Make it Five
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Make it Five
Not only have the 76ers not lost since the last time we held a Live Chat, they haven't lost since Jan. 3. That's 12 days. In Sixer-land that's a heck of a long time.
We hope it doesn't break the momentum, but we're having a Live Chat today at 3:30 p.m. If you can join, click here: Sixers Chat.
Given the last two games: sizable wins over the Atlanta Hawks and Portland Trailblazers, I'd say there is reason for optimism. I would not say the Sixers have turned a corner (so to speak), but they are absolutely playing their best basketball of the season. Here are the topics, I believe, worth discussing:
1.) Why don't I believe the Sixers have officially turned the corner? Let's be clear, I think the Sixers are on their way. I think they are playing basketball that is not only effective, but fun to watch. I think these five games are a legitimate winning streak because they've defeated three above-.500 teams along the way -- and won two away games. My point is that I still think were about five weeks from being able to expect this type of play from the Sixers. Every game. As we all remember, it was about 32 games of frustrating basketball, before we got to these six games (I'm tossing in the San Antonio loss). I think the Sixers have to get themselves above .500 and continue, for the most part, this improved play through the All-Star break Feb. 12-16. I say "for the most part" because it would be absurd to expect performances like last night (21-point win over a good team) on a nightly basis. No, all we need to see is the framework of that effort -- swarming defense, rhythmic offense, pushing the ball upcourt -- because some nights the shot just isn't going to be there. I asked Andre Miller if he thought this team was "around the corner" (I can't think of a non-cliche to convey this idea) and he said not yet. He said this effort needs to be sustained over a longer stretch. And this leads us to the next point ...
2.) The return of Elton Brand. I think it's really easy to say the Sixers are better without him. Too easy. So easy it feels like a trap. Everywhere the Sixers travel, I'll speak with folks there. They all laugh at the notion that Brand's return won't improve the Sixers. And I agree. While I may not "laugh" at the notion -- because the Sixers sure do look better these last few weeks -- I remain of the belief that Brand's return will make the Sixers better. Why? It's simple: He's a very good player. And while sometimes the attitude and ego of a good player makes his impact more negative than positive, I just don't see Brand allowing that to happen. But, I do believe how Tony DiLeo uses Brand, and how he lets it impact the guys who have played so well in his absence, is crucial. And since DiLeo has shown nothing but deft touch with the rotation and in-game management, this does not keep me up at night. He knows, as well as we do, that Marreese Speights still needs minutes. He knows Reggie's hustle has sparked a number of great defensive possessions. He has a lot to manage, but he's already said Brand's minutes, at first, will be in limited segments to see how his body reacts.
3.) The outside shooting. Eleven for 23? Excuse me? Three weeks ago I would have assumed that number was the free throw total. But during the game, it doesn't seem that amazing because the Sixers are playing in rhythm. We talked about the Sixers inability to find this rhythm during the early schedule. If you know basketball, as most here do, you can feel this rhythm while playing or watching. You can feel the rhythm of an offensive possession when someone takes the correct shot, off the perfect pass, in the right spot. These are the shots the Sixers are taking now: And the percentage of making the correct shot within an offensive possession is much greater than when you force the wrong shot.
4.) A hodge-podge of other topics: Samuel Dalembert played great -- in his way -- last night. He defended the basket. Lou Williams is playing awesome off the bench. And he's playing strong defense, too. Royal Ivey's three-point play last night in the fourth quarter, to bump the game from 9 to 12 points, was huge. I think it was the play of the game ... the play that kept the game from getting to one or two possessions.
The Sixers are still flying under the radar because the Eagles are soaring. But if you have a few minutes, stop by at 3:30.
