I am watching this terrible excuse of a basketball game between our 76ers and the New Jersey Nets that flat out OWN us. There is still 5 minutes left but this game is over. they are down 20 and are still getting out worked and out hustled. This is the bullshit effort that just pisses you off.
Feel free to vent here. I probably will add more random Sixers thoughts before I go to bed.
The Nets are shooting 9-23 from three (39.1%). That is exactly what the Sixers are shooting from the foul line. Are you kidding me?
- Check that they are now shooting better from three than the Sixers have from the foul line (11-25 – 44%)
How good can you really be losing to the Nets 4 times in a season? Getting blasted by 29 points when you are in a serious playoff race?
Pretty apparent why Kareem Rush doesn’t play. HE SUCKS! 4 minutes, 0-3 and 2 turnovers. That’s how you earn some time.
67 points scored? We have to hope and pray this isn’t a sign of more to come without Thad’s offense.
Loading ...
{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
Pathetic. Just freaking pathetic that we can put out that kind of sh*tty effort in the most important part of the season. They are professionals making millions of dollars, the Sixers should not need a pep talk about how important each remaining game is, and how much more beatable Atlanta is then the Orlando Magic if we miraculously end up with the #5 seed.
*tears hair out* ARGGGHHH!!!
And we have Boston and Cleveland TWICE coming up…we really, really needed a game like this, that SHOULD be a nice easy W, under our belts.
This is horrible. I don’t really know what to think with this loss. It’s tough to say for me at least, whether it was effort or just poor shooting. I would say both probably.
I think it is clear that this team cannot win the second of a back to back. I don’t know the official record we have, but I know it is very poor.
I never thought we would top that Oklahoma City loss! This game really tops it and why do the Nets have our number? Samuel Dalembert needs another pep talk or a splash of cold water on his face, he does not seem there!
But maybe, this is just what we need to regain our focus! The Bobcats lost to the Pistons due to guess who(Will Bynum 32 points, 26 points in the 4th quarter!!)
Now, we must win those two road games!!
GO SIXERS!! MAKE THE BOBCATS SECOND GUESS THEMSELVES!!
Being that I am from North Jersey It’s not that easy for me to watch too many sixers game in person. I have been to 3 games
1 I went to the opening night game when we sleepwalked and got wiped out by the Raptors.
2 I went to the nets sixers game when Devin Harris hit that miracle half court shot to beat us at the buzzer
3 I went to tonight’s game where the sixers lost to a pathetic nets team and only managed to score 67 points
I am F’n done spending any money to go see this consistently mediocre team break my heart over and over. I will just stick with my Direct tv season pass which I paid I believe about 150 bucks to watch this team sleepwalk and suck.
Pathetic
Lou sucks
Miller needs to go
Sammy, I don’t even have the energy to go here again
Willie G, our sixers love cornering the market on undersized shooting guards who can’t shoot
Why don’t they post up Speights? Please tell me why
The positive news is the Sixers are 40-36 and short of a complete disaster will finish with a better record than last year. Sometimes improvement and success are measured in baby steps. Consider a season mostly without Brand and Jason Smith and then consider the recent loss of T Young. This team is still very immature in some aspects but still they have grown. I’m already looking forward to next season.
BREATHE GUYS! I think this is a game that is of little consequence for the rest of the season other than how it affects the loss column. This is one of those ’so bad it’s meaningless’ games and we shouldn’t be throwing ourselves off the bridge due to it. Now, if it happens again, it’s a trend.
DiLeo said before the game that the Sixers were still shooting for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. They played as if they want to face Boston or Orlando as the sixth seed. That was disappointing and inexcusable.
The Greek, do you really think Andre Miller needs to go? You realize they would be a lottery team without him, right? I think they absolutely need to re-sign him this offseason, even if it means giving him a 3yr deal, which is probably too long.
Chris: I think we’d all agree with you if this was a more meaningless regular season game in the middle of the season…but right now EACH GAME COUNTS. We are playing for the possibility to actually have a shot at making the 2nd round (5 seed) as opposed to getting wiped on the floor by the Magic or Boston with what will be a 85% healthy KG.
