Mixing and matching
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Mixing and matching
76ers practiced today at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. They have four days of practice between preseason games; the next game is Tuesday at the Cleveland Cavaliers.
During Friday's practice, coach Doug Collins moved Thaddeus Young to the second team. Today, Collins moved both Young and shooting guard Evan Turner to the second team. Collins has said he only has a "few spots" of the starting lineup set, along with set roles for a few bench players. A quick guess would be that Jrue Holiday, Andre Iguodala, and Elton Brand are firm in the starting lineup and combo guard Lou Williams, along with Jodie Meeks as a "wild card" off the bench, seem pretty set in their roles.
"Pretty much he’s looking at a whole different bunch of options and trying to see which groups mesh together well," Young said. "That’s what we’ve been doing so far, trying to get a feel for who can play with each other and who can’t play with each other."
After Friday's practice, Collins spoke with team president Rod Thorn and general manager Ed Stefanski, both of whom had watched practiced. Collins said it's important they all keep communicating and making sure they're all "seeing the same things."
Right now, the Sixers are without center Spencer Hawes and big man Marreese Speights and just got back Tony Battie, who was out with right knee synovitis.
"We, right now, we’re sort of like a college team, size-wise," Collins said. "That’s going to be whether or not we’re going to be able to compete is how competitive we can be on the front line."
Explained Collins further: "With our certain unit out there, we have no shooting. And if you move one guy off, like I moved Evan today to the other unit to handle the ball a little bit, you lose your best rebounder."
Continued Collins: "It’s going to be hard to play really small ball for a lot. You can do that in stretches. You might throw a lineup up there for 6-8 minutes to do some things, but you have to have some guys on the floor ... I say, ‘Don’t read into 'You’ve been moved to the second team.’ I am still searching, so don’t take this as, ‘You’re the reason why this is happening and I’m moving you there.’ I have to get a look at all of this now."
Collins said he would be pleased if he could get 12-13 minutes a game from Battie, and that the team has already spoken with Speights about keeping his conditioning up during missed practice time.
--Kate
Comments (18)
Concerning the mid-summer hope caused by a new coach, the #2 overall pick, Turner The Shooting Guard and the out of town postage of Dalembert; Collins, in his conference with Thorn and Stupid Stefanski, was overheard saying: "One thing I can't figure out is why the light at the end of the tunnel is blowing a horn?"— Nutron
Poor Doug. What a pitiful roster to work with.— dasher
The longest journey starts with the first step.- Doug will work it out no doubt. None. Most disappointing for me is Thaddeus. He could be the best player on the team if he would play D, rebound and finish strong at the basket. But he has been given time and he has regressed. Brackens may have more upside than Thad which is saying alot about both players. Jrue is a player. Andre is a luxury on a re-building team. Brand, Nocioni, Kapono, Songalia, Battie are glue players during these transition years. Speights, Williams and Meeks one dimensional role players. Turner a rookie who will be a good not great long time pro, maybe Salmon. Hawes proving physically soft and unreliable as in Sacramento. But I trust Doug and believe in his abilities. No doubt he will get it right.— JBP
- JBP: essentially you just took apart this entire team in terms of talent, particularly Young, and yet you believe Collins will work it out? There is just as much chance that Collins will throw up his hands and split, unless Thorn can make some serious moves.— chuckw
- Chuck, my timeline for Doug is 3 years, there will be incremental improvements with each season, each trading deadline, each draft. But I know Doug will keep those he can develop and work with Rod (Ed a non-factor) to obtain better replacements. But I agree the biggest risk is Doug just getting run down with the process.— JBP
- Less than an hour before Phillies vs. Giants. Less than 18 hours before Eagles vs. Falcons. Go Sixers. Come back on Monday.— Rick Wise Guy
WTF why isn't Turner on the starting team???? That pick may be a bust, it's no secret that Collins MAY have wanted the kid in NJ instead, only time will tell.- run turner 40 mins a game. he's young, and needs the experience. he is also sort of soft, from what i have seen. needs strength training. jrue and thad might be the most talented on the roster.— fillyfan
- Iguodala doesn't belong on a Doug Collins' team. Collins usually plays a slow-down offense and Iguodala will thrive in an up-tempo offense. The Sixers have to rid themselves of the two albatross contracts of Brand and Iguodala, and then the true rebuilding process can begin. Otherwise, this confusion of what type of team they are will continue. It interferes with the teaching of the younger players. There lacks a consistency of approach because the players don't mesh together. Please just choose one style and then trade the players that don't mesh with that style.— RunningTheBases
- Ms.Fagan, I hope your read these comment(S), if you do, I thoroughly suggest we improve our team and front court by one simple trade. TYoung to the Clippers for their back-up 5 DeAndre Jordan. There's currently a log jam of 2/3's and a serious lack of efficient presence up front. Hawes provides NO defensive nor rebounding presence to be the starting center, Brand is TOO "little" and Speights is better suited to play the 4, or come off of the bench backing up both spots. Getting rid of Young would allow minutes for Nociioni who plays DEFENSE and gives all out effort, allow him and IGGY to man the 3 spot, with those 2 the small forward spot will have consistency. Most importantly Jordan will provide an element that's a necessity, rebounding and shot-blocking from our big.— Anguilla Al
How about we withhold judgment till the team's played oh maybe 5-10 real games? These preseason games are about minutes and units. Let's wait to see how things shake out before we trade Thad and Co.— Leegles- Hey, knock it off Leegles we don't make rational decisions around here!! :)— Foshan
- The sixers are really in a deep hole right now!!! I know it is hard try to find a solid starting line up with a solid chemistry. so i think collins should already threw some experiment regarding the starting 5. i think collins should start jrue, turner, iggy, speights and hawes. and their sixth man is young. because sixers ain't gonna reach playoffs anyway.— Wolverine42
- portland has 2 centers can't play them both. they may be willingly to get rid of one. why not igudiola for oden or prisbilla. or young and williams for oden. it would clear up our small forward problem and give us much need defense and rebounding.— gan
- 1, Jrue 2. Lou 3.Dre 4,EB 5. HAWES..turner just isnt ready yet..— nut-man
- Leegles, I truly get what you're saying, but lets be realistic, we KNOW what we currently have pre-season no pre-season and if we continue this "wait & see" approach another season will go right down the drain. How long have this current crew been together to show us exactly who they are. We were a play-off team with a defensive 5(Daly) and a savvy 1(Andre Miller). Those two IMPORTANT elements have not been replaced. Holiday is young and appears to be very capable, Hawes appears to be capable offensively but on the MOST IMPORTANT END(defense), he appears NON-EXISTENT!
gan,I LIKE your thought(S).— Anguilla Al 
The current team roster is at least two years away from "Starbucks"
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About this blog
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.
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