Philadelphia are garbage

What a worthless execuse of a squad and a waste of a playoff spot

Hopefully Chicago will knock them out

Seriously what an awful awful roster and style of play. It hurts to watch this team, they’re catastrophic.

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And they have no future

This is irritating me beyond belief, several in the media (ESPN) saying they have a bright future. They have zero future.

They have an overrated second best perimeter player on a good team (heck he’s the second best perimeter player on his garbage unit) who’s their franchise guy.

Who cares if they have cap space? They have too much ground to make up. They need to spend 2-4 seasons in the Lottery adding talent. Nobody they’re going to get in FA is going to turn this team into a contender, heck they won’t even turn the team into a 47 win squad.

Cap space isn’t a future because you never know what you’re going to be able to get.

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That roster is garbage.

Thaddeus Young is one of the worst starters in the league right now. Does he have a future? God I hope so for Phily’s fans. He’s a decent prospect but he’s a very poor player right now.

Samuel Dalembert has already peaked. Enjoy that. 10mil a year on an inconsistent centre who offers nothing on offense.

Reggie Evans has peaked and is a top rebounder and mediocre defender who tries hard and offers nothing on offense.

Jason Smith is a career backup because he’s too stupid to recognize he’s had a mismatch every single night of his career. How to waste talent? Watch Jason Smith. His body moves like a guard and he rebounds like a big! Why isn’t he having a bigger impact? Because he’s stupid. Because he doesn’t have a clue what his strengths are.

Andre Miller is 32 and has a year left on his contract. Enjoy overpaying ‘Dre or watching him walk to a contender. It really is a fun choice. He’s an average starting PG … oh and he’s your best player.

Carney isn’t much. Willie Green is hopeless. Calvin Booth, Shavik Randolph, Kevin Ollie …. jeez

I like Louis Williams but talk about putting all your eggs on a hail mary, chances are that he never becomes a top PG and Phily desperately need him to become that (and he does have a chance, albeit a small one).

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This team is light years away from even being respectable nevermind good

They’re just catching lazy teams on the fly because of their hardworking players. That’s all that’s happening. Worst collection of talent in the league.

again agree with the articulate Who. they win because they are everyone’s trap game and they play hard.

Clearly Who does not watch the Sixers on a regular basis. Young is good, just not asked to do much (look at his numbers). Jason Smith has been injured, but is starting to see more time and works well on the high pick and roll. Dalembert is only 26 and is having his best season yet. He’ll keep getting better with the opportunity to be Canada’s go-to player this summer. Miller is much better than average. Willie Green is decent in spurts, but isn’t a starter. Lou Williams keeps getting better. Reggie Evans, agreed. Carney – he’s awful. The rest of the roster is just like yours – Scalabrine and Pollard.

Jon76MVN said:
  Clearly Who does not watch the Sixers on a regular basis.

Not unless I’m being punished for something

Just joking, well half joking ;)

No I don’t watch the Sixers often, likely the least of all teams, a last resort.
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Seriously tell me more about Thaddeus Young, what am I missing?

Let me explain what I meant by one of the worst starters in the league also. There’s 30 teams, so 5 starters per team is 150 players. Where would Thaddeus rank? Bottom 10% (15 guys)? Bottom 20% (30 guys)? Think about it. I don’t want to hear about players who are only starting because of injuries either, first choice starters, how many are worse than him?

He’s clearly going to get better but I’m not sold on how high a ceiling he has, mainly because like you say he’s not asked to do much offensively and because he’s still so young and in clearly a work in progress.

Why is he starting at power forward? He’s a natural small forward. Himself and Iggy on the wings would give Phily two big physical options in the post and two solid defensive players. Why move him out of position? He’s a guy you’re trying to prepare for bigger things, why teach him a position that he won’t play long term? And he won’t play long term because he’s never going to be a top interior scorer while playing at power forward and that’s what Phily desperately need next to Dalembert.

At power forward he’s a below average rebounder, at small forward he’d be an alright rebounder. A solid but unimpressive defender. Has decent range but nothing special. Functional passer. Functional handle. Can’t create his own shot. Good garbage man around the hoop. Runs the floor very well. Great athleticism. Good instincts, plays within himself. What am I missing? How’s he going to contribute more offensively at this stage?

He’s going to get better but right now he’s not a good starter. Solid player who you’d be happy to have on your bench.