Mike: I agree. Although he’s not a top 5 PG, and is starting to go on the decline, I have always held to the same mantra with A-Miller: resign him to a frontloaded, 3 year deal in the 8 – 8.5 million per year range. Draft a young PG to groom under A-Miller. First 2 years keep A-Miller the starter and see what he can do with an improved Thad, healthy Brand, improving Speights…while year 3 of his deal our rookie pick from the ‘09 class will get the nod, and A-Miller will be phased out, used as a nice veteran locker room presence, and for some great backup PG play.
yea i agree with that plan. i mean the guy had one of the best seasons of his career last year, and only his fg % is slightly down this year. he’s still very valuable to this team.
Nice effort, boys – rich boys. Makes a fan proud. Sorry you had to play 2 in a row.
Miller is a cheap shot. (As are Evans and Speights.) The shoulder-led body block to in-motion Harris at midcourt was way out of bounds,
along with the sprawling Harris. “If you can’t beat ‘em, beat ‘em” seems to be Miller’s (and the others’) mantra. Dirty player; is usually sneakier about it. Surprised their wasn’t a Nets’ reprisal of some sort. “Pops” needs to go. League’s best PGs regularly make mincemeat of him. Some call him underrated. I call him overcooked. Good foul shooting season though; I’ll give ‘im that.
I once had 67 in a single afternoon with my ping-pong ball floor arena game; lever-flickin’ fingers had it goin’ on like Jerry West. What a zone, what a feeling.
Sixers had better not bob their effort again in Charlotte. Mr. Brown’s pupils usually understand at this point in the school year how to take advantage of laxity.
It!s been two steps forward, one step back all year; why change now? Adding shooters next year should help in these situations, defending is easier when scoring the ball is easier down the other end, especially in back to backs. Do we really think this group will play any better with 20 ppg. missing [in the last 2 weeks].
Chris – I disagree 100%. There are no meaningless games for one, any basketball player knows that.
You fall behind Miami. They were only 2 games back of Atlanta and a tie with them is equal to a win since we own the season series tiebreaker. Good teams do lose bad games (not by 29) but they don’t lose them right now when the game means a lot.
Furthermore, when the Sixers lose games more times than not they follow it up with another loss.
Both teams were in back-to-back situations and the ride isn’t bad for either.
My biggest issue is with the defense. Not having Thad hurts. Having two guys in the front court you really shouldn’t be giving the ball to in the half court and are is an issue. But allowing 7 guys to score in double figures? Was anyone defending anyone?
If I am the Sixers first round playoff opponent I have these 4 games against New Jersey being analyzed the second I find out we are playing them. The Sixers have just looked bad against them for some reason. They run a lot of high pick and roll with Harris and do a lot of kicking out to shooters. It’s a similar effect you see when we play Orlando.
Sometimes the Sixers play “hope” defense. They just hope guys miss shots. When they do, the Sixers have a chance to win. When they don’t they lose. I don’t like that thought. They need to do more to force bad shots, highly contested shots and have the defense make more impact on why a team misses rather than hoping they do.
Did you see on numerous occasions (for some reason the Sixers really hate to guard Keyon Dooling) when he literally had enough time to catch, adjust his feet, fix the ball in his hands and shoot a practice shots from the corner (all net)? Everyone on the Sixers just watched.
That’s not just a clunker that’s a mentality.
Mike, why do opposing teams always get wide open looks? And I mean always! It starts with the point guard who can’t guard anyone. I know that you think that he is underrated on defense so I guess we agree to widely disagree.
Why would you want to lock someone up who doesn’t play defense and can’t hit an outsides shot. Think about my last point, his lack of a perimeter shot and combine that with the fact that Iguodala needs to be moved over to the Sg position in order to let Thad play the Sf and Brand the PF.
dunno why everyone is getting worked up about this loss. i watched most of it and it just looked to me like the Sixers just didnt have ‘it’. u know the ‘it’ that you need to actually step on the floor to compete. they looked like they were sleep walking. they tried the stuff they normally do but it just didnt have the same effect or work. IMO they were tired; upstairs and physically. playing recheduled in Jersey didnt help. Sucks to lose the game and lose ground but i think they will come out strong next game against Charlotte and win too. all the bad stuff is still there but today’s game was a strange one. Normally Thad’s absence hurts us offensively but we make up for it with better defense and energy but they didnt even look like they had the will to play D last night. wide open looks everywhere. even the sixers arent that bad? or are they? i think not, wait until next game to vent ppl.
kinda liked the all the Andre Miller cheapshots this season. I was smiling when Harris hit the sideline. not nicest thing to do, but Miller is such a quiet reserved player, calm, emotionless almost, its good to see him show some fire or frustration rather.
