Comments on: Sixers vs. Charlotte: Jordan Going for 9 Straight

By: Morty

Morty — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:07:47 +0000

EJ also says he will only take out AI, when AI says he’s ready. Incredible! EJ really is a joke.

By: Morty

Morty — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:53:25 +0000

EJ envisions a AI/ Lou starting back court when Lou returns. Hilarious!

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:47:50 +0000

TK76 -
I think the slow start to fast finish routine won’t happen this year, mainly because the slow starts they had were primarily due to offensive struggles, which got smoothed out over the year, especially once the defense would get turned up. The increased pressure D combined with their athleticism would combine to wear teams out and run them into the ground.
Right now, they lack the coaching staff to install the aggressive defensive mindset that this team has fed off of for those furious finishes. Jordan was already talking about using zone defenses to conserve AI’s legs. He is far too offensive oriented, which means any wins they get from here on out will be if they shoot the lights out and the other team just can’t keep up.

By: tk76

tk76 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:00:25 +0000

Wow, did not realize they are 10-30 in their last 40 games. That makes you think they are really headed for a top 5 pick on merit…

But maybe its been these last 3 years, but I know they have a BS second half run in them. If they go .500 the rest of the way gets that nets them 36 wins… so I guess they will win 32. Just enough to push them outside of a legit shot at winning the lottery- but probably bad enough to let the franchise know they are in serious trouble. Although I fully expect the same BS about their late success and turning the corner…

By: Dannie

Dannie — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:24:05 +0000

TK76 - Yea I like their NBA draft coverage particularly. But when they put out insider articles and research it's always very good.

By: RRose

RRose — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:22:17 +0000

I think one of the reasons Brand hasn’t been on the floor as much is he is terrible in pick-n-roll situations. Bobcats continued to abuse him with it. His footwork is bad and he doesn’t recover quickly to shooters who pop after the pick. He’s so often 10 feet from his man on the perimeter which lately is so obvious after every play. Teams have gone small a lot against them. Take the last 2 games OKC and Bobcats the biggest player on either team was T Chandler and he didn’t play much. The oddity is the Sixers have all these swing men playing against other teams swing men yet they can’t defend or rebound against players of similar size.

Is that effort or system? I think its both. The guards don’t rebound well, your PF whether its Brand or Thad are pulled away from the basket often enough to make them useless on the boards. This team never traps full or half court. You would think trapping with all the speed on this team would create turnovers and easy baskets. No concept on Eddie Jordan’s team how to trap to get easy baskets.

Lastly, the Sixers lost 15 of their final 20 games including playoffs last season. They have lost 15 of their first 20 games this season. Now I know EJ wasn’t here last season but its the same ol story with this organization. Something just isn’t working coaching and playing. It all has to change.

By: tk76

tk76 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:10:05 +0000

Dannie, do you get much out of Insider?

By: Dannie

Dannie — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:00:29 +0000

ESPN has this whole D.R.A.F.T. Initiative which does ridiculous analysis of the draft.

By: tk76

tk76 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:00:35 +0000

There is a good breakdown of past lottery success by pick at draft express (dome 4 years ago, but still interesting.)
http://www.82games.com/nbadraft2.htm
Some conclusions:
“Fans expecting a superstar should ice their expectations, especially if your pick is out of the top 5. Of the 180 picks from 6 – 14, only 7 turned into superstars (4%).”

“On the other side, 77 players selected from 6 – 14 turned into bench players or busts (43%).”

“Top Five Selections

Fans of a team with a top 5 selection have much more reason to be optimistic than those who fall in the 6 – 14 range.
Of the 23 superstars who have been selected in this 20 year range, 16 of them have been selected in the first 5 picks of the draft (70%). Conversely, the top 5 picks in the draft have yielded only 15 bench players or busts. Out of 100 total picks made in the 20 years analyzed, that is a pretty good rate of return for those teams landing in the top 5.
Of the 16 superstars selected, half of them have been selected first overall. Now, this should be good news for Raptors fans this year, but isn’t. Those 8 superstars were all can’t miss prospects. Very few number 1 picks have “surprised” their GM’s and fans by morphing into superstars.”

By: Dannie

Dannie — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:37:38 +0000

krazykevy - Not sure what your expectations are but the lottery as a whole is a crapshoot. The #1 sure, there usually is a game changer there every season. Sometimes the #2 and #3 picks. But we aren't looking at a draft like 1984 or 1996 or 2003 that are deep with game changers and that is exactly what the Sixers need. Remember the Sixers "lottery" picks after Iverson are as follows:

Thad Young (12th)
Thabo Sefolosha (13th) (traded for Carney)
2004: Andre Iguodala (9th)
1998: Larry Hughes (8th)
1997: Keith VanHorn (2nd)

And looking at those drafts I am not going to cry about picks other than the Hughes debacle. We could have had a wing core of Billups/Tmac, Iverson and Pierce/Dirk had the Sixers drafted differently. But whatever.

Point is the last three lottery picks, two are decent players but not stars, franchise players or even leaders.

Behind John Wall I don't know if there are other stars or if their are just a bunch of Thad Young level players.

I can tell you this much for sure, I don't want another Andre Iguodala or Thad Young unless we plan to trade the one's we have for a star.