Comments on: Sixers Make a Statement (little one) by Blasting Portland

By: bski

bski — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:33:37 +0000

Yeah, it sure seems as though the question of how this team, as constituted, needs to play in order to be successful is settled. It is now time to see if Brand is going to be the right fit with this group and this style of play and, if so, how much we improve because of his addition. We need to see it all together in order to know exactly what we have and what we still need to get us to the level of a championship contender. I, for one, am anxious to see how it plays out.

By: Tom Moore

Tom Moore — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:20:28 +0000

Iguodala on what’ll happen when Brand returns (from postgame Wednesday):
“When he comes back, we’ve just got to continue to go with the flow. He’s going to help us even more. When teams try to slow us down, we’ve got to continue to run and play our basketball.”

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:03:09 +0000

According to CSN, Elton Brand will be a game-time decision Friday against the Spurs. Iggy (when asked about his scoring w/o Brand): "What’s really funny is that I looked back at some tapes and the only difference between now and then is my shot selection and shots just weren’t going in. My assists were up, my rebounds were up, everything was up except for shooting percentage and the ball going in the hole."

By: deepsixersuede

deepsixersuede — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:33:37 +0000

Guest, by the way, getting Elton acclimated is the first step, nothing else should change for a while. I!m just saying later on it may be doable.

By: deepsixersuede

deepsixersuede — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:25:20 +0000

Guest, If we have a chance to win against the Lakers [Koby] and Boston [Allen] it will be with defense first and shooting second. E.S. has a vision of an athletic, defensive running team and with the improved shooting of Iggy and Thad lately it may be able to work. Here is how I look at it. Iggy doesn!t have to change offensively at all , it is more like Thad getting the same looks Willie is getting lately and him and Iggy, with their length and quickness could really cause a lot of turnovers.

By: guest

guest — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:55:34 +0000

suede

I think they call it a shooting gaurd for a reason. I agree with your points, but I don’t think Iguodala should be played at the two. I think Thad can easily come off the bench and make an impact by getting starters minutes. I say just get a shooter like you said that can run with us (sixers slogan haha) but shoot better than Willie. Cook would have done great here in my opinion. I wont give up on Jason yet, but Cook has really impressed me. Like Dannie said, good scouting and a little bit of luck, you can draft a good shooter. We need an Eric Gordon type player in this years draft I think.

By: Dannie

Dannie — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:07:48 +0000

Zack – About the shooter, that was my comment that the player can’t be one dimensional because in order for him to be on the court enough to make an impact with his shooter he has to at the very least be a strong defender as well.

The Sixers drafted a pretty good young shooter named Daequan Cook with nice college experience playing at a big time program and in the NCAA tournament, but they valued Jason Smith more for some reason. Cook only shot 33.2% his rookie season (partly due to being forced into a bigger role and more shots because Wade was hurt). But this season he has settled into a nice role and shooting 43.3% and has been defending three positions.

You can get a young shooter, you just have to be diligent scouting and savvy with your pick.

By: deepsixersuede

deepsixersuede — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:09:16 +0000

Zack, I really like Collison,Lawson and in a way Maynor, but here is the problem; L.Will. if not a p.g. is a 25 to 30 min. 2 guard for us and none of the guys I mentioned can probably play next to him like Ivey can. If you read Lawsons bio he is perfect in our uptempo, ball pressure style and IF they start L.Will. than Lawson would be a great backup, I think he is a better version of K.Lowry. As far as a shooter, we need an athlete that can shoot and there aren!t many of them available in the league right now. Dannie hinted last night that he is not sure where we need the shooter, I totally agree because if Iggy can play the 2 with his improved shooting than a 3/2 could work but if he and Thad are our three!s than it has to be a two that is our shooter.

By: Dannie

Dannie — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:24:32 +0000

Zack – I will try to address your points in a post I plan to write as soon as I get home tonight.

By: Zack

Zack — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:39:41 +0000

“[about Iggy]…I think it has a tiny bit to do with Brand being out and simply one less offensive player that needs the ball. More touches to gain a rhythm and get in a comfort zone…”

Dannie, it seems like you’re trying to downplay that cause-and-effect, but I don’t think anyone should, I think this is one of the main reasons the Sixers are playing well. The Sixers are full of guys that need their field goal attempts to be effective, and as you put it, to gain a rythm.

Put Brand in there, you can’t just add his numbers to what the Sixers are producing now, him getting playing time means other guys will produce less. So if you’re DiLeo, whose numbers do you cut to accomodate Brand? What’s the mix here? What you’re looking for is for Brand’s playing time to replace another guy’s (or guys’) PT and give more production – but where is that sweet spot? It’s a very, very interesting dilemma. My gut answer is to just completely take away Reggie Evans’ minutes and give it all to Brand for now.

suede, on espn.go.com about point guards. Given this crop, you really don’t wanna take a shot at one? Let me ask you this: how many of these guys are gonna be future all-stars (Paul, Williams)? How many will be better than average (Andre Miller, Rondo [but what is an average point guard, hmmm)? Let’s say 2 future all-stars and 2 better than average, but all 4 will be future starters. Let’s say the Sixers are picking in the middle of the draft – you don’t think one of those 4 will be around when the Sixers pick? And if one of them is around, do you not trust Stefanski, with his scouting talents, to pick him up? Like every other draft, the future studs won’t all be drafted in the first round, a lot of ‘em go in the middle rounds, and in this case, those future studs are point guards, which is arguably the most important position in the NBA.

About you wanting a shooter – think about all the past really good rookie marksmen. Having a hard time, right? That’s because there aren’t any. If we want a shooter I think we’ll have to go the free agent route, or do a trade. Plus, we want it to be a multi-dimensional shooter, I think this has been argued before, and it was a great point (whoever brought it up, that was a great point!) I don’t want Kareem Rush II, or Kyle Korver II, for that matter; give me the Robert Horry’s and the James Posey’s of the world!