Hey Harris! get some meat on your bones dawg!
Miller; Dawkins would be proud of that one meen. keep it up!
Jkay – Are you serious? I thought it was a flagrant foul and not fire or frustration rather laziness. Why not get in position to play some real defense?
I don’t know whether the refs thought he was just too slow and got there to late, couldn’t stop and hit him unintentionally or what. But to me it looked like he clearly could have stopped and instead lowered his shoulder and hit him on purpose. I am a basketball player save that football shit for the grass. Where I play ball the next time Miller ran under the rim he was catching an “unintentional” elbow for that.
And I guess I might as well just stop talking since many people seem to be OK/don’t care that much/think it’s not a big deal however you want to say it with losing by 29, 4th straight to the Nets considering the glut of excuses everyone is giving the Sixers.
I wish I could think of this merely a hiccup but have we all not learned yet? How often do the Sixers really just “bounce back?”
Dannie, The Sixers bounced back from being seven games below .500 didn’t they? I think us Sixers fans are being a little too harsh on them. I don’t live in Philly so I don’t get to see them on TV a lot. But when I do… (on NBATV, ESPN etc.) the analysts on there are saying the Sixers are playing great basketball. I don’t know. It seems like the rest of the league thinks we are playing well but we don’t. I want to know, how much better than 43-39 do you think this roster can be? Without Brand, with a coaching change, and with all the buzzer beater losses…. I think this season hasn’t been too much of a disappointment.
I am absolutely not saying that this loss is not important, because it’s obvious it was. But even still, we are in position and if we take care of business the next couple games, this could be a distant memory.
I’m not talking about a season record or big picture stuff at the moment. I will do that when the season is over. Trust me I have a TON of thoughts on that. I am talking about one game the only game that mattered yesterday and they lost about as badly as you can. To a team that according to overall records they are better than.
I am talking about missed opportunities right now. It’s not about how much better than 43-39 can they be. It’s about having legit chances to move up. Claim home court. NOT have just a 43-39 record. Squandered. Does it speak to lack of talent? Yes on some levels. But doesn’t it also speak to a lack of mental toughness, sense of urgency and mediocre killer instinct as a unit? That is the part that really bothers me.
How are you playing for (at least talking about playing for) a 4th seed and home court (kind of important to winning statistically) and come out and play like that? Was New Jersey more talented? Better coached? Better prepared? Bigger? Faster? Stronger? Less tired (the did have an afternoon game the day before in Chicago). Or did they just want to win that game more? The last question is the one that worries me at this point.
Is a 29-point blowout a good way to come down the home stretch into the playoffs? Especially when 3 of the last 4 are against 60-win teams. Shouldn’t we be getting into some sort of a playing groove sooner rather than later?
Like I said mediocrity seems to be excusable so I will leave it alone.
Woosah!
Obviously, yesterday’s game was a disappointment and nothing went well at all, similar to that Thunder game. The Sixers just have to move on from it and prepare for the Bobcats! That game will be a playoff type of game, since it will be the last home game for the Bobcats.
The Sixers just have to prepare for the Bobcats and not let them pounce on us early. In the Bobcats last couple of games, they have had early leads and then manage to give them up in the 4th quarter. The Sixers must jump on them early, pound the boards, and make them second guess themselves!! Raja Bell is most likely going to miss tomorrow’s game, so that’s one less guard to worry about.
I think the Sixers will recover from that loss. And next year, with Brand, Young, and Smith healthy, the Nets won’t know what hit them!!
GO SIXERS!! MAKE THE BOBCATS SECOND GUESS THEMSELVES!!
Miller is a very good player, but he is just a ‘combo guard.’ He plays PG on offense and SG on defense. When a team like the Nets or Bobcats start 2 quicker guards (Harris/Dooling, Augustine/Felton) you see all kinds of penetration and open shots.
This is not to say the Sixers got crushed because of Miller- it was a team non-effort. It just highlights how Milelr is no longer playing PG on defense on most nights. That is a big reason why Willie Green is starting at SG and Ivey gets heavy minutes- so that they can cover Miller’s man.
