Piecing it together
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Piecing it together
For anyone that followed this blog last year, you might remember that it was more about actual in-game stuff, observations, flaws within execution, how certain offensive and defensive situations might have affected a game, how the Sixers were winning (especially during end of January and February), etc. This season, it's about none of that. Why not? Mostly because I have no clue what the intentions are within a game. There's no grasp of the offense, so it would be hard to break down exactly why it isn't working. I'm not sure what the defense is supposed to be doing, so it would be difficult to break down exactly what was supposed to happen. I couldn't tell you from game-to-game what guys provide what (and I'm not sure the guys could, either), so you can't really discuss who's doing their job, who isn't. So if you're looking for answers: There aren't any.
Here's what we do have: confusion. The most confusing thing of all is the lack of in-game adjustments and the substitution pattern (I use the word "pattern" loosely). Early in the season, Eddie Jordan said that sometimes he looked to get guys minutes to keep them interested and feeling a part of the team. Huh? This was confusing then and it's still confusing now. It makes you wonder if Jason Smith played in the Denver game (he's from Colorado) -- a game after not playing at all against the Los Angeles Clippers -- because he was returning to his home state. I know that sounds like middle school stuff, but honestly, it's that confusing. Smith played very well against the Nuggets, but sitting there watching him check into the game in the second half (after not playing at all in the first, I believe), the thought passed through your mind. That's how much you're grasping for an explanation.
OK, now let's get into the more recent, number-oriented stuff. I've received a lot of e-mails about this stuff, so many of you might see your observations pointed out. In last night's loss to the Washington Wizards -- the third of the season -- only two guys had a positive plus-minus: Marreese Speights (plus-10) and Rodney Carney (plus-5). For the game, these two combined to play about 18 minutes. I'm almost positive neither played a minute in the fourth quarter. The next highest plus-minus was Elton Brand, who was even. He checked out of the game with about 8 minutes, 50 seconds left. I'm not saying Speights is always the answer -- Dalembert was awesome and deserved the center minutes last night. I'm not saying Carney is always the answer, either. What these numbers point out is the seeming lack of in-game adjustment and in-game feel. Carney plays well in the first half, yet in the second half you go with Jason Kapono. Why? I can't tell you.
No one could have told you any of those guys exact plus-minus number without looking, but one would expect a general sense of a player's effectiveness should be grasped. I don't envy Jordan's job, and no one likes continually being negative, but at some point you have to own up to what's happening. Jordan refuses to do that. When asked what has most disappointed him (this was during the West Coast trip), Jordan said, "I'm not disappointed." Really? That's strange, because I know thousands of Sixers fans who would disagree.
Today in practice, Dalembert called the rotation and minutes "confusing" and even Willie Green -- as diplomatic as they come -- said the "norm in the NBA" is to have a rotation set by now and that there isn't more to this than meets the eye. When asked, quite kindly I believe, if there was still some "feeling out" of the rotations, here was Jordan's exact response:
“I just think with the injuries, when Lou was going well, obviously he was a starter. He’s out, have to find another guy to start, have to find a different rotation to fill in for that. For the most part, I’ve said before, I don’t like tinkering with the lineup – and we hadn’t for a long time until Elton got hurt. And when you come off the bench, recently, we’ve been pretty solid with Elton and Marreese as our two bigs, and a guard. When Willie was healthy, he was the first guard off the bench. That’s eight players. Most teams go eight-player rotation. Then you pick the guy at nine, 10, 11 that you think can match up for you, that had good practices, that you think can do things against a zone, or against a bigger matchup, so I don’t think our rotation is that skewed like you guys think. We go eight players and then we go nine, 10, 11 – just like most other teams. It depends on a gut feeling, how guys practice, and matchups. So, it’s not as quacky or quirky as you guys think it is.”
1.) To even bring up injuries as an excuse, coming off a road trip where the Sixers picked up wins against the Portland Trailblazers (who are missing 5 of their top 10 players), the Sacramento Kings (without Kevin Martin and Tyreke Evans) and the Denver Nuggets (without Billups, Anthony, and in the second half, the Birdman), is odd. In the scheme of the NBA, the Sixers have dealt with less injuries this season than most other NBA teams.
2.) The explanation for how his rotations aren't quirky or skewed is to basically say they are quirky: They are not set, they are determined by Jordan's in-game whims, dependent on matchups, gut feeling, how a guy might have practiced, who might play well against a zone, etc.
