This mess gets messier
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
This mess gets messier
Updated: Allen Iverson will not return to the 76ers this season. The Sixers officially confirmed this morning. Here's what General Manager Ed Stefanski said in this morning's press release: "After discussing the situation with Allen, we have come to the conclusion that he will not return to the Sixers for the remainder of the season, as he no longer wishes to be a distraction to the organization and teammates that he loves very deeply," Stefanski said. "It has been very difficult for Allen and the team to maintain any consistency as he tries to balance his career with his personal life."
As if the 76ers on-court performance wasn't enough tonight, tonight became even more disturbing after the game.
Only a few minutes after tonight's 126-105 loss to the Orlando Magic, Sixers coach Eddie Jordan had some pretty harsh words about the character of his team. Here's Jordan's words from tonight's post-game press conference:
"We just didn’t respond in a passionate way. We lost the passion to compete. We saw some pooor body language and there was a couple of timeouts where we addressed it. And I wasn’t going to have it. I addressed it a couple of times; I addressed it just then, just now. It’s leadership or lack thereof. It’s contagious where misery, just one guy’s miserable and it’s just contagious throughout the team and we just can’t have. Someone has to stand up and try to rally the troops, your teammates. The coaches are certainly trying to do it every timeout, every time we get a chance to. But it doesn't come from the coaches ... We try to address it; we try to get them with some more spirit and some more positive energy. And it’s just hard when you don’t have that sort of internal leadership."
How often has he encountered the problem?
"Maybe once or twice, but certainly tonight was, I didn't want to see the same sort of body language, the same sort of lack of energy. We were right there with it. I don't know if it was worse than last year or about the same, but it was certainly addressed."
More from Jordan: "They just dominated the game. We were dominated. We were dominated. And whether you’re dominated or not, you have to learn how to compete, you have to learn how to rally, you have to learn how to hold your chin up, as individuals, as professionals, you have to learn how to do it. If you've gone through it before, and you went through it again, now is the time you should have learned some lessons and try to get it up. But, obviously, our team hasn’t learned it."
"You start to play the blame game and it really leads to a dead end, it doesn't go anywhere. I'm just going to go out there and keep doing what I've been doing my whole career, which is play basketball the right way."
Tony DiLeo accomplished the same thing Mo Cheeks did in 2007-08. Perhaps Jordan is worse, but the major difference is that Andre Miller was with the team the last few years, and is not with the team now. There is NO REASON why the ONLY point guard on the team is a ROOKIE; Jordan didn't make THAT decision. DiLeo has been with the 76ers since the early 90s; his compadre Courtney Witte has been with the team since '97; they have drafted more than their share of wing players(e.g,. Stackhouse, Tim Thomas, Hughes, Jumaine Jones, Willie Green, Korver, Iguodala, Carney, Thaddeus Young, Derrick Byars) while hardly ever drafting centers, powar forwards or point guards. That approach has to change.— 76erfn- Wow ! Kate, I give you credit. You don't pull any punches. It would be impossible for me or anyone to defend Jordan's performance this year but the NBA is a player's league and I think Stefanski and the players have not taken near the hit they should. They have underperformed as much as EJ. I know you know/see more than we do so I take your critique of EJ as coming from that vantage point but I can't believe there is any way he goes but Stefanski doesn't. What matters now is who will be the next GM because that is coming and he will chart the future course.— oldcityT
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.
