tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56401077479301366362024-03-13T08:31:08.603-04:00Philly Sports PostYour home for all things Philly sports, but don't expect a lot of hockey.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050524586679441764noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-59138879522846255492011-02-09T12:19:00.003-05:002011-02-09T12:28:22.936-05:00<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TVLOivtvUFI/AAAAAAAAAK8/6r-J_SIk-b4/s1600/Iggy%2Bheat.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 278px; height: 181px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TVLOivtvUFI/AAAAAAAAAK8/6r-J_SIk-b4/s320/Iggy%2Bheat.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571742785329909842" /></a><br /> The Sixers put a king-sized ass whipping on the Hawks last night in Atlanta. They have pretty much guaranteed themselves a playoff spot with their improved play, although winning a series remains a pipe dream. But next year…<span id="fullpost"> <br /><br /> Next season the Sixers have the players in place to host a playoff series and be real contenders to represent the Eastern Conference as the team that loses to the Heat before Miami goes on to the finals. The Celtics are an older bunch, and hopefully getting closer to a time when their big 3 is merely Rondo, Perkins, and Davis. The Magic are the most likely team to drop off, since next season they’ll be under the same gun currently aimed at downtown Denver. If Dwight Howard appears poised to leave for greener pastures the tension could cause the team to under perform. <br /><br /> The Sixers must do their part in all this. The young guys such as Jrue Holiday, Lou Williams, Evan Turner and Thad Young must continue to improve. The Sixers have to resign Thad, or at least manufacture a sign and trade that recoups his value. Elton Brand is the only main contributor that you could see regress with age, the rest of the team should improve with another year under their belts, and as Brand slips off a touch, he’ll just have to sacrifice more of his minutes to Thaddeus Young until Thad eventually ends up as our starting power forward. <br /><br /> Andre Iguodala has played out of his mind recently, and deserves serious consideration for defensive player of the year, and, if this play continues, a spot in the 2012 all-star game. Andre is the team’s leader, but he isn’t a traditional star. Iggy is very unselfish, which makes him a dangerous playmaker, but also prevents him from being an elite scorer. As long as Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams can keep scoring in the teens nightly, then the Sixers shouldn’t be adversely affected by Iggy’s style of play. Ideally I’d like to see Jrue Holiday play like a second shooting guard if Iguodala is going to control the offense. I think Jrue should probably be given more direction to shoot the basketball, and I want Jrue to emerge as the team’s leader in both scoring and field goal attempts. <br /><br /> The Sixers will have a solid rotation of Iggy, Brand, Young, Jrue, Lou, ET, and Jodie Meeks. You may have picked up the issue with that rotation, that there aren’t any big men listed. Mo Speights will return next season, but Mo isn’t a starter, he is another high-energy offensive minded reserve. Which is ok, if you can get somebody starting with more talent then Spencer Hawes. Looking around the Eastern Conference, the Sixers have to contend with Shaq & Perkins, Dwight Howard, Al Horford, and Amare. Spencer Hawes is not up to the task, and the Sixers must upgrade if they want to get to the next level. Currently on the trade market, it appears Chris Kaman and Marcus Camby may be available, although neither would be a long term solution. In the free agency pool this off season there will be Perkins, Tyson Chandler and Yao Ming, but the Sixers can’t afford anybody under the cap right now. <br /><br /> By not trading anybody thus far the Sixers have grown into a nice little team, and one that should only improve with time. It will be up to the front office to find moves that fix the team’s glaring issue in the middle, while maintaining the rest of a fairly talented roster. Rod Thorn has a history of making savvy moves, let’s hope he has one or two more in him, since that may be all this team needs.<br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-9110024239739798432011-02-01T12:23:00.004-05:002011-02-01T16:23:45.642-05:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TUhctLuKRrI/AAAAAAAAAK0/rgBFTC9e04k/s1600/iggy.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 263px; height: 191px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TUhctLuKRrI/AAAAAAAAAK0/rgBFTC9e04k/s320/iggy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568802870553888434" /></a><br /> The Philadelphia 76ers, a team predicted by just handful of NBA writers and experts to make the playoffs, have a record thus far of 21-26. The Sixers are currently in position to be the 7th seed in the playoffs, and are playing much better basketball than the handful of teams currently chasing them in the standings. For me, the Sixers are a very rare team in that they are both underachieving and underrated.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br /> This team has struggled in close games, which is a combination of young players learning how to win and veterans forgetting how to get it done. Late in games your “best player” Elton Brand has failed to come through time and time again. I like Elton and appreciate the hard work he is putting in, but Brand isn’t getting it done late in games when the veterans are supposed to step up. Andre Iguodala, who has been injured for much of the season, has returned and he is playing some of the best basketball of his career, naturally the fans eyes have turned to him to fix these late game woes. <br /><br /> Three of our late game meltdowns go beyond ‘growing pains’, they get filed away as ‘full scale nuclear meltdowns’. Detroit on January 8th, Orlando on Jan 19th, and Memphis on Jan 28th, those are the three that are indictments of this team’s lack of leadership. In Detroit, Lou Williams had two free throws to close the game out and missed both. In Orlando the Sixers were up 5 with under 30 seconds to play and couldn’t close. Against Memphis, at home no less, they blew a 22 point lead to an inferior opponent. These losses aren’t your average meltdowns, they are EPIC breakdowns. If anyone paid attention to the team, or supported their playoff push, they would be beside themselves. If this were the Eagles that lost games in this fashion Mayor Nutter would have to call in the national guard. <br /><br /> One of the biggest stories of the season has been the resurgence of the New York Knicks and Amar’e Stoudemire’s emergence as an MVP candidate. Without those three losses the Sixers would be 21-10 in their last 31 games, and they’d be a game behind New York for the 6th seed going into a home and home this weekend. This is again evidence of the lack of attention the Sixers get, if the Sixers overtake the Knicks, how much consideration will Andre Iguodala get for MVP, any? Did you chuckle at the thought? Andre Iguodala can’t even get mentioned for all-star consideration let alone MVP talk. In fact, I will bet the farm that Iguodala doesn’t even get a spot on the second all-defense team. <br /><br /> The chance to undo what has been done is not going to appear, with just those three wins back the Sixers would be 5 ½ games behind Atlanta and 5 behind Orlando, tough but not impossible defecits to erase given their overall improved play, but 8 ½ and 9 game holes are indeed too deep to climb out of. So the Sixers will set their sights on .500 and the Knicks in the 6th seed. Andre Iguodala is going to be given the chance to lead the team to those goals, as Doug Collins has announced Andre will play more as a point-forward. <br /><br /> From this point forward (See what I did there? A pun!) the term growing pains is not allowed in the team’s vocabulary, instead the team must lose that comfort, they must lose the chance to shrug losses off and not take it personally. Iguodala scorched his teammates the other night after the loss to Memphis, and now he is being given control of the team on the floor as well as in the locker room. Iguodala now must take this opportunity and make the most of it, Iggy needs to drop triple-doubles weekly, and get this team winning as much as possible. The Sixers need to finish 6th in the eastern conference and hope that they can upset a young Bulls team that hasn’t yet won a playoff series under superstar and likely league MVP Derrick Rose. Andre Iguodala needs to show the NBA that he isn’t a second tier talent, and that he needs to be mentioned among the league’s most dynamic wing players right after Wade, James, Anthony, Bryant, and Durant. The remainder of this season is a chance for the Sixers, and Iggy, to show that they have been, thus far, underrated and that they have underachieved. These final 35 games also are a chance to shake those labels, and announce that they (the team and Iguodala individually) are up to the challenge of being one of the best in the East.</span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-36829104212039897802011-01-27T10:35:00.004-05:002011-01-27T11:06:06.893-05:001/26 Vs. The Raptors<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TUGXGKsf0oI/AAAAAAAAAKo/XNNvKKr_IvM/s1600/Big%2BMo.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 224px; height: 224px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TUGXGKsf0oI/AAAAAAAAAKo/XNNvKKr_IvM/s320/Big%2BMo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566896746612642434" /></a><br />I'm going to leave out any entries that are not much more than play-by-play. For those that actually read this stuff, feel free to drop a line and give your opinion on the column, how it reads and how to improve it.<span id="fullpost"><br /><br /><strong>Pregame-</strong> First off, we can not lose three straight games to a team as poor as the Raptors. The Sixers have looked good lately, which makes me worry that they have one of their meltdowns in store tonight. The pregame show has the guys talking about Elton Brand, referring to him as Mr. Reliable, I am not so high on Elton at the moment. I was digging into the numbers in an attempt to support my theory that Brand disappears after the 1st quarter. Ultimately, Brand’s production dips in the middle of games which makes sense since his minutes also wane during the 2nd and 3rd quarters, but Elton is damn near nonexistent in the 4th quarter. Just 2.3 points per game in the fourth quarter for Brand, a distressing number considering how many tight contests the Sixers have been in, and how many of those they have lost.<br /><br /><strong>1st Quarter-</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Same starting lineup as always, I’m so sick of Hawes. What happened to him, where is the guy from the first half of December? Although what does it say about Mo Speights, that in spite of Hawes’ consistently disappointing play Mo can’t get himself into the starting five.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Iggy with a steal and a powerful dunk. If we’re going to make Iguodala into the NBA’s Darrelle Revis, then we should steal the nickname as well. Iguodala Island?<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> Jrue and Elton collide while trying to secure a rebound, Raptors regain possession. This game is being played very sloppily and with a very frantic pace.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> The Sixers are flying these past few minutes. Hawes, Jrue, and Brand all with big dunks. In fact we aren’t doing much on offense aside from the handful of slams.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> The Sixers look like shit. Aside from a few nice assists on those slam dunks, the team isn’t defending well or executing anything resembling an offensive play.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> This game sucks, this is no fun to watch at all.<br /><br /><strong>End of the 1st-</strong> Just a god awful quarter for the Sixers. After the great victory over Phoenix on Monday, they come out tonight with an absolute turd of a 1st quarter. Anyway, it stands 29-20, Toronto is up after 12 minutes.<br /><br /><strong>2nd Quarter-</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> The Sixers have been pounding the front of the rim tonight, almost all of their misses have been short.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Jrue with a nice runner, ET to Mo for an easy 2, the Sixers look MUCH better, but I’m still going to be pissy.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> Speights with an offensive rebound, and a three-point play on the putback! Iggy sets up Mo for 2 more, and Speights has 9 in less than 5 minutes.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Sixers are on a 13-2 run to open the quarter, and take the lead. Where was this team in the 1st quarter.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> More for Mo Speights! 13 now! My boy looks crazy good! Btw, Brand's best quarter this season was good for 14 points. As long as I decided to rip on Brand, why let up now?<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Speights with a pair of free throws, and then a putback. 17 points for Mo, all in this quarter!<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> I think the Raptors just had someone stab Mo Speights to slow him down. Mo off to the locker room to treat his bloody arm, not sure how that actually happened.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> WTF? DeMar DeRozan has 15 points tonight. What is it about mediocre guards that torments this team? Put his ass on Iguodala Island!<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> A few good hard fouls by the Sixers, not all of them called, I love to see hard physical play like that. Brand shows his tough streak by flat out shoving a man aside with both hands to grab a board.<br /><br /><strong>Halftime-</strong> Half ends tied up at 50-50. <br /><br /><strong>3rd Quarter-</strong><br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Jrue Holiday comes out shooting this half and now has 14 points. <br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Iguodala with a pair a baskets, one of them a badass dunk. Iguodala is now up to 13, which he has done with a mix a powerful dunks and a few long jumpers.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Now its Brand with back to back buckets, one of them after a sweet behind the back pass from Iggy at the top of the key down to Brand in the low post.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Iggy with a steal and he pushes up court into a possession that eventually ends with Hawes at the foul line. After Spencer hits 1 of 2, the Sixers are up 6. I feel like that lead should be bigger, I’m afraid this one could tighten up and then who knows how this one ends.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> The Sixers are on a 9-0 run to push the lead up to 10, a pair of Lou Williams three pointers in the heart of that run.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Iggy with a strong rebound, that leads to another Lou three pointer, that makes it 78-68 Sixers.<br /><br /><strong>End of 3rd Quarter-</strong> ET and Mo return and each hit a jumper. Turner with 4 points, Mo has 19. Lou and DeRozan both hit jumpers in the final 7 seconds to take us into the 4th quarter with the Sixers up 84-76.<br /><br /><strong>4th Quarter-</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Mo has 6 boards to go with the 19 points,, I’m rooting for a double-double. Lineup to start the 4th is Lou, ET, Mo, Thad, and Meeks.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> ET is playing great right now, he has recently nailed a short jumper, threw an alley oop pass to Speights, and then ended up at the line for 2 free throws. 8 points for Turner.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> DeRozan hit’s a jumper that gives him 27 points. Holy hell that’s an insane amount.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Mo now has 23 points and 9 boards, just one more and he’ll have his first double double of the season.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> The Sixers are up 12, yet they miss back to back three point attempts. I’m not sure those are the shots you want to be shooting with your team up big.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Brand scores a deuce, I guess that takes care of him for the night since he only scores 2 points a game in the 4th.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> Brand now with 14 points, including 4 in this quarter. I like Elton, but he has been held scoreless in 14 of 43 4th quarters so far this year. That's a third of the Sixers' games.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Raptors cut the lead to 8, and I can feel my butthole begin to pucker.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> Jrue eases my fears. He gets his 11th assist, then picks Calderon’s pocket forcing a clear path foul. Great sequence by Jrue.<br /><br /><strong>End of the 4th-</strong> ET just got punched in the face grabbing a board, but no matter since this game is over. What a great job by the Sixers, 1st quarter aside, they looked as good as they did against Phoenix. Doug Collins only used nine guys tonight, which isn't surprising given how well his reserves played. Speaking of, the Sixers reserves outplayed the starters for a second straight game, over the past two games the bench has scored 116 points in 211 minutes while the starters have given the team 96 points in 270 minutes. The Sixers are now 20-25, and are close to getting to .500. The next three games are certainly winnable, home against Memphis and Denver, and then a road game at the Nets. After that the Sixers would need to sweep a home-and-home with the Knicks and they would be back to .500, of course if that happens then they may even have the 6th seed. <br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-46998283806053996752011-01-25T02:42:00.003-05:002011-01-25T03:09:45.253-05:0048 in 48 (CSN permitting) Sixers vs. Suns<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TT6FGdRH7HI/AAAAAAAAAKg/s5vAlPKSXU0/s1600/jrue.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 259px; height: 195px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TT6FGdRH7HI/AAAAAAAAAKg/s5vAlPKSXU0/s320/jrue.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566032535458671730" /></a><br /><div><strong>Pregame-</strong> I’ve been thinking lately that maybe its time for Iggy to take 18 shots or so a game. I’d like to see if he can ever be a 22 points per game player on offense. So let’s up the usage rate and see what happens, although I will admit that Iggy has struggled in the past when he forces his offense. Also, I’d like to see Elton Brand maybe play less in the second and third quarters, because he isn’t a factor late in games. Elton seems to score 8-10 points every first quarter, yet he rarely gets to 20. Maybe I’ll look at the numbers this week on an off day, rather than just talking anecdotally.<br /><font id="fullpost"><br /><br /><strong>First Quarter</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Ugh, four quick points for Robin Lopez, two of them off the offensive glass. No changes to the starting line-up, btw.<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> Um, not that shot Iggy. That was a 20-foot brick early in the possession, shoot more, but smart, please.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Brand in rhythm early, as usual.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> A Channing Frye three-pointer makes it 11-4 Phoenix with just three minutes gone by.<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Nash drives, draws attention, kicks it to a wide open Grant Hill who dribbles closer then knocks down a mid-range jumper. We should be learning, we shoot too many long twos. When the Sixers are open they often just catch and shoot, if they’d just dribble two steps closer, they’d get much easier shots.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Iggy 0 for 3 early, making me glad I didn’t write that full article about Iggy and usage rates and him needing to shoot more.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Iggy finds Jodie wide open for a three-pointer. The shot misses, but it was a great job by Iggy to draw defenders and then find the open man.