Comments on: Sixers’ Good Effort Not Enough Against the Lakers

By: The Greek

The Greek — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 23:25:45 +0000

Fellas I said this last year on Narducci’s blog and i will say it again. THAD YOUNG IS A FUTURE DREAM TEAMER! No disrespect to T. Prince, but there is no way that I see Thad becoming a poor mans Prince. In posts 52 and 54 from Jkay and Morty, I couldnt agree enough about Thad. Just like Morty said, this guy is a coaches dream and is only doing as he is told. And just like Jkay said, Andre Miller needs to get him the freaking ball in the halfcourt. Post the guy up for f’s sake! And Rob if Cheeks is a great teacher then he could start by teaching the team a play. Just one because that will be more then we have. And I don’t mean posting up shit for brains sammy either.

Im pumped up to see “Sprites” get the start tonight. Now I wonder if Mo will let the kid post up. I bet dalembert is salivating at the thought of jacking up some shots tonight!

By: Morty

Morty — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:49:37 +0000

It sure would be nice to see if Donyell Marshall can still play at all. Why he has not been been used when outside shooting has been the offensive killer is a mystery to me.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:41:07 +0000

I have great news– Maresse Speights is going to start tonight!! Also, Theo Ratliff and Donyell Marshall will be activated and ACTIVE for tonight’s game!! Now is the time to see what our depth is really made of! And this will present more minutes for these guys, even with Brand returns. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Opportunity. Opportunity who? Opportunity knocking on the Sixers’ door! Once the depth muscles start flexing, people will see what the real Sixers are made of! (Hopefully, let’s cross our fingers!)

http://www.nba.com/sixers/news/speights_first_start_081205.html

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:26:33 +0000

With that said, I’m not letting them get off that easily. If these young guys are going to play these big, critical minutes, they have to play every minute with awareness and with knowing the basketball fundamentals of common sense. No cheap fouls or being all fancy like with their dribbling.

Tonight, we will see the Sixers team of last year play a new Detroit team that is still rough on paper and still good with the other three key guys remaining from that team (Hamilton, Prince, Wallace)– each of those guys manage to burn us one night or another. I wonder who will guard Rasheed Wallace– he settles for the threes and perimeter shots. Who will guard Richard Hamilton? I think Iggy should– his length and athleticism could bother Hamilton (similar to a ”science model” of the Lakers defense). Then again, who was it that guarded the other UConn Ray Allen a week ago? Point is– don’t let Hamilton have that big night or that big stretch.

I look forward to seeing Thaddeus Young and Tayshaun Prince defending one another on some occassions. Battle of two underrated, potential players.

Now the critical factor of the game will be the bench. With Brand sidelined, who will fill the void and how deep will Mo go? On paper, we should have the advantage. Detroit has Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum, two guys that attack the basket at will. Jason Maxiel is the other guy to worry about coming off the bench, but is undersized.

This game will be interesting because both teams are inconsistent and are trying to adapt with their new players. However, a game without Brand could be a blessing in disguise because Mo will go to a familiar lineup of last year and try to bring the magic of last season’s second half back. Meanwhile, Brand will watch the game from wherever he is and understand where he can be great for this team. Aside from the Lakers game, he has been living up to his 20-10 average and the coaches/management want EB to be EB and for the rest of the Sixers to play that second half style of last season. And to the critics that think EB can’t run with the team, think again. they probably sleep while a Clippers game is on in the East and Central Coast. He is usually the first to make it to the other side of court.

I think the Sixers will make the playoffs, BUT WHAT SEED? THAT IS WHERE THE EXPECTATIONS ARE (unless serious injuries occur).

Let’s hope Brand is ready for the surprising Nets. Their frontcourt isn’t that great and so far the Sixers have dominated weaker frontcourts!!

By: bski

bski — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:25:06 +0000

…..”we expect them to get better. problem is they are not doing that now. nothing within these 20 games has given evidence of that. thats really disturbing”…..

Yeah jkay, that’s what’s getting me too. I fully expected this thing to take some time to come together, but I also expected to see steady improvement as it did. I’m not seeing that at all. Instead we are very uneven from game to game and week to week. At this point I’d be thrilled to see us have one thing firmly established, you know? Just one thing that we bring to the floor every day. At least then we’d have something to hang our hat on going forward. Then we could address other areas and build something. As it stands, we seem to being doing a lot of groping in the dark trying to come up with some magic combination to make it all click.

By: jkay

jkay — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:09:14 +0000

@Rob: preaching patience is good. their ceiling looks pretty decent. we expect them to get better. problem is they are not doing that now. nothing within these 20 games has given evidence of that. thats really disturbing. i thought brand would make the learning curve less steep. coach? nobody has ANY idea how these guys are gonna play the next game.
saw clips of that All-American game w/ Durant; yeah Thad was really selfish, they criticized it cos he had a lot of turnovers, but he looked like McGrady with all that attitude.

