Sixers Beat Washington But Where’s the Defense

Suede: On your question in last post about trading 1st round for Sessions…normally I’d agree with Danny…except for the fact that we don’t have all that many needs in the draft.  It’s pretty clear our biggest option we need is a PG to groom.  That…or maybe a backup C…but I’m content with Speights and a hopefully healthy Jason Smith next year for our backup bigs (and Ratliff, if we sign him for another 1 year deal). 

Given that…if you take a long look at the landscape of college PG’s this year…there are a lot of PG’s out there.  But I think most college analysts are getting one thing wrong when they say this year “is a deep PG class.”  It is a DEEP class…but I do NOT think it is an NBA “starting PG quality” class. I left a post a while back ranting about the top 15 or so PG prospects…and the only ones worth getting will probably be gone by the time the lottery rolls around.  And, call me crazy, I don’t think we are going to be a lottery team. 

I think Ramon Sessions is legit as a future starting NBA PG.  Far moreso than most coming out in the draft this year in the mid first round.  Thus, I would consider trading a #1 pick for him.  However, ideally it would have to be top 17 protected or so…or even better, our 2010 pick.   I’d also see how highly the Bucks value him…if we could trade a role player like Willie Green or a Jason Smith, and a 2nd rounder, or two 2nd rounders alone for Sessions…THAT I would do in a heartbeat. 

Many of the PG’s coming out of college are better athletes, have higher scout rankings, and could make good backups on NBA teams, or fill in as starters.   But that does not make up for the heady, mature play and bball IQ of someone like Sessions, who I think is very capable of actually being an NBA starter.

Lineup tonight: Since this whole team is on interim basis…I’d go a bit outside of the box and start Donyell Marshall at PF.  He can rebound with anyone, hit threes, lead by example, and has good bball IQ.  I’d want him getting 18-20 minutes…split the rest between Speights, Evans and Ratliff.  I think you have to put Speights or Marshall with Sammy at C because they offer more offense, whereas R. Evans and Ratliff are more defensive players.

Bski: I hope not.  I’m too depressed throwing, literally, last year’s starting lineup out there again.   Even if we do turn into that scrappy winning team again.  @!#$ing injury to Brand, bleck.

Dave T….Yep, that was the starting 5 all right.  I guess Stefanski and, by extension, DiLeo really believe that it’s not necessarily the players, the lineups, or the substitutions so much as it is about tightening things up, paying more attention to detail, and making everyone accountable.  It looks like it’s working for now, but making shots will do that for you.

Suede: I don’t understand the need to EVER give it to Iguodala and then clear out!  There isn’t one player on this team, except for Elton Brand (and only then sometimes) that we should be running regular clear out-ISO plays for.  This is not in our personnel.  God this team pisses me off! 

Bski: If that’s truly what Stefanski and DiLeo think (no way for us to know…they can say anything they want to the media and have 15 trade scenarios going on in the background haha), I’m 100% in agreement with them.  To me, our problem is not so much just the personnel, but more how we use our personnel,the discipline of our personnel, and the attitude / aggression of our personnel that has been the main problem.

I’m not discounting the fact that we very well may have the wrong fit of players together…but I don’t think we can truly judge that until we see these guys, with Brand, play up to their potential and be coached properly…which we obviously haven’t seen yet, unfortunately.

I think it is a lack of athleticism on Brands part, and size is certainly a problem.  Brand has had trouble all year when he is guarded by someone “lanky”.

On a positive note: Speights looks GOOD, really good.  He didnt reb well tonight, but his moves were right on time, I think we can all say that he is going to be a solid player.  I would personally like to see him start some games in the middle.  If you are going to only play Sammy 25 min pg why start him?

Suede & Ryan F: I 2nd big time what Dannie mentioned…this is a horrible…repeat…HORRIBLE  defensive Wizards team we just went against, so everything should be taken with a big ass grain of salt.  That said, I think both of you make good observations with a particular aspect of Speights game. 

