Jazz. The team plays 30 points (per 48 minutes) worse than average when either is in.
Some other interesting points (all numbers are per 48 minutes)
AK47, Williams, Okur and Milsap in is great-Jazz play 40 points better than average with these 4 in.
Williams and AK47 in does well 9 points better than average.
Millsap, Williams and AK47 in is great, 25 points better than average.
Price in without AK47 is a disaster, Team Plays 43 points worse than average. But Price with Ak47 is 14 points better than average.
Best lineups are
Brewer, AK47, Millsap, Okur and Williams 49 points better than average so far.
Boozer Ak47 Millsap Price and Williams 41 points better than average.
Starting lineup has played 1 point worse than average.
We get to see a lot of Eric Maynor play. Ronnie Price is listed as questionable.
Thx for the info. See if it plays out like the stats would suggest. Not a lot of raw data yet to be sure.
Hope we get to see Jrue play- and not get pulled if he makes a mistake.
Deron Williams – I can’t stand when we play games when the other team’s star is hurt. Not a “real” win when it’s a W, and if it’s a loss, it’s usually because the opposing team overcompensates for it’s lack of talent by an enormous extra effort with hustle. Also doesn’t give us any kind of useful measuring stick for where we stack up. Lastly, as a fa I always love watching the best players in the NBA go out at with 100% health…Deron Williams is the 2nd best PG in the NBA, and it’s always a pleasure to watch a player of his caliber (probably a top 10 NBA guy when fully healthy) play at top gear. Wish he were healthy tonight and suiting up. And my god would he bully Lou Williams around.
Zack – I agree about Kyrylo Fesenko. In watching the Jazz play twice this year, I’ve been surprised both times at his production. It really looks like they made a nice draft pickup with him. Not Mr. Athletic nor Mr. Speed…but certainly is a capable scorer with his back to the basket in a halfcourt offense like they run.
Dannie, good observation about Maynor probably getting a lot of PT, and for entertainment purposes, I’m with you on letting Holiday play if Thad is out – coach EJ, give us Holiday vs. Maynor! The battle of “what was” vs. “what could’ve been”! Though I’d like to think Ty Lawson was 2nd on Stefanski’s list…
Zack, I believe I read Teague was their 2nd choice, but I forget where. DaveT., Fasenko is a beast physically, wouldv!e been a nice compliment to Jason off our bench if we kept him.
In the fine Sixers tradition of letting:
- former stars whose game has dwindled to an inkling of what it once was
-mediocre players
-role players
…all go off on 3 point shooting barrages or scoring marathons on our weak-ass team defense, I’m going to nominate this game’s winner of the “guy who shouldn’t score 18-20 but is going to because, well, it’s our Sixers!” award to none other than Andrei Kirilenko. It makes no sense on paper…and that’s why I think it will happen.
Maybe we can name this the “Tony Battie Award” (last year went something like 10-15 FG on us) or the “Jared Dudley Award” (5 threes against us two games ago).
Something to note: Carney and Kapono do NOT play well together for some reason, we usually get killed when they’re out there together, especially in 2nd quarters.
A 17 to 4 run by the Jazz. Surprised? Hell no. Looks like Wes Matthews gets the “Jared Dudley” award tonight.
I actually like Wes Mathews and thought he would be a decent NBA player. I wanted the Sixers to bring him in. Clearly he can shoot the three a little bit and has decent size for a shooting guard.
64 first half points. Defense still continues to suck.
Take notice: when Speights is in the game the other teams scores at will.
No excuse for the lack of defense.
64 points in the first half? Horrible.
Wow, the Sixers suuuuuuuuuuuck.
Wow a Brand dunks of a mid post move and the foul! There is hope!
No hope for our defense though. Sigh
Maybe Jordan should also start coaching the “Princeton Defense”. Oh wait, the Sixers don’t play defense.
Every time Sam Dalembert smiles, I want to punch him in the f**king face. Every time. He’s a foul machine.
The Sixers wonder why no one shows up at the Wach….yeesh.
Royal Ivey AKA “THE GAME CHANGER” in the game now. The W is coming.
*end sarcasm*
right now as far as im concerned the Sixers are in the bottom 7 teams in the league. if you look at how they’ve been blessed by the scheduling gods this early season, and wins against the Bucks and two token(not really) win against the Nets…They look really bad. And Eddie Jordan’s head is up his ass. He must be trying to coach himself outta the NBA.