When Phily move him out to the wing his ball-handling, passing and perimeter shooting will become more of an issue. He has a huge amount of work ahead.

Nice kid, nice prospect, is he a star in the making? I don’t know. He has an awful lot of work to do and he needs to make more headway before I could consider him that, more impact on games.

Please tell me what I’m missing, I’ll look for it whenever I watch my next Philly game.

Jason Smith has been injured, but is starting to see more time and works well on the high pick and roll.

There’s no acceptable reason why Jason Smith doesn’t have more of an impact. He should be copying everything that Memo Okur does. He’s already as good a rebounder and a superior shot blocker than Memo is. He’s quicker than Memo, and he has better agilty and balance. He’s comfortable putting the ball on the floor and he has a decent jump shot. He could be one of the toughest matchups in the league. Legit 7 feet, 240lb with quickness.

Yet I never see him utilitize his talents. He’s wandering around like a normal 7 footer. Then he throws out a lovely jab step and creates space, gets his man off balance and then what does he do? Nothing, he passes the ball.

Even if he wasn’t that efficient he’d be causing huge problems for the opposition. Very few teams have 7 footers that are quick enough to stick with his penetration and challenge his jump shot, he should be a matchup problem.

He doesn’t understand what makes him an NBA player and what could make him a good NBA player. That’s why he’s stupid.

He’ll never be more than a 9th man until he learns how to play basketball and use his brain at the same time. That’s not a good thing to say about a young prospect.

Jon76MVN said:
  Clearly Who does not watch the Sixers on a regular basis. Young is good, just not asked to do much (look at his numbers). Jason Smith has been injured, but is starting to see more time and works well on the high pick and roll. Dalembert is only 26 and is having his best season yet. He’ll keep getting better with the opportunity to be Canada’s go-to player this summer. Miller is much better than average. Willie Green is decent in spurts, but isn’t a starter. Lou Williams keeps getting better. Reggie Evans, agreed. Carney – he’s awful. The rest of the roster is just like yours – Scalabrine and Pollard.

Meant in tongue in cheek fashion:

So basically Phily have a similar roster to Boston except they have no Kevin Garnett and no Paul Pierce

Iggy = Ray
Thaddeus = Posey
Reggie Evans = PJ Brown
Dalembert = Perkins
Miller = Rondo
Willie Green = Tony Allen
Louis Williams = Sam Cassell

Jason Smith, Rodney Carney, Kevin Ollie, Calvin Booth = Glen Davis, Leon Powe, Eddie House, Scott Pollard, Brian Scalabrine, Gabe Pruitt

None of that is exact but that’s not far from the truth either.

Iggy and Ray is fairly close. Iguodala is the better defender and Ray is the better shooter and scorer. Iggy goes for 19/5/5 while Ray goes 18/4/3. Iggy gets force fed touches and shooting opportunities while Ray is 3rd choice, last year when Ray was the first choice scoring option he went for 26/4/4.

Andre Miller and Rajon Rondo aren’t too far apart either. Rondo is the far superior defender and rebounder. Miller is the smarter player and better playmaker. I think both would be similar scoring threats if Rondo got more opportunities, he’s shown nobody can guard him off the dribble/screen and roll and shown he can score when asked upon (when KG was out). We’ll give Miller the nod but it’s a lot closer than you’d initially think.

Dalembert is clearly better than Perk. Perk’s having a nice run right now and maybe he can continue that and even up the score. I think Perk is the better interior defender and post defender but Dalembert is the superior shotblocker, rebounder and actually has more of an offensive game … just feels wierd saying he has a better offensive game than someone.

Posey and Thaddeus are very similar. Posey is a better shooter and defender and has all that championship experience and all that comes with it. Thaddeus should surpass him by next season but right now you have to give Posey the nod.

Louis Williams and Cassell are both scoring point guards that can take over a game albeit using completely different ways to score. Cassell has the experience and intelligence, Williams has the athleticism and defense. Fairly even.

Tony Allen is a much better player than Willie Green is. Better penetrator, better shooter, better defender, better rebounder, better in the open floor. Just better.

I think it’s advantage Boston on the rest of the supporting cast. Leon Powe and Glen Davis are better backups than anything Phily have in reserves, so too is Eddie House.

That would be a pretty good (in the competitive sense, not so much with the quality) game. It would be close.