At the end of last night's game, Nick Young dominated Allen Iverson. He got whatever shot he wanted, mostly little pull-up 14-footers. At what point does defense become a priority? After Young hits one? two? three? four? Or maybe just never. The Sixers were up by 18 points because Washington could not hit the little chippies. Then they started hitting these chippies. Today, Jordan was asked if maybe you go with better defenders at that point in a game.
Jordan shrugged it off and said, "And then not score the ball efficiently?" To which the questioner responded, "Maybe when you're up 18?" Jordan responded: "Your best players should be good defenders and that’s what we’re trying to get to. Trying to get our best players to defend as a unit, defend indiviudually, so you can have balance. There’s no such thing as unbalanced. Good teams don’t just put five defenders on the floor. Your better players are your defenders."
So that's that.
Here were are, 34 games into the season, not much else to say.
--Kate
This is a great column, and sums up the problems with the Sixers perfectly. Inconsistency is easily identified in a player as a major weakness, will take away minutes, destroy confidence teammates have in that player, and usually gets that player attached to the bench, the trading block or waivers. But what can a team do when it's the coach that's the one who is inconsistent? Ed Stefanski said that he signed AI because it would help the team, and it's been a bold move that paid off. Now he needs to take the next logical step, and make another bold move to help the team. There are too many good coaches available for hire not to make that next move.— the theory- All I usually hear is Jordon this and Jordon that or Stefanski this or that. When will the media begin to point the finger where it should go: at Ed Snider and/or Comcast. They are the owners. The owners of a team that has won one playoff series in 8 years. If the Eagles only won one playoff game in 8 years the fans would burn down the Linc.— larrynork
- Kate great blog! I am once again blown away by what comes out of this coaches mouth. It is almost as good as his comments after being blown out by the Jazz when he said "We did a lot of things better tonight then we have in the previous few games". This was after they were blown out and in the previous games they had beaten the Celtics, played Cleveland tough, and had a heart breaking loss to the Clippers. What did you do well in a blowout? The only thing I can possibly think is going on, is that upper management has given him specific instructions to figure out how to lose. His team doesn't seem to know what is going on and has tuned him out. If the GM thinks he is the guy then he better blow up this team fast because it isn't working with this group.— Mattb
- Kate, thank you for giving some hope to the sixer's fans. We are dropping like flies these days but your writings give a us a bit of hope. You are an awesome writer, ashame you are wasting your skills on the 76ers this year. Maybe management will fire Jordan before it is too late! We can only pray and hope!— dharner
- Kate, please never stop covering the Sixers. We all know a better gig is coming your way but when Jordan is gone and this team plays as well as we know they are capable of, we need you to be the one writing about them. Great stuff as always.— CT6ersfan
- Kate don't frett fellow Sixer fans dont frett. Dont waste your emotions on this years, it's definitely turned into a transition year a year for rebuilding no doubt. The season is just under half way done and we've only won 9-10 games? Give me a break. We're a lost cause as of right now. The best thing for the Sixers to do at tis point is shift gears on this year and switch to rebuilding mode. Tank the season and dump Iggy for T Mac that's the only way to get younger and better at the same time. Make cap room for a big time off season acusition like Chris Bosh with Iggy's salary slot after we dump McGrady come seasons end. Draft a guy like John Wall he's the best player in America College and/or Pro. Hire a coach like Vangundy or Byron Scott sign Dalembert to a less money extension and if he doesn't want it send him packing too. If we make the playoffs we'll never get better through the draft. We'll be drafting in the 16 - 26 spots usally all the deference makers and game changers are long gone by the time we get pick draft wise. Iggy isn't worth the money he's getting neither is Dalembert nor is Brand for that matter. The Sixers big money guys are a far cry from the big money guys of old starting with AI1, Jerry Stackhouse & Charles Barkley just to name a few. Those guys might not have been liked by everyone during the days they made big money but at least they earned it! At least they showed up every night and laid it all on the line for the team, the fans and the city! The big money guys we have on this team right now are a bunch of unmotivated bums and they are pretty much holding our beloved team hostage! Our best bet right about now is to beat the likes of the Nets and Twolves to the punch at drafting John Wall! This can only be done by tanking the season. Let Jordan be let him finish out that will play right into our hands as far as tanking the season goes he can be the escape goat! The best move they can make right now would be to trade Iggy for Mc Grady!— DJ_Bootleggah