Generally, when the Andres have a bad game, they bounce back the next game and the team goes on quite a run! (see the Thunder loss as an example).
Imagine how Hawks and Heat fans feel when they are losing or are in a bad slump. We need more of that to happen!
Dannie, I think you hit it right on the head with this “hope” defense thing. I can’t remember a game this season that the Sixers beat a team that can shoot without the team missing an incredible amount of open shots. Their perimeter rotations just flat out suck. Defending the high pick and roll is impossible for this team, it looks like they can never decide to switch or fight through. It baffles the hell out of me. What do they do in practice anyway?
Ryan F…..I believe that we practice against ourselves, right? Since we can’t make shots, the “defense” we play against ourselves in practice must look pretty darn good at the time.
DiLeo must be wondering why our “lock-down” practice defense isn’t quite as effective against the opposition. Either that or he might be wondering why our offense doesn’t explode all over the opposition when it is no longer smothered by the defense we play against ourselves in practice.
lol great point Bski! Our defense is in pure shut down mode in practice. Love it.
I don’t know how anyone can defend the defense that these fools are playing.
Thought it was interesting that Iguodala said this after the Nets completed a four-game sweep of the Sixers: “They just played the same they did all year. We never really adjusted from game to game. They just beat us pretty much the same way.”
It’s pretty easy to game plan for a team that can’t hit an outside shot.
For the folks that want to resign andre Miller to a 3 year contract, please tell me where you expect to get outside shooting from????????????????????????????
And while your at it, please tell me if you expect Millers defense to improve as he gets older.
The Greek,
Miller’s bad qualities are easily noticed. It’s the good things he does that we are worried about. I can’t really put my finger on it, but I think he will be missed more than you think. Name a good playoff team without a solid point guard. The Pistons and Nuggets trade is a perfect example. Sometimes a good PG can act like the glue of a team and some of his qualities can go unnoticed. EX. Chaunsey Billups.
Im not all for re-signing Miller, but at this point, I’m not against it either. I just don’t know what we will do in the draft, and I don’t know that anyone we can get will replace Miller.
Dannie, I think this group needs a taskmaster, strong on defensive tactics, as a coach. I don!t know what else to say about the up and down effort level they seem to have. A.Miller!s cheapshot should of been answered down the other end, totally uncalled for. My statement earlier about expecting up and down play doesn!t mean I am satisfied with it but until something changes I don!t know what it is going to take for this group to GET IT.
Greek: I have the exact same arguments against your logic with not resigning A-Miller that I do with you wanting to just cut Dalembert loose. You seem to be saying, “A-Miller has such and such weaknesses…let’s dump him!” Well…I agree with you in all the weaknesses you state about his defense, and his lack of 3 point shooting.
But that doesn’t mean A-Miller doesn’t also bring BIG STRENGHTS to our team. Often times he IS the engine that has kept us affloat. If we just let him go, that basically means you are saying you are willing to throw whatever PG we draft into the fire. Even if we did make the smart choice and land someone of the caliber of a Flynn (if he comes out, is undecided right now) or a Lawson…do you really want to just hand over the reigns of a largely veteran team to a rookie PG?
I don’t. It seems perfectly logical to me to have A-Miller for 3 years while drafting his understudy, so that by year 2 in the deal A-Miller/rookie will split time 65-35%, and year 3 the rookie will get the nod as starter, with A-Miller in the backup veteran role. What downside is there to this? A-Miller has proven time and time again he’s a top 10 PG. Granted, in the 7-10 spots, but a top 10 PG is pretty essential to stay affloat. Why would we let him go with no viable replacement to put in there that is his equal or superior? To me, that’s a step back.
You mention “where will the shooting come from”? A good question. But given Thad’s work ethic (I know you of all people are a strong believer in his ability to become a 20 ppg 3 point shooting SF…and I agree), that gives us one legit option. We will come into next season HOPEFULLY with D Marshall again, and actually get him 10-12 mpg for some shooting. And the other thing you are forgetting is that our 1st round pick, whether a PG that can hit a 3, or a SG/SF like Ellington or Budinger, or maybe nabbing McNeal if he falls in the 2nd round, are guys that could potentially come off the bench for 15 mpg to launch up the rock from beyond the arc.