By: jjg

jjg — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:24:19 +0000

Being an ‘athletic, assertive ballhawk’ and being a ’strong defensive player’ are not one and the same. Young’s nowhere near greatness on the D end. Fall in love with him all you want. “Assertiveness” is not synonymous with “grit.” Has some potential, but I wouldn’t bank on a former McDonald’s All-American suddenly commiting his focus and energies to defense.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:10:08 +0000

It is incredible that Thaddeus Young can score without any plays set for him, similar to Tayshaun Prince when he entered the league. But pretty soon, teams will notice him and plays must be set for Young. Mark Price is an amazing teacher and a legendary shooter. How on Earth is he an assistant coach with the Hawks? The Hawks are shooting the three pointers better, especially Marvin Williams. Also, didn’t Lou attend Price’s Shooting Camp as well, what happened Lou? Why were the Sixers having trouble trying to add Andrew Toney to Mo’s coaching staff?

If Young could add some extra muscle, improve his ball handle, get more involved offensively and consistently with his jumpers, and improve his defense, he could be an athletic poor man’s Tayshaun Prince or a poor man’s Ron Artest minus the loose screws.

Also, I forget how young this team is? It’s not the youngest team(the Warriors are), but their is a huge upside to this team with these young guys with the high expectations that go along with it.

Our young guys include: Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, Lou Williams, Marresse Speights, and a hopefully recovering Jason Smith (that’s almost a third of the SIxers roster right there playing valuable minutes).

Mo is a great TEACHER, perhaps one of the best assets of his coaching style and allows those young guys to play big minutes and has them try and learn from their mistakes. If Larry were coaching, they would not see the light of day!!

With maturity and valuable minutes, this team does have that potential to be something in one to three years!! We have a great mix of young guys and veterans– a blend that every team must have.

Thaddeus Young– Georgia Tech (1 YR)
Lou Williams– South Gwinnett High School
Marresse Speights– University of Florida (2 YRs)
Jason Smith– Colorado State (1 YR)
Andre Iguodala– University of Arizona (2 YRs)

That is where the potential is in this team with these four (five guys)!!

With the help of our vets, in good time, the Sixers will be THERE!!!

By: Morty

Morty — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:13:49 +0000

Totally disagree about Thad. The kid, and he is a kid, has been a star since a young age, so I don’t think assertiveness is a big problem. Go watch the highlights on youtube of his McDonald’s All America performance where he matched Durant basket for basket. He is simply doing exactly what his coach is asking him to do – something we wish more athletes would do. The fact that is coach is holding him back, would appear to be the coach’s fault. He still has a lot to improve in his game, he is only 20 afterall, but scorig in the halfcourt is something Mo could easily ask him to do more.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:27:47 +0000

What do many of these successful teams right now have in common? Their rosters are pretty much the same as last season.

Celtics- lost Posey (that’s about it)
Lakers- lost Turiaf (would be better with him); signed Josh Powell
Cavaliers- added Mo Williams, nothing major.
Magic- added Pietrus and A. Johnson
Hawks- added Mo Evans & Flip Murray, lost Childress

As a result of those minor-to-no signings or additions, the consistency is greater in teams and those teams get off to great starts early in the season.

Generally, the teams that have made numerous additions/subtractions, especially major ones, tend to start off slow. Teammates start bonding with one another when they are on those long road trips and then the consistency starts developing.
What the Celtics did last year was INCREDIBLE!

I think the Sixers will start developing that consistency and chemistry hopefully by the end of this month,as they embark on their first West Coast Trip: (12/26 @ DEN, 12/29 @ UT, 12/31 @ LAC, 1/2 @ DAL, 1/3 @ SAS). Compared to the other “Disney ON Ice” trips the last couple of years, this trip doesn’t look that severe and with only one back-to-back. But we all hope they start getting that even earlier ASAP. But a panic button should not be pressed YET!

The Second WC Trip won’t be until Mid-March when the team SHOULD be making strides by then. Just to look crazily ahead: (3/17 @ LAL, 3/18 @ PHX, 3/20 @ GSW, 3/22 @ SAC, 3/23 @ POR).

For some reason, I am getting an interesting comparison of this team to the Phillies team over past couple of seasons: Decent coaches that got better game after game and the teams start out poorly in the first half and strong in the second half.

Overall, though, I am glad that Stefanski and the team realize their current record of 8-11 is not good. And yes, they will fix it!! Now, let’s see what the Sixers depth is really made of!!

GO SIXERS AND KEEP THE ENERGY GOING!!
Stefanski is a smart GM and is a fan just like you and me. So, I think he knows what he’s doing.