Sixerville: What's wrong with Sixers?
While the 76er have been trying to figure out some things, they've lost 4 of their first 6 games, and they haven't looked good doing it.
Sixerville: What's wrong with Sixers?
My email began lighting up even before last night's game in Orlando ended. Many of the message-senders were familiar, either because I know them personally, have met them in the arena or because we've had a dialogue over time and I've come to respect their knowledge and opinions.
But the messages were all painfully similar. They--and I--are beginning to see cracks in the Sixers' plans. Everyone is obviously unhappy with the 2-4 start, but they're all even more unhappy--distressed--with the players' seeming inability to meld with new power forward Elton Brand.
To make a combination of a running game and a post player work, the big men need to rebound on the defensive glass and throw the ball ahead, with Brand trailing the play as a safety valve. If the fast break doesn't yield a solid opportunity, the ball needs to be in the hands of Andre Miller, with the perimeter guys cutting and moving. When the spacing is poor and the wing men remain somewhat stationary, Miller has little choice other than to shoot or drive to the rim. Hence, Miller's unwieldly 24 shots against the Magic.
And there is this, from TNT analyst Doug Collins, whose opinions and knowledge I respect above most, during Thursday night's telecast: “Elton Brand is not a great low post player. When his game really shot up in LA (with the Clippers) is where he picks and pops. He has that jump shot to about 15 feet and if you come at him he drives it. But I always felt that in the post if you play him with a bigger player he is not a great low post player…He brings a maturity of a guy who’s been around and understands (the game). He brings a lot more than statistics…He is a terrific running big man.”
We saw some of that in the preseason and in the earlier regular season games, but it seems to have gone away.
Compounding all of this is Andre Iguodala's struggle to get comfortable, and the defense's seeming inability to defend against thte three-point shot. The Magic exploited that, draining 9 triples to the Sixers' 5; that's a scoring differential of 27-15. Think Kyle Korver might be open a few times when Utah comes to town Tuesday night?
Having said all of this, the good news is, the Sixers are plus-65 in rebounding, including plus-19 off the offensive glass. The flip side is, they have 27 fewer steals than their opponents and 35 more turnovers. With all the other problems they have, if they would just take better care of the ball, they would be much more competitive.
Some of the emailers are already proposing trades. After six games? Not me. But, if the Sixers don't figure things out, I might consider this: Move Iguodala to small forward and insert Willie Green at shooting guard, where he started last season, allowing Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams to come off the bench as a duo, charged with creating offense and, if necessary, changing the pace. Just make it clear to Young that he would still be getting starter's minutes, and make it equally clear to Williams that he doesn't necessarily have to score a bunch of points right away, that he can be effective as a facilitator.
Hey, if the emailers can make suggestions, why can't I?
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Cheeks really is the problem here. The pieces are there to be a winning team, but it seems like they've forgotten how to play basketball at times. Their winning formula has been defense, and that means pressing the ball handler and playing the passing lanes. They should never allow a guard to penetrate and pass out. Cheeks has to realize that Reggie Evans cannot be the sub for Sam Dalembert. Brand is too small to be a center and so is Evans. Speights has to be the backup for Dalembert since he is the on capable of blocking shots and guarding the middle. Miller should be put on a short leash, he's making a lot of bad passes and taking a lot of bad shots. Let Iguodala play the point and pair him with Willie or Lou. On offense, they simply need to run plays designed around Brand or Iguodala distributing the ball. There should be the opportunity for an outside shooter, a cutter to the rim and two players in the high and low post. They should have enough height with their starters to play a post up game from every position. The game might start out with each player getting a chance to post up his man in isolation, and to continue that until the other team changes defenders. There is no reason this team can't be good in a half court offense, but they need the right attitude.— ricky- It's a shame that Thaddeus has to be punished just because Iguodala's game sucks. But it might be better for the team. Better yet, why not start Rush? At least the team would have a shooter in the starting lineup.— datruth4life