And it’s hard to come to this truth, not only has his skill diminished to glorified role-player status, but Elton Brand is a fucking bum. His presence it detrimental because he doesn’t excel in the intangibles department, and his “hustle” is mediocre. Not to mention he’s obviously clashing wtih Jordan.
This is embarrasing
Is it bad when our apparent TWO guard leads the team in Rebounds and Assists? I’m not sure.
But I do know it’s bad when the opponent has almost twice the amount of your assists, and you get outrebounded by 8-10 rebounds. (Game is still in progress when I’m typing.
October = Optimism. November = Negativity. If EJ doesn’t pull his head out of his ass or get fired I will murder myself.
110+ pts from the Jazz missing 2 starters. Where the hell is TT when you need him, oh thats right, he wasn’t ES’s lover so he’s teaching another team how to be a defensive marvel.
This team is a joke.
At what point is it okay to start calling for Eddie Jordan to be fired? 2 games ago?
Maynor had a nice game against our porous defense. 13 points, 11 dimes, 4 boards and only 2 turnovers
I’m not sure which is worse…the coaching or the roster. Pathetic!!!
Listening to Jordans post game conference and having a laugh “I didn’t want to put the rookie in there with two vets playing well”…While a couple rookies made the 6ers look like damn fools.
Eddie Jordan is a moron.
Q: At what point is it okay to start calling for Eddie Jordan to be fired? 2 games ago?
A: Never should have been given it. He has never done shit. If it wasn’t for the fact he had Gilbert taking over games, his resume would be even worse.
This team is built around athleticism minus Brand. It should focus on defense.
PO = shit. It is an offense designed for schoolyard teams to help marginal players play collectively. The NBA is about above average players and role players, simplistic offensive sets to maximize your best players ability and let the mid pack guys just do their jobs.
If we could have got a real coach who knew how to make his players play hard smart defense, and teach them how to run pick and rolls effectively, this team would look a lot better.
Maynor looked good out there, it can!t be easy playing with Sloan looking over your shoulder. Jordan is losing me as a fan, and so is L.Will. . He has to play perfect offensively to make up for his terrible D . Elton gave great effort tonight but the p.g. defense has gotten worse. Jrue better become a great offensive player or our coach won!t let him play, because the other end doesn!t seem to matter. Dannie, everytime I switch to another game it amazes me the intensity on the defensive end, Atlanta/Boston tonight. I am envious of THEIR fans.
I guess a well coached/prepared team starting 2 rookies at guard will out-execute a badly coached/prepared team full of low IQ players.
I watched every game even during the Barros/Mad Max year… but I’m very close to turning this team off. If I’m going to suffer through this type of punishment I want there to be some kind of light at the end of the tunnel- not the #8 overall pick and some clueless coach and over-matched Gm bloying smoke out there ass.
Sorry, blowing smoke out of their ass.
…if I’m going to vent, might as well proof read.
The way I see it, Stefanski has one more trade left, and if that doesn’t work out, he needs to go. We can’t afford to back a loser for years-on-end, like we did with Billy King. So far he hasn’t done anything right, so this time we should cut bait sooner, rather than later.
Our defense is the worst in the league, and even more disappointing is the fact that our offense looks terrible. And this is occurring, in spite of the fact that our coach is suppose to be an “offensive genius”, right Ed? Again, this is all very disappointing, early or not.
ok i’m really tired of ppl pulling out stats. cut it already. this team flat out sucks now. i dont care what lineup you put out there.
I had to watch this again. you would figure a disciplined team like the Jazz would caspitalise on the sixers defensive lapses but even on offense we got nothing.
Question: can anyone actually tell when we a re running the PO? pls. someone let me know. cos with the multiple dribble handoffs at the top of the arc, the dumpoffs to Sammy at the elbows (where he has NO CLUE what to do) and the Iguodala backdoor cuts to the baseline that no one falls for anymore, are all looking like last year’s offense.
for all the awes about Andre Iguodala, its his fault he is not looked at as a higher profile player. instead of working on the jumper, he should try working on his free throws. if he could JUST hit that regularly it would be a huge difference. whats the point on driving to the basket if you cant even convert the freebies. if i am opposing teams i’m gonna hack on him rather than give up a lay-up. its a lot more reliable. jeez what kind of professional can only hit 1 of 3 after getting a favorable call like that.
dssuede: Atlanta played well. hit the boards good but win was more a product of a Boston anomaly than their awesomeness. could not rebound defensively or hit threes. seems Crawford is coming on real well for them, he is their 4th quarter scorer. they play more under control this year, guess its the familiarity. i’m not a Jeff Teague fan but he looks good too.
ok if we’re gonna suck lets really suck and get a high lottery pick, i dont want a so-so season with a late run into the playoffs, get swept by elite teams and ed up back in square one.
someone can change the season right here; who will it be Eddie Jordan or Ed Stefanski??
jkay,
I think Andre hitting free throws is the least of our problems right now.
