There was a question of who what start from the sixers on the current lakers… the answer should have been “it doesn’t matter” kobe and 4 high schoolers could take this sixers team out… Look at the C’s 3 All Stars…. Championship… While everyone will argue they may not have been the most well rounded team in the NBA… They have not only 1 all star they have a bunch and WON… 

Ive been a Sixer fan for 20 years… We’re not going past the first round till we get an all star again. 
The only way this team looks good on paper is if it is a blank one… Blank, so they can start over… again… What will they do? In order to just  compete in the league they need a dominate player and they will probably surround him with mediocre talent. (See The Barkley era “no real guards to free him up in crunch time” to the Iverson era “no DAMN CENTER or REBOUNDERS accept ummm maybe 01?”) 

OR they get an allstar and surround them with the RIGHT talent (See the Lakers, Spurs, Celtics…) 

And yet, due to Sloan’s incredible ability to get people to buy into his system, and Sloan and O’Connor being on the same page with the types of guys to acquire, they are at a point where they can plug in a Brevin Knight, a Ronnie Price, a CJ Miles, a Paul Millsap into their starting rotation…and the team doesn’t even miss a step. 

Those guys have mastered things like floor spacing, moving without the ball, proper fundamental pick setting, etc, so that the sum of their parts very often exceeds their talent. Sometimes I just chuckle when I compare Mo’s overall coaching ability to a Phil Jackson, Popovich, Sloan or LB types.  Mo knows the game in and out, but his ability to effectively communicate, take true command, and get the team on the same page I just can’t see ever being there at a high level. 

Some players and coaches can learn skills, physical and mental, over the years.  Being a TRUE leader, as a coach, is one I just don’t see Mo Cheeks having in his personality makeup.  Maybe Scott Skiles can lend him a gene or two.

As for starting 5, a shake-up would serve notice, do them some good. 

Without Williams and Okur, Jazz at big disadvantage.  No excuses for Sixers tonight.  Unless Dr. Dunkenstein makes an unexpected return.

In the off-season there was a lot of talk about the Sixers looking good on paper.  And I would agree, but we never really got into “how good on paper.”  Did anyone really consider this team championship caliber even on paper?  I didn’t.  I thought Stefanski did enough to raise the expectations of this team to a strong competitor in the East but still behind Boston by a wide margin and Detroit and Orlando to a lesser degree.  Now had this team come out and played with harmony and gelled quickly I could consider them a much bigger threat to Detroit and Orlando but still not on Boston’s level because we still lacked a “Paul Pierce” type go-to player.  They have the potential to be a really good team, but still need that dominant player to be a title contender, history just says you gotta have him.

Elton Brand was the right move.  But signing Iguodala to an escalating contract starting at $11M+ was a very very very bad move especially considering we are already saddled with Sammy’s contract.  Stefanski and Cheeks needed to have better foresight to see Iguodala should have been paid based on his expected and most realistic role if the Sixers are a championship team – a top tier 3rd level player, borderline 2nd level guy at best.  I actually think they paid him as if he was already at a Scottie Pippen level, which was a mistake.

Had that did that, to me that means they recognized they need to leave some money in the budget to make a play for the superstar player we need to really move ahead of the current NBA powers.

Winning in the NBA is so hard because talent ultimately wins and there is such a finite # of top tier players necessary to win championsips.  And you have to be smart and lucky.  The Sixers have not been very smart in the past and making smart basketball decision always seems to attract better luck.