What will the rotation be tonight?
Who will play, who will sit, who's hurt, who's not? All questions surrounding the Sixers these days.
What will the rotation be tonight?
Bob Cooney
At the Sixers shoot around this morning at the Rose Garden in Portland, guard Willie Green watched from the sideline, resting his sprained right ankle that he suffered in Saturday night's loss in Utah.
Allen Iverson was on the floor with the team as they prepared for tonight's game against the 20-12 Trail Blazers. After the shoot around, coach Eddie Jordan called Iverson to the far end of the floor when the guard went through some step-slide drills, shot some jumpers coming off an imaginary screen set by assistant coach Mike O'Koren. All told, Iverson put in about 15 minutes extra work.
"Just trying to get my legs up under me and get my wind where I want it to be," said Iverson, who has missed the past four games with arthritis in his left knee. "It's going to take a while. I'm not going to be frustrated with myself. I'm just going to be patient and understand that I haven't had a lot of active work and it's going to take a little time."
Saturday in Utah, Jordan started Lou Williams for the first time since his return from a broken jaw. He started with Green at guard, while rookie Jrue Holiday came off the bench. If Green can't go tonight (he is a game-time decision), will Jordan plug in Iverson with Williams and keep Holiday coming off the bench, or will Iverson get limited minutes and come off the bench?
The rotation has been a mystery pretty much all season with Jordan. Injuries have played a part, no doubt, as Williams, Marreese Speights, Elton Brand and Iverson have all missed time. Jordan has never had his full contigent available since Iverson signed with the team. But even before the injuries and the return of Iverson, Jordan didn't seem comfortable with a night-in, night-out rotation.
The coach said today that he would like to stay with a 10-player rotation. So let's look into the future when everyone is healthy. Let's say the starters are Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young at forwards, Sam Dalembert at center and Iverson and Williams at guards.
Jordan loves the combo of Speights and Brand coming off the bench, though they provide good offense but not enough defense. Holiday will get the majority of the guard minutes off the bench. Green has been very consistent all year, so he'll be relied on also.
There will be times when Jason Kapono's sharp shooting will be needed, so he'll have to garner some minutes, and Rodney Carney's athleticism, which made him one of the better players on the team early in the season, will be needed also. Jason Smith will be just a mop-up player, maybe filling in for Dalembert when he gets in trouble, while Primoz Brezec and Royal Ivey will play sparingly.
That might be how it plays out, but again, with Jordan, who knows. If Iverson and Green are ready to go tonight, maybe some of the answers will start playing out.
it should be lou, iverson, iggy, brand, speights... thad and jrue first off the bench— GetMeToThePlateBoys
Comment removed.- I like Iverson, Iggy, Young, Brand, and Dalembert. Bring Williams, Holiday, Speights, and Green off the bench. I like that 4 of your Starters can play 2 positions.— Alltabb
- What a mess.— B in DC
- I don't know but I hear this road trip is it for Eddy.— rayzoe
- I don't know but I hear this road trip is it for Eddy.— rayzoe
- I don't know but I hear this road trip is it for Eddy.— rayzoe
- Try Hal Greer, Dr.J., Wilt, Paul Arizin, and Billy Cunningham.— prudential2
- Speights, Brand, Young, Iguodala and Williams start and end games. Bench is Dalembert at Center, Smith, Carney and Kapono at Forward and Holiday, Iverson and Green at guard. Carney should be getting regular minutes and so should Smith to see if they can provide adequate support.— ricky
- Besides Iquodala, not one of these players is a starter on a good team.— JonKap
- I like Wali Jones, Andrew Toney, Caldwell Jones, Julius Erving, Billy Cunningham with Luke Jackson, Chet Walker and Bobby Jones off the bench.— JBP
- Agree with Ricky about Carney and especially Smith getting minutes NOW in spite of the inept coach "making decisions".— tomvallar
- I agree with Alltab -- AI, Iguodala, Thad, Brand, Dalembert.— FKD215
- Dalembert, Brand, Young, Igoudala, and Williams should be your starting 5.— Ellidyr
- I think big Ed should be fired asap... He screwed up all Billy King's cap space money on bums, he is not a good judge of talent. I think I heard he gave Vince Carter a good contract.— #1SIXERFAN
Doesn't matter what the rotation is if they don't DEFEND, REBOUND, AND RUN! (If they don't turn it around, FIRE JORDAN by February 1.)— Leegles- The ideal rotation is Andre Miller, Allen Iverson, Julius Erving, Charles Barkley, and Wilt Chamberlain, with Moses Malone, Mo Cheeks, Bobby Jones, Andrew Toney, and maybe Iggy coming last off the bench.— Leegles
- Everyone that's talking about the Sixers are saying the same thing. The overall majority all say that the BIGGEST problem with the Sixers is the Coach and that he should be fired.— Ellidyr
Play for the future Holiday, Williams, Iggy, Thad, Speights- Comment removed.
