This afternoon’s game against the Raptors is the first is a 3 game set that is sneakingly important to the long-term future of the team.
We have the Raptors tonight, Indiana Tuesday and the Bobcats Wednesday. These three games are “winnable” if the Sixers bring even their B+ game. We can’t have that.
Right now the Sixers are on a 5 game losing streak and these three games are critical if we want the team to reach the goal of losing 10 streak for the second time this season.
A 10-game losing streak and a 12-game losing streak in the same season by a team with this payroll and even modest expectation to be a fringe playoff team should be all the evidence ownership needs to shit-can Jordan and Stefanksi. On top of that it continues standings decline to a better draft pick. This is all for the betterment of the squad long term.
See, I’ve been having this terrible nightmare that at the end of the current nightmare, an even worse one will ensue.
Ed Stefanski, still here calling the shots.
Eddie Jordan, still here coaching the team.
76ers, remain doomed for failure.
Has this thought not at all crossed your mind?
Have you gotten comfortable with a false sense of security that it’s a forgone conclusion that at the very least Eddie Jordan will be fired? I have. But this nightmare keeps running through my mind as well. It’s scary.
About the Game
Bosh should be back from his ankle sprain and stomach bug for today’s game. Hedo will be a game time decision with his own ankle sprain. The Raptors have gone through a tough stretch of games against good teams without Bosh. They’ve lost 4 of their last 5.
This is your game thread.
Sam benched for undisclosed disciplinary reasons?
Sam’s not starting because of disciplinary reasons?? Now EJ decides to grow a pair? This team makes me LOL
The Raps have not brought their game today. I’m not going to openly root for another team but come on…
Raptors need to start ballin’. Don’t they know they have something to play for?!
The thought of E.S. staying here is a lot worse than the thought of EJ staying here, to me at least. Stefanski at least tried to make the team better… he just signed the wrong person. I have been given no evidence that EJ has even attempted to guide this team in the right direction.
Nice games by Jrue, Igoudala and Thad. Shame they had to come in a winning effort. Maybe they can make it up against Indy?
It actually upsets me that this team won, that’s so wrong but I can’t help it. This year is a wash might as well focus on next year. I was really hoping we could go on a solid losing steak and maybe sneak back into a top 5 pick but no one below us seems to want to win either…I guess that’s what happens when you suck.
Howard eskin said the sixers are def firin EJ, but wil wait until the seasons end.
He said the top 4 choices are Jay Wright, stan van gundy, doug collins, and avery johnson.
I still thnik the 76ers biggest problem is the players stuck here, then the coach and/or gm. But at least they may be changing things up.
Wright would be an idiot to jump in with the Sixers now.
I personally don’t like Stan Van, I don’t think Doug Collins is anything special and same with Avery Johnson.
I also think Eskin is an asshole who loves to hear himself talk.
Yea, sounds like they want a coach with experience, but once they all turn them down, the next “list” will be the key. Hopefully yesterday!s Holliday performance can become the norm in the next few years, he seems to be more aggressive lately.
Stan Van Gundy?
He currently has a job – a good one. Do you mean Jeff Van Gundy?
I would assume he does, though he was saying this is what Eskin said, so that wouldn’t shock me if Eskin was that stupid.
Personally, and I can’t believe I am saying this, but I would actually take Jeff Van Gundy over the other 3 choices.
Though I have been lobbying for Tom Thibodeau for what seems like forever.
Speaking of signing the wrong guy…Did anyone see the Oop Josh Smith plucked out of the air one handed and just pounded it home all with the same hand on Saturday? You tube that. Wouldve loved him in Red, White, and Blue.
Quick thought on the Raptors game: this team has this personality quirk where they react to an attention-drawing performance by a teammate (Thad and his 32 points agains the Raps) by “suppressing” that teammate somehow in the next couple of games. I didn’t get excited at all that when I saw that under “ESPN Headlines” they highlighted Thad’s 32 points, because I know I’m not seeing a repeat anytime soon. It should really be a confidence booster for Thad; I’d like to imagine an assistant coach sitting down with him and going over the video and constantly saying stuff like, “You see that move right there, no one can stop that, why don’t you do that more often… Check out your defense here, your ball awareness – see how that leads to some easy fastbreak points?”
If we get John Wall and he’s the bright shiny superstar everyone expects him to be, will Iguodala get in his way, and we’ll have to trade Iguodala like we did Jerry Stackhouse?
Does anyone out there know if the Sixers sent someone to the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference? I would really like it if one day, someone from the Sixers’ organization is considered “smart” enough to be invited to be a panel member there.