I could care less about both Lou Williams and Willie Green right now…I’m fine with neither being in our plans in the long term and replacing them through the draft with pure shooters that have more versatile games. Potentially that gives us the following as three point threats: 1. Thad’s improvement 2. Brand’s return under a coach that knows what he’s doing providing better floor spacing 3.Marshall logging heavier minutes 4. PG backup through draft that can hit the three 5. SG/SF through draft that can hit the three. Not ideal, but still an improvement.
New Jersey game: Anyone that is not upset over the effort in this game should be kicked. We all understand that the Sixers are obviously not that BAD, and won’t play this way. But I can’t believe many people on here don’t find our lack of effort worrisome in what was easily one of the most important games of the season. Just a pathetic, no excuse effort, and I think fans should be coming down HARDER on professional athletes at this point in the season for putting up that much of a stinker. Dannie, I’m with you 110% on this point.
Dave
I see your points and they make sense, but when the going gets really good for us Andre Miller will be ready to be fossilized. This draft is loaded with PG’s, I say go get one and roll the dice. I prefer to spend Millers money on someone who can stretch a defense. We can’t rely on a 2nd round pick to be our 3 pt. option, especially when we don’t even have a 2nd round pick!
Of Course it will hurt to lose Miller in the short run guys, but with him our upside is limited.
Dave On Thad,
What happens when he has the ball next year and he is drawing double teams on the reg? Good point right? Because we both know that defenses are going to be doing that to him next year. Who the hell is he going to pass it to on the perimeter?
Andre Miller? god no
Iguodala? Need a better number one option then Iggy
DaveT., My biggest problem with A.Miller is this; he is probably the main reason Willie is our starting 2 guard and we are not seeing Thad and Iggy at the 3 and 2. E.S. has said he isn!t happy having Iggy chasing 2 guards around, I don!t get that at all, so what are the odds next year that he has him chasing p.g.!s around if A.Miller and Iggy are our starting backcourt. We all say an A.Miller/Iggy backcourt won!t work because of limits [range] offensively but the issue seems to be the other end.Does he have to draft a 2 guard that can guard the one position [ex.(J. Mcneal)] ? I would rather use Ivey and a young p.g. next year so we can put Thad and Iggy where they belong and let fours [Elton,Marreese,Reggie] play the 4 position.
Suede – Kalin Lucas vs. Ty Lawson = NO CONTEST!
I meant to tell you that when you brought it up. Lucas is a nice player but not on Ty’s level at all.
UNC decimated that team – again. Won me $465 bucks too.
Dannie: congrats on your new fortune. let it be known that i’m not a fan of dirty play. Miller is the last guy I would expectb that from so when it happens, its hilarious! Should have been an automatic Tech or ejection if it was the playoffs. very Rob Horry-ish.
bski: your practice post was money. lol.
pro-Andre Miller: this is the guy who single-handedly, along with Iguodala though, won us that crucial Detroit game. Now we want to chuck him? dont get me wrong I am not pro-resigning but for different reasons. Now that Thad is awol our offense is pretty much the Andres and Reggie Evans’ brutish game (which by the way shows results even as a starter).
Dave T: concerning the New Jersey game – how many times have we seen this?? back to back game, 6-7 games left, in 4th position, Jersey having taken the first 3 by freakish occurences and having a ’score to settle’ mentality, playing away in hostile arena instead of at home, needing to win against weaker teams before Cavs and Celts games come up….ALL signs pointed to the team needing to be prepared for this game, amped up too if you will. It just turned out to be the opposite. Doesnt make no sense but watching the Sixers all season I have come to accept things like this. It would be prudent and less stressful of you to do so too. Only so much you can beat ur mind up.
I haven’t come out and blasted the Sixers because I’ve pretty much settled on what they are and what to expect from them a while ago. I’m not at all happy about it, but I don’t see myself getting happy by blasting them. It’s a funny thing really. I mean, even though my comments would be seen as negative, at least it shows I care enough about the team to comment, you know? As it is, I’m not talking a whole lot about them.
I thought that the OKC game would certainly have to be the low point of the season, only to have this NJ game happen. I have to say it concerns me for what might happen on Friday. I have tickets for the game against the Cavs and it could be another very ugly game, especially considering it is also the second game of a back-to-back (in which we have done poorly) with the first game on the road in Chicago.
