Deep Sixer

Marc...I think you're off-base on this one. The defense actually didn't play that poorly; the Sixers held Indiana under its season's ppg average. Not one Pacer starter shot over 50%; Marques Daniels just was ridiculously hot - sometimes nothing you can do about that. Quite frankly, the game was lost at the offensive end, not the defensive end. The Sixers had 21 more made FTs than the Pacers, but still got blown out? It makes no sense...until you look at the 2nd half tape and review the Sixers' lack of ball movement, egregious amount of turnovers (they had 6 at half and finished with 18), and abysmal shot selection. At the end of the day, the poor 2nd half offensive effort led to some transition baskets for Indiana in the 2nd half.

Other than today's game, I'm still going to keep hammering the Jason Smith issue. Please tell me why Jason Smith averages 5 shots in 16 mpg? The kid is a black hole. Want more proof? How bout his anemic 0.3 apg - that's a 15 to 1 shot to assist ratio, incredibly selfish even for a big man. Tonight, 16 minutes, 10 shots. And, here's the kicker...he's an average shooter at best and absolutely terrible with a hand anywhere near his face. His FG % is 44%, which is well below average for a big man. 63% from the stripe when that's supposed to be his strongsuit?

I'm sorry, but someone on this blog talked about giving rookies 3 years in the league before judging them. Sold. Not when the player had 3 years or more in college and is as strong as he's going to be. Thad Young, Lou Williams? They absolutely get 3 years and sometimes more (see Jermaine O'Neal, Al Jefferson, etc). College vets like Rodney Carney and Jason Smith? Nope - not unless you see some major potential. Is Jason Smith going to start over potentially Elton Brand or whomever the Sixers bring in next year at PF? No. Is he ever going to supplant Sam at C? No. Then, why spend the time and energy developing him when you can give those minutes to energy guys like Reggie Evans, Shavlik, Amundson, and Herb Hill (when he returns). There's 96 minutes / game between the 4 and 5 spots. Sam, Brand, and Evans eat up 85-90 mpg every night next year. Plug 2 hustle guys in for the other 6-11 minutes and spend your developmental time on guys that could possibly be true difference makers down the road like Williams and Thad.

This, however, won't even be an issue when Herbert Hill becomes healthy. Jason Smith's minutes go bye-bye. OK - last post about this for a while, unless JS somehow makes it into the starting lineup.

Marc is point on: The defense was horrid. And has been for most of the season. Willie Burton plays better D than Andre Miller.

Jason Smith is hitting a wall and developing some bad habits. He needs much NDBL time. Give Shav and Lou A. some minutes. Thad could probably also could use some NDBL games, just to get in some regualr minutes. Sweet Lou seems to be slumping a bit.

When Herb Hill is healthy, would be smart for him to get some NDBL games in before he plays with the big boys.

And again, Carney doesn't get a chance. Would have liked to see him cover Marquis Danies tonight.

It's kind of tough to place blame on the defense when you shoot 35% from the field and have as many TOs as assists.

Dean, I hear you on Jason Smith. He had a terrible game shooting tonight against the Pacers. He also needs to get a lot tougher and stronger on the defensive end. Still, what big on the bench would you rather see playing instead of him, Calvin Booth or Lou Amundson? Please!

Shav is still hurt, or obviously he'd be getting some minutes. I'm starting to think this dude is one big walking injury and that he won't play at all this season. And yes, I'm the dude with the 3-year rule. Even for those people who played 4 years in college. The NBA is a whole different animal. Just because you played 4 years in college doesn't mean you're going to come in the NBA and rip it up.

Sometimes, a little patience pays dividends. Just check out the team the Lakers will put on the floor on Friday. They have showed a lot of patience with young players like Andrew Bynum, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacik, Ronny Turiaf, and they are starting to pay off.

Smith's a rookie. Cut him some slack. I still say play the young fella, along with Thad and Carney. They're not going to get better by sitting on the bench. It's not like this team is going anywhere anyway.

This team had some breakdowns on the defensive end last night, but the reason why they lost the game is because they couldn't score.

Watching this team try to score in a half-court offense is painful. They have no low post threat, so they must depend on someone penetrating to get to the rim or someone to draw and kick. However, they are not a good outside shooting team either. So, they have no choice but to get up and down the floor and try to score in transition.

More so than this loss, I'm worried about Lou Will's injury. He's not the same player since the injury. Maybe they should shut him down until the fracture heals. Korver didn't show up against the Pacers either. I think A. Miller and Korver could attract something decent in a trade package.

I'm wondering when Mo will allow Herbert Hill to grace us with his presence. That's about the only intrigue left in the season. That, and when or if Stefanski will pull the trigger on A. Miller.

The bench contributed very little in this game and, by the 4thQ, the starters didn't have the energy to turn things around. Cheeks was braver with his rotation a week ago. With the bench shooting something like 3-18 in the first half, why not sit Smith, Lou, and Thad, and give minutes to Shav or Admundson, Ollie, and Carney? Mo sometimes has this going-down-with-the-ship mentality that makes me crazy.

But let's face it. What we have here is a personnel problem. Until the new GM finds a way to land a PF who can actually score, so Mo can move Evans to the bench, where he will feel more valuable, the Sixers will be hamstrung.

6 minutes into the 4th quarter and no field goals, yet Mo doesn't call any timeouts to get his team in order. Inconceivable.

Every player off the bench last night was atrocious, yet Carney can't get in the game. I personally think Carney is one the WORST players in the NBA and there's not one thing I like about his game, but if you're going to play him at all, last night was the perfect opportunity with everyone else sucking as bad as they were. Nothing to lose.