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Brand with 8 so far. I’m afraid he’s going to finish with just 16. Speaking of 16, Mo Speights has been in for a few minutes now.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Out of the first TV timeout with Iggy, Jrue, ET, Thad, and Mo on the floor and the Sixers down 19-12. Ok, make that 19-14 after an ET jumper.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> Jrue to the rim for 2, cuts the lead to 19-18. I love when we play poor defensive teams, this will be a fun game to watch.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> ET with a pull-up J at the foul line, making him 2 for 2 early. I wonder if Hawes is going to score tonight.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> TV timeout after ET puts Jared Dudley on the floor. We are back and Lou Williams enters the game just in time to miss a shot during the final possession of the quarter.<br /><br /><strong>End of the 1st-</strong> Another assist for ET, his second. Lou hit’s a quick jumper to get the Sixers the final possession, and so he can shoot a long two. WOW! ET with the final shot, a fade away from the foul line with Vince Carter covering him tightly. That would be an airball, why isn’t Lou shooting there?<br /><br /><strong>Second Quarter</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Nocioni scores for the first time since 1/8 in Detroit. Nocioni, ET, Lou, Thad, and Mo make up the current group on the floor.<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> ET with a miss, I hope he keeps on shooting. A Thad Young steal ends with a Mo Speights putback.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Elton Brand back in, and he puts the thump on Dudley. Elton is the toughest dude we have by far.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> ET with another jumper for 2. Nice shot, but maybe you could move in a step before firing that long a two-point shot.<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Elton with a very tough inside basket, and the foul. FT will follow the commercial, technical foul on Alvin Gentry. So the Sixers may get a FOUR POINT PLAY!<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Thad carves his way through the defense, and puts the Sixers up 10. That seems high, is it really 10? I feel like that number snuck up on me.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Well the lead is quickly down to 5.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Wow! Nash just drilled a 38-foot jumper with 1 second left on the shot clock. So nonchalant.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> ET gets aggressive and gets in close before shooting the jumper. A ton of minutes for ET so far.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> Jrue steal and lay-up. ET with a board, passes to Iggy who gives Thad a beautiful lob for the oop. Big dunk there. Thad Young steals the ball and he just misses returning the favor and lobbing to Iggy. Iggy to the line after that one.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> ET continues to smother Grant Hill on defense, he got at least one block on that sequence. Btw, Brand now has 13 points on 6 of 8 shooting.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> Back from the break and ET, Lou, Jrue, Iggy and Thad are out there for a tiny line-up. So Thad Young is playing Center. Thad with back-to-back scores, I think we can say Thad is now the team’s most productive center tonight by far!<br /><br /><strong>End of 2nd-</strong> Lou connects on a lob to Thad, Gortat answers with a jumper over the shorter Thad Young at the horn, so we go to the break with the Sixers up 61-47. Great first half for the Sixers. ET scored 10, Thad had 14, Elton with 13 , and Lou has 8.<br /><br /><strong>Halftime-</strong> Yay! Brian James and his rotating head. We need more of that play for sure. The Sixers looked awesome that half. If things tighten up, I’d like to see Iguodala step up.<br /><br /><strong>3rd Quarter</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Hawes sitting to start the half. Thad still at center?<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> That 14 point lead has dwindled to 9 pretty quickly.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Brand (our center) with a bucket, a board, and another bucket. 17 points for Brand.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> Thad with a fancy bounce pass to Iggy for a vicious slam. Brand has 19 now, can he break 20 and make a jerk out of me?<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> The Sixers look really good, they’re playing stingy, aggressive defense, running when they can, and hitting open jumpers. I’ll apologize in advance for jinxing the team, sorry everybody.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> The Suns have Frye at center vs. Brand, the Sixers should post Brand up often. Steal by Jrue who alley oops to Iggy,l spectacular two hand finish by Iguodala.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Another steal by Jrue, that makes 5 now in all. Jrue finds Meeks who misses a three, and eventually ends up at the foul line an offensive rebound and a scrum. ET back in. Jrue with steal number six, and takes it coast to coast for two.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Suns break out the zone defense. Two consecutive turnovers for the Sixers, I’m not sure that Phoenix is to blame for that, however.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Lou Williams for 3! Jrue just misses his 7th steal, but even without the steal Jrue disrupted that Suns’ possession.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> Why aren’t we attacking the Suns down low? ET hit’s a jumper and now has 12.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> It looks like Collins might have decided to rest Iggy and his Achilles tendon. Foul on Jared Dudley, and in comes Iggy, that’s funny.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> 7th steal for Jrue (not actually a steal, I have learned), an assist to Brand. And the foul! 22 points for Elton!<br /><br /><strong>End of 3rd-</strong> Sixers don’t foul despite having one to give, and Nash drains a 3 at the buzzer. Still, the Sixers head into the 4th quarer up 87-70<br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Lou Williams joins the defensive effort by bodying up the bigger Josh Childress, and Lou blocks Childress’ shot!<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> Lou gets full body blocked by Dudley as Lou is shooting, but no whistle.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Dragic scores, we have to keep him from reliving his legendary game from last year against the Spurs when he put up 23 in the 4th quarter alone. That may have been a foul on ET that did not get a call, I guess the refs are done calling fouls.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> ET drives to the basket, gets 2 men to close in on him, and he finds Thad Young for an easy dunk. That was simple and effective.<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Jrue with a lob to Iguodala for yet another dunk! This has been a highlight reel game for sure.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Meeks hits a 3, negating the effectiveness of the Phoenix zone. Smart play by Sixers, plus they actually executed the play.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Traveling called on Dragic. That’s the third or fourth traveling violation called on players tonight in that exact moment. They catch the ball at the three point line, but before they can even dribble they draw the whistle.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> ET misses a three, and you could hear an audible sigh from the crowd when he did. Despite his early struggles, the crowd is firmly behind ET.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Thad still playing “center” playing with Lou, ET, Jodie, and Iguodala.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> Thad still scoring, he’s up to 24 now.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Mo Speights is back in, ending Thad’s night after a brilliant game.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> Mo Speights hip checks Dragic trying to screen him. We’ll figure out how to set those eventually.<br /><br /><strong>End of the 4th-</strong> 11-0 run by Phoenix cuts the lead to 10. Collins with a timeout, and we go to commercial as Doug shouts at the team.<br /><br />What a game for the Sixers, highlight dunks, tenacious defense, and a blowout win. Just look at some of the number the guys put up tonight:<br /><br />Thad: 24 points on 11 for 17 shooting, 7 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals and a +27.<br />ET: 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 8 boards, and 5 assists.<br />Brand: 22 points on 10 of 15 shooting and 9 rebounds.<br />Jrue: 8 points on 4 of 9 shooting, 8 assists and 6 steals.<br />Lou: 14 points, 5 of 9 shooting, and 6 assists<br /><br />Great game, I’ll see you tomorrow with something about either Brand’s scoring by quarter, or Iggy’s usage rate. See you guys Wednesday.</font><strong></strong></div>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-52974052426144624502011-01-22T01:08:00.000-05:002011-01-22T01:09:25.057-05:00FrustrationI’ve been away with work and family, so I didn’t have anything in depth about Thursday night’s loss in Charlotte, except how do the Sixers get beat up by three, count ’em, three marginal players?! Augustin, Mohammed, and Henderson all gave the Sixers fits on Thursday night. How is this team supposed to stop Garnett, Rondo, and Allen if they have to play Boston? Or Rose, Boozer, and Deng against Chicago? I haven’t even brought up Miami, what the hell would happen against Miami? I’m trying my damnedest to get behind this playoff push, but I keep getting hung up on one thing… that it’s a really stupid idea.<span id="fullpost"> <br /><br /> The reason it is stupid is because there is nothing to be gained, by playing veterans more to gain these empty victories you stunt the growth of your young talent. There is even a negative financial impact of the Sixers making the playoffs. The Sixers can not win a playoff series, so what is gained by making the playoffs? Two extra home games that will boost your season’s revenue by about 10%. (The extra two games would equal 4.87% of your regular season schedule, with higher ticket prices and the games probably being sellouts you could probably get twice what you normally make for two games during the regular season.) . By shedding some of your assets and trading veteran players who would be under contract for next season ( for example, Iguodala, Lou, Nocioni, or Brand) for a combination of youth, draft picks, and expiring contracts, you would both lower your overhead for next season, thus recouping any money lost by missing those two home playoff dates, and you would acquire pieces that will increase your chances of future success. Putting a quality team on the floor is what will fill the arena every night, not just when LA, Boston and Miami come to town. <br /><br /> I could go on all day about playing the youngsters, and about landing a top talent in the draft. (My current uneducated opinion is that I want Perry Jons or Enes Kanter) But I won’t, at least not today. Tomorrow we play Utah and I’ll be down at the WFC and back to kool-aid drinking and bandwagon driving. I’ll see everybody tomorrow.</span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-35285182047527175472011-01-20T01:20:00.003-05:002011-01-20T03:09:36.156-05:0048 in 48, or, more accurately 35 in the 35 they showed during the replay.<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TTftZjrAejI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/WjYJzt4lC9o/s1600/ET%2BET.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 148px; height: 188px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TTftZjrAejI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/WjYJzt4lC9o/s320/ET%2BET.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564176887967676978" /></a><br />I had to work late tonight, so I avoided any news of the game and figured I could write this while I watched the replay at 11pm. I did pretty good, although one text weaseled through my defenses at 8:48, it read “Sorry, but… TURNER!!!” from my buddy Tim who knew I was avoiding the results. I wonder what happens in the late 3rd/early 4th, I guess we’ll see. I will admit it actually makes me excited for this one, since it appears Turner is about to have a big game.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><br /><strong>Pregame thoughts-</strong> I’ve been very down on Hawes, but he needs to play some semblance of defense if we’re going to stop Howard. Personally, I prefer that we run the ball right at Howard and try to get him in foul trouble early.<br /><br /><strong>1st Quarter-</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> The usual starting five for the Sixers. Why doesn’t Gilbert start for Orlando? I liked the trades they made because they got Gilbert, a scorer with some balls. Its weird he comes off the bench, but the again the Magic have been playing great, so I guess its working.<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> Brand with a couple of quick bricks, which is unusual for him. Elton typically comes out in an early rhythm. <br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Dwight Howard just bulls right through Elton Brand for 2. That is a bit of a mismatch, we might want to avoid that switch in the future.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> Iggy with a great lob pass to Hawes. Alley-oops are for pussies, a real man, Hawes in this case, catches, lands, then dunks.<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Jodie Meeks is 0 for 2 early, Elton Brand 0 for 2 early, Sixers have just 2 points through 4 minutes.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Hedo with a monster dunk, and the Magic are up 8-2. Surprised that Collins didn’t call a timeout there.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Ugh, this has been terrible game, I can’t believe I waited all night for this crapfest. 2 points for the Sixers in 5 and a half minutes. Lou checks in, lets try and get him the ball fellas. Btw, crapfest is not a recognized word by Microsoft Word.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Jrue for 3! The shot rattles around and it hit the rim four or so times before falling. That is about the third or fourth straight game which Jrue’s had a three like that. Btw, what ever happened to Jrue stealing the dribbling under the basket without looking up play that he stole from Nash? We play Phoenix next week, I hope he remembers it watching Nash and puts it back in his repertoire. <br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> ET in, somehow the Sixers are only down one, despite looking like utter horseshit thus far.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> ET with a rebound and a beautiful outlet pass to Lou, Williams gets hacked and heads to the line. He makes the first to give the Sixers double digits, and the second shot falls to give the Sixers the lead.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Second foul on Brand, he sits down for Thad Young. And a second foul on Hawes, here comes… Battie? WTF? Put Mo in there. Speights better see some time once Howard goes to the bench for rest.<br /> <br /><strong>1:00-</strong> ET for 3? Hell yeah, kid. Now a foul is called on Battie, we’d better pace ourselves or else ET is going to end up having to play center tonight. Ugh, a stupid second foul on Holiday.<br /><br /><strong>End of 1st-</strong> ET with a drive, and he gets to the line. (10 FT a game is our goal for Turner) Last possession….LOU! STOP DRIBBLING! Well the Magic had us scouted because they doubled Lou Williams when he started to move in for his long jumper at the buzzer, so Lou kicked it to ET for a rushed long three-point attempt.<br /><br />AHHH!!! WTF????<br /><br /><br />Due to time constraints we’re rejoining the action with 7minutes left in the 3rd quarter. This is gay.<br /><br /><strong>3rd quarter-</strong><br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Hawes gets his 4th foul.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Lou dribbles out the shot clock, turnover by the Sixers. Great play by Battie on the next trip down the court, with just two seconds on the shot clock Battie pumped and got Howard in the air, then drew the foul which is Howard’s 4th.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Sweet ass reverse by ET! He has 8 points and 7 rebounds so far.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> Baseline dunk for Turner! Lou then drives for two on a lay-up. The magic have ZERO inside defense with Howard on the bench. Big hustle play by Jrue diving on a ball ET poked free.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> ET is guarding Orlando PF Ryan Anderson, nobody is guarding Jameer Nelson apparently as he walks down the lane for an easy 2.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> Lou and Jrue with back to back lay-ups. Btw, Orlando is going to get bounced in the playoffs quickly if this is their defense without Howard, they might be a tough match-up for Miami, but I think Atlanta and especially Boston could eliminate them. Even New York in the first round if Amare can get Howard to the bench early.<br /><br /><strong>End of 3rd-</strong> Another easy lay-up by Nelson is answered by a Thaddeus Young lay-up on the other end, and now I’m told Thad is 6 for 6, although I didn’t see the first 5. And Lou Williams WASTES THE FINAL POSSESSION by jacking a 30-foot jumper. This is like some bad joke, every game with these terrible buzzer beaters.<br /><br /><strong>4th Quarter-</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Are we really up 7? That’s nuts, although we tend to melt down in the 4th on the road, so we’ll see. The quarter starts with Mo Speights drawing the foul by smacking Howard right in the elbow with his face twice! Come on Mo, you gotta be smarter than that! ET commits another foul, making it 2 in the first 15 seconds of the quarter, I have a hunch this may end up costing the Sixers later in this 4th quarter.<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> Thad with a bucket, he’s now 7 for 7.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> 5 quick points for Ryan Anderson, the lead is cut to 3. Wait, a dunk by J-Rich makes it just 1.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> Mo fouls Howard, and the lead is gone. The Sixers then blow a 3 on 1 fastbreak.<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Jrue gets Howard to commit foul #5. Howard to the bench! Sixers are up 1, and Jrue is sniffing at a triple-double.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> I was about to start bitching about Iggy not playing offense, but there he goes with a bucket. Which the announcers tell me is his first.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Ryan Anderson, or “White Jordan” as I think we should start calling him based on tonight, now has 20 points. Back to back turnovers by Philly.<br /><br /><strong>***Quick note</strong>: Why do the cable listings say this goes until 1:00am, its 12:10 and there’s only half a quarter left. Is OT coming? It better be, because If they cut a quarter and a half so they could fit in the post-game show I’ll be pissed.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Brand gets his 5th foul, and Lou pushes the team’s consecutive turnover streak to 3.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Brand and Howard are both playing with 5 fouls. Everybody go attack Howard!<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> And now the cable has gone all Sopranos. Ugh, I’m gonna flick as long as CN8 is broken.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> We are back from technical difficulties, the score is Magic 82- Sixers 80, Brand has fouled out, and there is 2:40 to go.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Wow! Jrue ties it up with a tough baseline jumpshot.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> And now Jrue gives the Sixers the lead, a beautiful floater there by Holiday, Hedo quickly ties the game back up.