Winning basketball?
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Winning basketball?
I just received the link to an article in my inbox. It's from ESPNDallas.com; it was posted about an hour ago by Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Last night against the Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks center Brendan Haywood didn't start, instead coming off the bench.
Just over a month ago, Haywood was traded from the Washington Wizards to the Mavericks. While in Washington, Haywood played under current 76ers coach Eddie Jordan.
After Tuesday night's game -- a Dallas victory in which Haywood ended up playing 30 minutes, scoring 12 points, and grabbing 10 rebounds -- Haywood offered this quote about going to the bench in favor of fellow center Erick Dampier.
Asked if not starting provided motivation, Haywood said, "Not really ... I just work here."
MacMahon continued, saying that after Monday's practice, Haywood made it clear he was not looking to "start a controversy" over minutes and playing time.
"I'm not fighting for minutes," Haywood told ESPNDallas.com on Monday. "We're fighting for a championship."
More from Haywood:
"Losing teams have competitions between players for playing time. That's what we were doing in D.C. That's losing basketball. We're competing to win a championship. It comes down to, if I'm bringing it, [Dampier's] going to support me. If he's bringing it, I'm going to support him."
"Coach dictates the minutes. That's his job. In Washington, [coach Eddie Jordan] made it known it was an open competition. This isn't a competition. [Jordan] felt like that competition fueled the team. It was actually terrible for the team. This is more along the lines of, whoever is playing the best, put him in the game and let's try to get something done."
These quotes seem quite applicable to the Sixers right now, considering there have been season-long questions over rotation and playing time. MacMahon also had this line within the story: "Haywood got into three fights with ex-Wizards teammate Etan Thomas while they were competing for playing time. Haywood and Dampier have developed a friendly relationship."
The Sixers are 24-47 and play the Milwaukee Bucks tonight in Milwaukee.
--Kate
Makes total sense. What a disaster this season has been. A rudderless ship whose captain is a clueless, incommunicative buffoon.— wondo40- Another nail in the Jordan coffin. Very interesting piece of insight. You are always on the spot with your reporting. This shows the energy you have for the job. You are the best in Philly...but I bet you already know it. Keep up the good work!— derkaiser
Jordan is disturbing to look at and listen to.- What are all 8 of us Sixer fans going to talk about over the summer once Jordan is canned? I'm being serious, because the only thing worth mentioning about the Sixers right now is the continually abysmal coaching job by EJ. Just when it seems like he can't do any worse, he goes and tops himself. This could be the most boring summer for a Sixer fan in a LONG time.— Flock
- Jordan is a fool, Stafanski is an idiot for hiring him and Snyder needs to retire. Both teams he owns are going no where under his leadership. Another great post by Kate. Thanks.— 76er
Comment removed.- Reposting an ESPN story? Nice. The coaching, the coaching, the coaching. We get it. We all get it. All eight of us. Kate, you sound like a fan and angry blogger instead of a beat writer.— Ed Gone
- I mean obviously at some points you have to trust players and create a rotation, but out of all the criticisms of Jordan this is the least alarming. Basically Washington had two mediocre centers and left it up to the one who worked harder to get the playing time, it sounds like Haywood is just bitter. Jordan needs to go, but this isn't a reason.— ConverseB24
It's cruel to make Jordan hang on until the last game of the season. Just pull the trigger now and be done with it. Then again, him coaching the team guarantees they lose 8 or 9 of their final 11 games.— jpk
"Haywood takes jab at Jordan - 2:20pm" doesn't everybody? starting to feel bad for the guy...Ed Gone- now we are 10 people strong. the Sixers fan base is growing...— bboybeballin- It puts those little tiffs earlier between several sixers players in context. Roger Mason Jr. also had some interesting commentary on Eddie Jordan after being traded to the Spurs.— psv
- Cruel? He'll be paid millions the next two years to sit around the house. He owes it to the Sixers to keep up the bad work and improve the draft pick.— boomartin
- Interesting piece and I agree with "psv", it does put some things into perspective. Look at all of the snide remarks players are making about each other. It shows that in some way, it may be rewarded. I recall a few months ago when Elton Brand made some comments about someone not playing defense and grabbing rebounds and it was assumed that he was talking about Speights. Not too long after that Speights began to receive a lot less playing time and Brands time began to increase. It just goes to show that bad actions were rewarded.— J.Bradley
- ya, reposting an espn story esp when it relates to the local team makes sense no? Hey, maybe Stefanski hired him exactly for this reason. Tank it baby, get us some more ping pong balls.— peteike
- to a lesser extent that's how it was when dileo and mo cheeks were coaching. They would always rave about Willie Green and Rodney Carney really going at it in practice. Wow how dumb is Stefanski for hiring this guy.— CallerNo9
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.