- he couldnt play either.— maximus
- Kate, I am glad that someone has the courage to tell things like they are. Good article and kudos for expressing what many Sixers fans have been thinking all season. Why is Eddie Jordan still the head coach of the Sixers? We are 10-24...we have the 3rd WORST RECORD in all of the NBA. Thanks for expressing the frustration that many of us have been feeling for quite some time now. I hope that Sixers front office correct their mistake and replace Eddie Jordan with someone who will help us win and develop our players. Please, oh please, fire Eddie Jordan already.— Ellidyr
- OK ... LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY ... Ed Stefanski's (aka "Little" E's) plan is working to perfection ... he hired someone that he knew was arrogant, incoherent and evasive (i.e. a train wreck waiting to happen or in this case, a HC biding time until he's fired). "Little" E knew that EJ doesn't know a thing about defense, that he substitutes without reason and is only a coach in this league because someone taught him an offense that works well for marginally athletic shooters in college. As a result, "Little" E is hoping to parlay EJ's incompetence into a very high draft pick (hopefully a PG - John Wall anyone) and a mandate from Big E to fire EJ at the end of this season (so he can maintain his friendship with EJ). Then, "Little" E will hire a real coach (Byron Scott - the former Nets HC who led them to 2 NBA Finals appearances) who will play his best defenders (i.e. Jrue, Royal, AI9, TY and SD) when up by 18 in the 3rd quarter.— sudalaal1
Comment removed.
I blame Ed Stefanski for this turmoil. Let's take a walk down memory lane and visit his brilliant moves: 1) Trade Korver - our best 3 Pt threat in 15 years for "cap space". This was done to pave the way for the next screwup - 2) Sign future bench player Elton Brand to a long, cap-filling contract. Let's also not forget 3) Signing Andre Iguodala to a max contract despite the talent level not matching the value, a great win for Philadelphia Mediocrity. Add to it 4)Hopping on the Great NBA Coaching Carousel Bandwagon of 2008-2009 and firing Mo Cheeks a third of the way into the season. Nevermind that Cheeks weathered the storm of the Iverson and Webber debacles, getting his teams to perform right through the playoffs, it was in vogue to fire coaches last season! It was like the macarena, every GM had to jump up and do it! 5) Hire college-offense/weird substitution/whats defense? Head Coach in Eddie Jordan after a year of everyone knowing it was coming. Still want to convince us that it took a long meeting in the offseason to 'wow' you? I'll throw in one more - 6) Not scouting and signing better defensive players to fill the roster using what few cap exceptions you have. Larry Brown was a genius at this, finding talents like Bruce Bowen and Raja Bell, just as examples. if you're a career basketball guy, how can you not find these kids of talent? I'd give stefanski credit for drafting speights, but I think most of us feel that was Tony DiLeo's suggestion. Drop Stefanski, hire me - I'll employ common sense which is sorly needed in that organization right now...— dpcoz
jordan or iguodala has to go. does not matter to me.— combocancer1975- One more point - this team reminds me of the Celtics prior to pulling off deals for Garnett and Ray Allen - they're filled with 'projects' with 'high ceilings' and average veteran talents. Then they traded those 'projects' (and essentially that ay of thinking about how to draft players) to Minnesota for Garnett. Ray Allen then wanted to be a part of it. The title speaks for itself. On top of that, the Celtics noiw draft more NBA-ready players who can complement their existing lineup - Rondo and Davis. Can't stand the Celtics, but I wa impressed at how they were able to change their fortunes in one offseason. There's a similar opportunity brewing now where a few terrible contracts and a few 'projects' could be offloaded for the biggest expiring contract in the league - McGrady. This could open us up to the bidding war of 2010, not to mention the high draft pick this offseason (Didn't the celtics use their's - Greene - to get Ray Allen?). Stefanski's actions form now until the start of summer could either drastically change our fortunes or guarantee that we remain moediocre for the first half of the new decade.— dpcoz
- MG77 is either kidding or really Eddie Jordan!!!— DJ
- this is a bad dream us sixers fans wont wake up from until both eddie's are gone and majot changes are done to this bad roster— stefanskimakesmesick
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.