<br /><br /><strong>End of 4th-</strong> Iggy takes the lead back! Howard fouls out! And a Tech! (Sorry for all the exclamation points, but this is pretty exciting) Uh-oh, Lou is in dribble mode… Iggy gets the ball and gets to the line. The Sixers are up 5 with 28.6 left on the clock. How is OT possible? We’re not gonna win, are we? Redick blows by Lou for an easy lay-up. Lou hit’\s a foul shot, and the lead is 4 with 21.8 to go. How can this go to OT? Oh, because of a mother-fucking four point play!!!!!!!! I am angry, and think I want to mock Iguodala’s claim that he is the best defender in the league after that four-point play. There is time for a final play, but you already know what play the Sixers run. I do have a few comments on Lou’s barely missed three pointer at the buzzer.<br /><br />1. Why a three pointer, the game is tied.<br />2. There were four seconds left when you shot and your defender was in the air, drive the damn ball!<br />3. Or lean into the guy, that’s Lou’s move for crying out loud!<br />4. Why the fade on that shot? Is it because you don’t want to make Sportscenter unless you can look badass doing it?<br />5. How did that shot (flawed as it was) not fall? That ball hit the rim three times, and then rolled in and out. Damn that was close.<br /><br />So after White Jordan misses a desperation three, we are heading to overtime.<br /><br /><strong>Overtime-</strong><br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Thad is taking the jumpball, where is Mo at? We have a tiny line-up out there.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Iggy airball, Bass misses too, no score for the first minute.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> Redick with another lay-up, maybe he should be White Jordan instead. Iggy comes back and ties it up, but a Nelson 3 breaks that tie.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Brilliant play here by Iggy. First a vicious dunk, then nice help D on Bass who was bullying the smaller Young by the basket, then Iggy grabs the board, and finishes this mini-run by dropping a jumper! Wow!<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> That was the Magic’s second, yes second, four point play of the game, this time by new white Jordan, JJ Redick. I have written a haiku to hoping poetry can channel my rage after that play:<br /><br />Fucking four point play?<br />Oh my God, not another<br />Fucking four point play.<br /><br /><strong>End of the OT-</strong> An ugly, but effective play cuts the lead to 1. The Sixers will have the final possession….Iggy drives, but it rolls in and out, ET grabs the board and chucks up an ugly shot that misses! How is that not a foul???!!!?? That’s it, Sixers lose. Damn it.<br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-56051778139303000422011-01-19T13:37:00.003-05:002011-01-19T22:13:23.954-05:00PSP Mid-season Report Card<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TTcwGcc0BMI/AAAAAAAAAKI/vvNoYsCeUfU/s1600/report-card-for-ballroom-dance.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 299px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TTcwGcc0BMI/AAAAAAAAAKI/vvNoYsCeUfU/s320/report-card-for-ballroom-dance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563968751913927874" /></a><br />Welcome to the PSP Mid-season Report Card. We're about to assign letter grades to each member of the 76ers based on their first half performance. I’d like to note that I’m grading on a curve, obviously less was expected from Jodie Meeks than was expected from Evan Turner, so it will be tougher for ET to get a better grade. For me, it breaks down like this:<br /><br />A: A player that is greatly outperforming their expectations, has earned new roles, and that avoids exposing any weaknesses in their game.<br /><br />B: A player who is in most cases living up to, or exceeding the expectations laid out for them. <br /><br />C: A player who is, as Mike Singletary so eloquently said, who we thought they were.<br /><br />D: D is for disappointment, ‘nuff said.<br /><br />F: F is for failure. Somebody failing to make even the most basic of contributions.<br /><br />So lets get going.<br /><br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><strong>A: Lou Williams</strong>. One Sixer got an A, It’s Lou and that’s it. Coming into the season Lou was supposed to be your third or fourth guard. If Jason Kapono played well in his role as starting SF at the season’s beginning, then Iguodala would have remained the starting SG and Evan Turner would have at been the third option, forcing Lou further down the line. That’s not the way it has gone down, and Lou has become the team’s most reliable scorer. In crunch time, Lou is the guy you want with the ball in his hands. Lou leads the team in FTAs, which seems like it should be impossible for a third guard to do. Lou’s ability to get to the line enables him to get points every night, even when his shot is off. Lou has come so far that he is now the Sixers’ first choice to take big shots, and Lou has actually gone from 4th guard to the closer, I’d say that’s out-performing your job title. Lou can be a real candidate for 6th man of the year if he continues with his current level of play.<br /><br /><strong>B: Elton Brand</strong>. The resurgence of Elton Brand is a big reason for the success the Sixers have had this year. I briefly considering giving Brand an A for his return to relevance, but then I remembered that he makes $15 million, and that he was signed to be the savior of this franchise. So no A for Elton, but I will give credit where its due. Brand has played great this year, showing flashes of the player that made two All-Star teams. Elton is also the toughest player we have, often giving the hard fouls and often stepping in when his smaller teammates are jawing with an opponent. I’m afraid the best of Brand’s career is over, his numbers for the year look exactly like you might have expected they would when he signed with the Sixers three summers back. The problem is that his numbers this year aren’t where Brand was at his peak, and you shouldn’t expect that they would be, since at 31 he is likely on the decline. The issue is that we missed his peak due to injuries (and Eddie Jordan). When we signed Elton we overpaid, and we knew it. The Sixers figured they would get a couple of All-Star seasons where Elton would lead them to the playoffs, and they would learn to win. After those first few years, Elton would decline a bit, but the youngsters will have grown into the support he needs for the Sixers to stay competitive. None of that happened, Elton got hurt, Eddie Jordan stifled the growth of our young talent, and we missed both the playoffs and the end of Brand' most productive years.<br /> <br /><strong>B: Jrue Holiday</strong>. Jrue has emerged nicely in his second season, Jrue continues to get better, and has completely dodged the dreaded sophomore jinx. Teams now have to game plan for Jrue, yet he stays very productive. The only complaints are Jrue still commits too many turnovers, and Jrue tends to disappear late in games. The reason the Sixers struggle in close games is because the young guys like Jrue aren’t stepping up. When Jrue matures a bit more, and when he becomes a playmaker in late-game situations it will raise the ceiling of the team by 5-10 wins, depending on how adept Jrue becomes at late game heroics.<br /><br /><strong>B: Jodie Meeks</strong>. Meeks is a guy who obviously has exceeded expectations. If you would have told us fans that Meeks would be the starter at SG and that we’d make the playoffs, I’m not sure I would have went for that one. But there he is and here we are. Meeks’ outside shooting spreads the floor and helps the rest of the team by creating space for them to operate. I considered giving Jodie an A since he has so greatly exceeded expectations, but really he is a one-dimensional player, who happens to be given minutes because his one dimension fills a void. Jodie is in the right place for his skill set, so while I think he’s done a real nice job, let’s not get carried away with what Jodie is.<br /><br /><strong>C: Thaddeus Young</strong>. Thaddeus gets a high C as a compromise more than anything since I can’t remember a single game this year when I feel like Thad played at a C level. With Thad it feels like its an ‘A or B‘, or a ‘D or F’, Still Thaddeus is back to being the kind of player he was in the past, before the dark times, before Eddie Jordan. Thaddeus just needs to play more consistent basketball and to remember to lay off the long two point jump shots. <br /><br /><strong>C: Andre Iguodala</strong>. Iggy gets a C due to injuries limiting his impact for much of the year. Iggy’s scoring has been down this year, but he has really ratcheted up his defensive intensity. Credit Doug Collins with getting him to be more committed to defending, Iggy also seems like he is less focused on being the primary offensive weapon. When Iguodala’s scoring is forced, and doesn’t come naturally in the flow of the game, then he often hurts the team as much as he helps it.<br /><br /><strong>C: Mo Speights, Andres Nocioni, Tony Battie</strong>. These three are exactly what they’ve always been. Mo is an all-O/no-D center who often scores in bursts, but doesn’t get enough minutes to really effect the team. Although, with Hawes recent ups and downs, maybe Mo might get a shot at a starting role. I’m not judging this team on what they could be, just what they are, and Mo has been exactly what we expected (not a bad thing). Tony Battie is the opposite of Mo, he also has been what you expected, except Tony is an all-D/no-O center that doesn’t get enough minutes to change any opinions. Nocioni has been a pesky defender, a quiet, yet effective rebounder, and a sometimes shooter. Andres has gotten a lot more minutes than Battie or Mo, and even a bunch of starts, but ultimately he is, like Mo and Battie, exactly the player he always has been.<br /><br /><strong>D: Evan Turner</strong>. First, the good. Evan Turner has shown himself to be a very nice defender, ET has played his way into the late game line-up as a defensive stopper. ET also has shown flashes of being a great rebounder for a shooting guard. Now the bad. ET has made NO impact on the offensive end to speak of. Turner appears tentative when he has the ball in the half court, and is sometimes ignored by his teammates despite being open. Turner is shooting under 40% for the season, and has been a pretty big disappointment overall. ET was supposed to come in, learn on the job, be an answer to the team’s search for consistent scoring, and maybe get into the discussion for ROTY. Turner is nowhere near the discussion for ROTY. Obviously Blake Griffin is the ROTY, and John Wall is the distant runner-up, but I can’t imagine that ET would register a single top ten vote for ROTY if the ballots were cast today. <br /><br /><strong>D: Spencer Hawes</strong>. Talk about a disappointment. Anytime you trade away a chronic disappointment like Sam Dalembert and feel like you got ripped off, you know something is wrong. Hawes is averaging a pathetic 6.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Hawes had a nice run where he looked to be over his preseason health woes and seemed to be settling into a groove, but that streak ended fairly quickly, and at this point I’m convinced Spencer is about to get bounced from the starting lineup. Hawes doesn’t score, is only okay at getting rebounds, doesn’t defend all that well, and he can’t shoot free throws. He has a decent mid-range game for a big man, but that isn’t what this team needs.<br /><br /><strong>F: Jason Kapono</strong>. From opening day starter, to 13 minutes played in the last 2 months combined despite perfect health. I think that’s what the kids would call an EPIC FAIL. <br /><br /><strong>F: Darius Songaila</strong>. Hasn’t done anything, I hoped for something. Also, could have at least gotten into the game when Collins rolled out a lineup featuring Nocioni, Kapono, and Hawes. I guess four honkies just wasn’t meant to be.<br /><br /><strong>N/A: Craig Brackins</strong>: This rookie project, who hangs around between Philly and the D-league is going to get a pass this time around. I haven't gotten a fair chance to grade the youngster who hopefully can contribute in the future.<br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-87991352394814924692011-01-17T22:22:00.003-05:002011-01-18T10:34:47.226-05:00Sixers-Bobcats Thoughts and Observations<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TTWzC-aVwkI/AAAAAAAAAKA/0YpdlkYh93c/s1600/lou.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 233px; height: 216px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TTWzC-aVwkI/AAAAAAAAAKA/0YpdlkYh93c/s320/lou.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563549778380702274" /></a><br />I watched this one in person and it was my 7-year old's first live game, so I didn't take live notes. Here's a few thoughts and observations from a slightly different perspective than usual.<br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />*Elton Brand is the baseline for this team. Elton plugs away every night and does his thing, keeping the team together and in games. It is up to someone else, however, to make the plays that are going to win the game. Tonight that guy was Lou Williams, in fact, on most nights if the Sixers win they get a big game from either Lou or Jrue Holiday.<br /><br />*Elton had 2 blocks in his last nine games, on Monday he had 5.<br /><br />*Going back for a second, in 17 Sixers wins Jrue has averaged 16.1 points on 50% shooting and Lou averages 15.2 points on 42% shooting. In our 23 losses (Lou missed one of them) Jrue averages 13.5 points on 40% shooting and Lou averages 11 on 36%. <br /><br />*What is up with Spencer Hawes? His minutes game-by-game this month: 25, 5, 18, 27, 18, 11. Sporadic to say the least. <br /><br />*You know what isn’t sporadic? Hawes’ offense, he hasn’t scored in double digits in any of those games.<br /><br />*It appears to me that Spencer isn't happy with his minutes, Spencer turned the ball over early in the second half, and Mo Speights immediately hopped up and went to the scorers table to replace him. As soon as Speights got up, Hawes fouled his man (on purpose? To hasten his exit?) while he was nowhere near the basket and stormed off to the bench, he did not return.<br /><br />*Marreese Speights has scored in double digits in 4 of 7 since New Years. The other 3 games weren’t exactly poor showings: vs. Washington he scored 8 points in 16 minutes, against Milwaukee he has 7 points in 9 minutes, and against Chicago Mo only played 5 minutes and scored 2. <br /><br />*Mo’s per 36 numbers this month are staggering, he is averaging over 20 points and 12 boards per 36 minutes played. Perhaps some real minutes are in order. Oh, and he’s shooting 62% this month.<br /><br />*I think I may have buried the lead, how about Lou Williams with the big shot tonight!<br /><br />*Lou has been crazy good lately, averaging 20 points per game since a tough effort against New Orleans on 1/3.<br /><br />*Iguodala has been really good the past two games, playing great defense and scoring when needed. Iggy also has hit some clutch shots recently including a huge jumper to put the Sixers ahead late in OT Monday.<br /><br />*Elbow controversy aside I like Iguodala, but I can’t say my opinion is echoed very often among the locals. I was excited to hear basketball talk on 610 this morning, but it was mostly people trashing Iggy. Anthony Gargano especially does not like Iguodala, saying he hears reports that he isn’t a good guy, and went so far as to mock Iguodala’s claim that he is the best defender in the league. Now, maybe Iggy isn’t the league’s best defender, but he is a great defender. The fact that he claims to be the best in the world shows that he takes pride in his defense, which is means it is his priority, and hopefully the team follows his lead.<br /><br />*Speaking of elbows, Evan Turner must have caught three or four hard shots while playing off the ball defense Monday. Nothing was called, and since it wasn't on TV nobody probably noticed, but the kid played his ass off against big opponents and held his own.<br /><br />*Speaking of Evan Turner, ET was often the one covering Boris Diaw late in the game. Diaw, a 6-8 power forward who was on fire Monday (Diaw finished the game with a triple-double), was effectively covered on several key possessions by Turner, a shooting guard. It really makes me excited to think what this team can do defensively with Turner and Iggy side by side. Of course somebody still would need to score, and defensive basketball isn’t always fun to watch. And our interior defense needs some work, did I say some work, our interior defense is essentially nonexistent.<br /><br />*Speaking of still needing to score, ET got 33 minutes and scored 2 points aside from a couple of trips to the foul line late, when the Bobcats were forced to foul.<br /><br />*Hey, at least ET made those foul shots, Lou Williams cost us the Detroit game with missed free throws, and Monday Thaddeus Young shot a ridiculous 1 for 6 from the stripe.<br /><br />*It has been a couple of days since I mentioned this, but Orlando-Boston high-lights are on in the background right now so I feel like I should restate the following opinion: I can’t stand Paul Pierce. <br /><br />*Next up is Orlando, so our lack of interior defense will be on display as somebody is going to have to stop Dwight Howard if the Sixers are going to win this game. The best defense may be a good offense, I would probably start Mo Speights and run the ball through him early hopefully getting some fouls on Howard. I feel confident that Jrue, ET, and Iggy can D-up Arenas, J-Rich, and Jameer Nelson, so if they can find a way to reduce Howard’s impact, through foul trouble or otherwise, then the Sixers should be able to compete. </span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-36363975644257813622011-01-17T11:38:00.003-05:002011-01-17T13:09:09.258-05:00Sixer Player Power Rankings<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TTRxmd-KejI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/i5AULYnLGI0/s1600/arrows.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 202px; height: 249px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TTRxmd-KejI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/i5AULYnLGI0/s320/arrows.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563196345403734578" /></a><br />New idea, every Monday I’m going to post Power Rankings for the Sixers roster. It will take the whole season into account, but recent play will be the most important factor.<br /><span id="fullpost"> <br /><br /><strong>1. Elton Brand-</strong> The vet has been the most productive and consistent player on the team. Brand is healthy (finally, I should probably go knock on wood) this season and his play has been tremendous. Brand has already posted 14 double doubles this season, something he only did 17 times the two injury-plagued seasons previous. Brand is playing so well, he may actually be tradable if the team decides to go in that direction. Although, if the team is serious about making a playoff push, trading Brand will probably derail your playoff hopes.<br /><br /><strong>2. Lou Williams-</strong> Before this season I did not have a very high opinion of Lou Williams, but his play has been great so far this year. Lou’s game is built around scoring the basketball, and his per 36 minute averages of 20.4 points and 5.4 assists are tremendous. Lou is the most aggressive Sixer on offense by far, and somehow leads the team in free throw attempts despite only playing 22.5 minutes per game. Lou gets to the line by both attacking the rim, and with his uncanny ability to draws contact while taking jumpers. If he could teach our other guards to draw contact like he does he would be the team’s MVP. A little of Lou’s swagger is exactly what Jrue and ET need to advance their games.<br /><br /><strong>3. Jrue Holiday-</strong> The youngest player on the 76ers might be their best by years end. Jrue’s numbers continue to rise, in six January games he has averaged 16.8 points and 7.3 assists. The only regret is that his turnovers are going up as well. Jrue needs to do a better job of taking care of the basketball before he or the team can get to the next level. It also would be nice to see Jrue take a page from Lou Williams and get to the line more often. I do realize that I just wrote that Jrue needs to be more careful and more aggressive in back-to-back sentences, but if Jrue will ever become a star in this league then that is the case.