So all Philly need is a Kevin Garnett and a Paul Pierce. That’ll be easy 8) It’s not like there’s any other team in the league looking for a post scorer who plays great defense ….. and it’s not like players of that quality aren’t readily available …… good luck Philly. Miles away from having a contender, miles away from having a good team. Iggy and Miller are nowhere near good enough to be considered your top two players, Miller isn’t good enough to be your third option (neither is Dalembert, Iggy is)

Jon76MVN,

How happy are you with the Ed Stefanski hire?

I thought it was badly timed, they should have made the move before the draft and allowed Stefanski as many options as possible in rebuilding the squad. Having the draft and a full summer would have been great, the timing took too many options off the table.

I’m not that big a fan of Stefanski either, he’s a solid choice who’ll do a solid job but I’ve never gotten the impression that he was struck with the inspiration or creative thinking required to do a top job. I wanted to see Gherardini or John Hammonds get the role. But he’ll do a grand job, he’s dependable and solid.
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What do you think of the Korver trade?

I thought it was a terrible move and still do. Korver is a very good 6th man and provides a lot of hustle, energy and brilliant shooting. He’s doing well in Utah too.

I was amazed at how little Stefanski got for him. I was also amazed at how little interest Korver got at that price. I would have been jumping up and down doing everything possible to land him. He’s well worth a draft pick. I’m particularly disappointed in San Antonio, they dropped the ball, he would have been huge for them.

They’re still not far enough below the salary line to add a top drawer player next year (after they re-sign Iggy). Just wasn’t worth it.
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What do you think of the Mo Cheeks extension?

I loved his decision to look for the fast break more recently (which has been a huge help in sparking their run), but frankly that decision should have been made in training camp. I’ve wanted to see Philly push the ball harder all season long (seriously Andre Miller and a team full of great athletes, what took so long?), well better late than never I suppose.

Seems to be a common complaint with Mo, just too little too late. He’s a competent coach but he isn’t a good coach. I thought it was bad choice keeping him around.

I thought he did a below-par job in Portland (not awful, just not good) and nothing he’s done in Philly has convinced me he’s capable of doing any better with more time. I see no growth from him. He’s a players coach who’s competent at his job. Not exactly the heights you’re hoping for.

Who-

Some of your points I can’t really answer because I’m not the coach. It’s actually what inspired my Memo to Mo series that I used to do (once March Madness starts, I’ll revive it).

The rookies clearly have the physical tools, but lack the confidence. I think that’s up to the coaching. Jason Smith needs somebody to tell him exactly what you are saying because he showed a lot in spurts last night. There was one stretch in the second quarter where he came in for Dalembert and make an immediate impact on the floor, only to get pulled quickly for no apparent reason. His sub? Rodney Carney. What was Mo doing there? Couldn’t tell ya.

What I can tell you is that Mo loves small ball. Thaddeus plays well against less than dominant power forwards. I actually wanted him to start for Green and move Iguodala to guard.

Right now, Thaddeus might be in the bottom group of starters in the league, but what I like to see is that giving him the chance to develop doesn’t cost us wins.

As far as the lineup comparisons go, end of the bench is end of the bench. Sam Cassell was no more effective last night than Kevin Ollie. The Big 3 are all better players individually than the best player on the Sixers and I like your role players (Posey, House and Tony Allen particularly). You did well matching them up.

Miller gets better with more options around him. The same can be said about Iguodala. They need a number one option, I agree.

The Stefanski hire happened when it did because that’s when the Sixers became aware that he might be available. I agree it could have been better timed. I’m curious to see what he does this summer, now that the Nets are more of a mess than the Sixers and they tied up Vince Carter.

I didn’t like the Korver trade, but they wanted the flexibility to play Thaddeus more and have more cap room this summer. Korver has been a great fit for the Jazz.

Mo gets a lot of credit for the resiliency of this team. I think he makes moves too late. By moves, I’m talking about everything from timeouts, to tempo, to substitution patterns and starting lineup changes. Regardless, I think he has improved a lot. However, there are a handful of guys I would rather have coaching the team. I think there will be a coaching change once the team reaches true contender status.

Iguodala drove me nuts last night. He was spotting up for the three ball in the second half and taking those shots early in the shot clock. When he did drive, it took a bail out whistle to come away with points or the result would be a wild shot or pull up brick.