That's one of my biggest problems with Cheeks. He has a blind spot. He doesn't realize when a certain player doesn't have it one night and leaves him in the game for too long. The result is usually a lot of turnovers, forced shots, airballs, and bad fouls.

Is there ANYONE in Sixerland who thinks he is maximizing this team's, or for that matter, any of his player's potential?

I would like to ask all of the Cheeks bashers to hold on a moment. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt until the all-star break, and yes I am completely sober with an above average IQ, but I also realize that Cheeks has never been afforded the chance to coach a distraction free team. When he had experienced vets (AI, Webb, ect.) he had to deal with a near mutiny, now he's stuck with second round kids and journeymen outcasts. Do you think Popovich or Nellie or anybody else could win consistantly with this roster?
As for Carney, playing time is earned in practice in the NBA. We don't know the whole story.

My major problems are:

1. No scoring big man. Until we get that, we are one dimensional. Jumpshooters with out much accuracy. Brand is not leaving the Clippers. Who is going to pay him $17m? We can't and shouldn't!

2. Korver gets entirely too many minutes. Just like Dean has Jason Smith, Korver is my target. Yes he can shoot when open, but the point is, he's getting open less and less. And watching him trying to get around people with his dribble is absolutely brutal. BRUTAL, I say! He should get 15-20 minutes tops. Young should get more minutes until he hits his rookie wall. Even then, he would give you more than Korver. Korver couldn't guard a parking meter, yet he's in the game at a crucial time when we needed stops! That's where I have a problem with Cheeks.

3. Jason Smith looks spent already. He commits a foul or gets fouled and looks like he wants to cry. The energy is no longer there. If Shav is still hurting, don't play him. Amundson should get some run if for nothing else energy and rebounding. I wouldn't give up on Smith for another year or so. He has tools to work with.

They should have got rid of Cheeks when the fired King! Now the Sixers are stuck with a hard-headed coach, who knows what to do, but just don't want to do it!

I am still wondering why Kyle Korver was in the game for so long against the Kings last week guarding, I mean getting torched by Mikki Moore and not even scoring. Korver is my target as well and has been all season. Continuing to leave Korver in games when he hasn't shot consistently all season has made me question Maurice Cheeks judgement and whether he pays attention during the games. The whole NBA knows that Korver can shoot so every team we have played guards him very closely (It's called scouting the other team and game planning accordingly, try it sometime Mo). He never gets open looks and doesn't have the ability to go by defenders when they close on him. As a result he is ineffective. And he sure isn't a defender. So why is he still playing so much with 1st rounders on the bench and we are supposed to be rebuilding???? Can someone please tell me????

Utah needs a shooter, and has an expiring contract in Giricek, who is unhappy with his minutes and matches up with Korver's number.

Maybe we can get them to toss in the young big Billy should have never given them on draft night (Fesenko).

Clears more space for the offseason.

Agree about the Jason Smith comments, dude needs to calm down with the shots. But keep him playing, sending him to the D-Legue will amke no sense. He's been good so far, it's normal for a rookie to go through tough periods

Who is disappointing me big time is my boy Korver, Thad should get more playing time, even at PF... I mean, if Cheeks put Kover on Mikki Moore to go small (and got destroyed...) why not Thad? He has the athletic skills to play some minuted at that spot

Similar for Carney, yesterday was the perfect game to put him on the floor, but we made no subs basically for the whole 3rd quarter, when we lost the game... exactly like in the Kings game

NBA Draft excite anyone ? Bad news. Last years 1st rounders are horrible ! I looked at their numbers, unblievable. I can't see how the NBA can field a freshman all-star team. At the freshman, sophomore all star game..The League should stop the guaranteed money, for the 1st round picks..

Last night was a very disappointing game but there's really no point in piling all the blame on a rookie like Jason Smith. No one is expecting the next Moses Malone here but I think given some time to develop he can become a fairly solid bench player which is all that we should really expect. On the other hand I am impressed with the way Sammy has been playing lately. It looks like he's cutting down on the errors and putting in some nice effort and playing pretty well.

I will spend my time here bashing that overrated wanna be Scottie Pippe,Andre Iguodala,who could'nt tie Pippen's shoes.Are'nt you guys about fed up with these athletes,who overvalue their worth?Any athlete who turns down a 5yr/57million dollar contract needs to be examined,especially with the uncertainty of the US economy,and the value of the Dollar falling faster than Paris Hilton's skirt at an orgy.I mean,don't get me wrong,I like Iggy,but I would like him more if he was paire with Lebron James,or Kobe Bryant.But,knowing that won't happen,we are stuck with a guy who wants to be paid like Kobe,but does'nt have a game like Kobe,more like the pre injury Ron Harper.Seeing him trying to take guys off the dribble,and penetrate at times makes me sick.One game he'll go 8-13,then the next,he'll give you what he did last night,nothing.And to my favorite whipping boy,Kyle Korver.It's time to ship him out of here.We have enough guys who can't create their own shot(Rodney Carney),and watching him last night miss every shot was terrible.He's just not big enough to go at it with other small forwards in the league.

You cannot trade Korver unless you get another shooter in return. Sure he's a one trick pony with defensive liabilities but he is our best shooter and its up to the coach to use him wisely. I do admit that he is getting way too many minutes on nites when his shot is not falling. On another matter. Whats up with Carney ? This is a guy who was battling with Green for a starting position and now Green gets a ton of minutes and Carney gets DNPs. I dont get it.