<br /><br /><strong>4. Thad Young-</strong> I guess it explains why this team struggles so much when two of the teams’ four best players are coming off the bench. That’s not Thaddeus Young’s fault. Thad has been great so far this season, and he ranks 9th overall in FG%. Thad has some nice per 36 numbers, racking up 16.4 points and 7 rebounds. Thad and Lou both probably have earned more minutes with their play. While Lou’s can come at Jodie Meeks’ expense, with Iggy’s return from the DL Thad may actually be looking at less minutes.<br /><br /><strong>5. Andre Iguodala-</strong> Iggy has missed significant playing with injury for the first time in his career this season, in fact this is only the second time in seven seasons that Dre won’t play and start all 82 games. Andre’s time on the DL is the only reason that he isn’t at the top of the list. Iggy is an all-world defender, a versatile offensive player, and the team’s emotional leader. Andre doesn’t fit the classic mold of a team’s best player, because he isn’t a high volume scorer, but he is, in fact, the 76ers best player.<br /><br /><strong>6. (Tie) Mo Speights and Spencer Hawes-</strong> Both guys are good offensive players and weak defenders. That separation is much more exaggerated with Mo, who is a very nice offensive player. Speights however commits too many fouls, and doesn’t play quality man or help defense. Hawes is more balanced, but isn’t exactly Bill Russell on the defensive end. Combined they form a league average center, their combined numbers per game: 33 mins, 12.4 pts, 9 rebs, 2 asts, .4 stls, 1.1 blks, 2 to’s, 4.5 fls, with 48.2% shooting.<br />Those number would put our center combo in the top 10 of all the offensive categories among centers, and in the bottom half of all centers in the defensive columns. <br /><br /><strong>8. Evan Turner-</strong> I like ET, despite his offensive struggles he has continued to plug away, and now is a part of the defensive rotation late in games. ET needs to continue to grow his offensive game, and the best way to consistently score would be to, like Jrue, get to the line more often. <br /><br /><strong>9. Jodie Meeks-</strong> Jodie’s ability to shoot from the outside gave him, pardon the pun, a shot at joining the starting lineup. Since then, Jodie has taken the chance and done a nice job with it. Jodie is in a tough spot since he is the team’s 4th best guard, and probably doesn’t fit into the team’s long term plans, unless they dump Lou for some reason and he assumes the role of third guard.<br /><br /><strong>10. Andres Nocioni-</strong> My son’s favorite player rounds out our top 10. Nocioni plays hard, defends with vigor, and will occasionally knock down a few threes for you. He is not a star, but a nice piece off the bench, even if Doug Collins seems to play him a bit too much for my tastes.<br /><br />No need to go any further, Happy Martin Luther King day everybody, I’ll be back Tuesday with Sixers-Bobcats.<br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-52135797637184762222011-01-16T22:30:00.003-05:002011-01-16T22:53:34.904-05:00<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Om_A2TecCAE?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Om_A2TecCAE?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><span id="fullpost"><br /><br />So that happened....<br /><br />A couple of thoughts:<br /><br />1. Oh, you don't know American Sign Language? Well Iggy just said, "Shut the fuck up rookie, don't make excuses when you turn the ball over."<br /><br />2. Andre Iguodala is the leader of this team, without question.<br /><br />3. How disliked is Evan Turner? How much whining does this guy do? There's no way Iggy hits him in the chest if this is a first or second offense. ET might be a perpetual whiner.<br /><br />4. This makes me wonder about ET's personality. There were reports of him not getting along with teammates right away at Ohio State that gave you pause, but this makes me think he doesn't have many friends yet at the pro level either. ET may be the Larry David of pro basketballers; extremely talented, but struggles with interpersonal relationships and frequently pisses off the people he is supposed to work with. He shouldn't have said anything to Hawes should've just given him the eye...<a href="http://www.gifsoup.com/view/22911/larry-stare.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.gifsoup.com/imager.php?id=22911" border="0"/></a><br /><a href="http://www.gifsoup.com/" title="GIFSoup" target="_blank">GIFSoup</a><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-91496108221691215202011-01-15T15:31:00.002-05:002011-01-15T15:55:37.919-05:0048 thoughts in 48 minutes: Sixers vs. Bucks<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TTIJwK0OitI/AAAAAAAAAJw/1hdOgc2mowk/s1600/lou%2Band%2Biggy.bmp"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 168px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TTIJwK0OitI/AAAAAAAAAJw/1hdOgc2mowk/s320/lou%2Band%2Biggy.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562519212897766098" /></a><br />Here's the minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow review of the Sixers taking on the Bucks.<span id="fullpost"><br /><br /><strong>Pregame thoughts:</strong> I read that Iggy and Nocioni are both going to play tonight, and that they both are feeling better after a few extra practices. I sure hope so, cause Iggy looked tired at the end of the Indy game. Also, keep your eye on my Twitter buddy @Mospeights16, he’s had a little hot streak lately much like Hawes had earlier this season. Some consistency needs to come from the center position, combined I hope Hawes and Mo can combine nightly for about 18 points and 10 boards. I’d like to be able to consider at least one of these two among the future of the team. <br /><br /><strong>1st Quarter:</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Quick turnover by the Sixers as they fight amongst themselves for a rebound. You think Hawes might be a little fired up after just five minutes against Indiana? <br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> A couple of second possessions early for the Bucks, the Sixers can’t let that happen. Second chance points was a huge part of Indy’s win Tuesday.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Btw, Eric Snow is back with us tonight, the manhunt can be called off. Still it would be wise for everyone to remember, “Don’t F*** with Zumoff!” (Oz reruns have recently restarted on HBO at 11pm, that show ruled! )<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> Spencer seems to have lost the beard, maybe the bearded guy who only got 5 minutes against Indy was his evil twin. Good job by coach to recognize that early and keep him from sabotaging the team.<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Jodie with a few misses early, Jrue hit’s a long jumper for 2. UP 6-5 early.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Iggy just missed stealing a pass, but still disrupts the play. On the other end Iggy draws the foul driving to the basket. I’ll give him this, Iggy definitely puts pressure on the other team.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Hawes with a left-hand floater, assisted by Iggy. Sweet little play there.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Bogut and 1. Bucks with 3 offensive rebounds already, and a bunch of second chance points. <br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Iggy sits for ET. Brand jumper makes it 15-14. This game is a very slow paced affair for the Sixers.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> ET scores early with a jumper from a step behind the foul line. Good sign.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Nocioni and Lou enter now, Thad too. Brand, the last starter left, goes right at Gooden for another bucket. Brand is 4 for 4, with 8 points so far.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> ET sits down after drawing a second foul. Ugly game so far. The Bucks are described as a defensive team, and their best offensive player is out, so I will blame this pace and style of play on them.<br /><br /><strong>End of 1st-</strong> Lou has 5 points early and is getting to the rim w/ ease against a supposedly good defensive team. Iggy drills a 3 pointer with .7 left on clock to go into the 2nd up 28-23. I almost started to freak out, since the final play had Lou dribbling way behind the 3 point line, but he found an open Iggy for a good look and all is well. I assume Iggy takes back his closer status from Lou now that he is back at work.<br /><br /><strong>2nd Quarter:</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> @Mospeights16 is in for Brand, who led the team with 9 first quarter points. Lou drills a 3 and is absolutely on fire early.<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> Mo hit’s a jumper and the Sixers are up 8!<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Now Speights adds a rebound, and then gets an assist on an Iguodala dunk. Mo stuffing the stat sheet tonight!!<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> Mo draws the foul, hit a pair of FTs, then catches a Lou Williams lob for 2 more. 6 points in 3 minutes for Mo.<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Lou makes it 10 points in 6 minutes, plus he has two beautiful assists. Lou and Mo are scorching hot and 76ers are up 14.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Speights gets back to the line, Jrue re-enters the game for the smoking hot Lou Williams. I love Jrue, but I wouldn’t mess with Lou when he’s playing like this.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Jrue’s reinsertion to the lineup looks even more questionable after Boykins hit’s a jumper in his face, then Jrue with a turnover leading to an easy lay-up in transition. <br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Mo saves an airball that was headed out of bounds, and gets it to Thad for the easy inside bucket. Line-up change: ET and Lou are back, and Speights sits after six and a half minutes where he put up 7 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists. Great early run for Mo.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> ET drives to the bucket and gets to the line, I still want to see 10 FTAs per game from ET, that’s how elite scorers get their points, even when their jumper is off.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> Back-to-back turnovers by the Sixers let the Bucks cut the lead to 10.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Bucks on a 10-2 run, the lead is only 7 now. ET with an ugly turnover there, and Doug calls timeout. I’m going to guess that Evan is about to hit the pine (folding chairs, whatever).<br /><br /><strong>*Special note:</strong> After commercial CSN shows Jrue and Brandon Jennings playing in the McDonald’s All-American game back in high school. Jennings is rocking a BAD-ASS high-top fade, and is now one of my favorite young players in the league. Although, I still won’t watch this slow, plodding Bucks squad.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> ET is, in fact, out. Breakdowns galore this minute: 1. Jrue bricks a long jumper. 2. Thad with an offensive foul. 3. Thad fouls Ilyasova as he SHOOTS A THREE POINTER! Stupid plays all around. Milwaukee is now down just 4.<br /><br /><strong>End of 2nd quarter-</strong> Lou gets to the line after drawing a foul on The Ice Truck Killer from season 1 of Dexter (Ilyasova). Final possession time, Lou is dribbling, and…. WTF!? Really? Did that just happen? Lou bricks an ugly long jumper. This team is great out of timeouts, so why don’t they have a play saved for these spots? Let copy and paste from Tuesday’s game…<br /><br /><blockquote>End of 1st- The last possession of the first quarter once again featured Lou dribbling beyond the arc before forcing a long 2, WHY????? I feel like we’ve covered this before….Oh yeah, it was all the way back on 1/8...<br /><br />“The next generation of Thad, Jrue, and ET rarely have their number called by Doug Collins in big spots. The end of every quarter either has Lou dribbling beyond the arc before settling on a long jumper…..”</blockquote><br /><br />This end of quarter stuff has to stop, we are giving away at least 2 possessions a game with this nonsense.<br /><br /><strong>Half-</strong> Well, they were up 15, now its 6. Great work from Elton, Mo, and especially Lou Williams (end of the 2nd quarter aside). ET and Thad were both plagued by turnovers and fouls in the first half, the team has to hope to get something from them later on. Assistant coach Brian James is the Sixers’ Ricky Bobby, they both have two first names, and neither one knows where to look during an interview. His head just rotates between looking at camera, looking at cameraman, and looking at Meredith.<br /><br /><strong>3rd Quarter:</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Starters are all back to start the half.<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> Three by Iggy is matched by an and 1 on the other end. Not much defense early.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> A pair of assists by Iguodala gets the lead back up to 9. This guy is so versatile, he is a great defender, good passer, good scorer, and a good rebounder. With Iggy missing so much time and the team needing, in my opinion, to go younger, it was easy to forget how much this guy brings to the table. I think maybe I underrate/under appreciate Iggy.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> Iggy hit’s a tough turn around jumper to slow the building Bucks momentum.<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Meeks passes up a three-pointer in order to drive to the bucket, gets rejected by Bogut and then can’t save the ball. Bucks take over down 7.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Iggy gets another assist when he sets up Jrue for a wide open three. Iggy has been amazing.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Can we give Meeks his own 15-foot rule? No shots inside of 15 feet, because he just got rejected again. Never mind, Meeks just got blocked shooting a three-pointer. Tough night for Jodie, can’t we get some ET out there instead?<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Meeks still on the floor after the commercial, so Doug is showing him some patience. Hawes and ET are wondering where is Collins’ patience when they are struggling.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Lou back to the line, he’s been fantastic this season at getting to the line, by far the best on the team.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> More from Lou, who has 17 now. Jrue then with a Lou-like jumper to make the lead 11. How great would it be if Jrue started to show the aggressiveness Lou shows nightly.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Brand draws back-to-back fouls in the low post, then buries a baseline jumper. <br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> Why is it that guys always seem to make shots with Nocioni draped all over them. I mean, it looks like good defense, it just never stops anyone.<br /><br /><strong>End of 3rd quarter-</strong> SERENITY NOW!!!! Would anyone like to guess how the quarter ended? Lou must have been 32 feet from the basket! Is he doing this just to piss me off? I know that doesn’t seem likely, but give me a better reason why a guy would jack up a 35 foot jumper at the end of the quarter when there was time to run a play. <br /><br /><strong>4th Quarter:</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Gooden jumper on opening possession makes it an 8-0 Bucks run, the Sixers lead is down to 3.<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> Wow! Lou blocked trying to dunk, but he hits the put-back before he landed!<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> ET and Mo are back in, we need somebody to bring a momentum boost.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> Mo with a block of a Boykins lay-up that would have given Milwaukee the lead. Still, I can’t believe they are only up one point, the Sixers aren’t going to win this game. This reeks of every game this year when they fell apart at the end of a close contest.<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> A John Salmons 3 gives the Bucks the god damned lead. Thad quickly ties it back up, it is 83-83.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Nine offensive rebounds now for Milwaukee, NINE! Hawes back in for Speights.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Hey now! Hawes with the bucket on Iggy’s 7th assist of the game. Then Hawes takes the offensive foul from the Ice Truck Killer.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Well, we are tied up with five minutes to play. I have very little confidence, they just seem to consistently panic and come up short in these close games.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Lou back to the line, about to take his 11th free throw. Lou is our best scorer tonight by far.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> Damn, they just missed a couple chances to tie. Under three minutes now, Sixers down 2.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Hawes ties it up! 92-92 with 2:28 to play. Ugh, Bucks regain the lead.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> Iggy hacked with no call. Another offensive rebound by Milwaukee, WTF? These boards by the Bucks are unacceptable. WOW! Sixers lock the Bucks down and force a shot clock violation following the offensive rebound. Great job all around!<br /><br /><strong>End of 4th quarter-</strong> Lou for 3! 25 tonight for Lou, he has been absolutely brilliant for the first 11:45 of every quarter tonight. Sixers up 1. ET out there in the final minute, he’s earned it. ET D’s up Salmons, Sixers ball still up 1. Sixers come out of timeout with Jrue, Brand, Lou, Iggy, and Meeks (I guess ET and Meeks will flip-flop possessions for offensive/defensive purposes.) Uh-no! The clock is ticking and Lou is dribbling five feet behind the line. Nooo!!!! Please stop it!!! Damn, Lou drives and tries to get contact on a pull-up jumper (which I really like) but turns the ball over. Bucks final chance…and Iggy squashes that possession with unreal D on Maggette, getting a clean block on a Maggette, who is a master of drawing fouls in these spots. Maggette flings ball to Boykins who gets a quick look, but misses, game over! Sixers win!<br /><br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-29613462780679378542011-01-13T10:54:00.002-05:002011-01-13T11:08:25.916-05:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TS8gYkW5jBI/AAAAAAAAAJo/Ex0IujUAQp0/s1600/05%2Bphils.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 257px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TS8gYkW5jBI/AAAAAAAAAJo/Ex0IujUAQp0/s320/05%2Bphils.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561699671274523666" /></a><br /><span id="fullpost"> The hierarchy of Philly sports is as follows:<br /><br />1. The Phillies<br />2. The Eagles<br />3. The Flyers<br />4. Union (Just kidding)<br />5. The Sixers<br /><br /> Its too bad for the Sixers, but its true and well-deserved. Each of the other Philly teams went to the playoffs this year with a decent chance of a title. That opportunity doesn’t exist for the Sixers, at least not this year or next. Even though these rankings might not change very soon, the Sixers shouldn’t give up yet because ten years ago the rankings looked like this:<br /><br />1. The Eagles<br />2. The Sixers<br />3. The Flyers<br />4. The Kixx (Same joke, different soccer team)<br />5. The Phillies <br /><br /> The Phillies, kings of the city today, were a miserable franchise back in 2001. The team hadn’t played a meaningful game in years. The roster was UGLY, the fans were apathetic, and the franchise seemed to be going nowhere. Over the next couple of years the Phillies started to come together, they added some pieces that worked: Howard, Werth, Hamels, Chooch, and some that didn’t: Milwood, Eaton, Bell etc.<br /><br />In the end the Phillies turned the franchise around, brought the fans back, and conquered the city. The Phillies then used the revenue generated by that excited fan base to establish themselves as a fixture in the elite of MLB. So not all hope is lost Sixers fans, but keep in mind that this turn-around didn’t happen overnight. <br /><br /> So with an off day today, let’s go back to the pre-dynasty Phillies and see what parallels can be drawn to our current Sixers team.