- How about a bus crash, they'll have a better chance to win dragging guys out of the stands— JSaq
- i cant think of anyone who could fix this. same bums recycled in the nba.— maximus
- Jsaq: Dude, be civil. We don't want the team to die in a bus crash. We want them to WIN, not die. They're good guys, potentially very exciting, a playoff team the last two years -- we want them to take the next step and compete with for the Eastern Conference Championship. Unfortunately, they've been riddled with injuries, an overpaid PF, no rebounder bruiser, and a currently very unpopular coach who's abandoned good ol'-fashioned swarming Sixers defense and running/gunning in favor of the doing the weave along the 3-point line before settling for off-balance contested jumpers as the shot clock expires.— Leegles
- to... jhp.....i like that lineup, but..back to reality.but since u went down memory lane.heres my starting line up.i like doc and kangaroo kid,moses,toney, and hal greer.— t_darb_56
- Unless they are starting the 1966-67 Sixers tonight, I doubt it will matter much; Portland is on a roll, having beaten in their last four games Miami, Dallas, and San Antonio at their courts, and Denver at their own court. The Sixers will be a welcome break, even with Iverson starting. Eddie Jordan, of course, will still be there!!— chuckw
- who cares!— chase this
- AI, AI, Thad, Brand, Sam.
- Iggy/AI/Thad/Brand/Dalembert.........I don't like it, but it is the best of the worse possible situation— hospodar
- AI, Lou Will, Iggy, Brand, Sam. Young is not a PF and Igggy is not a SG. Those two should not be on the floor together. they are both slashers. people discount the fact that AI can get to the line 7 or 8 times a game. He stillhas the ability to draw a foul when the team has offensive lapses. There are only a few guys in the league with this talent. Sammy is a catalyst. you can run the fast break if you don't rebound or stop the opponent from scoring. Speights is not a defensive stopper yet. Brand is the obvious choice at PF. Plus he is a monster offensive rebounder.— ornoluvr
- Holiday & AI in the backcourt ..... Iggy & Thad on the wings.... Brand at the 5..... very explosive starting lineup..... Speights, Lou, Dalembert gives us a strong 2nd unit..... then Kapono, Carney, Ivey...— pointgod12
- Allen Iverson, Lou Williams, Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert. Sam and Elton can rebound and defend the paint. Iverson (combined with Williams, Brand and Iguodala) gives the Sixers a four-headed offensive monster that few if any teams can defend...any one of the four is capable of scoring 25 points on different nights. This lineup killed Portland last night. Thaddeus Young, Marreese Speights and Willie Green should come off the bench. Ed Stefanski needs to find a backup center that can defend and rebound before the trading deadline because the Sixers are getting killed on the boards when Dalembert sits down. This lack of size and depth at center is slowing the team's development.— 21stCentury
- williams, holiday, speights, young, smith...let them run for a dozen games or so...get a feel for the grind, then work the more experienced players into this mix...these guys are the future, and the future is now— kgd
Why do idiots come to a message board just to say who cares. If you don't care then don't comment.- Iverson - Iguodala - Young - Brand - Dalembert— miller_fan
- Start all the Young guys and begin the real re-building process.— ENOUGH09
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.