- If the Knicks can sit Marbury, why can't we give less minutes to Iggy? The scouts around the league seemed surprised the Sixers gave him that contract, and so was I. He needs to be more active on defense, and stop trying to over-create. The Sixers actually have a team right now where they can impose multiple offensive looks on teams over the course of a game. One thing they need to do all game, is defend.— bobcitydoc
- The biggest disappointment of the early season has to be the play of Andre Miller. He was arguably the mvp of this team last season. I know its still so early but he appears to not be able to stop any other point guard from penetrating and on offense he is making alot of bad decisions with the ball - Hopefully it is just a matter of everyone gelling with Brand— NEPHILLY215
- I don't think you can take Thaddeus out of the starting lineup in favor of Willie - you're just loosing too much both on offense and defense. If we're going to shake up the lineup, I'd have to agree with DaTruth about starting Rush. Or Lou for that matter. Unfortunately Igoudala is fast becoming a man without a country on this team - He's really not much better than thad at SF(if he is better at all), and is really struggling at SG. I do think he has value as a player in this league, but right now he's not fitting in with this group. Ricky's suggestion about letting him run point has crossed my mind once or twice (he's more comfortable distributing anyway and can be a worthwhile defensive presense), but we have that spot covered for now. It is still pretty early, but if things continue on like this for any significant amount of time, we might want to start thinking about what we could get in an Igoudala(or Miller) trade.— K,M
- The Sixers must fix the problem soon and cannot rely on another strong finish. I suggest that they try different combinations as it seems they have the players. More D, please, would help.— psuwelsh
- I don't see Cheeks as the issue. The real problem is the lack of a true 2 guard. You gotta put your best 5 players on the floor but its obvious that Igoudala and Young are both 3's. Word on the street is that Stefanski is doing more than he's admitting to behind the scenes in order to try to figure this out. But let's be honest...this is still a young team...give them a little bit more time to gel before breaking it up.— Tartan69
- all of the above is typical philadelphia fan impatience and panic. it happens all the time. it happens with the eagles, it even happened with the phillies this year when they had slumps. i'm not saying this team is close to championship calibre but everyone needs to relax and let this team gel and figure it out. it won't happen right away but they will get better. baby steps, one game at a time...pick your metaphor or cliche but i guarantee this will be a much better team come playoff time than what you see now.— scooterj
- Cheeks has nothing to do with this. You can not win without shooters in today's NBA. Brand is constantly double teamed and no one can hit an open shot. Stefanski threw money at Iquodala instead of going after the best shooter he could find.— JonKap
- I think it is clear to everyone that Cheeks is the problem. You will various players with various abilities. Its the job of the coach to utilize each players talent to better the team as a whole. Cheeks is not doing that. He is allowing Iggy to run free like is a Dr. J or Michael Jordan. Iggy has a set of skills. Utilize them. The same for each player.I think Ed should have a nice long talk with Cheeks.— Wise_Owl
- Last night was the first nat'l televised game, so first game I saw. Thad is a tremendous player. He should be on the court as much as possible. Iggy, as Barkley said, just can't shoot. He can. Not. Shoot. If you can't make a wide open jump shot, the defender doesn't have to run at you hard, so it's tougher to drive to the basket. (Turkoglu and Lewis had what, 10 easy layups last night? It's because the defender has to drive out on them so hard because they can shoot so well). Bottom line: Miller, Rush, Young, Brand, Dalembert should start with Williams, Speights, and Iggy in the rotation.— Structrebc
- Patience. Patience. Patience.
