Posted: Sunday, December 14, 2008, 5:08 PM | 10 comments |
 

Now What?
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What can we take from last night's victory? Is it just one win against a struggling team or is better play on the horizon?

I don't have these answers yet, no one does. But what we learned is that the 76ers and Ed Stefanski aren't settling for a 9-14 basketball team. And as a fan, you have to be pleased that a change was made because that change said, "We admit we aren't good enough."

So if the problem was Mo's coaching, things should improve. And if it wasn't, then we'll know a change must be made with the roster.

But looking at last night's game, a couple of things stand out.

1.) Andre Miller: Four shots, 12 assists. This is the play the Sixers need from Miller. With Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, Thad Young, Lou Williams, et. all ready to take (and, hopefully, make) shots, Millers needs to be the catalyst.

2.) Samuel Dalembert: 17 rebounds. Um. YES PLEASE. That's it. That's what Samuel does. He doesn't need to do anything but grab 17 boards a game -- although asking for 17 a game might be unrealistic. Heck, maybe Sammy can close the gap on Dwight Howard in the race to the All-Star Game. (Jokes.)

3.) Elton Brand. 12 for 19 on field goals, 27 points. This is Brand's most impressive game, especially given the circumstances. We've been on him lately. New coach. Pressure to prove he can be a part of this offense. I am not saying all problems are solved, but the thought did cross my mind that a new coach with fresh ideas about how to make the half-court offense smoother (when they need to run the half-court offense) could improve the Elton Brand we see within these sets.

Right now, I really feel like the road swing over the Holidays and New Year's is going to tell us a lot about the direction of this team. The games: Boston, Denver, Utah, Clippers, Dallas, San Antono. I think at that time the team will have adjusted to the changes and settled into what their identity will be under Coach Tony DiLeo.