Five comments on finally being able to watch my first Sixers game of the year:
-First play I witness – Iguodala receives the ball on the block, and with the entire team in proper spacing, he proceeds to ignore any of three passes to the three point arc, and instead opts to shoot a crazy turnaround jumper that clanked off the rim. aka: an Iggy play from last year.
-Lou Williams - Looks EXACTLY like the same Lou Williams from years past: quick, good handle, can take guys to the rack one on one…and still makes crappy decisions, sloppy passes, doesn’t have great court vision, and is way too trigger happy and has crappy shot selection. I just don’t have any trust in him when the ball is in his hands…not the trait you want in your starting PG.
-Jason Smith – Much to my chagrin, as I did not like him in year one and knocked our drafting him, did hustle his butt off and was pretty active in chasing the offensive glass. I also was surprised at how genuinely quick he is for a big man, something I did not remember.
-EJ – From having watched him in DC, I saw one of my biggest concerns with him on display throughout this game: poor substitutions. He really does have odd substitution patterns…I don’t think he takes people out nor subs them in at proper times, and I know the Wizards bench got tired of his constant switching the 6th – 8th man roles game to game.
-Elton Brand – All I will say is, when a vet player’s morale is as low as his is right now, you DONT SLASH HIs MINUTES!!! You give him at least 32-34 mpg for the next 10 games and see if he can work himself out of his funk (Speights gets the remaining time behind T Young/Brand/D-Bert…J Smith’s minutes get cut more). If, after ten games, Brand proves to have completely lost his mojo, THEN you go and give the Speights/J Smith combo plenty of minutes. But you are just destroying Elton’s chances of rebuilding his stock by immediately cutting his minutes in half during the first 8-9 games.
This is going to be a long, frustrating year.
*Thad Young – The single positive I’ll take from the game…Thad’s one three point attempt (and make) from the right corner was shot in excellent form. He really looked very comfortable hoisting up, and did so with no hesitation. You could tell it was going in the second it left his hands…it would be a great, great thing if he can up his 3 point average to around 37-38% this year, without actually falling in love with the 3 point shot and overdoing it.
Backcourt battle…’08 NCAA all stars vs. 10 years vet experience: I can’t believe Eric Maynor and Wesley Matthews combined to outdo Lou Williams, Iguodala and the rest. Don’t get me wrong…Maynor is a talented guy, and I was the hugest Marquette fan the past three years (evidenced my my man-crush posting about how Jeryl McNeal should have gone in the first round) and thought Wes was a great udrafted pickup for Utah…but…CMON. Two rookies should not be embarrassing us like that.
Atlanta Hawks – I’ve always been a firm believer that the first 15-18 games of the season are usually pretty wacky and should be taken with a grain of salt, but this team looks really focused, and at least appears ready to make the “jump” and challenge for a top 3 spot in the East, and with the acquisition of Crawford, Teague and Joe Smith, along with the returning core for a 4th straight year, and internal improvement from Horford…if I’m Boston and Orlando, I am legitimately frightened of their growth. They especially look more committed on defense, something that they were very inconsistent with last year.
Long-time season ticket holder here- when they signed EJ I told Stefanski that this was one more step down the pathway to perpetual mediocrity. He told me that EJ brought a “system” with him, that Brand’s lack of production last year prior to injury was Cheeks’ inability to craft an offense that worked with Brand’s skills, and that he knew we were not championship-caliber (duh) but had a nice nucleus. At this point I’d say all of that was crap, unless you call a nucleus having players who could be the #4-7 options on a decent team. Brand is done- the things he could do in the past that made him good (explode, board, block shots) he can no longer do. He is now C Webb without the range. Sammy is an idiot, and to put him at the high post is a joke- he must be the lamest pick-setter in the league. And you cannot have someone who is 0 for his last 12+ attempts (Lou) launching up 3’s as a starter, let alone playing matador defense at least as poorly as the aging Miller was accused of last year. This team needs to build- for a couple of years from now. Play the pieces of the future- Jrue, Thad, Iggy, Speights, Smith. Tank the season, get a better pick, dump Sammy next year, continue the slow, painful process of rebuilding in the NBA.
