Posted: Thursday, October 30, 2008, 12:28 PM | 9 comments |
 

Shooting & Defense

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It wasn't what the city expected from these new-look 76ers. They expected more half-court offense, better defense, improved shooting.

(But, really, whom are we kidding? The city's eyes were, and still are, on the Phillies. We'll wait out the wave of hysteria through tomorrow's parade down Broad St.)

Instead, what filled the Wachovia Center last night (a 95-84 loss to the Toronto Raptors) looked more like the Sixers from last November, than the NBA team that made the most waves this off-season.

But it's only the first game. After the game, head coach Maurice Cheeks was disappointed, but it's only one of 82 games. Cheeks said it was the defense and shooting that most concerned him.

1.) The Defense: It wasn't the 95 points allowed. That's not even that high of a number. It was the quality of shots the Raptors managed to get the last three quarters. And the quality of shots (Jason Kapono ... Jason Kapono! ... wide open) at the end of the game. Last season, a big problem for the Sixers was allowing open 3-point shots. This was also the problem last night. The Raptors were 10 for 16 (62.5 percent).

Another problem with the defense: It didn't create enough transition opportunities. The Sixers need to score more easy buckets (we all saw what happened in the stagnant half-court sets).

2.) Shooting (specifically from beyond the arc): Yikes. It looked good in the beginning. The first possession, Andre Miller dished to Thaddeus Young in the left corner. Young made the shot. The Sixers started 4 for 10 in the first half, which is solid, if not remarkable. They finished the game 5 for 20 (25 percent). This 1 for 10 effort in the second half was crucial to burying the team. What was particularly worrisome was the way in which some of these threes were taken: they felt desperate.

But, going forward -- and forward comes quickly, with another home game tomorrow night against the Knicks -- Cheeks said these aspects will be improved. I agree. While I don't think the Sixers are going to be a great outside shooting team, I don't think they should, again, be the league's worst. Lou Williams is better than 2 for 7, Andre Iguodala is better than 0 for 5 (perhaps he should only be shooting, at most, two a game?).

The Knicks are coming into the Wachovia Center undefeated. And even though that undefeated record is 1-0, these are the Knicks about which we're talking! I must harp upon anything positive.

The Sixers are currently practicing at PCOM. They watched film from about 11 a.m. to noon. We're going to hold off on any more Live Chats until the craziness of the Phillies washes through with tomorrow's victory parade (read: next chat will be Saturday from Atlanta).

Inactive List: Will Speights remain on the inactive list? That would be surprising. The Sixers must submit the list an hour before tomorrow's tip-off. I think tomorrow we'll see an active Speights, an inactive Donyell Marshall. Also, Royal Ivey will serve the last of a three-game suspension.

Until tomorrow (or perhaps later) ...

--Kate

 

