Deep Sixer

I agree - the sixers may not play with the most skill, but they certainly show heart... although cliche - this is a blue collar team in the truest sense of the words...

Marc,

I think you are misinterpreting what Lawrence wrote. He did not imply that the Sixers are tanking games. He merely suggested that the Sixers organization recognizes that if Cheeks was replaced now by Brown, the few extra wins that superior coaching might squeeze out of the team would (as last year) not be in the team's long-term interest. Cheeks, and the players, are certainly trying to win as much as possible.

Marc,would anyone ever admit they're tanking games ? No way ! However, if you keep playing with inferior talent, in a way, that is a form of playing to lose. Cheeks, is the sacrificial lamb. He's history, and he knows it. He probably doesn't mind building up his 401k. Nice guy, but he's not head coaching material,never was. What did he ever do to deserve the job anyway. BK thought hiring him would put a fire, in the fan base. It didn't. He always came accross as shy, and somewhat of an introvert. The guy I believe, is getting a free pass is this Dileo. I would love to know what he does, or did to deserve the lofty job he has. I may sound like your typical negative Philadelphia fan, which I despise. I'm a hurting,lifelong sixer fan. And I'll still be, when this cast of under-achievers are long forgotten...

Marc, these sixers are playing hard and these players nor Cheeks, I think, would tank games. Too many of them don't have that security. However, if you keep taking a knife to a gun fight, you'll get the same result. This roster doesn't have enough talent to win -- bottom line. If this team continues to play hard, develop the young players, trade Miller for an expiring contract and hopefully a no. 1 pick to be better placed for free agency next summer, then the fans will support the team. That doesn't mean that we're going to spend our money to attend games this year because we won't. Sucker is not written on our forehead.

Even if the 76ers organization does this, you still have BK as a GM in charge of this rebuilding plan. I and many other fans believe that this team needs a change at GM and coach along with better talent to move forward. If Larry Brown comes back, which he probably will, he'll be an improvement as a coach over Cheeks but this city isn't long to see Larry Brown on the sideline again. In the meantime, I want to see if Shavlik Randolph and Herbert Hill are players to keep for the future, the continued development of Lou Will, Jason Smith, Iggy and others. Thanks for your blog and giving the fans a chance to share their views.

My 2 cents:

The Sixers are a very young team that is in no way ready to compete even for NBA respectability in this season.

That does not equate to tanking. For tanking, look at the end of last season when the other squads (Boston, Minnesota, Seattle, etc...) pretty much laid down in order to pick up a few ping pong balls.

Dealing Miller now is the right thing, because he's not going to be the difference between this team making the playoffs or not. Add to it that we are beginning to see his decline in play and the Sixers simply have to deal him.

If that makes the Sixers a younger team that is even less able to compete this season, then we have to live with it as fans.

The young guys will get better. They will develop and mature. Within a couple years, the cap space and some more talented youth should have this team in a position to be good again. Maybe even a contender.

But unlike the Celtics of last year, the Sixers aren't playing dead.

Billy King upset after losses? He looked mighty pleased exiting the Verizon Center last Tuesday after the Arenas-less Wizards meted out a beat-down.

Pat H makes a great point about DiLeo. What HAS he done to deserve his lofty position? As Director of Scouting, he’s done a terrible, terrible job. No one expects every draft pick or acquisition to work out, but you have to hit a home run once in a while, right? Why can’t the Sixers get a Kelenna Azubuike once in a while? Or a Josh Howard? I’ll grudgingly accept that they did good with Louis Williams, but they got him in 2005, and only now is he starting to contribute. Anyone else?

As a Sixers fan who wants only the best for the team, I’m extremely glad Lou EVENTUALLY worked out, because I’m always hoping that these signings and picks work out. I keep thinking, “Come on Korver, learn to curl off those screens and hit J’s,” or “If only Sammy bulked up and got that Dennis Rodman type of desire for boards and defense,” but the guys they get usually don’t develop in a way that’ll help the team win more games.

But the one guy who has improved a lot is Iguodala, and for me, he’s the only reason to watch them right now. The most exciting moments of every Sixers game are when Iggy, like a shark, senses a weakness in the defense and decides to launch one of his here-I-come-there’s-nothing-you-can-do-to-stop-me aerial attacks. I think not enough has been said about how great he’s been this year. And the best part is that he’s been consistently good and never disappears from games. He’s just so good that defenses have a hard time taking him out of games, and I think that focus from opposing defenses is what’s caused the unusual number of turnovers he’s had this year. And that ugly-ass jumpshot of his? Can you believe that’s gotten better?!? He’s GOTTA be a part of the Sixers’ future.

I just read on ESPN.COM that the Sixers will have the most room under the cap next year.I did'nt realize that so many teams are in cap hell,and the Sixers,if they play their cards right,could come out of this smelling like a rose.Hello Raptors PG Calderon,and Hawks PF Josh Smith.

DiLeo is also known as the guy who wanted nowitzki over paul pierce, and the sixers got quite a steal when they drafted kyle korver (though in that same draft they got rooked by drafting willie green)

Billy King is an atrocious GM, only Isiah Thomas keeps him from being the worst GM in his own division, but he's got to be in bottom 5 when you take in his body of work (which I believe only includes the post brown years as when brown was here, King did what he was told...brown built the team and made the draft picks which is why the sixers (stupidly) drafted larry hughes instead of paul pierce or dirk nowitzki)

BTW...I'm so sick of the term 'blue collar'...philadelphia isn't a blue collar town folks, got over your rocky inferiority complex already...when the sixers won the title, they weren't 'blue collar', they were freaking Dr J and his majesty...i don't care about blue collar or not, i care about talent, and as long as the sixers keep running Willie Green out for more minutes than louis williams i won't believe that any of the people in charge of this team have a fracking clue about basketball.

If Willie Green and Rodney Carney decided to retire from basketball today, the team would only get better.

And, yes... we should definitely trade Andre Miller right now while he still has value to someone. Lou Williams and Kevin Ollie will do just fine for the remainder of the season.

Samuel Dalembert was the biggest mistake this team made. Investing over $50 million on him has proved nothing but a waste of time. The guy has a tremendous physical upside, but I noticed he doesn't run the court like he used to and seems to be stagnating at best, as oppossed to getting better. The little things of the game completely escape him. He grew up a soccer player, and seems to play basketball with a soccer mentality. Every NBA team needs a great big man, and the Sixers dumped their money on a guy who will never amount to much. Watch the Sixers stink for at least another 5 years unless Dalembert comes out of his shell and lives up to his big contract.

but to clarify, they are still losers, right?

Larry hit it on the head with his post.
It isn't about intentionally losing games.
It is about realizing that this team is
going absolutely nowhere, and that we are
in desperate need of young talent. It is
about giving the young players we have now
more minutes than they are getting, even
if that means more losses. It is about getting
rid of Andre Miller -- even if that means
losing the sacred "veteran presence" he
brings to the team -- and getting
a young player and/or draft pick in return.
And it's about getting Billy King out
of town and bringing in a GM who will do
more than trade that draft pick to move down
in the draft to take a player he's going to
release in training camp so Louis Admundson
and Shavlik Randolph can help keep things
warm and cuddly in the clubhouse.

"Playing the game right" and "playing
hard" are nice sentiments and are a reason
to be proud of the team. But that pride goes only so far. The fact is this team is
embarassingly bad and Billy King
and Tony Dileo -- their grave concern notwithstanding -- are responsible. This
is their team. The Sixers need a new
braintrust to build a new team. And if it
takes a ton of losses this year to put
enough pressure on ownership to realize
this, so be it.