--Kate
Posted by Kate Fagan @ 5:08 PM  Permalink | 10 comments
10
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:05 PM, 12/14/2008
    Was Miller chucking shots at his current pace the result of Cheeks prodding? If so, it's kind of sad that it took us 23 games to show him the door. It is kind of hard to get excited about last night's win. If that is as fired up as we can get for Dileo, I'm not too impressed. We had a decent win over a DREADFUL Wizard team. I was also disappointed to see Thad on the bench again. We still have two small forwards, no perimeter shooters, and a power forward who cannot run. I really hope we can walk the tightrope to get Brand the ball enough in the half court, and that he can come through enough to offset the detriment of not having a team that can still run. Seventeen boards from Sam was nice, but we've seen him get at least 16 once this year, and have weeks where he couldn't total 16 boards. If we can win three of the games you reference against the Celtics, McNuggets, Jazz, Clipp's Mav's and Spurs, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
    — Danno34
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:40 PM, 12/14/2008
    A few observations from Tony"s debut - 1) shorter bench with 7 players getting 25-38. 2) LouW comes off bench WITH Miller so he can get his shot and not worry about playing PG right off 3) Much better ball movement with guys looking for others and lots of cross court passing 4) Speights as first big man off bench 5) Guys seemed to have better sense of roles...Sam/rebound, Willie and LouW/shoot, Miller/pass, Brand/pop to spots to shoot, Iguodala and Young/play your overall game 6) Pushed the ball more even after made baskets...ALL GOOD SIGNS HOPE THEY CONTINUE!
    — JBP
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:42 PM, 12/14/2008
    Well it WAS the wizards, so I'm not going to be too excited, but there were a few other good things. Everyone ran the floor well, even Brand. There was a lot of hustle, I've never seen a team consistently hustle to take the ball out of bounds on made baskets and run, it was encouraging. It was also nice to see Evans not make it off the pine in the 2nd half, he had a pretty bad 1st half. Hopefully some good signs of things to come.
    — Foshan
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:33 PM, 12/14/2008
    Totally agree with your three observations. As danno34 asked, I am also curious if Miller was instructed to pick up the scoring slack or whether he did it because he saw the need, and if Tony instructed him to change his emphasis to running the team? In any case, it did seem they all had a better sense of their roles, no matter that it was the wizards, the sixer players seemed to have a better handle right away of what was expected of them - esp. Miller, Sammy, and Lou as JPB mentioned. I think Tony said he will go 9 deep for now which I guess means Lou, Speights, Thad and Evans?
    — srvdove
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:35 PM, 12/15/2008
    At least one forum here isn't on the knee-jerk Two Minutes Hate of Stephanski. I agreed with extending Mo in the first place, as i think most people did, because the team performed well down the stretch last year. As most people who comment here have observed at one time or another, Mo is apparently a very good motivator and a "player's coach", but not really an X's and O's guy and generally not the best in-game coach. I think we all knew there would eventually be a change in favor of a more traditional general...maybe dileo is that guy, maybe he isn't, but the more i think about it, the more i think now is as good a time as any to start the process of making that change. Anyway, most of the observations here about the Wiz game are pretty good. Also add on a more subjective level that DiLeo just seemed plain old more intense on the sideline than was Mo's wont, and he seemed more involved in communicating with the players on the court than Mo did. Those are just observations from watching at home so I'm colored by what they choose to show on TV, so if anyone who was there noticed different i'd be interesed to hear. And there's the obvious caveat about the sample size & selection bias.
    — K,M
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:33 PM, 12/15/2008
    KM: interesting that you mention DiLeo's intensity, because I was watching the Wizards' network on League Pass and he just had a blank stare every time they showed him. So your point about sampling bias is well made. Regarding Cheeks (and I say this as one of the very few who think the firing was a bit premature), I did notice that he seemed to be emotionally worn down this year. They showed him a lot with pained expressions on his face, and he really didn't seem to do much in-game motivation. His own lack of fire, as much as anything else, may have signaled it was time to go. (He'll always be one of my favorite players no matter what.) Oh, and I also agree with your comments about this blog: it's refreshing to read comments from people who want to see the Sixers do well and think of ways they could do better, instead of the more typical comments on other Sixers blogs that trash them with blanket statements every time something goes wrong (X can't shoot, Y can't run, Z doesn't know how to play, etc. -- and we all know who X/Y/Z are, because we see the same vacuous comments after every game, regardless of what actually happened).
    — Statman
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:45 PM, 12/15/2008
    kate: tempered by the fact it was one game and against the wizards (who i thought would be having a different season), each of these elements (miller directing more than shooting, dalembert aggressively rebounding and outletting, and brand playing like he's an upper tier force) were what most fans anticipated. clearly most of us aren't close enough to the situation to know exactly how cheeks was coaching through the transitional phase and whether he had a good enough "feel" for the team he had this year. he seems like a tremendous guy and he gave sixers' fans some tremendous memories and performances but whether the firing was premature it seemed inevitable. while i've advocatd a deeper rotation, perhaps cutting it back to about 9 is the right strategy for the time being. hoepfully dileo can really have an impact on the players starting to play with motivation and smarts. k.m, statman: well reasoned and constructive points, as usual.
    — 127sixer59
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:28 PM, 12/15/2008
    As it always is when a coach is fired the team plays well for about 2 weeks than reverts to what they are. The Sixers are 10-14, that is who they are, they can't shoot, they can't run with Brand on the floor, Dalambert stinks (always has). Great they beat Wash. (4-17), that's who they are they will beat the bad teams, beat a couple of mediocre teams and hardly ever beat the elite teams. They are a 7-8 seed in the East and First round fooder for whoever they play...
    — lalleva
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:03 PM, 12/15/2008
    I still think they need to get Marshall or Rush some minutes to help spread the floor... I'd like to see the Sixers trade for a PG to replace Miller and a SG. Miller is our best trading chip, then you have any combination of Green, Evans, Ratliff, Rush or even Dalembert if you can get someone to bite on his contract. I'm not sure I see any good trading partners, but we'll see as the season progresses.
    — BFrank
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:26 PM, 12/16/2008
    Statman - interesting difference in perception of DiLeo based on different channels. What you're calling a blank stare i took to be more of a glare...anyway, not exactly something i'm trying to make anything out of at this point. I do absolutely agree that mo's body language lately had not been encouraging. Posting here because its probably not worth dropping one into the bucket of the the current post.
    — K,M


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About John Mitchell
John Mitchell is in his first 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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