Ed Stefanski blogger conference call

I just came out of a 30 minute conference call with Ed Stefanski, where 5-6 bloggers, including my sorry arse, had the opportunity to put him several questions.

Too busy to have the full transcript, check www.sixers.com lately or other (better, LOL) blogs such as Depressed Fan, Recliner GM, Philadunkia, Real GM, The 700 Level or Liberty Ballers (all attending, all their links on the blogroll), anyway here are some of the thoughts he expressed:

- were seriously interested in signing Warrick but Bucks’ offer was better for him cuz it guaranteed him more playing time. They have 13 players under contract now and want to reach 14.
- were also interested in Ramon Sessions but they are so pleased with what they are seeeing in Jrue that decided not to go after him
- (answering my question) confirms my feeling that Sixers are currently the 4th team in town and that Philly is mainly a football city
- doesn’t believe that having our own D-league team would help
- EXPECTATIONS ARE “making the playoffs” and “making some noise” in them (pretty realistic if you ask me)
- extremely happy with Jrue, his natural position is PG but he thinks that Holiday can play WITH Lou Williams
- seeing Holiday in the gym every day they realized he’s very strong, a good finisher, his shot is better than expected, even if he has to work on making the release quicker. He’s a “willing defender” which is highly appreciated
- open competition for 2 guard but thinks that the lineup will be LW, Iguodala, Thad, Brand, Sam
- Thinks team has a lot of versatility and a lot of different lineups can be used
- thinks that Kapono signing is underrated cuz nobody talks about him (LOL)
- Jason Smith had 4 full months after being totally cleared to do anything on the court, has showed very good signs, can shoot and added bulk (250 if I got it well)
- similar for Brand, he’s “on a mission”, did a lot of rehab also in LA, he’s fully healthy and wants to show what player he is
- Willie Green’s situation is “interesting” (LOL), WG is in competition for minutes at the two but he says that in NJ they played with Kittles and Lucious Harris as back up PGs and can’t exclude that the same won’t happen here (= that’s pretty scaring, LOL)
- has no problem with int’l players (my question again), in NJ they drafted Krstic, Planinic, Nachbar, Sixers didn’t sign them so far only cuz of circumstances but they are looking at foreign players
- Flip Murray wasn’t signed cuz he asked for a “sizeable payday”
- Andre Miller wasn’t dealt last year cuz the offers they got weren’t interesting, same for sign & trade options this summer. They are happy with what he did in helping us to the playoffs
- Iguodala will play some point as well
- thinks playoffs experience for young guys will be a huge factor in their growth

I’m sure I missed a lot more so check the sites I told you for full coverage, this is the best I could do.

I, Sixers will miss Andre Miller

(last post before my offseason break. I will be back at the end of August, hopefully with the new site up)

So after weeks of rumors, talks and non talks, Andre Miller signed with Portland.

I think this departure will make the Sixers worse. Possibly much worse. It’s a huge loss. Probably underrated by most analysts and fans.

If you followed this site you know I am a great fan of Andre Miller. I think he’s a really good player and was instrumental in getting us to the last two playoffs (short, I know) runs and making our kids better.

Portland did a nice move by signing him and expect Miller to have solid seasons there, it will be a great addition for the young Blazers core. I I will try to follow Portland closer next year and I wish Andre the best.

What will happen on Sixers side? I think we have to consider this move (?) from two standpoints.

But I have to be honest, overall I think Ed Stefanski and management blew this one.

Some little insights you might enjoy

Again, not many news on Sixers’ side, uh?

Yes, no blockbuster trades at the horizon, no all star signings, apparently.

Still I managed to get some info that I wanted to share with readers. 

No breaking news or anything shocking, I warn you.

But still it’s important to make some things 100% sure.

So here is what Sixers4guidos just learned:

NEGOTIATIONS WITH ANDRE MILLER

Few days ago Stefanski said that Sixers were in “sign-and-trade” mode.  No updates since, so that should give us an idea about the situation with Andre Miller and the likelihood of his return.

= no Andre Miller in 2009/2010 (not good news, to me).
 
COMPLETING THE ROSTER

The fact that Sixers are looking for three more players to round out the roster, and reach 14, is confirmed: Stefanski said “a guard, a swingman and two big men”. 