<br /><br /><strong>Doug Collins=Larry Bowa</strong><br /><br /> The hard-nosed coach comes back to manage the team he started his playing career with. Doug Collins, like Bowa, is very well-liked among folks who remember him as a player. The hiring of both men was very well received by the fans at the time. Like Bowa, Doug made several all-star teams despite not being among the more physically gifted athletes in the league, both used smarts, hustle, and desire to get to the most out of their abilities as a player. That quality, in theory, should make both men into great coaches. If they could get their players to maximize their talents the way Bowa and Collins both did when they were pros, then any team they coach should be become greater than the sum of its parts. Unfortunately, Bowa didn’t always connect with young players, often confusing a lack of talent or instincts with a lack of desire or effort, and over time it became apparent that Bowa couldn’t coexist with his players. They resented him, and his belief that they just didn’t work hard enough. Doug Collins faces a similar road, he has a roster that needs to learn how to win, and one that has to be held accountable for mistakes both physical and mental. Can Doug avoid Larry’s mistakes and keep both the players’ attention and their respect, or will we have to bring in a ‘nice guy’ in two years to repair Doug’s damage.<br /><br /><strong>Andres Nocioni=Aaron Rowand</strong><br /><br /> Just a quicky here, both guys are gritty, the play hurt, they play physical D, and hustle every play. The crowd appreciates both, but neither is anything more than a role player. I like both guys though, so thought I’d include them.<br /><br /><strong>Elton Brand=Jim Thome</strong><br /><br /> Elton Brand was the big money free agent the Sixers signed amidst a huge media buzz to turn their franchise around and be the superstar the team was lacking since Iverson‘s decline. Jim Thome played the same role for the Phillies, as his signing was also supposed to usher in a new era of winning. When Elton left LA, much like Thome in Cleveland, he left behind a very disappointed fan base that was upset at losing the face of their franchise. Although in both instances the signings failed to live up to expectations. Thome was very good in his Philly years before injuries slowed him and a young kid named Ryan Howard made him obsolete. Brand, on the other hand, started his time slowed by injuries, playing just 105 of a possible 164 over his first two seasons in Philly. Although Brand has played very well this season, it appears that like Thome, Brand will have moved on before the team actually makes the deep playoff run he was signed to lead.<br /><br /><strong>Thaddeus Young=Jimmy Rollins</strong><br /><br /> Back in 2004, Jimmy Rollins took the next step as a player, already a touted prospect and gifted athlete, that was the year Jimmy finally cut out all the strikeouts that plagued his first few seasons. After Rollins learned to play the game smarter and stop making the same mistakes (swinging at the high fastball, Jesus he used to drive me crazy) Rollins became one of the game’s elite players at his position. Just a few years later Jimmy was NL MVP and his team had won the division, the next season he led them to a title. This is all a lot for Thad Young to live up to, but Thaddeus is a dynamic young player with as much physical talent as just about anyone in the league, but poor decisions, especially in his shot selection, are holding him back from being an elite player. Thaddeus needs to mature the way Jimmy did, play smarter, and begin to be a leader on this team. Thaddeus, like Jimmy, will be the one guy who will be a contributor throughout the entire rebuilding process. Hopefully, like Jimmy, Thaddeus will become an All-Star who learned to avoid the mistakes that stifled his game early on.<br /><br /><strong>Andre Iguodala=Bobby Abreu</strong><br /><br /> A great player that can’t be one of the two best guys on a championship team. A player that has the stink of 10 years worth of their franchise’s failure on them. Bobby and Iggy both made/make money on par with MVPs and superstars. In the fans eyes, they are both players whose caliber of play is a level below their pay grade. In the end, Iggy and Abreu both may be guys who were traded for fifty cents on the dollar in order to clear them out and bring in the next generation. I like Iggy, but can’t imagine other leaders emerging while he remains on the roster and in the locker room, so like Abreu he should go, and let the knew generation of leaders take over.<br /><br /><strong>Jrue Holiday=Chase Utley</strong><br /><br /> The 1st round selection from UCLA, that was the first of the ‘new guys’ to make it into the starting lineup. Jrue has to be one of those leaders I was referring to if Iggy were to go. Hell, even if Iggy stays Jrue has to be a leader. Jrue has the talent to stand out among his peers much as Utley has established himself among the game’s elite middle infielders. The early version of Jrue has some rough spots to work on, as did Utley (not always a great defender), and hopefully Jrue can stay healthier than Utley has. Jrue also needs to live up to his potential, which is something Utley never fully has. Injuries play a major part, but Utley is a bit overrated in my eyes. Utley sure gets a ton of MVP votes every April, and not very many in October, why is that? (Chase I love you, and I’m really criticizing the perceptions of you, not your actual performance) Anyway, for the Sixers to become a perennial contender, Jrue need to be every bit the leader, defender, and offensive producer that Chase Utley is for the Phillies.<br /><br /><strong>Evan Turner=????</strong><br /><br /> It is still way too early to know, but this one could go one of two ways:<br /><br /><strong>ET=Pat Burrell </strong><br /> A top draft choice that was touted as the next big thing, but never lived up to it. A guy that struggled mightily at times and never lived up to his draft status. The thing about Burrell is once he started to struggle, his relationship with Bowa crumbled, and since I already noted how Bowa and Collins are quite similar, I am afraid of Doug souring on ET. Like Burrell, I don’t think ET could ever be a total flop, but instead of being THE guy, like he was drafted to be, ET may end up as just A guy, which would be a great disappointment. Let’s not forget that Burrell was a main contributor on the championship team, so bust or not, Burrell helped us win a title and because of that he is well liked among the fans here. Also, like Abreu the fans considered Burrell to be outrageously overpaid, so that should spare ET some of the ire Burrell drew, at least for now.<br /><br />The other option for Turner:<br /><br /><strong>Evan Turner=Ryan Howard</strong><br /><br /> Evan Turner has been among the very best at every level he has played at. He has in him the talent and instincts to be among the game’s very best, we think. Like Howard, Turner is a little old for an elite prospect, debuting in the NBA after 3 years in college. Also like Howard, Turner has his at-bats (so to speak) blocked by older, higher paid vets, specifically by Iguodala, much like Howard was blocked by Thome. ET has shined at times when Iggy is out, although not on the level Howard did during Thome’s stints on the DL. By proving himself during the usually durable Iguodala’s absence, the rookie has shown he deserves (in my mind) the chance to start in this league and see if he can live up to his potential. Like Thome and Howard, it is tough for the Sixers to play both guys together, without a partner on the wing that stretches the defense with outside shooting, neither ET or Iggy is as effective offensively. <br /><br /> Right now, whichever way ET goes, so goes the franchise. If he becomes an elite power hitter (a fairly efficient high volume scorer) then the team has the punch it needs to compete. If ET ends up being a good guy that never quite made it, then the team still has pieces to find before we can move forward. I just wanted to remind everybody that there is always reason for optimism, even when your team is as bad as the Sixers are, or the Phillies were.<br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-85228737968851929552011-01-11T23:12:00.007-05:002011-01-12T16:16:46.061-05:0048 in 48: Sixers-Pacers<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TS0wXkLBmdI/AAAAAAAAAJg/WlQFEqjv_-I/s1600/16.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 248px; height: 164px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TS0wXkLBmdI/AAAAAAAAAJg/WlQFEqjv_-I/s320/16.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561154296277473746" /></a><br />I’m trying something different, I took a note every minute of the game, let’s see if it comes out interesting after the fact, if so we’ll do it more, if not we can retire it… here goes.<br /><br /><span id="fullpost"> <em><strong>Sixers Pacers 1/11</strong></em><br /><br /> <strong>Pregame</strong>- Iggy is back, his minutes have to come at Nocioni’s expense or I’ll be pissed. If ET gets the short run, I’ll be beside myself.<br /><br /><strong>1st Quarter</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> No Eric Snow tonight. Powerplay made by Marc Z? My buddy Tim swears they hate each other, I haven’t noticed.<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> Did Spencer Hawes grow a beard?<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Jrue breaks the early scoring skid on an ugly shot that banged around a lot before going in, a lot of iron early for the Sixers.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> Wow! Are the rims extra small tonight? There have been a lot of bricks, and they are LOUD. The empty arena is echoing like crazy.<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Elton gets nothing but cotton, with everybody else struggling early can we get more Elton please.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Iggy’s D sparks the break, big dunk from Speights, very nice.<br /><br /><strong>6:00- </strong>We're back from the first commercial, and Brand is still stroking it. Collison hits a jumper right in Speights’ face.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Meeks is ice cold early, can we try ET, or Lou at least.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Iggy gets them running again, Speights misses a dunk, leads to an easy Granger bucket.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> Nocioni is in…. Really?!? Nocioni? WTF?<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Great look there Jrue to Brand. The big guys (Elton and Marreese) are looking good on offense tonight.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> Hey, they let Thad in and he makes a play on both ends, who would’ve thought. WTF? Dunleavy scores again, unbelievable!<br /><br /><strong>End of 1st-</strong> The last possession of the first quarter once again featured Lou dribbling beyond the arc before forcing a long 2, WHY????? I feel like we’ve covered this before….Oh yeah, it was all the way back on 1/8...<br /><br />“The next generation of Thad, Jrue, and ET rarely have their number called by Doug Collins in big spots. The end of every quarter either has Lou dribbling beyond the arc before settling on a long jumper, Iggy driving and throwing up a runner or off-balanced finger roll, or Brand dribbling in the post before shooting a contested turn-around jumper.”<br /><br /><br /><strong>2nd Quarter</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> They said the snowstorm caused Eric Snow to miss tonight’s game. Eric Snow is not, repeat, is NOT duct taped in Marc Zumoff’s trunk right now.<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> Way to get back on D fellas. ET scores a nice bucket, and Rush put one in on the other end 4 seconds later.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Jim Lynam: “ He gets his hands on a lot of balls…” My girlfriend gets the giggles.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> I love that Jrue just called for the ball in the low post, winds up drawing the foul. Wat to use your size kid!<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> This is the lineup I want to see! Jrue, ET, Iggy, Thad, and Elton. Brand has to D up Hibbert, hopefully he can handle it and this group can get some real time out there together.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> Eventually ET will make two shots in a row.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> 3rd foul on Thad, so he sits and my fav line-up gets a whopping 1:25 out there.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Fancy move by Jrue, completely fooled the defender for the easy lay-up.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> The offense keeps coming for Brand and Speights.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> ET with a nice pass to Meeks, then gets to line next possession. The rook is looking good.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Grab a damn board! How many second chance points do the Pacers have so far? (10 at that point)<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> Whenever Lou is out there Jrue and ET disappear as ball handlers. Iggy gets a hard foul, takes exception to it and jaws with Foster, Brand makes sure to butt in, which is awesome to see. I love when guys stick up for each other.<br /><br /><strong>Halftime-</strong> Well they are down 8 at the half. The Pacers are owning the boards, and shooting really well. Mike Dunleavy leads all scorers with 18 points, that’s right Mike friggin’ Dunleavy, who averages 12, has 18. And his dad is a shitty coach. Nice half for Brand, Speights and Turner. Speights played almost the entire half, is Hawes in the doghouse?<br /><br /><strong>3rd Quarter</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Starting five back on to start the half, including Hawes who only got about 3 and a half minutes in the first.<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> Pacers come out firing, 6 quick points.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Tech on Hawes’ beard for being too fierce. Foul shot makes it a 14 point lead for Indiana. And if Hawes wasn’t in the doghouse before… Speights is in again.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> We’re at the 9:37 mark. This is where I officially throw myself behind a playoff run. I am against pushing for the playoffs in theory, I think it does more harm than good long term, but decisions have been made, so as a fan I am jumping in! Let’s go grab that 7 seed!<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Things are happening, that’s a couple of stops in a row…<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> 3 by Jodie!!! 10-0 run cuts the deficit to 6!<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> Speights really carrying the load tonight, he’s on his way to a double-double and 30 minutes.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> This has been the opposite of the beginning of the first half, now everybody is making their shots except for Dunleavy.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> Thad has a chance to tie and misses the signature Sixers shot, a 20-foot jumper with either more than 20 or less than 3 seconds left on the shot clock. <br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> ET with solid D on Granger the last couple of trips. ET gets back to the foul line, his goal should be 10 FTs per game.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Lou Williams watches TJ Ford blow by for a lay-up. ET gets called with a real tough offensive foul. For the third time, the Sixers get called for an offensive foul and the Pacers immediately turn the ball back over.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> Lou hits a jumper from his signature spot: midrange, just a step inside the baseline.<br /><br /><strong>End of 3rd quarter-</strong> The lead is hacked down to 3. ET, Brand, and Speights all great, Jrue has been quiet but still quite good. <br /><br /><strong>4th Quarter</strong><br /><br /><strong>12:00-</strong> Where are the refs? They’ve missed a couple of calls as of late. It may be because of the disparity in FTs between the two teams (caused by the fact that Indy is only shooting jumpers), but either way it is BS.<br /><br /><strong>11:00-</strong> Offensive foul drawn by Speights.<br /><br /><strong>10:00-</strong> Another! Speights forces another turnover! Speighty-man is playing really well, and smart! OMG! another foul drawn by Speights, Mo draws this one fighting for an offensive rebound. What a great couple of minutes! Speights is controlling the game without scoring.<br /><br /><strong>9:00-</strong> Time to bring the 15 foot rule back. Why all the long 2s from Thad and Lou? Drive to the hole.<br /><br /><strong>8:00-</strong> Lou back to his spot! Up 5! Its his signature move, he rarely misses that shot. Maybe he should go there at the end of the quarter rather than jacking up his usual shitbomb.<br /><br /><strong>7:00-</strong> WTF? Jrue with a 20 foot airball, followed by Lou missing a 37-footer with 18 seconds on the shot clock.<br /><br /><strong>6:00-</strong> You’d think the Sixers’ announcer would be able to pronounce the name Iguodala.<br /><br /><strong>5:00-</strong> Jrue’s shot is cold, and his blood is hot after that foul. Jodie and ET back in.<br /><br /><strong>4:00-</strong> 3 by Granger, Iggy gets thrown while under the glass with NO CALL, Pacers go up 3.<br /><br /><strong>3:00-</strong> Jrue hits a monster 3 pointer to tie! That’s a clutch shot, this is why this guy should be given the ball in crunch time.<br /><br /><strong>2:00-</strong> Iggy is not sharp on D. Maybe he should sit, since Granger is killing him right now. Tough miss by Lou on a good, smart look. Flushed around, then popped out.<br /><br /><strong>1:00-</strong> Hibbert hits a big hook over the much smaller Brand. Indy up 4. TO by Philly, Doug needs to come up with something good here.<br /><br /><strong>0:00-</strong> Lou feeds Thad who draws the Sixers within 2, Foster makes 2 Fts, Lou jacks up the Sixers special, it misses by a ton. Collison adds 2 FTs to make it 6. GAME OVER. Iggy makes it official when he horribly misses an UGLY drive.<br /><br />Well, goodbye 7th seed, hello 10th. The Sixers piss away another game. Sometimes the other team outplays you, and sometimes you beat yourself. Tonight was a combination of the two, Indy made a lot of their shots and rebounded well. The Sixers played stupid. Very STUPID. They got good efforts from ET and Speights, and wasted it. They wasted a bunch of possessions by shooting stupid shots with plenty of time to work for a better one, and until they break this habit they’ll never get any better in these close games. In closing, I’d like to apologize for the jinxes I laid on the team tonight. Specifically these gems at the beginning of the 3rd quarter:<br /><br /> <strong>9:00-</strong> We’re at the 9:37 mark. This is where I officially throw myself behind a playoff run. I am against the run in theory, I think it does more harm than good long term, but decisions have been made, so as a fan I am jumping in! Let’s go grab that 7 seed!<br /><br /> <strong>6:00-</strong> Speights really carrying the load tonight, he’s on his way to a double-double and 30 minutes.<br /><br />The Sixers did not get the 7th seed, and Speights did not get his double-double. I suck. <br /><br />Anyway, see you all again on Thursday morning! </span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-50136398253696183932011-01-11T10:42:00.003-05:002011-01-11T11:12:32.674-05:00Off to see the Sizzz....<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TSyAwrfZMVI/AAAAAAAAAJY/KUl5kWNvbBo/s1600/deron%2Band%2Bjosh.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 193px; height: 261px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TSyAwrfZMVI/AAAAAAAAAJY/KUl5kWNvbBo/s320/deron%2Band%2Bjosh.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560961213692195154" /></a><br />We all have seen the Wizard of Oz, a story about a young girl who is accompanied by three flawed companions on a journey to return to her home. Each of these flawed partners eventually learn that they really aren’t flawed, and what they needed all along was a slight change in their perceptions of themselves. We all know that the Sixers need a superstar to become a contender, maybe they already have one and don't know it. Maybe they already have three and just don‘t know it.