Deep Sixer

"The Sixers are now 5-13 and nobody thought they could match last year’s 5-19 start."

We have a much better chance of matching last year's start than last year's finish.

Not to mention, we will again make a late December trade of our PG for an expiring and a pick.

At least the rest of this year we will be watching young players with some potential as opposed to watching Joe Smith and Andre Miller keeping us competitive. Either way, its hard to watch.

I hope Lou and the other kids at lease show some upside and reason to hope. I don't want to be in year 2 of the 5 year plan to crawl back to respectability.

Nice first half; outscored by 15 in second half.

The perimeter D has to improve.

Hope Stefanski keeps the core of Lou, Thad & J Smith, and makes sure Carney gets some PT to see if he can start channeling all that athleticism.

Korver,(3)point specialists on a terrible team ? For who for what ? Lacks luster ? Send him to Phoenix, maybe will get a late 1st rounder. That's now equivalent to a 2nd rounder these days. Boston will not go far in play-offs without quality point guard. Billups will eat them up when the intensity picks up in post season..Stefanski's honeymoon may last (3)yrs with this club.

Can someone on this blog explain to me one thing (if this was explained elsewhere earlier, i missed it)...

How did the Nets allow Stefansky to leave?

Wasnt he under contract there?
Did the 76ers need "permission" to
talk to NJ?
Do the 76ers owe NJ anything?

Not a big deal but i thought i would ask.

Thanks

Marcus

Eddie is not only GM like he was in NJ, he now is also President (Thorn is pres of the Nets.)

Generally management is allowed to switch jobs if they are offered a promotion.

What a terrible loss, Fire Eddie now!!!

Seriously, I hope he makes waves leading into the 2008 opener, we need something!!!

Korver is stealing fricken money. A professional shooter with Division-III quickness. Can't play any D. What a joke!

Marc,

I keep hearing about the cap space that we are going to have after this year. My question is, who are we going to spend it on? The free agents that I have heard about do not impress me.

Apparently the courtship of Stefankski started a while ago. They did get permission from Thorn. I'm surprised no one picked up this story from leaked info at all, it's quite amazing.

I don't understand who 'nobody' is. Every national sporting mag had the Sixers being cellar-dwellers. Surprisingly, the Sixers are better off than the Bulls, the Heat, and the Clippers.

Marcus,

The Nets let the Sixers talk to Ed because this represented a promotion to President and GM, and not just GM. They did need permission, which they received about a week ago. The Sixers do not owe them anything as far as I know.

I just don't understand what people were expecting. Going into the season all anyone talked about was how bad the sixers were going to be. how this was a decision that was made with forethought, knowing it would be a painful process. And now all that people talk about is how bad the sixers are. How demoralizing it is not to be able to beat the Nets or the Celtics. Surprise!

I'd rather people talked about what really matters, which is whether the individual players who might be here in 2 or 3 years are getting better. Igoudala seems to have made some different decisions with - and maybe more importantly, without - the ball in the last few days to avoid those 3-19 nights. That's encouraging. Williams is up and down, but the up seems pretty promising and the down in not surprising. But is he being more physical on D? Is he staying in front of his man? Is he putting other players in a better position on his initial passes? And Dalembert... well you get the picture. I'd rather read about that, then the "whoa is me" that everyone seems to want to scream because the sixers can't stay with the Celtics for 48 minutes. Is anyone really expecting us to? Do the players even expect to themselves? what it comes down to is that in the here and now, the team is irrelevant. It's all about the players. It's like little league. You know 90 percent of those kids aren't gonna be playing in high school so while you try to make sure everyone's having fun, what really matters is that the guys who will keep playing are learning the fundamentals and improving as players.

I agree with you Craig! I live in NJ and I purchased NBA League pass just to watch the individuals on the team grow and to see who would be left after 2-3 years. Call me nieve, but I thought that they could possible make the playoffs because of how disfunctional the Knicks are and will continue to be (if they had the big three in Boston they would still be the same if you ask me). I don't regret paying to watch thier games because I am a Sixer fan. I feel bad for Mo because he is surely going to get the ax, and I think in a matter of days in favor of Brown (King said that Brown wants to coach - why not were he is currently employed by an owner who almost considers him family?)

In short, Miller is gone (you can see it in his face during every interview that he doesn't want to be here, never did) - Lou named starter and learns PG on the fly, Carney is gone, Korver stays, Iggy stays (but he is not a franchise player), Smith (should start in place of Evens - that guy is out of control!!) - Thadeous - Dalembert stay. Green is so up and down, maybe good to have off of the bench but he would not be my starter. He could be another Eddie House type of player. Everyone else is gone. Let's see what happens!

Finally, Korver’s crappiness has been called out! His three-point shooting is extremely overrated as an asset to the team, and so is his supposed jump-shooting ability. With someone whose shot is as good as people say it is, at the very minimum, he should have a good game about once every two games. So far this year, I can count the number of good games he’s had on one hand.

And even if he were having good shooting nights every two games, it’s the things that he can’t do that really kill the Sixers! He can’t keep people from driving past him, or defend very well in general. He can’t rebound. He doesn’t get to the foul line enough, where he can take advantage of his great free-throw shooting, and that’s because he can’t take anyone one-on-one He can’t get himself open for perimeter J’s. I really hate when, on some half-court plays, the Sixers just stand around waiting for Korver to get open. They wait about a million years, and when they finally realize he can’t shake his guy, whoever has the ball ends up trying to take his guy one-on-one, and he usually misses.

But even if Korver happens to get the ball in the paint, he still can’t do anything with it. He doesn’t have the ups or the speed to get it past the faster and taller power forwards and centers. Nor does he have the athleticism and pure basketball skill to make shots for himself in the paint.

Here’s my advice for the guy: work on being more multi-dimensional. Work on your handling so you can take it to the hoop sometimes and not embarrass yourself, and get to the line more. Bulk up and become a better rebounder, because there are lots of loose ball fouls per game, and if you’re in there and jostling for a board, a couple times a game, you’ll get a foul called on somebody. I hope you’re not just shooting 3’s all day in practice, because that work you put in doesn’t show up in the games anymore.

Korver is stealing fricken money.

Did anyone see his lame attempt to drive the lane the other night against the hawks? He drove down the center of the lane with ball in his stretched arm and at the peak of his jump the defender rejected it in a very nonchalant manner.

Sixerzguy

You are missing the point, not that it matters as now Ed's the only opinion that counts. I see various opinions on Korver and for that matter all the Sixer players but most of them are not very insightful. All these fans can't be right but I will wait until I see a good coach before I say Korver, Dalembert or any other Sixer can't play.

Bad coaches somehow highlight players weaknesses. Good coaches find a way to use their strengths. Guess which side of this equation Cheeks is on.

Anonymous

Has a very good point. Everybody knew the Sixers were going to be bad why are people upset and why did Sinder pick now to fire Billy?

What gets me is why Cheeks is getting a pass. He shows everyday why he is a bad coach for this team. He must have missed the memo about this being a three year plan.

He has shortened his rotation and is not playing Carney, Young or most of the other kids except Williams and Smith. It is almost certain this will not make the Sixers a good team and it doesn't help Young or Carney. How does this make sense for a team that is supposed to be developing players?

Last night was a perfect time to give Williams big minutes at the point against a inexperienced point for a solid team. While he got minutes, Miller got the bulk at point. We know what Miller can do but might be surprised by Williams. It is probable the Sixers are showcasing Miller but do you need 40 plus minutes to do this?