Some thoughts based on what I’ve read so far:
Morey makes a great point in an exchange with Silverman: With more and more people better able to predict how good any particular team will be, it’s tougher than ever to convince fans of bad teams that their team has a chance. A lot of tickets are sold on “hope and faith” and that can be hard to come by in some cities.
I think that’s very true regarding the Sixers and Philadelphia. Philly fans know their basketball, even if they can’t have a keyboard argument with some jerk on a blog about it. They know when a player is overpaid, or when a team just isn’t good enough; they know when a coach is bad, and the difference between a fun team and a boring team.
Maybe Avery Johnson won’t be so bad, but will he come to a team that doesn’t use advanced stats like the Sixers (or do they?):
Wayne Winston began peppering Johnson about advanced plus/minus and what it revealed about various lineup combinations…
And Johnson listened, especially in the first round of the 2005 playoffs, when the stats showed Johnson the Rockets were killing Dallas by inserting Jon Barry at the four and going small. Johnson responded by pulling Erick Dampier and shifting Dirk Nowitzki to center whenever Barry entered the game.
But in the Mavs’ infamous first-round loss to Golden State two seasons later? “I got burned when following the advanced stats,” Johnson says. Winston’s numbers showed that during the regular season, the Warriors had smoked the usual Dallas starting lineup, which featured Dampier at center. In a decision he now regrets, Johnson adjusted his starting lineup for Game 1 by benching Dampier and starting Nowitzki at center. The Mavs lost. Johnson, though, stands by the decison. “It was the right move,” he insists. Still, he reversed course for Game 2 and went back to the normal starting lineup. Dallas won, and Johnson believes the Mavs played better because they were — psychologically — more comfortable with Damp at center. “Everybody had freaked out” at the Game 1 lineup change, Johnson says.
I can live with a coach like that.
A quick response to Bill Simmons’ piece about how to fix the NBA: he says all the following players were mistake signings:
Andre Iguodala, Emeka Okafor, Elton Brand, Andrei Kirilenko, Tyson Chandler, Larry Hughes, Michael Redd, Corey Maggette and Luol Deng, Brian Cardinal, Darko Milicic, Bobby Simmons, Eddy Curry, Kenny Thomas, T.J. Ford, Mark Blount, Etan Thomas, Andres Nocioni, Tony Battie, Adam Morrison, Marcus Banks, Marko Jaric, Matt Carroll, Jerome James, Mike James, Jason Kapono, DeSagana Diop, Dan Gadzuric, Tracy McGrady, Gilbert Arenas, Rasheed Wallace, Jermaine O’Neal, Charlie Villanueva, Ben Gordon
What was the alternative? To lose all of them to another team? After pondering that for a bit, I think the answer is undoubtedly “yes”. I think the rough championship plan would be to get 3~4 championship-caliber players and surround them with role players who make substantially less, like ~$1-2M a year. That group of role players would come from both draft picks and free agents. And they have to complement the 3~4 stars. That means we should’ve let Lou Williams go. Jason Smith and Speights go when they’re rookie contracts are up. Unless Thad is knocking on the door to Carmelo Anthony-like greatness, then we should let him go, too. Same goes for Jrue Holiday – if he’s not the next Jason Kidd, then he also goes. Just make sure you have replacements ready that you drafted or signed cheaply as free agents; if you’re a really good team some of those replacements will come from Europe or South America (Israel, China?); the D-League, also.
Jordan being fired at the end of the season temporarily refuted.
I, too, have this fear that they’ll put together a win streak that might save Ed and Eddie’s Jobs. You can never underestimate Sixer Management when it comes to making a bonehead move.
Right now we’re very close to obtaining a top 5 pick, but we all know they’re not going to blow any games, no matter how beneficial it is. So there’s a good chance we’ll end up with something like the 8th pick, which means will get a pretty good player, which is OK, but I’d love to get Evan Turner and put him at the 2.
As far as a new coach goes, if we decide to fire Jordan, something I consider mandatory, we should also fire Ed Stefanski. Based on the way Ed handled the Mo Cheeks fiasco, along with his subsequent selection of Eddie Jordan, I have no confidence that he is competent enough to make a good hire, and we cannot afford another screw-up.
Steve, what bothers me, and tk has been saying this, is if E.S.!s job is on the line than hiring a retread is safer than finding the next great young coach from the assistants around the league and guys like Turner, Thibedeax and Corbin won!t even get a call.