Congrats, Dannie. You got the best of both worlds. You rooted with your heart for Nova, but still fattened your wallet when your “other” team won the title. You can enjoy your winnings with a clear conscience.
At the risk of going a bit out of bounds……….I’m going to check out the women’s title game tonight. Louisville has a freshman guard, Becky Burke, who graduated from the same local high school as my wife (and where my mother-in-law has worked in the office for the past 25 years). About 10 years ago, another very good guard, Amber Jacobs, graduated from the same school, went on to play well at Boston College, and played in the WNBA with the Minnesota Lynx for several years.
Anyway, tonight’s game will probably be even more lopsided than the men’s title game. Louisville only has 4 losses on the season. Problem is that 2 of them were to UConn by something like 29 and 38 points, so you can’t figure they’ve got much of a shot at beating them tonight.
Bski I hope they play better in front of you then how they played in front of me at the Izod center. I am still disgusted by what I saw.
Greek you saw that game live? OUCH!
Me too, Greek.
Somebody help me out. I can’t remember if it was last year or two years ago (I think it was two years ago) where we played a tight game against the Cavs in early April. I remember LeBron and Iguodala taking turns isolating at the top of the key and answering each other’s baskets a couple times down the stretch. If I recall, Iguodala couldn’t answer LeBron the last time, ended up turning the ball over, and we lost.
Yeah, I think that game was two years ago. Wasn’t last year when the game was tied and looking like it was headed to overtime only to see LeBron barrel down the lane, not getting called for walking, and ending up with a foul being called on Dalembert with 0.1 seconds on the clock (after the officials took 10 minutes to review the video)?
Somebody set me straight because all these details are muddled in my head.
yea last year was the phantom call against lebron. andre miller chucked the ball up towards the ceiling in disgust. i thought there was going to be a riot.
I was at that game. Post 1 and Post 2
Thanks guys. I thought I had it pretty straight. That means that the other game I was talking about was two years ago. Well, since we’ve had tight games against the Cavs in April each of the last two years, I’m hoping for a good one on Friday.
We could take one of those two Cleveland games based on how many minutes the Cavalier starters are going to play. Their most meaningful game left in the regular season is the game against Boston at Cleveland. Also, the Cavaliers biggest weakness is their transition defense. The Sixers have to continue pushing the ball before the Cavaliers set up their defensive traps. Either you contain LeBron and Mo or you let them do all the scoring and deny everyone else. Also, the last game of the regular season for the Cavs is against the Sixers for their FAN Night and if they still have one loss at home prior to that game, the Cavs starters might play heavy minutes just to tie the best home record ever.
For the one Boston game, Kevin Garnett will return, but how many minutes will he and the rest of the Celtic starters play? They are a deep team, which is part of the concern here. However, their bench and their bigs are turnover prone. The objective is this for the Sixers: contain Rondo and Ray Allen. They have killed the Sixers for most part this season! The game will be the second to last game of the regular season for both teams. The only thing they have left to fight for would be trying to maintain the second seed in the East. As of now, the Celtics trail the Cavs by 4 games with both teams having 5 games to go in the regular season.
Certainly, there are a lot of factors for those three games, but my best bet would be that both the Celtics and Cavaliers are most likely going to have their starters play fewer minutes to ease up.
My prediction would be 2-1 in those three games. To the Sixers, they are meaningful. To the Celtics and Cavs, they are just trying to compete, but prepare for the bigger picture!!
Really, for the Sixers, it comes down to getting those other games!! (tonight @ Charlotte, @ Chicago on TNT, @ Toronto).
I say 2-1 there.
Overall, I think 4-2 is possible. Then again, this team just surprises me and gives me a heart attack here and there!
GO SIXERS!! IT’S BRAD LIDGE TIME!!
Greek: Nice responses to my posts about why I like resigning A-Miller. Still disagree with you in the end, but I agree with some arguments you are making. One thing I will say about double teams on Thad: a healthy Brand should help with that, as hopefully with an improved X-O’s coach when Brand is doubled down low (and hopefully does not turn it over every other play like the first 15 games of the season), it will allow for passes from the high post to the weakside wing position, or same side corner, for an open Thad. Also…it’s not like he’s going to be double teamed EVERY play. Every NBA star finds ways to get open through teamwork and a well coached offensive system…not too worried about Thad here given his drive and work ethic.