No direction about specific skills they are looking for in those players (off/def minded, young/vets, specialists etc), but Stefanski has a list of players at those positions he is keeping his eye on in regards to the team’s needs.

(I hope Calvin Booth didn’t make the list, same for Kevin Ollie)

MAKING THE SUMMER LEAGUE AND SPLITTING THE TEAM WITH THE NETS

The Miller situation from a Miller fan perspective

Short recap.

Andre Miller, through his agent, says he wants to stay in Philly.

“Andre has a strong interest, a strong desire to come back”.

Ed Stefanski likes Andre Miller and thinks Sixers are a better team WITH him.

Ricky has always been a great fan of Andre Miller too and would like to have him back next year. And the year after.

In the meantime, the first day of free agency in the NBA was extremely interesting, with Pistons throwing crazy money at Ben Gordon & Villanueva (!), Clippers getting Q Rich for Zach Randolph (!!) – another proof that the “There must be a reason why they are GMs in the NBA and you are just a blogger” is wrong – and Portland reportedly close to make a huge offer to Turkoglu.

Rumors pile up, and since we are talking PGs, the three year offer ready for 36 y/o Kidd is the most shocking one to me, especially coming from a team in rebuilding mode like New York.

Back to Sixers’ PG situation, if the request of 30 millions for 3 years reported by Tom Moore is true, I would say ‘goodbye Andre’.

I assume the Dalembert+Green-for-McGrady trade will not go down, so Sixers have to mantain their flexibility for the summer of 2011, when with Dalembert, Green and newly acquired Kapono coming off the books they will have around 23 millions in expiring contracts.

So the third year, in any Miller deal, should be a TEAM option. Which of course the Millers (Andre & Andy, his agent) will be reluctant to accept.

Holiday falls to Sixers. Happy?

Apparently, yes. And welcome to Sixerland dude.

(NOTE: please give me credit at least for avoiding any pun in the title… Holiday time, Sixers go Holiday etc).

I always admitted I don’t know shlt about college bball. I confirm it again, of course, I cannot pretent to be an expert now, it would be silly.

I just don’t have the time to follow NCAA hoops, watching and blogging the Sixers from here requires a lot of time and dedication, so no room for junior overseas bball (LOL).

That’s why I really don’t know what to say about Jrue Holiday, Sixers’ latest draft pick.

He was expected to be a Top 10 pick, I read almost everywhere. That’s why I used the verb “fall” for the title. I guess that is said every year for many, many players.

But what I am 100% sure of is:

1) in recent years, very rarely Sixers completely f’d the draft up. Instead, they often found good/very good players and also some gems, even with late picks.

Think Willie Green, Korver, Lou Williams, all excellent players in terms of # of pick/efficiency ratio. Dalembert as well – not his fault if he was eventually overpaid, we are talking about what spot he was drafted at. Jason Smith had a promising rookie season and then got injured, but he showed he can play.

Thad Young and, to a lesser extent – but only because he played only a full season - Marreese Speights, can be considered real steals. Very good players that many teams passed on - and now regret it.

The only Rodney Carney could perhaps be labeled as a bust so far, but it’s not completely excluded yet that he will lately turn into a good/decent NBA player (think Matt Barnes or John Salmons, also former Sixers).

That’s why I am confident that DiLeo (almost a genius in evaluating young talent) & his staff did a good job once again. Also I am always optimistic, so no reason to panic or complain.

2) we needed a PG and we drafted a PG. Makes sense.

Exclusive interview: Lara Price on Sixers’ “new” logo

As promised this is a great day for all of us old school loving Sixers fans,  following the official announcement of the return to the old logo.

In related news, here is the exclusive interview I did with Lara Price, Sixers’ senior vice president of business operations. 

Remember, as Sixers4guidos revealed in January, she was the first to announce, to a group of season ticket holders, that Sixers were ‘going retro’, switching permanently to the old classic uniforms and logos in the 2009/2010 season.

While we all should give credit the franchise for listening to the fans and taking this wise decision, I would like to publicly thank Eric Blankenship, Sixers’ marketing vice president, that had a key role in the process of making this comeback possible.

I’ve been in contact with Eric for a pretty long time and he was always supportive in this ‘battle’: he immediately said to me that he was a fan of the old unis/logos, that in the front office there were fellow “old schoolers” (also at the top…) and definitely pushed me keeping the petition & the ‘lobbying’ activity going.