--Kate
Good thoughts, Kate. DiLeo giving the green light and goal of 5 made three's a night looks brilliant now. When EB comes back, who sits? Most nights, I'm hoping it's Sam. I don't want to limit Thad's development. Does anyone else think Oden looks like Caldwell Jone?— Danno34- Lol re: "Three weeks ago I would have assumed that number was the free throw total." very apt comparison. absolutely loved the defense last night - that's not a blowout win if we dont get those stops and force all those TO's (and it sure doesn't hurt that we only had 9 to's ourselves). I'm not worried about Brand's return either, concur with the assessment that Di Leo has shown a good feel for working guys into the lineup, and equally as importanly for getting guys into good sets on the floor. Yeah, and even sammy has been having a fairly decent stretch lately. The win streak activates the caveat i put into the trade prediction - so barring any catastrophic event i'd say he's probably with us at least thru the end of the year at this point. I'm still not thrilled with the prospect, but if he can play within himself as has been the case recently i can deal with it.— K,M
- kate: wish i could generate some discussion points but your observations are all supportable and spot on. 1) definitely need to get above water as well as have some more signature wins (last nite was certainly an excellent development). miller's point should be heeded: keep the effort/intensity at a high point. and compared to the early going, they are playing smart, positional ball. 2) hope the pressure on brand/team doesn't hinder the development/progress over the last two weeks. eventually, we'll need brand but the integration process hopefully is not an albatross. within this current scheme, brand can enhance our play even more. 3) dileo has captured the balance and freedom of playing in a fundamentally different way than cheeks (and like many, am a cheeks fan)-the % will vary game to game but in the context of what we're running, the shots will be there (and perhaps even more when brand returns). 4) in addition to dalembert's role (and again, we're seeing his value in the right framework), iguodala is demonstrating his skills in so many ways. hopefully, his play will continue in this direction when brand returns. as a non-eagles fan, it'd be nice to see the sixers receive more attention but completely understand the enthusiasm for the eagles at this point (just too bad for me they knocked out my team...). k,m: if the right deal for dalembert (alone or in combo for green, etc.) presents itself, fine. but speights can still develop even with dalembert starting and contributing as he has been.— 127sixer59
- 127: Great post. Sorry about the Vikings. Looks like your teams aren't having the kind of year the Philly team's are. Perhaps one will overlap. I agree with you about the balance DiLeo has captured. Although I hesitate giving him too much credit (because then we'll have to give him too much blame), you can't deny that the adjustments he's made have helped. K,M: I enjoyed the free throw line, too. Thanks for appreciating.— Kfagan
- One could make a very strong argument that last night was the Sixers' most complete game of the season, offensively and defensively. The only weak spot (if it could be called that) was rebounding, but the Blazers are a good rebounding team. Thad is really starting to "get" it on defense -- he did a decent job on Aldridge in the first half. At PF, Thad is going to get overpowered sometimes, but he's faster than almost any other PF in the league, and it's good that he's starting to use his speed and reflexes on D (he also had two clutch 3's in the 4th). Lou has strung together a series of good passing games, with a Miller-like 33 assists and just 8 turnovers in the last six. Lou has great rapport with Speights, which has led to several key baskets recently. Iguodala - what more can be said about his great play? I'll add one comment: it's not entirely out of the blue, because we've seen it before. Over the 19-game stretch in March-April last year when the Sixers went 14-5 and clinched their playoff spot, he scored 22 ppg on 50% shooting and 37% from 3. Statistically, you could say his very good December and his excellent January are canceling out his poor November, and he's getting back to where we expect him to be. I never for a second agreed with the I-Haters who simply declared with finality that he "can't shoot" (where are those people now?). And one of the best parts of Iguodala's game is that he's NOT a selfish player -- Willie, Lou, and Sam all get their best looks off his passes (and Willie and Lou look for him in return), which is great for ball movement and team chemistry. The big question that everyone's asking: where does Brand fit in? I'll have some thoughts on that later.— Statman
- Regarding the re-integration of Brand: I happen to think he will be a net positive if he's used properly. The first thing DiLeo and the Sixers need to do is burn any pages in the playbook involving plays where they dump it into Brand and stand around watching him try to make a move in the post. He's not good at passing out of double-teams, and he's not consistent enough even when single-teamed by better defenders. The offense still needs to run through Miller, Lou, and Iguodala, and Brand should be one of the finishers (the way that Thad and Speights are now). I see no reason why Brand can't average a 14-10 on 50% shooting when used this way. Where he'll help most, of course, is rebounding. The bigger question is how the minutes will be redistributed. Brand might get some minutes at center, but that doesn't really help the rebounding. Or they might return to the early-season lineup with Iguodala at SG. There's no question, unfortunately, that Iguodala's best play this season has come at SF -- not just offensively, but especially defensively (he gives up a PER around 12 at SF, which is excellent). There's also no question, however, that the Sixers' main weak link defensively is at SG (witness last night, where the Blazers made their comeback when Green was guarding Roy). It'll be interesting to see what DiLeo eventually decides to do.— Statman