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yeah, and all you haters wanted Charlie Manuel fired too.....— jamarder- I Don't think most of you watched the same game I did. I live out of state and don't get to watch too many games. What I saw last night didn't look all that bad once the first quarter was over. Don't believe me just look at the box scores. They won quarters 2 & 3 and was only one point down in quarter 4. I see a lot of room for improvement and I also see a lot of players not quite sure what to do when Elton gets the ball. Some seem to stand and watch to see what the big guy's gonna do. Cheeks needs to make them realize they need to work for the entire game.— Beetle Bob
- Phil: I've been emailing you for years but you tell me I'm full of it. Once again the Sixers problems are that they are playing in the NBA with zone defense and once again they have a SG who can't freaking shoot. Wake up old man, and smell the formaldyhyde. Do you know anything about basketball? I mean really do you? How the hell do you keep this job? How did you get it? Who did you know to get this job. The answer is obvious. NO TEAM IN THE NBA can be succesful with a starting SG who CAN NOT SHOOT THE THREE with any consistency WHEN their starting PG CAN'T SHOOT EITHER! You would think Ed Snider would have learned SOMETHING about hoops after all these years owning this team but NO! THe Sixers have the same exact problem they did the year AFTER their finals trip when they started two guards in Iverson and Snow who could not shoot from behing the arc. Teams know this and let them have this shot and then pack in around the paint. Trade Iggie now for someone who can shoot (they should go after a Mike Miller type) and start Young at SF. Iggie is a SF who is too short to play that position and a SG who can't shoot. Maybe Phoenix would want him as he would be a better compliment to Nash than to Andre Miller. Just admit it Phil you don't know jack about hoops.— Grill
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- Phil Jasner is the Best.. I follow Phils writing and Ignore the sixers...Thats how I cope!— Philly-d-kidder
- McSameOldStupidComments bush league!— whatthe?
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- let's remember iggy took a few years to adjust to being a '3' (as opposed to just a sick 6'6" athlete). let's give him more than 6 games before we ship him out.— vinni
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I thought the most interesting comment was when Doug Collins talked about the linup of one big guy (Sam) and four quicks...Iggy, Green, Lou, Miller, Young etc, and how well the sixers seemed to play when they had that kind of configuration. TYhis team is built to play up=tempo, pressure defense...run the ball...Elton's half court presence is supposed to ADD to this style of play...not take it over. It seemes really obvious that the sixers can outrebound teams on most nights and with good effort, but they need to aggressively push the ball to take advantage of the way the majority of their players excel. You can't just settle for collecting the rebound, then walking it up and setting up the halfcourt and expect some of these guys like Iggy to excel like they did before. Young is not a secret anymore...he can really consistently do the things he is doing. Speights can be a similar surprise but will develop to the degree that he gets on the floor. I don't think Miller has forgotten how to do the things he has always done, but he is forced to try to make things happen in the half court and is simply missing shots. Most troubling to me though, is that Mo has not been the positive coach who doesn't let losses get to him, he has seemed very frustrated and that relays to the team's attitude..."hey, mayybe we aren't going to be good after all"...thinking that way would make it happen.— srvdove- Ha Ricky, I agree with your statement. Cheeks is the problem. Come on. These guys have a lot of talent and they continue to start the season the same way since Cheeks became the coach. First, it was Iverson. Next, it was not having enough role players. Now, we have a strong roster and we are still starting the same way. I'm not one to jump off of the band wagon, but I believe Cheeks have to go. Finally, I don't think Iggy is a point guard. I've always felt Iggy is a good small forward. Willie Green should be the point guard who is paired up with Miller. The problem with Cheeks is for the past three years, he is still trying to figure out during the regular season who is going to be the nucleus of the team. You can't figure this stuff out during the regular season. The bottom line is GET RID OF CHEEKS!— Rev.
- For those of you too young to have been at the Spectrum during the Dr J era you really missed something. George Gervin, David Thompson, Artis Gilmore coming to town. The ridiculous comeback against Cleveland with Andrew Toney. Fastbreak basketball that kept you on the edge of your seat. Teams so talented even when George Mcginnis played here that they could turn it on in a dime and beat any team that showed up. Dave Zinkoff and real organ music. No stupid mascots. Bill Campbell, the best play by play man that ever lived. 10, 9, 8 76ers. Thank you, you, and especially you!!!!!— Drew777
- TRADE IGGIE! And moving Green to a starter's role is assanine. He stinks. He is a 3rd string guard on any other team. Jasner, man I still can't believe they pay you to come up with this junk. Very disappointing. The Sixers have needed either a deep threat at PG or SG since 2001 and they have failed to produce this even today. We have 2 guards who CAN'T FREAKING SHOOT!!!! Hell there are Centers and Power Forwards in the NBA that can shoot better than both Iggie and Miller.— Grill
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