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><br /><br /><br />Let’s start with Thad Young. Thad doesn’t need a brain, he needs something just a basic however, MINUTES! When I talk about the Elton Brand signing, oftentimes I hear people bring up the fact that we were choosing between Brand and Josh Smith, and that we chose wrong. Some fans think we’d be better with Josh Smith, which is flawed thinking because… WE ALREADY HAVE JOSH SMITH!!!!! His name is Thaddeus Young, Thad is just as big, just as explosive, just as good defensively on the perimeter, can rebound just as well, and he is way more efficient offensively.<br /><br />The Wiz: Their hearts are no bigger than your is Tinman, but they have one thing you haven’t got…. a testimonial!<br /><br />The Sizzz: Josh Smith has no more talent than you do Thaddeus, but he has one thing you haven’t got…playing time!<br /><br />Comparing numbers from Thaddeus’ second season when he started the entire year to Josh Smith‘s second campaign, Thad is equal to or ahead of Josh Smith in every category, aside from rebounds and blocks. Those stats are largely a matter of position however, as Josh plays strictly at PF, whereas Thad was a 3 back then and still spends half his minutes on the wing. Thaddeus obviously doesn’t have Smith’s shot blocking gene, but he does hold his own on that end of the floor. I believe that if Thad is given a chance to play extended minutes in a system that fits him, he will become an All-Star. More than the other two guys I’m going to talk about, the clock is ticking on Thad, he is a restricted free agent after the season, and it would be nice to know with a little more certainty who he is as a player before we make the type of financial commitment Thaddeus will command on the open market.<br /><br />Next up we have Jrue, this young man simply needs a heart. Not to say he doesn’t have heart, he just needs to be told he is the heart and leader of this team. Body type leads me to look at Deron Williams as the ceiling for what Jrue Holiday can be. Looking back on Deron’s early work it makes me very bullish on what Jrue can become. Using the ever wonderful basketball-reference.com I compared their sophomore numbers, and they are pretty close. Jrue is ahead in all the defensive categories, and less than a point behind per 36 minutes. In fact, the only stat that Jrue is not ahead or close on is assists, and that’s not really fair given the system each man plays in. I mean, Jerry Sloan has spent the last 179 years teaching the pick and roll to point guards, and Sloan’s system generates a ton of assists. Jrue also turns the ball over far less often now then Deron did at this point in his career, which is a reason to be especially excited. Eliminating turnovers is what will jumpstart Jrue’s rise to the next level. Physically and statistically there is no reason Jrue can’t be a dominant superstar, but obviously the difference between Deron and Jrue really has nothing to do with stats or body types. Deron is a winner, he exudes confidence and is the defined leader of the Utah Jazz. It should be noted that playing for a franchise with that kind of stability, one that knows exactly what it wants to do not only night-to-night but season-to-season, is going to do wonders for your confidence. Jrue has been given the starting job, but he isn’t the leader of the team. Jrue is often playing second fiddle to Lou Williams when they play together. This is why Lou needs to go, the offense should run through Jrue, and only Jrue. A career backup like Kevin Ollie should get a handful of minutes, but really the minutes at point guard should go to ET when Jrue is on the bench. Maybe what the Sixers need here is not to get a heart but to have one removed, this has to be Jrue’s team unquestionably if he is going to emerge as a star.<br /><br />Evan Turner, come over here and let me see what the Sizzz has in his sack for you… hey look, it’s a sack. Seriously, Evan needs courage. No more pussyfooting around with the ball wasting 5 to 8 seconds before passing to a guy not in scoring position. Get the ball and take it to the rack, get the ball and shoot the ball, get the ball and draw contact. Courage, decisiveness, balls, whatever you want to call it, Turner needs to man up and show it. ET can be a star, but he needs the courage to fail a few times before it starts to come together, and I’m not sure coach is giving him the support he needs to make that first step towards stardom. Turner can’t worry about getting benched for messing up as he learns the pro game. Eventually, I think ET ends up as a nice guard somewhere between Kevin Martin and Shane Battier. He’ll never be the shooter Martin is, nor will he probably ever be the bulldog Battier is, but a nice hybrid of the two would be pretty sweet if you ask me.<br /><br /><br />A team with a real foundation may actually already be in the city, we just can’t see it due to the concerning rotations of Doug Collins. The rotations are actually pretty good for a team trying to win as many games as possible, my concern is with the short-term goals of the franchise. Elton, Lou, and Iggy all need to be traded. Brand’s value has to be at an all-time high (Well, since he became Sixer I mean). Maybe Orlando, who is looking for bigmen, would do something like Brand, Lou, and Battie for Jason Richardson’s expiring contract (it works, I checked). Point is, however we shed our veterans isn’t important, its that we shed our veterans. If we are ever going to find out if our young stars can grow into veteran superstars, we’d better give them the playing time/responsibility/role/guidance they need to get there. Unfortunately, there isn’t a yellow brick road to lead management to these realizations, and they have to figure it out on their own.<br /><br />The great and powerful Sizzz has spoken!</span><br /><br />PS: as long as we're talking about Oz.....<br /><br /><object width="480" height="327"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/x18kvo?width=&theme=none&foreground=%23F7FFFD&highlight=%23FFC300&background=%23171D1B&start=&animatedTitle=&iframe=0&additionalInfos=0&autoPlay=0&hideInfos=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/x18kvo?width=&theme=none&foreground=%23F7FFFD&highlight=%23FFC300&background=%23171D1B&start=&animatedTitle=&iframe=0&additionalInfos=0&autoPlay=0&hideInfos=0" width="480" height="327" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18kvo_seinfeld-in-oz_people">Seinfeld in Oz</a></b><br /><i>Uploaded by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/renzo433">renzo433</a>. - <a target="_self" href="http://www.dailymotion.com/us/channel/people">Explore more family videos.</a></i>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-33261862888749235912011-01-10T11:51:00.007-05:002011-01-10T12:35:29.405-05:00My NBA "I Hate" List<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TStACUlBsgI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/byUh39Q6-hY/s1600/bradley.bmp"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 120px; height: 168px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TStACUlBsgI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/byUh39Q6-hY/s320/bradley.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560608573546934786" /></a><br />For those of you not familiar with concept of an 'I Hate' list, just go <a href="http://www.comedycentral.com/tosh.0/2010/06/10/i-hate-video-full-version-2/">here</a> to get the general idea. For those of you already on board, may I proudly present... <span id="fullpost"><br /><br /><strong>My NBA Hate List</strong><br /><br />*I hate that the Sixers keep trying to win this season. They came into this season without any realistic expectation of competing for a title, so this season should be spent trying to acquire pieces for the future when they can realistically compete for a title.<br /><br />*I hate that we don’t let Brackins and Turner and Jrue and Young and Speights all play more minutes, everybody else will not be a part of any success we may have three or four years from now.<br /><br />*Paul Pierce and Nate Robinson. Eff those two, I don’t even have a real reason, they just irritate me as a fan.<br /><br />*I hate that the Clippers are more exciting than the Sixers now, and that their future appears a lot brighter than the 76ers’.<br /><br />*I hate that the Clippers let their young guys fail. They have 3 guys in the bottom 15 in turnover ratio, it lets them learn and costs the Clippers games. The Clippers will have a top lottery pick this season, and they have Minnesota’s pick too.(Although, I think that pick is top 10 protected for this draft) <br /><br />*I hate that I’m also jealous of Minnesota. Beasley, Love, and Rubio is a nice start.<br /><br />*I hate that the Sixers didn’t make a trade for Michael Beasley, he is crazy-talented and could have been had for NOTHING.<br /><br />*I hate how hard it is to turn around a mediocre franchise, what makes the NFL great is that a team goes from worst to first every year.<br /><br />*I hate that every center on our roster blows. Which leads to following hates…<br /><br />*That the Sixers didn’t make a offer for Al Jefferson, we desperately need a center and Big Al could have been had for practically nothing<br /><br />*That the Sixers passed on the chance to acquire Amare last season, and this year he may end up getting voted the league MVP. <br /><br />*That the Sixers didn’t draft DeMarcus Cousins. I like ET, and think he’s going to be a very good player, but he isn’t a good fit on this roster next to Iggy. <br /><br />*That we knew ET wouldn’t be a good fit ahead of time and picked him anyway. Its not like we were blindsided, ET and Iggy are too similar to coexist, somebody has to spread the floor and it isn’t in either of their games.<br /><br />*I HATE that Spencer Hawes makes me miss Sam Dalembert.<br /><br />*I hate that thanks to LeBron creating a super team, and inspiring other players in the league to talk about doing the same thing, that the Sixers will never sign another top of the world type free agent.<br /><br />*I hate that Allen Iverson is in Turkey. WTF? AI is a legend and should have a job in the states. The price we pay for pride, I guess.<br /><br />*I hate that despite my best efforts I can not purchase a Turka Cola Allen Iverson jersey, that thing would be epic.<br /><br />*I hate that Dwight Howard was reported as wanting to go to the Lakers if he doesn’t win soon in Orlando. <br /><br />*I hate Nick Young.<br /><br />*I hate that we missed the Tim Duncan lottery by 1 spot. Instead of a generation of Iverson/Duncan at the helm. The Sixers drafted and traded away Keith Van Horn, and ended up with Tim Thomas. Ugh.<br /><br />*I hate that we missed the Chris Webber lottery by 1 spot. Instead of Webber who is a hall of fame player, and was unguardable for his first 10 seasons, we got Shawn Bradley. Double ugh.<br /><br />*I hate Shawn Bradley, Keith Van Horn, and Tim Thomas.<br /><br />*Oh, and Larry Hughes.<br /><br />*I hate that we drafted Larry Hughes instead of Dirk or Paul Pierce (the next two selections). Pierce is especially tough, since at the time we has a young Theo Ratliff and Derrick Coleman in the front court so not picking Dirk I can understand, but Pierce has turned in a hall of fame career, and we had Jim Jackson at that point. Quintuple ugh.<br /><br />*I hate that I would give my right arm to see fat and lazy Derrick Coleman on this Sixers team. That guy averaged a double-double his first 7 healthy seasons. (Actually, one year it was 9.5 rpg, but I’ll round up.) Each of those years he averaged over 18 points per contest.<br /><br />*I hate that a looming blizzard may force me to cancel my planned trip to the Wells Fargo for Sixers-Pacers tomorrow. I wanted to bang out all three games this week, ending with the matinee on MLK.<br /><br />*I hate that the Sixers will probably go 3-0 this week and announce themselves as a serious playoff contender.<br /><br />*I hate that this NJ/Melo deal isn’t going through faster, the sooner Melo lands in NJ, the sooner NJ can pass the 76ers in the standings. Btw, if I’m Denver, I wait until the deadline to make this deal, hoping to prevent Jersey from making the leap from lottery team to 7th or 8th seed. I want the pick I get back to have maximum value, so why on earth would I make you a better team sooner than I have to?<br /><br />That’s all for now I suppose, feel free to add your hates to the comment section. </span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-11069176924442554252011-01-08T23:26:00.004-05:002011-01-09T00:40:16.440-05:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TSlHuni3sEI/AAAAAAAAAJA/O__svlsQ2-k/s1600/ET%2Bfinger.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 280px; height: 180px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TSlHuni3sEI/AAAAAAAAAJA/O__svlsQ2-k/s320/ET%2Bfinger.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560054081180381250" /></a><br />I wanted to do a live Twee-cap of the Sixers-Bulls game Friday night, but due to poor signal strength, I had trouble posting my tweets and gave up fairly early in the night. Saturday’s match up in Detroit I figured I’d just write another T&O piece when it was over since I was watching from home. Now I feel like its better to write about what this weekend really showed us.<span id="fullpost"> <br /><br /> This team IS good, not great, not even very good, but they are in fact, a good basketball team. They beat a superior Chicago team in a game that wasn’t all smooth sailing, they took some lumps, lost the momentum several times, yet still held it together and made things happen when they needed to. They went on the road to an inferior opponent in Detroit and pissed away the lead, choked in big spots, and came away with a disappointing loss. The Sixers lack of a leader is killing them, the player who ends up with the ball more than any other during Andre Iguodala’s absence has been Lou Williams, and like the rest of the team, Lou lacks the balls/talent to make things happen on the opponents home court in crunch time. <br /><br /> I regret that the last sentence seems like an indictment of Lou Williams, I think Lou has more heart than most guys on the team and plays with an aggressiveness rarely seen at the Wells Fargo Center. Lou Williams just isn’t good enough to come up with the big shot when the opponent is focused on stopping him. In fact the three guys on our roster that the team looks to in big spots, Lou, Iggy, and Elton are all not talented enough to beat a double team in a big spot. The next generation of Thad, Jrue, and ET have yet to show the desire to want the responsibility of taking that big shot. The next generation of Thad, Jrue, and ET rarely have their number called by Doug Collins in big spots. The end of every quarter either has Lou dribbling beyond the arc before settling on a long jumper, Iggy driving and throwing up a runner or off-balanced finger roll, or Brand dribbling in the post before shooting a contested turn-around jumper.<br /><br /> The time has come to settle this for once and for all. Doug Collins needs to mandate that for better or worse big possessions are going to go through ET. The Sixers didn’t draft the kid to be a role player, he was picked to be a star, so give him the damned ball and see if he has the stones to make things happen. When Turner was sat down for Speights’ rebounding just before the Pistons final free throw and, subsequently, the Sixers final possession, Collins left the Sixers with a group consisting of Jrue, Meeks, Elton, Thad, and Speights. That group only has one option after a made shot and without a timeout, Jrue dribbles to the frontcourt where he draws a double and is forced to pass to Meeks for a desperation three. Only one guy was possibly taking that shot if Jrue didn’t shoot it over two guys himself, and that guy is Jodie Meeks, a role-player (No offense to Jodie, who has been a real bright spot). Thad Young needs to be the one benched and Evan Turner needs to be on the court, and either the guy you drafted to be a star makes a superstar shot in the clutch or he doesn’t, but what would be important is that you called his number, and more important is that you call his number again next time when Iggy and Lou are in the game.<br /><br /> ET, may be Darko Thabeet-Morrison Jr. He may be a poor man’s Shane Battier. Maybe he really is a young Brandon Roy. All these possibilities are still in play, and the only way to know is to give him the ball. Coming through in the clutch can give a player the confidence to command the ball and the game in more mundane situations. It can turn you from a guy not sure of his role, to a star that knows his role is to carry the team on his back when the team is floundering, and when the guys are tired from a long flight after playing your asses off the night before on the other side of the country. ET is reportedly a peculiar dude, it apparently took a little while for him to fit in at Ohio State, and it is taking him some time to find his place in the NBA. It will be written off as growing pains if one of your young building blocks comes up short in a big spot, but what do you call it when a guy who won’t be any better than the third guard on a good team misses that big chance? Not growing pains, just a missed opportunity. Whether the final shot sanked or clanked isn’t important, the shot was a failure when it was taken by somebody other than ET.<br /><br /> <br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-16361877773564467252011-01-05T21:10:00.005-05:002011-01-05T22:05:48.287-05:00Sixers-Wiz T&O<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TSUwQb31SII/AAAAAAAAAI4/YOlkNF2jZt0/s1600/imagesCARNHQ85.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 225px; height: 225px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TSUwQb31SII/AAAAAAAAAI4/YOlkNF2jZt0/s320/imagesCARNHQ85.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558902373976721538" /></a><br />Thoughts and observations from tonights Sixers-Wizards game<span id="fullpost"><br /><br />-Nick Young is the Sixers' Rod Barajas. Every time they play he seems to light them up, but he blows against everybody else.<br /><br />-Spencer always plays better when he has product in his hair. He is going natural tonight, that isn't a good sign.<br /><br />-There never is any D early for this team. It feels like every night its 20-20 after 7 minutes.<br /><br />-Do we have to suck at the end of every first half. First Nola, now this.<br /><br />-Jrue is playing real well on offense. It'd be nice if he could stay in front of Wall though.<br /><br />-Whitey Mc Tighty is playing a nice little game out there.<br /><br />-I love my buddy Mook, but his theory of replacing Collins with Mike Brown, and attempting to make Turner into a LeBron-esque wing that controls the offense seems a bit far-fetched. Ignoring the fact that Collins has a ton of money due him, is Turner that guy? Mook is crazy high on Evan, which is weird because Mook is the biggest front-runner I know. Anyway, I wish Turner showed even a sniff of being capable of carrying a team.<br /><br />-Since Turner has has two good scoring nights this season in 4 months, his next big game should be March 4th against Minnesota.<br /><br />-Did Jrue just rip off that move from Steve Nash where he dribbles under the basket without looking at the basket and then he makes a pass or a short turn-around jumper? I can't remember him using it before, but ever since the Phoenix game he's done it a few times every night.<br /><br />-Anybody remember the movie "Sixth Man". I think that ghost is in the house tonight, why else does Lou Williams keep shooting fadeaways when he is open? Either there is a ghost defending him that I can't see on TV, or he's being flashy for no reason.<br /><br />-Why is it close? The Wiz are 0-16 on the road.<br /><br />-Lot of foul shots for us tonight.<br /><br />-The triple honky look is new, any chance Songaila gets to take off his sweatsuit?<br /><br />-Jrue and Lou have had it going on. <br /><br />-Wall already getting phantom 'Star Calls'<br /><br />-3 of 19 over the last two games for Evan Turner.<br /><br />-OMG! why have I never called this dude ET? He looks and talks like an alien!! How did I sleep on this?<br /><br />-Great second half tonight. The 4th quarter was especially nice.<br /><br />-DNP for Battie. I know you play him for D, (and maybe to grab Orlando's attention for a back up big) but he has zero upside. They need to let Hawes and Speights sink or swim, Battie DNPs need to be a lot more common.<br /><br />-Can't wait for Rose and the Bulls on Friday. If this team has any balls or heart, they better come out strong on Friday. It's ok if they lose to Chicago, a team that is a LOT better, but they were embarassed in Chicago so they better come out and play hard.