Well, it happened. And now Stephen A. is prophecizing that Eddie Jordan will eventually be named the new Sixers head coach.
I don't know, man. EJ certainly overachieved in D.C. last year with Gil out. But this season has been a mess. Historically, while he's achieved some great things as an ASSISTANT coach, he's done very little at the helm.
Look at his head-coaching record:
-- 518 games
-- .444 win %
-- 4 playoff appearances
-- 3 first-round exits
Not exactly Red Auerbach numbers.
I do believe that EJ can help get this offense clicking. But will he stress an overall improvement in jump shooting? Will he stress D? Will he stress ball protection? These are all things that are killing the Sixers right now, and Fast Eddie doesn't really seem like the man who'll provide the needed remedies. Jot me down as "concerned."
As a final note, I thought this kid's analysis was particularly insightful:
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6 comments:
It's interesting how, since the beginning of the season we went from "maybe the Sixers will be contenders in the East" to "well, it'd be nice if they make the playoffs, even though a lottery pick wouldn't hurt". My crystal ball shows slightly above .500 ball for the rest of the season with the Erz coming in somewhere between the 7 and 9 spot.
If they don't go out and get a coach, they've basically burned a year where we could be making progress as a playoff team. Brand will also be a year older next year. I think we're agreed that Elton has a 2 year window of being a max player. I still like our team on paper, with another move or two, but what exactly are we trying to do?
Boston's got the East on lock this year. And if not them the Cavs. So, we're playing for next year, and the year after that. The problem is, if we give upon this year that's another year for Orlando and Atlanta to get better. Like us, Toronto appears to be a mirage. But the Hawks and Magic are legit, and young, and only gonna get harder tobeat after another year of playoff battles. Somehow we've taken a step back, 3-4 months after we took a big step forward.
It was still a step forward. It's just that the step is like a seed that's not bearing fruit yet. We need the right farmer. And really, we need to alter a few other variables to make the conditions right for success.
First, as I've said ten million times (one for every dollar he makes each year), Sammy gots to go. I suggest we offer him to Chicago -- a team that needs frontcourt bad -- for Kirk Hinrich, an above-average PG who's riding the pine right now behind star rook Derrick Rose. (Wait, wait -- hear me out.)
Now...'Dre. If we can pull off the Hinrich trade, we effectively kill two birds: replace the PG who's itching to leave anyway, and free ourselves from $10M in salary. So let 'Dre walk. Kirk is more than capable of running this offense. Let's use that $10M to go after the last missing piece: a true go-to guy. A scorer. Preferably, a lightning-fast 2-guard who can take over games for stretches, make tough shots, and drives defenses insane with frustration.
And what a great story it would make if A.I. came home to fill that roll and spend his last good year or two (along with Elton's) to pursue a ring.
Ladies and germs, your 2009-10 Philadelphia 76ers:
1 -- Hinrich
2 -- Iverson
3 -- Iguodala
4 -- Brand
5 -- Evans
With Thaddeus, Lou, and Speights coming off the bench. (Plus Rush or Donyell if you need some long shooting, and Jason Smith or Theo to rest the frontcourt.)
Who doesn't like this? And it's certainly within the realm of possibility.
Here are three trades with the Bulls that are better, and all possible according to the Trade Machine. 1) Sammy for Tyrus and Nocionni 2) Sammy for Noah and Nocionni 3) Sammy for Noah, Nocionni and Sefalosa.
Paying Hinrich $10M is .... I'm not even goign to dignify that.
I like Noah better than Tyrus, but would take either as a cheaper solution than Sammy. Nocionni would help us with some toughness and shooting from downtown. Sefalosa is a nice prospect who Chicago may be willing to part with if desperate enough. But his contract is not necessary for the deal. Even if you have to draft the best rookie pg you can get your hands on, you still would have a lineup of:
Noah/Ty (Theo, J. Smith)
Elton (Speights, Reggie)
Igoudala (Thad, Donyell)
Willie (Noccioni, Rush))
Dre/rookie (Lou, Ivey)
That's a team that shoots a little bit better from the outside and has only 2 overpaid max players instead of 3. From there you can let Dre walk and/or use soem of those young pieces to get impact players.
Dude, how is that team better?
You still have no go-to guy, and now you don't have a PG either (after 'Dre walks). All that happened here is that one ridiculous contract got turned into two smaller, marginally valuable contracts -- like when BK traded Deke's worn-out old ass to the Nets for Van Horn and Todd Mac. Remind me: how did that turn out?
Kirk Hinrich is a little overpaid at $10M. But such a trade, given how Sammy's and Dre's contracts are written, would allow us to keep a reliable floor general at the helm while shedding the single worst contract we have right now -- money we could use to recruit a difference maker this off season.
This is bad how? You ain't just hatin' on a white boy now, is you?
Ya got me. I hate white basketball players. They're dominating the league; not leaving any playing time for the brothas.
No seriously, what I hate is the idea of getting rid of one overpaid player to take on another. If we can complain that Sammy is overpaid, how can we seriously consider taking on a $10M PG who can't cover anybody and is currently riding the pine? If he made half what he does, I'd like the idea of picking him up. To quote Simmons, "where are you going if your three max players are Elton Brand, Andre Igoudala and Kirk Hinrich?" Answer: not even as far as we're going now.
At least my deals gives us a little more flexibility and replaces the player leaving with at least by at least 75% of his production and potential. Like it or not, 'Dre has been our best, most reliable, player by far for the past two years. Without him we would be terrible right now, not just lackluster. I don't think we have to keep him to be good, but if we replace him with lesser talent, it better be on the cheap so we can get a quality shooter. Replacing him with a lesser player that makes more money makes is just assinine. You're better than that. You also threw Chuck into your plan. Again, just foolhardy. What does he do for us, except make us remember 2001? He can't shoot consistently from outside. He hides the rock under his pillow at the start of every game. Start over, G. Get back to the drawing board.
Here's a trade that would actually help us, and might be possible given Larry's Brown's strong desire to dump Gerald Wallace.
Sammy and Royal Ivey (an LB guy if I've ever seen one) for Gerald Wallace and DJ Augustine.
We get our PG of the very near future. We can either let 'Dre walk or trade him at the deadline in a Godfather deal. Also, we get a shooting guard who can actually shoot. This trade creates a logjam on the wing and a need for size in the front court, but we're more talented and we lose two of our max contracts by the end of the year.
In the short term we trot out
'Dre (Augustine)
Wallace (Lou, Rush)
Iggy (Donyell, Willie)
Elton (Thad, Reggie)
Speights (Theo, J. Smith)
That team would still need tweaking, but here's a couple things we know. Iggy is more comfortable at the 3. If we want to make it work with him, we need an explosive scorer who can compliment him and take over the game for periods of time. Enter Wallace. Thad becomes part of our bench mob, and, like Lou, plays 25 minutes a game floating between the 3 and 4. You can't play Lou and Augustine at the same time, but then agai maybe you can when you need to score some points.
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