 
Posted by Kate Fagan @ 12:28 PM  Permalink | 9 comments
9
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:02 PM, 10/30/2008
    believe it or not, you can look good and lose. the sixers didnt stink the gym up last night but they did show one of their biggest weaknesses. defending the 3. the sixers are still a solid defensive team, they'll block their share of shots, they"ll outrebound their opponents on most nights also. but when teams like the wizards, magic and yes the raptors come in until mo cheeks decides to stop double teaming the lost post, it might be a good night to take your significant other to a movie or dinner because its gonna be a long night.
    — CHILLYFROMPHILLY
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:01 PM, 10/30/2008
    kate/chilly: agree the defensive weaknesses and outside shooting were disconcerting and i don't think we're a solid defensive team), particularly the latter. while there are positives (rebounding!) to build on, the defensive philosophy should change. effort and determination have to be there but positioning/rotating have to be correctly employed as well. while the integrating the new players will take some time, it shouldn't really be that difficult to develop: while we run more than most teams, the 1/2 court sets are little/no different than standard nba issue. it's only one game but even in a long season it's nice to get off to a quick season and the defensive mind-set is not a good harbinger. the dynamics with the knicks should be different...
    — 127sixer59
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:18 PM, 10/30/2008
    Agree that defending the perimeter still seems to be an issue, also agree that Igoudala's 3 point attempts should be limited. He can hit that shot at times, but is not what you'd call a 3 point shooter. His medium range game looks to be improved, though. I went out to watch the phils at halftime, but in the first quarter i was pretty disappointed with how out of synch Dalembert looked. He does makes some plays in most games - like that block on Bosh, but they're usually followed up by a Doh! moment - like getting a rebound in traffic and trying to dribble it rather than kicking out or just rising up to the cup. Hopefully playing alongside Brand will help him settle into a more natural role & provide a good role model for decision making.
    — K,M
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:18 PM, 10/30/2008
    Agree that defending the perimeter still seems to be an issue, also agree that Igoudala's 3 point attempts should be limited. He can hit that shot at times, but is not what you'd call a 3 point shooter. His medium range game looks to be improved, though. I went out to watch the phils at halftime, but in the first quarter i was pretty disappointed with how out of synch Dalembert looked. He does makes some plays in most games - like that block on Bosh, but they're usually followed up by a Doh! moment - like getting a rebound in traffic and trying to dribble it rather than kicking out or just rising up to the cup. Hopefully playing alongside Brand will help him settle into a more natural role & provide a good role model for decision making.
    — K,M
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:35 PM, 10/30/2008
    The major problem is that we just don't have a shooting guard. Iggy needs to go back to the three, but then we've got the whole Thad Young dilemna. It does us no good to have a post game if you can't kick the ball back out... and we can't. Do we trade for an SG? Who would we trade? Miller? Young? Williams? Iggy? I don't know, but we can't win in the NBA if we can't make jumpshots...
    — Oliver
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:00 PM, 10/30/2008
    I don't have a problem with focusing the D on preventing easy scores and giving up challenged 3's -- that's Cheeks' general philosophy (learned from Larry Brown, I think), and it can work EXCEPT if the last guy the ball gets rotated to is Jason Kapono and he's wide open. The Sixers did hold the Raptors to 40% on 2-point FGs (grasping for straws here), so they did something right on D. On offense, I don't have a problem with 20 3-pointers, but they should be taken by the right people and in the flow of the offense. Once the game devolved into a jump-shooting contest, the Sixers had no chance against the Raptors. I will say the Sixers looked even worse than normal on intermediate jumpers (Miller, Brand, Iguodala), and the Raptors played it like most teams will this year against the Sixers -- packing the lane, daring them to make jump shots. If your team can't make open 15-footers the NBA, you've basically got no shot. Finally, a word on Lou Williams -- he had some good moments, but he's got to be smarter on D. He had a big fat -18 in +/- (worst on the team), in just 23 minutes. Anyhow, we'll see if the jump shots are falling any easier against the Knicks.
    — Statman
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:46 PM, 10/30/2008
    k,m: sixers/dalembert must convert those rebounds into positive plays. oliver: to paraphrase denny green: "we're who we thought we were", i.e., a relatively weak shooting team that should drive to the basket as frequently as possible and not let the game become pure j-shots. thinks it's way to early to trade, we'll have to adjust w/what we have and understand our limitations. statman: many interesting observations and i agree about the raptors approach being one that many teams will take. i have a different view regarding defense since this approach has not worked previously and is not off to good start this year. raptors low shooting % was as much on them. and w/our team, i don't think we can have a jim o'brien approach since we just don't have the 3 pt shooters to make it work and ruin our transition game. we really should play to our strenghts. excellent stat on williams-that's an incredible neg differential, even though it wasn't all him.
    — 127sixer59
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:28 PM, 10/30/2008
    127: I don't disagree with your comments on defensive philosophy. Nothing is more frustrating than giving up an open 3 to a good shooter -- except maybe giving up a dunk to a bad shooter. The problem in the NBA is that you have to pick your poison when the ball goes in the post: either play straight up and risk getting burned by the other team's star, or double team and rotate. The Sixers have almost always done the latter, with varying degrees of success. I think with Brand at PF instead of Thad, the rotations will be slower and less effective. Hopefully on some nights the extra rebounding will make up for it. Regarding the transition game, one point that hasn't been made is that Toronto minimized turnovers (a function of Calderon, who led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio last year), so we didn't see much of it. That is an area I definitely expect to see an improvement in against the Knicks.
    — Statman
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:32 PM, 10/30/2008
    Sure wish we had gotten Josh Smith, instead of the reincarnation of C-Web after he was broke.
    — rayzoe


9 comments
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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