Him being “open” or “moving to the right spots” does happen because he’s a different kind of player then Brand.  This is because he’s generally very active without the ball.  Donovan required him to do a lot of off the ball cutting, and running around to set screens for their trio of athletic, freshman guards last year at Florida. 

Speight’s athleticism really comes out in a particular way because of this: he’s very, very fast at moving around the court during half court sets, is excellent at V-cutting, and is great at selling a cuts to the defender and then zipping the opposite direction to flash to the high post. 

I don’t think this means Brand isn’t athletic at all though.  His style is just much more geared to setting great picks, and using his IQ to pick and choose spots on the floor to be at.  He is a player that can read where plays will unfold at a pretty high level for a PF, and will move accordingly.  So we see less “speed” from Brand, but his athleticism comes out with his quickness, when he has the ball in the high or midpost and makes one of his arrays of offensive moves. 

Because of Speights speed and athleticism, combined with Iggy’s, Lou’s and Thad’s, this is a HUGE reason why everyone on here was rightly yammering about how Mo was setting up an offense with this team.  When you have athletes, you want them MOVING, and running around cutting, setting picks, moving without the ball, in a well spaced manner. This is THE clear advantage  our team has, and I sincerely hope DiLeo, unlike Mo, takes advantage of this.

Being in DC, it was interesting to hear the Wizard announcers do the game.  One of their first reactions in the 1st quarter:   “this is a team that has athletes…and Iguodala, Young and Williams can be scary when they move around the court with aggression.”

Very entertaining game between 2 teams trying to find themselves.
- Want to see Lou Will become a 30+ minute player.
- Sammy’s back to himself after that 17 rebound effort in Delio’s first game.
- Speights shows why he has such a big upside. Love the quotes from teamate regarding his good listening skills(don’t remember reading that stuff regarding Sammy).  
 
 

Dave T- Yes the Wizards front is weak, I was going to say something about it the other night when Brand got his on them, but he still played a great game if you don’t look at the rebounds.  I’m not convinced he is the next “Amare” yet as Hollinger put it, but I do think that the guy has some talent and a bright future. I haven’t seen him make more than a handfull of bad decisions all year and he doesn’t force much, I think that is great for a rookie who is seeing as many minutes as him.

Dannie- I would like to see how you feel about Sammy, there hasn’t been much on here about him aside from the moans and groans in the comments.  Im interested in why his minutes just keep decreasing, I thought they would start to rise over the next month, but he only saw 12 last night.  Has the team decided that his lack of BBall IQ and stone hands are too risky for his 10 rbs pg?  Do you think this going to be a trend, what is his future with the team, does he have one?

Also, good game for IGG.  I am not even going to dare say it was because Brand was not there, not yet anyway.  His decision making and shot selection were better and he only took 1 3pt attempt.  He was attacking the rim more, even if he didnt get a shot up, he was making the right decision when he got there.  He attempted the most free throws so far this season and I do feel that has some to do with Brand’s 0 min and Dalembert’s 12 min in the paint.

Anyone headed to the game tonight?

Ryan,
 I think Sammy is a rotational player. Good for anywhere from 18-32 minutes depending on the matchups; However, I believe, he thinks he is more than that and when used that way he doesn’t give concentration or effort. It’s amazing to me with a Reggie Evans on the team that Sammy just can’t get it. I guess when rewarded that big contract he figured to be the man in the middle whether he performed or not. Just my spin. Curious to see other opinions. 
    

As someone mentioned on the radio recently, that Dalembert was kicked off of the Canadian national team by Rautins this past summer is an underreported story, and telling of both orgnization and beat writers’ coddling, and of his intractable will and questionable commitment (including continuing court “eccentricities”).  Both Ratliff and Speights serve employer better. 

Jumpin, Murphy has been a beast this year on the boards and Granger, well, Dannie said what we all would wish for already. A big McGinnis fan, I always wanted to see the George/ Doc battles from the A.B.A. . Jumpin, the “Remember the A.B.A. ” sight has some good stuff on the N.B.A./A.B.A. interleague series games. The Hubie Brown led Kentucky Colonels against the Cowens/Hondo/J.J.White Celtics as an example.

suede  Murphy and “beast” seem incompatible, but I take your word for it until I’m dissueded. 