As always, great analysis on this site. Dave T, I completely agree with you regarding Brand. If you know you’re locked in to a guy for 3 more years at astronomical salary, why on earth would you undercut the guy? Like it or not, once you’ve tied up all that money in him, you’ve got to maximize his production, get as much as you can out of him, give him every opportunity to give you a return on your investment in him. By cutting Brand’s minutes, he’s creating the conditions for Brand to fail.
In general, I didn’t expect this team to be this much of a train wreck. I knew a new coach and offense would take time to gel, but I thought we’d be at least seeing some glimmers of good basketball now and then. I’ve been a fan for a long time, but this is hard to watch.
We are getting close to the one-year “anniversary” of the day Eddie Jordan was fired from the Wizards and ironically the Sixers will play that team that day. So far, it is not so much the coach to blame entirely, but the efforts of our starting lineup. But who has given Lou Williams, Andre Iguodala, and Thaddeus Young the green light to be trigger happy from downtown? Lou did the same thing last year. This season, he started off brilliantly and then succumbed to bad shot taking and less distributing. I thought early on that Lou would actually fill in the Andre Miller void nicely based on the first four games, but the only thing that bodes well for him is the rebounding.
These turnovers are getting way out of hand. This team needs a true PG somewhere, perhaps a veteran backup, like Antonio Daniels or Juan Dixon, someone who knows the Princeton Offense left to right.
Dalembert has been Dalembert on both ends of the floor (only great defense was against Lopez at New Jersey in the final seconds). This team no longer has Theo Ratliff, who threw DiLeo under the bus and yet Donyell Marshall for Sixers postgame is getting very critical of this team (which I love by the way!). This team needs a proper backup, because Primo Brezec is not going to get the minutes.
So far, the bench has clearly outplayed the starters, which is not so unusual for other teams, but very disturbing for this team.
Elton Brand needs a proper rhythm and not have his minutes yo-yoed. If he does not produce, then by all means start reducing those minutes. He clearly has lost his confidence on the offensive end! Defensively and on the boards, Brand is still looming.
Whatever remains this month will be tough! Take a look:
11/14 @ Chicago
11/18 vs Charlotte
11/20 vs Memphis (probably without Iverson)
11/21 @ Cleveland
11/24 @ Washington (one-year “anniversary” and a motivator for EJ)
11/25 @ Boston (oh boy!)
11/27 vs Atlanta (hope our Georgia kids still have their charm)
11/29 @ San Antonio
11/30 @ Dallas
Anyway, GO SIXERS!!! (This team must avoid the slow starts if they want to improve!)
Dave T, during the draft combine Jason Smith was one of the fastest guys there. His times were faster then many of the guards who ran.
Lou is playing much better this season but it should be coming off the bench.
Until Jrue gets the starting nod, this team is damn near unwatchable. Although us diehards will continue to watch them, but man does it suck.
Willie Greene playing 15 minutes a game is 15 more then he should be playing.
One last note, this team looks like they don’t like each other. When a guy scores intead of his teamates running over to them for a high five there just isn’t any reaction. Brand gets an and 1 yesterday ans Sammy who is one foot away doesn’t even congratulate Brand.
During the knick game there was Thad diving on the ground for a loose ball. The whistle blows and Sammy is right next to him. What does Sammy do? Instead of lending a hand, the goofball grabs the ball and plays hackey sack with it. This shit is important, you need people playing for each other. This team sucks, I heard that we are last in attendance, well deserved.
I was the first to call out Ed last season to a chorus of boos, well looks like I was right.
Also, am I crazy to think this? I think Bryon Scott will coach the LA Lakers and become Phil Jackson’s successor next season.
Then of course, there is always a chance of him waiting in the line of Ed Stefanski’s former co-workers. (I doubt it though!) The Sixers need more help in terms of talent, than a new coach.
Fkd215: We definitely see eye to eye with how the Brand situation is panning out, and you explained what I was trying to get at perfectly in your last post.
