Cheeks Impressed With Former Team
Former Sixers head coach Maurice Cheeks thinks his old team is headed in the right direction.
Maurice Cheeks was a four-time all-star point guard for the 76ers and was their head coach for three full seasons and part of another before being fired a little past the quarter point of the 2008-2009 season.
Cheeks, who still maintains a home in the Philadelphia area, is in town with his new team, the Oklahoma Thunder who vist the Sixers tonight at the Wells Fargo Center.
As an assistant coach with the Thunder, Cheeks is part of a rising young team. The Thunder only faces the Sixers twice a year, but Cheeks has been impressed by his former team's development.
"They are defending, they are passing the ball and have a lot of players who are contributors," Cheeks said of the Sixers during today's morning shootaround. "They don't have one big player taking over the team. There are a lot of contributors and Doug (Collins) has done a great job."
Cheeks, who has a 284-286 career record as a head coach at Portland and then the Sixers, says he is enjoying himself as an assistant.
He will not campaign for another head coaching job, but he would listen to any offers.
"I am having a great time right now," Cheeks said. "If it happens, it happens, but if it doesn't, it doesn't."
A finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Cheeks says he is honored to be among the 12 under consderation. The new class will be annouced April at the Final Four.
"It's just an honor to be considered," Cheeks said.
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