George was great in the ABA and first 2 yrs. here (really elevated Sixers on arrival).  Puffin’ on cigarettes didn’t help his career any.  He and Dr. J was a marriage of commercial convenience, and beginning of his decline.

That’s a great website; easy place to lose hours.

Mel Daniels, Roger Brown, Bob Netolicky – all were very good players! 
 

Suede…I don’t think “vanilla” has anything to do with it.  It doesn’t matter to me if we’re too vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, or pistachio.  As long as we’re winning, you can find a way to validate any approach. 

I think you hit on it when you mentioned a “star”.  I think a guy  that commands the respect of the entire team is a necessity to win a championship.  There are a lot of guys that demand respect, but that doesn’t cut it.  You need a guy that gets the job done in his own right, leads by example, and holds everyone else to a higher standard.

Suede….Yeah, I don’t believe that you necessarily need a demonstrative, in your face leader, so that could work.  Since you brought up both Brand and Miller, I don’t know that having co-leaders wouldn’t work either, especially considering that we seem to be going with the Detroit model.

The bottom line for me is that there has to be someone (or more than one someone) who brings it every night.  Someone who plays through everything and delivers to the point that everyone on the roster feels like he is letting the team down if he does not pick up his game to match the focus, intensity, and dedication of the leader(s) and will listen and take to heart what he/they say.

Just getting into that John Wooden UCLA offense book – I’m not sure about how most NBA offenses run, but for the UCLA, it seems like you need at least one of your forwards to be very smart, with some handle, and to be a really good passer.  It just got me to thinking, maybe this is why Iguodala is so much better at the small forward position than Thad, because Thad just isn’t as smart, pass as well, or handle as well as Iguodala.  That forward isn’t the initiator of the offense, but he seems to be an important 2nd or 3rd step in a play, and he’s key when your first option is taken away because you often need to use him to reset the offense.

When you think about the teams that have been consistently good, they all seem to have that really smart forward with good passing ability: Boston with Garnett, Marion with the D’Antoni Suns, Duncan and the Spurs, Gasol and the Lakers, Detroit is blessed with two, LeBron.  Missing that type of player would explain the lack of success of the teams of certain players: Carmelo, Zach Randolph, Al Jefferson, Amare without Marion, Pierce w/Al Jefferson instead of Garnett.  It isn’t a perfect model, but I think the fit is pretty good.

To sum: Iggy can play the two, but when he does, we have no one left who can fill his role as well.  Bland and Thad are more like final-pass type of guys.

Zack, I agree with you on Iggy in 2 of the 3 things,  good passer and good handle, yes for the most part but disagree on him being [basketball smart]. Thad, I believe , is smarter because he doesn!t try to do what he can!t. I think Elton, when facing the basket, can fill the set up role but with his back to the basket he, to me anyway, has been a passing disappointment, although with more shooters around him he may feel less of a need to force things. What you describe is what I wish Iggy could become but I for one am not confident at the end of games with him in that role yet.

suede, the answers are obvious but I do agree with Dave that he plays better when given 28-34 minutes. Unfortunately, unless you have superstars around him, I don’t believe that translates into a championship. Don’t think you will win a championship building like Detroit(no top 5 star!) with him in the middle.

sfw…I think you might be able to as long as Sammy is the Ben Wallace of the starting 5.  Problem is, we aren’t close on the other 4 spots. (Well, a healthy Brand = Sheed in terms of overall production, but that’s about it.)

Blski, the 2 big problems with Sam being that role player [B.Wallace, Rodman,etc.] is #1] he doesn!t know his limitations; #2] he seems to hurt this team by not knowing his limitations. Last night he comes off the bench and first possession takes an 18 footer above the elbow. I don!t remember the Iavaroni!s,Wallaces and Rodman!s causing their teams problems like him.The closest center to him that I remember winning a title was C. Ray and that was with a great player [R.Barry].