- Stat: Both posts were great all-around. I especially like your thoughts on how to integrate Brand. I couldn't agree more. He has to be a finisher in the ball movement we're seeing now. There will be time (dare I mention the playoffs) when the Sixers will need his half-court, dump-down presence. But that time is not now. And, Stat, how about Iguodala? Always redeeming to be "not wrong."— Kfagan
- kate: thanks for the sympathy! as for dileo, his strength so far has been what every good coach/manager strives to do: put players in a position to effectively perform within the team context. statman: it would be a mistake to move iguodala from 3 to 2. even if the difference is more psychological (and it may not be), he simply performs at his best at the 3, regardless of wing play at both ends. and while miller has been great as a field general, his defense is still weak too and we're vulnerable at point overall. overall, green usually seems to play fairly good defense (any stats to help my point?!) but last night was a tough time for him.— 127sixer59
- 127: Green has been brutal on D in the last several games (think Roger Mason, Von Wafer, Matt Carroll, in addition to elite SGs like Redd, Joe Johnson, and Roy -- all of them lit him up). But then I went to check 82games.com and found that when he has been at SG this year, Green has given up a PER of only 11 (even better than Iguodala's 12 at SF) and an effective FG% of only 41%. So maybe it's just been a bad stretch for Green and I didn't notice his good D earlier in the year (sorry Willie!). But if Brand doesn't get Green's minutes, I wonder whose minutes he will take? I hope it isn't Thad's or Speights'!— Statman
- 127 - not sure if you understood my bit on Dalembert - I was not saying he will be traded, I was saying that the win streak makes a trade unlikely. That was my thinking when i predicted a trade - that if things are looking bleak at the end of january he'd be gone. But now that we're climbing out of the hole, and now that he's seemingly responded well to limited minutes, I'm saying a move is unlikely. And I'm certainly happy that we don't have to make such building-for-the-future moves this year.— K,M
- statman: appreciate the numbers! balancing the numbers with eyeballing observations (much like combining sabermetrics and "scouting perspective"), green overall can be effective but has had a rough patch. if it was just the elite sgs lighting him up that would be one thing (although still problematic) but some of the medicore 2s does reflect some issues. as for brand's minutes, they can certainly come from green but just hope it doesn't push iguodala from sf to sg.— 127sixer59
- k,m: thanks for the additional comments. i'm not opposed to trading dalembert (plus certain others) for a favorable return. at the moment, dalembert provides some effective minutes at the start and could even earn more with consistently effective play. but such consistency (or consistent inconsistency) has been the hallmark and it's not longer viable to put it off on his limited background. if we keep playing well, climb above .500, start making a move with incorporating brand, the odds of making a deal seem to decrease since that would involve recalibrating the chemistry after finally getting it to the point where its efficient. if those things don't happen, there will hopefully be some moves to (hopefully) strengthen us going forward.— 127sixer59
- I was at the game last night and was hoping for AI to get 30 points. He had a chance but he passed the ball and gave a team mate the points. They are playing as a team and winning as a team.— dharner
Things are good in Sixer-land! Well, at least for those of us who care about them, maybe that will change if Brand's return goes well. Agree with all the comments, good discussion. I have to say that while the players have really improved their effort and focus, Dileo has to get a huge amount of credit. He clearly is more organized and able to communicate what is expected of the players and push the right buttons. I don't think the three point shooting improvement is a fluke, it came right on the heels of Dileo specifically making it a priority and effectively communicating to the players. I agree, they haven't turned a corner, but they are showing like they did last year, that they can play a very exciting and effective style of basketball and take advantage of all the athleticism...people should love this team when they do that. Also loved the line about the 11-23 free throw stat...perfect. Good point dharner about AI's unselfishness...if he were selfish to a fault he would probably be more popular, ironically.— srvdove- I think part of what's happened with Brand out is it's allowed the other players to re-gained their confidence and rhythm which I believe was impacted earlier as they tried to work Brand into the lineup. I don't think that'll happen this time as Brand will need to become part of their identity now, not the other way around. I like all the talk about Brand trailing the break, focusing on rebounding and defense, really trying to fit in, etc. As far as the first unit, I would bring Thad off the bench (meaning WG stays at the two), not because he isn't effective as a starter, but more because Iggy plays best as a three and the second unit could then be awesome with Lou, Thad, Speights, Reggie, Ivey and situational substitutations for Theo, Marshall, Rush, etc. I see great chemistry and balance with these two units and across the roster, provided Brand acclimates well and DiLeo continues working the roster as he has been.— PhillyBill
John Mitchell is in his second year covering the 76ers for the Inquirer after joining the paper in November 2011. He covered the Washington Wizards for the Washington Times from 1998 to 2008. He's also worked at the Philadelphia Tribune, the Wilmington News Journal, Courier-Post, Trenton Times and Elmira Star-Gazette.Born and raised in West Philadelphia - not too far from Will Smith - he graduated from Overbrook High School the same year the 76ers won their last championship. He's a proud graduate of Howard University and the proud father of two sons, Jared and Jordan.
ABOUT MARC NARDUCCI
Marc Narducci has served in a variety of roles with the Inquirer since beginning in 1983. He has covered the 76ers as a backup and a beat writer. In addition, Narducci has covered everything from the Super Bowl to the World Series and a lot in between. Narducci also has a true passion for South Jersey scholastic sports, which he has covered for many years.