Greek: You bring up a great point about the “body language” aspect of the Sixers. There is a clear gaping lack of camaraderie on this team. It’s evident in how they listen to the coach during timeouts, the lack of fire for each other when good plays are made, AND when bad plays are made people aren’t getting as upset as they should be…where are our leaders stepping up and knocking some sense and life into the team? And let’s not even discuss killer instinct…non-existent for this squad. At least, right now.
What’s a shame is that, unfortunately for Brand, there are no other veterans on this team with any clout that could give him an earful to wake him the fuck up out of his funk. I absolutely don’t believe that it’s injuries that is killing him. Yes, he doesn’t have the 100% explosiveness and hops he once had, but we are not talking about C-Webb here. Brand seems like he’s in shape, and he’s had a full almost TWO YEARS now for his leg to heal up. Maybe his shoulder is bothering him more then he’s letting on…but I have a feeling this is a giant mental block thing for him.
Whereas Boston’s big three of Ray, Truth and KG will all get in each others faces for blunt talks or pick me up conversations…who on the Sixers could possibly off this to Brand? Iguodala is the closest one we have to someone that can do that (and I’ll readily admit he’s improved over the years in the leadership category)…but he’s not the personality type to change someone’s outlook by the sheer will of his personality. That leaves EJ…who with the yo-yo-ing of Brand’s minutes (as another poster said, forget who) is only making things worse.
Sammy in the high post – This really is laughable. This is inexcusable and there is no reason for it. As others have said, he sets junk picks and is a terrible passer. WHY ON EARTH would he be in the high post playing that role when we have not one, but FOUR other players that could be a legit option in that spot: Brand, Speights, J Smith, Thad…all of whom have varying strengths to rely on in the high post. Unreal.
Can’t agree more with those upset with the coach. The team is more then likely stuck with Brand, so they really need to make a good faith effort to get him on track, if that is possible. At least enough to make him trade-able for more than another team’s trash.
The lack of PT for Holiday is also another indication of misplaced priorities. Unlike Ivey, Green and Carney, Holiday has a potential impact future in the NBA, so his development should be a priority, not an afterthought.
76ers have no hope for this year. Hopefully we get a high draft pick and just draft jon wall
The Real Bob – i see us winning two of those games if we’re lucky
Adam– who is The Real Bob? LOL. But seriously, I think you might be right.
Tonight, I happened to catch a bit of the game. ( I was babysitting and their TV blackouts local Philly games.)
The box score just says it all, of all nights, our bench did not show up and the team made only 13/21 from the line. Surprisingly, the Sixers shot the threeball extremely well and they defended the Bulls well from the perimeter. Everything was very close in the stats and it was a close game, but the missed free throws and the surprising lack of bench effort cost us the game there. (Good to see the balanced scoring from our starters, especially Brand–they have to keep this up if the team wants to greatly improve in any which way!!)
GO SIXERS (Maximize on your days off!)
At least Sixers didn’t come in to the Windy City on little cat feet. Instead arrived ready to challenge, probably due to their head coach calling them kitties following Jazz pushing and pasting. Raced to 16 pt. bulge in 1st but water finds its level. TOs, missed FTs, scant paint production, penetrable D (and better B-ball IQs & balance of Bulls) accounted for 17 pt. 4th Q opponent advantage (33 pt. Sixer sag). Was whittled away by Chicago’s too-early relaxation and Sixers’ trademark, frenzied, up-and-down, less-thinking-involved finish, resulting in stat lines of Iguodala & Williams to belie actual overall performances. Should have stayed home: Jason Kapono, Willie Green, Marreese Speights, Taj Gibson.
A foolish inconsistency of concentration and effort: the hobgoblin of little teams.
Bad news: Marresse Speights will be out 6-8 weeks with a partial MCL tear!
http://www.csnphilly.com/pages/landing_09?Speights-Out-6-8-Weeks-With-Partial-MCL-=1&blockID=91117&feedID=704
That is a big loss, plus it could take Speights an additional week to four weeks to really get back in the groove.
Hopefully, the Sixers will finally get the real Elton Brand going and his minutes will not be yo-yoed as much and Jason Smith will get more solid minutes for a guy who missed a year of basketball. Perhaps, Eddie Jordan will finally get an established rotation going. Also, will Primo Brezec get activated and play at all this season? Will Ed Stefanski sign a player, perhaps a PF?
Hopefully, this team will have enough depth to step up without Speights. I hope so, (gulp)! The team has a couple days off to prepare for the Bobcats this Wednesday at home.
GO SIXERS!!