<br /><br />Be back Friday with a live Twee-cap from the Wells Fargo Center. <br /><br />PS. Mook just turned on ET! He texted me that he thinks he might be a bust! That took two months longer than expected, but hardly a surprise.<br /><br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-38482026826035370482011-01-05T11:04:00.004-05:002011-01-05T12:06:56.919-05:00Fun with Contraction!!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TSSlIi3VA3I/AAAAAAAAAIw/NILKh-EvWic/s1600/createimage.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 311px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TSSlIi3VA3I/AAAAAAAAAIw/NILKh-EvWic/s320/createimage.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558749406298440562" /></a><br />In a recent pre-game interview LeBron James defended his decision to create a super team, as well as lamented about how 80’s basketball was better with multiple all-stars on the same teams. A reporter pointed out that there were only 24 teams then, and LeBron caused a slight controversy when he said that’s the reason why it was better. So my question is, would the league really be better? If we cut 6 teams and went back to only 24 teams, what would the rest of the league look like? I say let’s play this one out and have a mock draft to spread the contracted players around the rest of the league. <br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><br />So say goodbye to Memphis, Sacramento, Indiana, Minnesota, New Orleans, and Atlanta. Why them? Because they all have low attendance, and they aren’t the Sixers. I mean if I were to remove the Sixers in this fantasy, then in that fantasy I wouldn’t be blogging in the first place and the whole website would fade off the internet like Marty McFly’s family photo.<br /><br />I debated on whether to use a lottery, but I settled on simply going by current records worst to first. Each team will get one pick, and then we’ll have to realign the divisions a bit at the end. And Cleveland is on the clock.<br /><br />1. Cleveland Cavaliers:<br /><br />My first plan was to allow the Cavs to trade out of this spot, because my feeling is that Chris Paul wouldn’t be happy in Cleveland, and we would be watching ‘The Decision 2’ in two years time. However, to open that can of worms right now would make this writing nearly impossible, since I literally just spent an hour trying figure the best trade to send Paul elsewhere and get Cleveland the appropriate assets in return before deciding no trades allowed. (I’m so not kidding, I considered a deal where Iggy, Jrue, and the 8th pick in this draft get traded from Philly; Harris, Favors, and the third pick from NJ; and a package from Golden State built around Steph Curry; among other deals) So, the options if you are the fake Cavs are to draft Paul and either trade him later or convince him to resign, or they could go in another direction with the pick. So let‘s turn it over to the pretend Cavs GM…<br /><br /><strong>The Cleveland Cavaliers select Rudy Gay</strong><br /><br />The Cavs have a glaring hole at SF, and Gay is young, playing fantastic, and under contract for the next five seasons. He fills the current shortcomings of this roster, and as a poor man’s LeBron he would boost this team to somewhere in between the best in the east (As they were with LeBron) and the worst in the East (As they are without him). Let’s say they now become a 45-50 win team. They also are a lot more interesting, maybe LeBron was onto something, then again more interesting is one thing, but being a legit contender is another.<br /><br />2. Washington Wizards: <br /><br />How is it possible that Chris Paul doesn’t get picked top 2? With John Wall in place the Wiz don’t need Paul, but they do need everything else, however. It makes the most sense to get young cheap talent for now and add pieces when they develop. So my Wiz board was started as a choice between Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins, OJ Mayo, Roy Hibbert, Kevin Love, and Michael Beasley. The final decision came down to the pair of Wolves, in the short term Kevin Love is a better fit next to Lewis, but I think Beasley has the chance to be a league leader in scoring, especially playing next to John Wall. So to the fake GM….<br /><br /><strong>The Washington Wizards select Michael Beasley</strong><br /><br />This move gives the Wizards a one-two punch that could make them a force in the east for years to come, in a few years. The Wizards also would be added to the list of teams I’d like to see live now.<br /><br />3. New Jersey Nets:<br /><br />The Nets are in a uniq--- <strong>We pick Chris Paul! We pick Chris Paul! Somebody tell Melo we got Chris Paul! Who can say sign and trade?!? See you Devin, see you Favors, Hellllllooooooo Melllllllloooooooo!!!</strong>--- <br /><br />So the Nets add a Hall of Fame talent, and make themselves very attractive to Carmelo. This would give the Nets a legit threesome that could compete with Miami and push them in a 7 game series. The Nets are more interesting, and certainly a must see ticket when the come to the Wells Fargo Center.<br /><br />4. LA Clippers:<br /><br />The Clippers have a young, exciting roster and two of the lottery picks in the upcoming draft. So I guess they should just add the best player available. <br /><br /><strong>The Clippers select Danny Granger.</strong> <br /><br />This team would be crazy stacked at this point, they can start Davis, Gordon, Granger, Griffin, and Kaman. Plus they’d have Aminu, Bledsoe, and Foye off the bench. If they could grab a quality big man with those picks or via a trade and the Clippers would be a real contender as soon as Griffin learns how to win. I considered having them choose Cousins as an heir to Kaman, but listening to recent comments it seems like Cousins wants to be the ’go-to guy’ in big spots and I wouldn’t risk this roster falling apart over a power struggle. <br /><br />5. Detroit Pistons<br />6. Toronto Raptors<br /><br />What do you get for the team that needs everything? Seriously, the Pistons blow goats. If I were a Detroit fan I don’t know how I could maintain interest in this team. They have half of the salary cap for the next 3 years tied up in Ben Gordon, Rip Hamilton, and Charlie Villanueva. Toronto, the next to pick, are just as bad. In fact, I would have just contracted these two teams if not for the fact that Canadians are weird and keep going to Raptor games, and that Detroit is a storied franchise with multiple titles. I guess its nice that you can pick whoever and it fits.<br /><br /><strong>The Detroit Pistons select DeMarcus Cousins.<br />The Toronto Raptors select Tyreke Evans</strong>.<br /><br />Detroit gets the slight head case Cousins as the bad ass leader of the new bad boys, and I think he’d become a hugely popular player with the Detroit crowds. Especially after he beats up Kevin Garnett for talking smack to Charlie Villanueva again.<br />Evans meanwhile makes Toronto an interesting team, his scoring might even carry them to the playoffs, where an inevitable sweep by the Heat awaits. You could do worse than a Calderon-Evans backcourt, plus Bargnani, Ed Davis, and DeRozan are nice pieces, it would definitely be a step in the right direction. I considered Love for Detroit, but felt Cousins has a better chance to be the best player a title team, something I don’t think anyone think Love can become. I also considered Joe Johnson for Toronto, but figured why spend $20mil for a B+ player when $4mil gets you a B- with potential to be an A. <br /><br /><br />7. Charlotte Bobcats<br />8. Philadelphia 76ers<br /><br />They both are borderline playoff teams, but they both kind of suck and have no real long term hopes with their current rosters. They both also have no big men, the list of centers on these two squads is kind of a pathetic group. Tony Battie, Spencer Hawes, Marreese Speights, Kwame Brown, DeSanga Diop, and Nazr Mohammed. There isn’t a solid starter in the bunch, so both teams are going to add a center. <br /><br /><strong>The Charlotte Bobcats select Kevin Love.<br />The Philadelphia 76ers select Roy Hibbert.</strong><br /><br />Wait, what? But you just said the Bobcats need a center! What gives? Well, the Bobcats need somebody to crash the boards, and the team was built around defense. Love fits with them because the rest of the team can cover his flaws on D, meanwhile, Love can thrive snatching rebounds, which is something the Bobcats struggle with. For the Sixers, the pick was between Hibbert and Josh Smith. The Sixers would fill their glaring void at center, and if Turner develops they would be able to put a quality player at every position. They also would take Atlanta’s place as the best team in the east that has no chance at winning an NBA title.<br /><br />9. Golden State Warriors<br /><br />The warriors play up tempo, and they aim to run you out of the building every single night. There’s only one real choice here.<br /><br /><strong>The Warriors pick Josh Smith</strong>.<br /><br />The Warrior are now running with Lee and Smith up front, and Curry with Ellis in the back. They might score 120 points every game, and allow about 140 points a night.<br /><br />10. Milwaukee Bucks <br /><br />This is where I start to pick up the pace.<br /><br /><strong>The Milwaukee Bucks select Joe Johnson.</strong><br /><br />A good wing to go with the 3 or 4 half-assed ones they are currently running out there. Only 4 years more on that Salmons contract. Still, Johnson/Jennings/Maggette/ Bogut is a nice base.<br /><br />11. Phoenix Suns<br /><br /><strong>The Phoenix Suns select Ricky Rubio.</strong><br /><br />Steve Nash ain’t gonna play forever, and there couldn’t possibly be a better tutor for the young Spaniard.<br /><br />12. Houston Rockets<br /><br /><strong>The Houston Rockets select Al Horford</strong><br /><br />Yao Ming ain’t gonna play forever, or ever again, so its time we grab a replacement.<br /><br />13. Portland Trailblazers<br /><br /><strong>The Portland Trailblazers select Marc Gasol.</strong><br /><br />Greg Oden ain’t gonna play -you get the idea… Although, I wanted to give them OJ Mayo, so a third guy could join the fight to control the offense. At least Mayo could do it from either position.<br /><br />14. New York Knicks<br /><br /><strong>The New York Knicks select OJ Mayo</strong><br /><br />The Knicks are running a high-tempo offense, and Mayo should thrive in it.<br /><br />15. The Denver Nuggets<br /><br /><strong>The Denver Nuggets select Wesley Johnson</strong><br /><br />Who knows where this roster is going, a young SF to fill Carmelo’s pending void seems to make sense.<br /><br />16. The Orlando Magic<br /><strong><br />The Orlando Magic select Zach Randolph.</strong><br /><br />Orlando’s cap is already blown out, and they need frontcourt depth. Zach is expensive, but he’s a beast down low. I think he really make this team scary.<br /><br />17. Oklahoma City Thunder<br /><br /><strong>The Oklahoma City Thunder select Emeka Okafor</strong><br /><br />A solid defensive center gives the thunder the last piece needed to be a contender.<br /><br />18. The Utah Jazz<br /><br /><strong>The Utah Jazz select Jamal Crawford.</strong><br /><br />The only natural SG on the Jazz’ roster is Raja Bell. WTF? Another guard seems in order.<br /><br />19. Los Angeles Lakers<br /><br /><strong>The Lakers select Darren Collison</strong><br /><br />I considered Ariza making a triumphant return here, but the Lakers get minutes at the SF position from Artest, Odom, and Kobe/Brown in smaller sets. A good young point could be huge.<br /><br />20. Chicago Bulls<br /><br /><strong>The Chicago Bulls select Trevor Ariza</strong><br /><br />Ariza gives the Bulls a playoff-tested, athletic wing who can shoot. A nice fit for a playoff run.<br /><br />21. Miami Heat<br /><br /><strong>The Miami Heat select Sam Dalembert</strong><br /><br />The Heat need big men, I considered Jason Thompson, but Sammy is a superior defensive player. The Heat don’t need better offense, just somebody who can swat a few shots.<br /><br />22. Dallas Mavericks<br />23. Boston Celtics<br />24. San Antonio Spurs<br /><br /><strong>Dallas selects Omri Casspi<br />Boston selects Xavier Henry<br />San Antonio selects Carl Landry </strong><br /><br />Dallas needs a SF with Butler hurt and expiring.<br />Boston picks up somebody to stash on the bench, and maybe a player who can one day can replace Ray Allen<br />San Antonio gets a nice young big to add to the rotation with Duncan and company.<br /><br /><br /><strong>In Conclusion</strong> <br /><br /> So, if the league actually contracted would the game be better? I think it would make every team have somebody to build around, somebody to push them to the next level, or somebody to make them deeper. It would reduce the number of games you just can't get into, like those road trips where the Sixers hit Detroit, Indiana, and Toronto in a week. The problem that is revealed here is that although many of the teams become more interesting, not many of them move into the category of true contender.<br /> If the league wants to keep the fans more entertained, perhaps they should find a way to make quick turn-arounds easier for struggling franchises. In fact, instead of contracting franchises, maybe each franchise should be able to contract one contract. The thing that holds teams back in this league is that a single bad decision can cost your team five seasons. So if your a fan and you know there isn't any way to improve your team until a giant deal expires, why would you follow them day-in, day-out? A team has to be growing, emerging, or contending to be interesting to casual fans. While contraction would certainly bring in fans short-term, I think you must fix the process of building and changing a team in order to keep those fans interested once you land them.<br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-7811865979998373802011-01-04T00:45:00.001-05:002011-01-04T00:54:13.250-05:00Sixers vs. Hornets<span id="fullpost">Sixers-Hornets<br /><br />I’m not going write a ton on this one. Read the <a href="http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?id=310103003">ESPN/AP report </a>for details, needless to say this one sucked. Here is just a series of thoughts on the game:<br /><br />Turner, Williams, and Meeks shot a combined 3 for 27. That’s 11% from the field.<br /><br />Marreese Speights got a surprise start with Hawes tweaking his back in warm-ups.<br /><br />Speights came out strong with 2 early FGs, yet wound up with a pedestrian 12 points.<br /><br />I am oftentimes disappointed with Marreese Speights’ production.<br /><br />The Sixers held a 40-31 lead late in the 2nd quarter.<br /><br />The Hornets scored the next 17 points, and the Sixers never regained the lead.<br /><br />Jrue committed 2 fouls in the first 5 minutes, then not another for the rest of the game.<br /><br />Sixers finished their road trip 3-5. <br /><br />Thank God for the Orlando/Phoenix trade, or the trip would have been 2-6.<br /><br />The Sixers have 5 of their next 6 at home, and 5 of their next 6 are winnable.<br /><br />Chicago is going to kill the Sixers on Friday, they beat us by 45 last time.<br /><br />I have tickets to Friday’s game against Chicago.<br /><br />Sixers have trouble guarding quick guards as Curry, Rose, and Parker all burned us.<br /><br />Those three PGs finished a combined +85 in those games.<br /><br />Rose was a friggin’ +41!<br /><br />The Sixers lost each of those 3 games.<br /><br />50 days/23 games until the trade deadline.<br /><br />This had better not be the roster we take onto the court to face Detroit on Feb. 25th.<br /><br />Ok, let’s just call it quits. Come back tomorrow for a real post where we have some fun with all the talk of contraction.<br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-12724129034484985682011-01-03T10:47:00.002-05:002011-01-03T10:54:00.367-05:00Back from the Holiday madnessLast time we posted here at the PSP, the Sixers were a dismal 2-10 and I wrote how they only have two players worth keeping. Since that point the squad has played much better ball winning 11 of 21 since a November 17th loss to Toronto, and they are now on pace to finish just under .500 and they may even be a playoff team. The funny thing about the NBA is, however, that the team is now much worse off than if they had just continued their wretched start. <br /><span id="fullpost"><br /> The NBA is a star driven league, to win the NBA title you must have a Hall of Fame level star and an All-Star sidekick, both playing at or very close to their prime. The only exception to this in the past 30 years is Detroit, which played 5 All-Stars and had a HOF coach in Larry Brown. The Sixers don’t even have an All-Star, let alone somebody who may end up being an MVP/HOF type impact player. Last time I wrote I advised on gaining cap space and draft picks in an attempt to land that #1 guy, but now I realize that the Sixers are never going to attract that top-level type free agent. Philly is not a destination city for NBA players. New York, Phoenix, LA, Brooklyn, OKC, Chicago, and the Texas and Florida teams are where players will choose to go, for either money/ weather/ women/ super-team considerations. <br /><br /> So now your options are to either trade for talent or acquire something through the draft. The Sixers recent surge towards the middle of a top heavy league leaves their chances of hitting it big in the draft at very slim, so now a trade seems like the team's only real option. The problem is that teams looking to trade centerpiece talent do it for three reasons, they don’t think they will ever stay healthy (think Yao, Roy, or Oden), they are about to walk via free agency and won’t resign (think Melo), or they are out of their damn mind (the player not the team, think Cousins or Beasley). Sounds promising doesn’t it? <br /><br /> Now it hasn’t been all bad since the PSP last posted, Thaddeus Young has emerged as a real threat off the bench. Last time we posted I said he was a man without a position, but I want to rethink that and say he is a man that gives you the versatility to play multiple lineups. Elsewhere on the roster there was improvement, improvement marred by terrible inconsistency, but improvement nonetheless. Spencer Hawes came out of retirement and had real nice two week run before teams started to target (ok, maybe ‘pay attention to’ is more appropriate) him and he regressed back to a non-factor. The big man did show he has skills and could be a valuable bench player on a good team. Tony Battie played some nice bench minutes and just might have turned himself into an asset, as rumors have him potentially heading to Orlando to serve as much needed size off the bench. Jodie Meeks went through the same two week arc as Hawes, playing inspired ball, and shooting lights-out after first being put into the starting lineup. Much like Hawes, as teams began to include Jodie in their game plan, Meeks’ scoring fell significantly. <br /><br /> This will be our last “State of the Union” type post for awhile since we know where we stand. The team is fun to watch but doesn’t have the players needed to take the next step. They should go out of their way to acquire as many picks and high-ceiling players as possible, even if it means high risk/high ceiling guys like Oden. For now I will check in daily to go over news and notes, game reviews and the like. I will watch every game and post here with thoughts, I think every game is important to the youth on this roster, and hope we can see more consistency from Young, Turner, Holiday, Meeks and Hawes. On off-days I will try to post on the league in general, starting Wednesday with a mock draft and analysis based on LeBron’s idea of contraction.<br /> <br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-87115459294383641102010-11-18T15:15:00.006-05:002010-11-18T15:26:07.457-05:00The Blueprint<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TOWKDoEdy5I/AAAAAAAAAIc/rLart7RgGHs/s1600/imagesCAARQRAD.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 225px; height: 225px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jEYSOFK-ws8/TOWKDoEdy5I/AAAAAAAAAIc/rLart7RgGHs/s400/imagesCAARQRAD.