Sixers having no 2nd round pick?: Greek I didn’t know that…and I honestly feel that’s a huge blow. Jerry McNeal, as well as Jodie Meeks (who seems to be testing the waters) would be great early 2nd round pickups to give us some shooting and versatile offensive play…if they don’t move to the late 1st round, which they have the talent for. I’m ALL ABOUT trying to move up in this draft to get a second mid 1st round pick, and an early 2nd rounder. Package Green…Lou…give away freaking cash…Jason Smith…Reggie…as long as we have Speights coming up in the PF spot, and Ratliff for another year, I’d do anything to get more draft picks. Why?…
If we had the above (two 1sts, one 2nd) in the draft, here is my dream scenario:
Mid 1st round #1: Ty Lawson / Johnny Flynn…PG of the future.
Mid 1st round #2: Chase Budinger / Wayne Ellington…great bench shooter that can hit the 3, have good size, and versatile offensive games. aka: Kyle Korver off the bench with a more complete offense and upside.
Early 2nd round: Jerry McNeal / Jodie Meeks / Lester Hudson…a TRUE backup at the guard spot. Unlike Lou, these guys can all actually hit the 3, all are ballsy clutch players that know how to hit big shots when it counts, and all (except Meeks) are excellent passers with good handle that can facilitate an offense as well.
It’s a long shot, but if we could find some way to use our smaller pieces + cash, landing some draft picks could really help this team cement it’s future.
JKay: Yeah you’re right…I shouldn’t get so upset about it, and accept what they are, etc. It’s funny though, towards the first half of the season I was Mr. “This team is a 1st round playoff team, let’s not worry about the weaknesses too much”…yet now that the 2nd half has rolled around and playoff time is here, I’ve entered heart attack over every play, throw the remote at the wall, punch my couch mode again. I like having the passion there and yelling at my our team…reminds me I still care. Being a Sixers fan rocks haha.
Rob: If the Sixers go 4-2 down this stretch…especially when the Cavs NEED every game they can get to land homecourt advantage for the finals (if they get there)…my jaw will drop and I will be stunned. Love your optimism…unfortunately don’t share it. But either way: GO SIXERS!!!
Dave T–The Lakers have a very easy schedule, I guess Cleveland would have to keep playing hard the rest of the season to obtain homecourt throughout. But really, those teams are trying to do so without giving their starters heavy minutes. Only the Lakers make it look so effortless and one and done. Who knows?
The Sixers will bounce back strong from that disaster of a game last Sunday. Clearly, the Andres were worn out playing 40+minutes in a game they had to win to clinch a playoff spot. However, the elite teams lately have been playing “soft” basketball and have been shutting down players for the regular season, probably because the regular season is winding down. The Sixers have to capitalize on those opportunities.
Those Celtics and Cavs games are intriguing. But I think those teams have slowly released the pedal just a bit.
Tonight:
The Heat host the Hornets. Both teams play a similar style and defend through passing lanes. Tough call on that game. It could go either way. Chris Paul v.s Dwayne Wade. Maybe David West could be the difference in helping the Hornets possibly beat the Heat. Then they take two days off before playing the Celtics Friday in Boston.
The Hawks travel to Toronto to take on the Raptors, who have been playing better basketball lately, a little too late though. But still, I think the Raptors can beat the Hawks do to Atlanta’s road woes. Then the Hawks travel to Milwaukee the next day to take on the Bucks, whose playoff hopes are somewhat flickering.
Again, it comes down which team will win the most road games in their respective stretches. I still think the Sixers have an edge with their road mentality and their depth is better than the Hawks and the Heat. The Sixers will get the 5th seed!
GO SIXERS!!
Jkay, yes dude unfortunately I was there. I was there on opening day as well which Might have been there 2nd worst game.
Dave, if we can get a 2nd for Reggie or willie then be great. I doubt that those guys can bring back a 2nd though. Jason Smith will take over for Sammy next season health permitted so No I don’t want to see him traded. And your right, not having a 2nd rounder is a big blow.
Dannie, my daughter and I had Carolina also, I got nothing but she got third place and 135 dollars. Lawson has probably played himself out of our range on draft night, with his jumper going from deep, he looks like a smaller T.Hardeway.