This mess gets messier
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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."
jordan is supposed to be the leader and he ruined it. he needs to admit that this team was much better before he came along. he needs to go! i question brand's injury. guys like him don't want to play on a team like this. i think he is done for the season.— CBent1- Q- Whats the difference between the 76ers and the Titanic? A- The Titanic had dancing.— drmonday
Comment removed.- good job Jordan, it only took you 59 games to finally hold someone accountable, and even when you did that, you were still afraid to call specific names out. With the way this season is going, I wouldn't be surprised if Jordan is placing some blame on Jrue Holiday, simply because it's the most illogical thing he could do.— CallerNo9
- good job Jordan, it only took you 59 games to finally hold someone accountable, and even when you did that, you were still afraid to call specific names out. With the way this season is going, I wouldn't be surprised if Jordan is placing some blame on Jrue Holiday, simply because it's the most illogical thing he could do.— CallerNo9
- ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!— nixman101
- I'm glad Stefanski made those moves at the trade deadline. Oh wait, he didn't make any moves. Sorry.— scootch
well, you know what they say- there is a ying and a yang to everything. hence, Philly has the Phillies. and Philly has the Sixers…it all evens out.— bboybeballin- It's time for Jodie Meeks to step up and offer some real leadership. Can't this team be contracted?— mjb
- This team is imploding. I cannot understand how this team can play so pathetically and this coach still have a job. This is a better team on paper than last year and playing like they are the Clippers (opps, they just beat the Jazz). I know for a fact that if Eddie Jordan was to be fired, several season ticket holders will renew their tickets. I, being one of them, do not believe many will renew IF Jordan is still the coach at the end of this month. The ball is in management's court, what will they do???? I hope they finally fire this "coach" (word used technically).— dharner
- you can't blame everything on jordan. stiffanski is also an idiot, and the players are practically all stiffs, and many of them are well overpayed. the whole team is a disgrace. i would really love there to be just one game by the end of the season when the wach is just empty. like no fans. ZERO. that would be sweet— Menace.II.Sobriety
- Sad to think we could have and should have signed Josh Smith instead of Brand. Then again I guess an older guy coming off an injury that plays better in the half court game looked better at the time. So far Stefanski's best move as GM was to bring back the old unis.— bosshog
- i like how i clicked on a link that was supposed to be about iverson missing the season, and read 2 sentences about him followed by a bunch of ranting about how the sixers suck.
- hey bboyeallin, how ironic is it that when the sixers were doing good, the phillies were in the exact opposite. now yeah we got the "sixers and the philies" enough said.
- Jordan tonight sealed his fate, by essentially calling out his boss, Edward Stefanski, for putting together this slop, and his call out was followed by the Postgame show when Marshall Harris, Donyell Marshall, and Bruiser Flint all concurred that veteran leadership is lacking, players like Andre Miller, for example. Jordan probably wants out before his diminished reputation is further tarnished and is essentially prodding Stefanski to put him out of his misery. Just who is going to put Sixers fans out of their misery is yet to be determined.— chuckw
- the sad part about the season other than all the losing is watching young guys like Thad and Speights regress and lose their spark. if Jordan would not have just signed a 3yr deal he would have been canned already. He has displayed no control of his players and developed no pattern of play or substitution. These guys are just brutal to coach.. DiLeo came in last year and did a heck of a job and he couldn't take it by the end.. time to blow it all up.. Iggy, Brand, and the rest of them. send everyone packing and bring in a new coach and a fresh start completely.— bradco
- I think if you add a "Thunder" Bob Thornton and Christian Welp to this team, we'll be fine. Eddie Jordan is an abomination. He's a fine dresser though (pocket squares are a nice, and underrated, touch).— bgcrimson29
- Ed S. is gone and so is his shoeshine boy, Marc Zumoff— Drew777
- Funny that Tony Deleo got this same team (minus Jrue Holiday) to 5 games over .500 last year, AND 2 wins over the Magic in round 1. So what's changed?— gwfisher
- now that Allen is done for the year, it's probably time to shutdown Brand and play the young players..... we still have a shot for a better lottery pick.— ted_ocmd
Jordan should do the honorable thing and void his contract and step down and say he can't coach these "athletes" . . . how bad was Jrue's foul trouble that, after playing the best quarter of his career, he hardly saw the floor again till the game was out of hand? Coincidence? Coaching decision? FIRE JORDAN. FIRE STEFANSKI. REVIVE THE SIXERS.— Leegles- After playing head games all season with this roster, he gets to leave? Now that isn't fair. I want Jordan's feet held to the fire. It's a tragedy there aren't any players who will say anything. For what it's worth, all the players on this team are pretty classy, which isn't the usual trend in the NBA. If he was going to be fired, it should've been in 2009.— psv
- Imagine Andy Reid ever blaming his players and the GM or Banner and Lurie . . . Andy also accepts responsibility for putting his players in a position to suceed. Not the case with Mr. Jordan.— Leegles
- Worst comment of the week goes to drmonday— cuso20
- No need for another long comment about this, FIRE ALL EDS NOW. I can't wait to see the sea of empty Red Seats by the end of the season. Maybe the Sixers should work with their seasons ticket holders to arrange for the first bowl of seats to go to underpriviledged youths for the balance of the season. Maybe Chickies and Petes could reduce the $8 crab fries and reduce his profit margin to 400% for those games so the kids could eat!— bigtuna
- "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" No Iggy, you keep jacking up jumper and jumper.— Huy76ers
- I thought things were supposed to get better when they got fired Mo Cheeks. No one can coach this group especially a nobody like Eddie Jordan. The guy who fired Cheeks, hired Jordan and hasn't made the team any better is just as guilty.— Phillies2008WSChamps
- Why is it that the few people who still care about this team unanimously favor getting rid of Jordan and (most likely) Stefanski and yet nothing happens? Aren't the Sixers a democracy?!— Leegles
- Comment removed.
- The Sixers had a leader, his name was Andre Miller, and Stefanski stupidly parted with him. Andre I is not a leader.— asv
- 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.