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540986711449652114" /></a><br /> The 76ers suffered their worst loss of the season Wednesday night, falling to the lowly Toronto Raptors at home. If the Sixers are unable to handle the Raptors at home, then I think we can agree they are incapable of winning 30 games this year. A return to the lottery is not necessarily a bad thing, it is a chance for your team to add a piece that can get them into contention in the future. The future for this team could be a bright one if the team can makes the right front-office decisions, the problem with that notion is that there are a ton of options and enigmas associated with the current roster. What members of this rosters are building blocks, which are trade chips, which are deadwood to be excised? What can we hope for in the upcoming draft, should we jettison that pick now in an attempt to sweeten a trade proposal? The team has 14 players under contract and a top-5 lotto pick looming, lets break down how they all fit in the 76ers future plans. <span id="fullpost">The Blueprint<br /><br /> <br /><strong>The Keepers:</strong><br /> The one thing about a team that is on pace to win 16 games, is that there probably isn’t a ton of sure fire, can’t miss type guys that need to be retained in order to become a contender. By my count there are only 2.<br /><br /><strong>Jrue Holiday PG</strong>: I am very high on Jrue Holiday, and while he still commits too many turnovers, he is definitely a special player and a keeper. Since a shaky start, Jrue has come on to average 16 points and 9 assists in the month of November. Jrue is very young at 20, so you can expect that he will mature both mentally and physically. The physical maturity is especially exciting, because as his 6’4” frame fills out over the next few years Jrue will become a monster of a point guard that can abuse other points with his size. Jrue could become a Deron Williams type mismatch for smaller guards if things go the right way for him. His keeper status shouldn’t be a surprise, and I wouldn’t move him unless I was getting one of the top 5 point guards in return (Rose, Rondo, Wall, Paul, and Deron.)<br /><br /><strong>Evan Turner SG:</strong> The number two pick in the 2010 drat is a keeper for obvious reasons. Turner is young, big, smart, and hustles on the court. Turner needs to develop a scoring touch in order to become an all-star, but you can expect him to have a long successful NBA career. Turner leads all guards in rebounding, snatching nearly 7 per contest. That type of production on the boards is going to lead to Turner dropping triple-doubles on his opponents several times a year. Also, with Turner and Holiday the 76ers will have the biggest backcourt in basketball, which if the frontcourt is ever properly developed could help the Sixers become an elite defensive team, which all champions must be. <br /><br /> I hesitate to say the Sixers <em>have</em> to keep anybody else, not that there isn’t talent, but everybody else on the roster has questions about their skills, position, age, or money. Turner and Jrue are young, big, talented, and cheap (for now) everybody else is lacking in one of the areas if not several. The majority of the roster can be debated about, so before we get there, lets cover the guys who can go away without affecting the future.<br /><br /><strong>The Deadwood:</strong><br /> Nothing personal here, this section is simply the guys who have limitations based on age/ money/ skill that don’t fit into any possible future plans for the Sixers.<br /><br /><strong>Jason Kapono SF, Tony Battie C, Darius Songaila PF: </strong>Three vets in the final years of their contract who are either past their prime, or never really had a prime. (looking your way, Darius) These guy can be dumped and they wouldn’t be missed, although it should be noted that Kapono and Songaila make a combined $11.4 million, so although they are not a part of the future they still could be considered assets as they could end up being used to acquire talent in a trade.<br /><br /><strong>Andres Nocioni SF:</strong> Andres is a good player, but he is about to turn 31 on November 30, so to count on him to contribute two or three years from now would be foolish. Andres also is a little overpaid for my tastes, so I’d prefer they trade him now rather than let him walk away after playing out his contract. I believe at the trade deadline a contender will absolutely pick up a scrappy SF who can shoot a little and defend. Also, and I’ll cover this later, Craig Brackins is a raw 6’10” SF who can shoot and was drafted in 21st overall in the 2010 draft, let’s clear out guys like Kapono and Nocioni and see what the kid has. <br /><br /><strong>Elton Brand PF:</strong> I am not by any means a Brand hater, but Elton will be 34 when his contract ends in the summer of 2013, and at that point it will be near over for the former all-star. Elton is certainly overpaid, so if an opportunity to trade Brand comes along I’d jump at it. Trading Brand may seem like a long-shot now, but Brand has been giving you quality minutes, and with a lockout looming the team that acquires Brand this year may get to skip next season and then have Elton as a big ol’ expiring contract. In theory, this means Brand contributes 25 or so bench minutes to a contender this year, then becomes a trade chip again after not getting paid for 2011-12. <br /><br /><br /><strong>The Maybes:</strong><br /> Here is where it gets difficult, lose the wrong guys and you end up with a roster full of holes, but sign the wrong guy for too much money and you end up crippling your franchise for years. (I am extremely proud that I wrote that previous line without stopping and swearing about Billy King, Willie Green, Sam Dalembert, or Elton Brand.)<br /><br /><strong>Craig Brackins SF, Jodie Meeks SG:</strong> These two are linked for obvious reasons, they both have potential to be successful rotation guys, but they both need to be given minutes to determine if they fit in with the future. Jodie was a talented scorer in college and could end up as the third guard in the Sixers rotation behind Jrue and Evan one day. Meeks’ ability to shoot from three-point range and get points in bunches will determine if he ends up as a role player or as the Sixers sixth man of the future. Brackins on the other hand is blocked by Iggy, Nocioni, and Kapono, so he won’t see minutes this season unless moves are made. Brackins is 6‘10“, which means if he ever develops into a starter it would give the Sixers another oversized player to go with their giant backcourt. He also has nice range and shoots well from outside, which will be required since he probably will get his minutes at Kapono and Nocioni’s expense and they are among our best outside shooters. Brackins needs to be more aggressive defensively to make it in the league, being tall just isn’t enough at the pro level. Still, when he was acquired from the Hornets he was regarded as the player with the highest ceiling involved in that deal.<br /><br /><strong>Marreese Speights C/PF, Thaddeus Young F:</strong> This pair is linked based on the fact that both players have looked tremendous for stretches and then lost for even longer stretches. Young seems to be finding a groove lately as a reserve, and sits in the top 10 in FG percentage. Thaddeus was horrendous in 2009-10 under Eddie Jordan and appears to be on the way back to relevance under new coach Doug Collins. At just 22, it seems like there is a lot of room for Thaddeus to grow, but I can’t call him a keeper because of his financial situation. Young will be a restricted free agent after the season, and I feel like it may end up in the teams best interests to let him go. Amir Johnson, an inferior PF, just got a 5 year $35 million contract from Toronto, which kind of sets the minimum Thaddeus could get offered on the open market. Now if a team had stars to build around I’d be ok with paying Thaddeus that kind of money, but to do it and hamper your ability to fill needs seems counter productive. Let’s not forget that Thaddeus doesn’t shoot well enough to be the starting 3 next to Turner, and he doesn’t have the body to be a starting 4. You can not pay a man without a position that kind of money unless you already have stars to build around. Ultimately I need more time to determine what to do with Thaddeus, if the Sixers end up at the top of the lottery and end up drafting somebody who projects as a star, then I am more likely to keep Thad around as a backup. If they don’t get a top pick, I think you may have to let him go in an attempt to get under the cap once Brand’s deal expires in 2013 so we can land a star via free agency. I feel Speights deserves a similar holding pattern. Marreese is signed through 2012, so we have time to figure out what he can do in the league, but I can’t commit any type of big money to him unless I have my superstar-type centerpiece in place.<br /><br /><strong>Spencer Hawes C:</strong> How does a 22-Year old, 7’1” center with shooting range nearly end up in the deadwood category? Hawes is big and young which I love, but he just doesn’t produce. Hawes doesn’t score a ton (just 8.6 points per game for his career), he can’t rebound (5.4 rpg), and his defense is suspect. On top of it all the Kings traded him for Sam Dalembert, which says more about his potential then anything I could write. Still, he is 7 feet tall and you can‘t teach size, or underestimate its value. There are 70 games left this year for the big guy to show something, if there’s any hope there I say keep him around with a two or three year deal and see if anything develops. Just remember to keep it cheap, we overspent on Dalembert waiting for him to develop and it never happened.<br /><br /><strong>Lou Williams G:</strong> I like Lou a lot, and he is way too good and affordable to go in the deadwood category, but I’m not sure he fits as a long term option. First of all, Lou is blocked from big minutes by your two best young players in Jrue and Evan. The fact that he is undersized is ok, because he has a big PG next to him in Holiday. I just think I’d rather trade Lou to somebody that needs bench scoring and try get shooting/youth/picks. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Jodie Meeks get more minutes, but Lou’s presence blocks that from happening. The timing of Lou’s contract also doesn’t help, it expires after 2012-13, just as you expect to be turning the corner, so if Lou is going to be around when you are good then its going to be a much higher price tag, losing a lot of Williams’ appeal to me. This isn’t a knock on Lou, I just think if you can get a young big, a sniper, or a high pick for him, it is something you need to move on.<br /><br /><strong>Andre Iguodala SG/SF:</strong> The sentiment seems to be that we should dump Iggy just to get his contract off the books, and I have to disagree. Trade offers like Iggy for Peja Stojakovic, or Iggy for Tayshaun Prince have been floated around, but I don’t see the logic. Why get worse now without gaining any long-term assets? I think Iggy should only be traded if it brings back a long term piece, ideally a young big man. For example, I’m ok with the Prince deal if the Pistons include Greg Monroe, the young center they drafted this spring. I’d also be thrilled if they could revive the talks of a three team deal centered on Iguodala, Carmelo, and Favors. (Especially if we could also get sharp shooter Anthony Morrow from NJ) It seems to be forgotten sometimes that Iguodala is a dynamic player miscast as the centerpiece of a team. What we really need is a superstar to lead the team, because Iguodala could absolutely be the second best player on a contender. So I say keep him and see where the draft takes you, maybe you end up with a quality big man for Iggy to partner with. Then again, maybe you end up with North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes, and Iggy really does have to go.<br /><br /><strong>So what’s the blueprint?</strong><br /> Ultimately, the plan has to be an effort to free up money and to stockpile draft picks in hopes of landing a true #1 superstar. You do not win championships without a legitimate superstar (except Detroit) so acquiring that player is the top priority. Maybe you can draft one, Harrison Barnes has all the buzz currently among the college kids. Maybe you can shed salary and sign one from somebody else, my dream would be Dwight Howard in summer of 2012, but that’s the longest of long shots. Dwight aside, you do need a strong big man to compete in this league, and I‘d give a long look at Tyson Chandler, Kendrick Perkins and Yao Ming this off season. I would listen to offers for anybody other than Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner, I would give Hawes, Meeks, and Brackins more minutes and see what these guys can give us long term. I would refuse to give out any contract that commits big money past the expiration of Brand’s current deal, except for locking up the backcourt. <br /><br /> Ultimately the biggest tool needed for a Sixers resurgence is patience. We need to avoid being overaggressive in the trade market, so we can maximize the return we get on our assets. We need to see what our young players can really bring to the table, but we can‘t spend too much to keep role players or we‘ll paint ourselves into a corner. First and foremost, we have to be focused on attaining that true superstar and leader, so attaining cap space and high draft picks are definitely the priority.<br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-55487681739932594132009-09-04T16:44:00.004-04:002009-09-04T17:03:07.110-04:00NFC Preview - 09/04/09<img src='http://idisk.me.com/sjohns51/Public/Images/PSP090409.jpg'></img><br /><br />Are you ready for some football? We get ready for the 2010 season by covering every division in football. First up is the NFC. Can Brett Favre lead the Vikes to the Superbowl? Can the Eagles make another run? Will the Lions win a game? Whats your take on the NFC?<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3247397568-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=http://media.podcastingmanager.com/9/9/2/3/6/173625-163299/Media/PSP090409.mp3" width="400" height="27" allowscriptaccess="never" quality="best" bgcolor="#ffffff" wmode="window" flashvars="playerMode=embedded"></embed>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050524586679441764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-71982096149012883912009-09-02T23:30:00.000-04:002009-09-08T23:32:19.428-04:00Raaaaaa-(eeeewwwwwww)lllllYou would imagine that being a Phillies fan is about as easy right now as it has ever been. After all the Phils are 8 games ahead in the NL East with just a month remaining in the season, they feature a rotation that is the league’s best since they acquired Cliff Lee, and let’s not forget they are the defending world champions. Yet anxiety runs rampant through the hearts and minds of the Phillies faithful following. The three biggest concerns are the lack of a bench, the disastrous season of still-closer-for-now Brad Lidge (For more on Lidge and the bench, check out the 8/31 podcast), and the disappearance of top free agent acquisition Raul Ibanez.<br /><br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />Ibanez started the season on a monster tear and quickly won over the fans, for his efforts Raul was rewarded with his first all-star selection. On June 18th, Raul’s hot start was sidetracked by a strained groin and a trip to the DL. Raul would come off of the DL on July 10th just 4 days before the all-star game, which drew speculation that he returned earlier than necessary to ensure he could play in his first mid-summer classic. Ibanez and Coach Charlie Manuel both have said that they do not believe the injury is still an issue, but that speculation has gained steam since Ibanez has been nothing short of terrible since his return. Even more concerning is that Ibanez has traditionally been a superior player in the second half of the year.<br /><br />Over the last three seasons with Seattle, Raul has hit 30 points higher, slugged 50 points higher, and he has had better HR and RBI rates in the second half. For him to be this off is especially concerning due to his track record and the fact that he has no precedence for this type of fall off. If the injury is still lingering, the Phillies need to sit Ibanez for as long as necessary to get him 100% for October. Heck, maybe the extra playing time for Stairs, Dobbs, and Bruntlett can get one of them into rhythm. If the injury truly isn’t a factor, than the team has a scarier possibility to face, maybe Ibanez is just getting old, and maybe a three-year deal was a bit much.<br /><br />Ibanez was signed to replace LF Pat Burrell, and was paid $3 million more annually than Burrell got to sign with Tampa. It hardly seems worth it at this point if you compare Burrell’s 2008 with Ibanez’s 2009:<br /><br />Burrell- .250 avg/ 33 HR’s/ 86 RBI’s<br />Ibanez- .274 avg/ 27 HR’s/ 79 RBI’s<br /><br />Now Raul still has a month to play, but if he continues his slide he’ll end up around .260/30/90. So is it worth an extra $16 million in a contract to add .010 to a batting average, and to get a handful more RBI’s? I don’t think so. Remember, the Phillies have Michael Taylor and Dominic Brown lurking in the minors, and Raul is entrenched in LF for two more seasons, so there’s a chance we’ll ship out the younger and more vital Werth and/or Victorino to save money and make room for the youngsters. There’s a chance that Ibanez’s third year becomes an Adam Eaton type albatross. If after the 2010 season we lose Cliff Lee to free agency while not getting value from Ibanez’s $10 million salary, it will be a big issue to fans. <br /><br />The only criticism I have of this front office is they offer big money to guys with red flags, Tom Gordon was old, Brad Lidge was too hit or miss, Adam Eaton was the league’s worst pitcher, and Raul Ibanez, like Gordon, is old. Also like Tom Gordon, Raul started out doing well for himself, but over time he seems less and less worth the investment. His struggles not only cast doubt over the World Series hopes of the 2009 Phillies, but for the next two seasons as well. <br /><br />Raul has been consistently a .295/22/105 type of offensive player, and in our park and with our lineup, you should expect better. With that classic Ibanez, the Phillies are the best offensive team in the league, without him they regress to being merely very good. For now I think he needs either a Brad Lidge-type DL stint, or a Jimmy Rollins-style benching, but either way we should try something because it quite literally can’t get any worse than this.<br /><br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-17609649591866622772009-08-31T16:58:00.002-04:002009-09-08T16:56:17.171-04:008/31/09 - Heart Attack Lidge<img src="http://app4.websitetonight.com/projects/1/1/0/3/1103206/_mygallery/PSP083109.jpg"/><br />We are back! On this week's podcast, we talk about the inconsistency of Brad Lidge and whether or not a move will be made at the back end of the pen. We also discuss Ryan Howard's annual late season magic and whether or not he has a shot at the NL MVP.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3247397568-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=http://media.podcastingmanager.com/9/9/2/3/6/173625-163299/Media/PSP83109.mp3" width="400" height="27" allowscriptaccess="never" quality="best" bgcolor="#ffffff" wmode="window" flashvars="playerMode=embedded"></embed>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050524586679441764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640107747930136636.post-2122475131068687872009-04-20T04:18:00.009-04:002009-08-09T23:12:03.084-04:00PSP Podcast for April 20, 2009<a href="http://sites.google.com/site/psp2009project/Home/mr.jpg"> <img src="http://sites.google.com/site/psp2009project/Home/mr.jpg" width="520" height="260"/> </a><br />After a glorious sports Sunday, Greg is on the podcast covering all four major sports, and breaking down the happenings of the week.<br /><br />LISTEN - Click <a href="javascript:window.open('http://www.phillysportspost.net/MediaPlayers/player.aspx?mediaid=0','_player', 'height=320,width=630,status=no,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no,location=no'); window.location.top=window.location.top;">here</a> to open the player. Be sure to play the Podcast from 4/20/2009<br /><br />ITUNES - Click <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=310320102">here</a> to get The Not Sports Report in Itunes. To get our Weekly Sports Podcast in Itunes, click <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=310320082">here</a>.<br /><br />DOWNLOAD - Click <a href="http://media.podcastingmanager.com/9/9/2/3/6/173625-163299/Media/psp420.mp3">here</a> to download<br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><br /></span>Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15884045505263949810noreply@blogger.com0