Bottom line, the franchise takes into great consideration fans’ opinions and feelings, which is is less obvious than you might think (LOL).

But let’s listen to mrs Price.

New/old logo: tomorrow is the day

Premise #1: this site was the first to campaign to bring the old Sixers uniforms/logo back.

Premise #2: this site was the first to announce that Sixers were switching permanently to their old jerseys/logo, back in January (= reaching the all time peak of traffic, btw).

Premise #3: on June 11th in a live chat with fans Ed Stefanski announced that the new logo would have been introduced…tomorrow.

12:08
[Comment From Guest]
Are the Sixers officially back to the old logo?
12:09
Ed Stefanski: No hints, but I’m an old school guy and you should be ready for an announcement about our logo on June 23.

Premise #4: Sixers just released this announcement regarding their branding. Excerpts:

…The public is invited to attend the Philadelphia 76ers re-launch of their brand identity in the lobby of the Comcast Center…

…Hip-Hop – who will be temporarily sporting a new look in conjunction with the announcement…

All of the above to remind that tomorrow will be a great day for all Sixers fans.

We will dump this shit:

 and finally go back to this:

or something very close to it (I am curious !).

To celebrate this huge battle won, I’ll have an exclusive interview with a Sixers’ top manager up. So stay tuned and party, as a new/old era started for this storied franchise.

After the logo, we would like to go back to the successes of those years also !!

Tomorrow, be here.

Sixers trade Evans for Kapono !!

Wow, just reported !

Sixers are trading Reggie Evans for sharpshooter Jason Kapono.

If you have been following this blog you know I have always been a Reggie Evans fan but to me it’s a very good move, and here are the reasons:

1) obviously, it addresses a desperate need we had, three point shooting.

Not much to add here, really: we are getting a  former 3 pt shooting contest winner (see the video above) and a real threat from the perimeter. Exactly what we lacked.

2) no lost of depth in the frontcourt.

Elton Brand will be back, Jason Smith will hopefully be back, we still have Sam, Speights + another veteran big man that will be probably signed to replace Theo (Jordan made it clear in the blogger conference call).

Reggie Evans was clearly the odd man out in what is still a very solid four man-rotation, that will be extended to five. Also, Evans’ game was surely a difficult fit in Jordan’s system.

3) no cap troubles

Kapono’s deal expires in 2011, same as Evans’, with 6.2 and 6.6 mill owed for the next two seasons, slightly more than what was making Reggie (4.9 and 5).

Remember in the same summer of 2011 the dumb huge contracts of Dalembert & Green will come off the books, and this will mean a good 22.8 million relief for the Sixers.

Unlike many Sixers fans, I say I will miss Reggie Evans but this is a move that will help us (and actually also Toronto, but we don’t care much about that, right?).

More to come about this in the next days. In the meantime, well done Mr Stefanski.

Eddie Jordan blogger conference call: I was there

So this afternoon, at 3 PM guido time, meaning 9 AM in Philly, I had the privilege to take part to a blogger conference call with Eddie Jordan set up by Sixers’ PR department (thanks again for the opportunity).

Colleagues/friends that joined were Brian from Depressed fan, Derek from Real GM and Philly Arena, Dannie from Recliner GM, Chris & Anthony from Heard in the cheap seats, Jeff from Philadunkia (all links to their cool sites n the blogroll on the right).

Not sure why Jordan (the blogger…) from Liberty Ballers, Enrico from The 700 Level and other excellent Sixer bloggers did not take part, surely they will next time.

Your fav guido blogger is the last to have a post up, because Depressed Fan wrote this, Recliner GM has this, Philly Arena has this and fellow guidos the Iafolla bros have their own post up as well.

To my credit – like somebody cares… - I started a thread on the Sixers board of philly.com immediately after the end of the conference, to share some observations made in the call with posters there.

There is no podcast unfortunately this time (this will save you from hearing my terrible english) but Jeff was patient enough to transcript the whole conference so here is what we said in those 30 minutes. My comments following some of the coach’s answers are in …italics

Sixers hire Eddie Jordan. Uhm…

Have to post this, even many days late, to end the draught of posts (too much damn work + a 5 day holiday trip with wifey)

And also because I needed an intro article for the post above, the Eddie Jordan blogger conference call.

Here is the news about the new coach hiring and here are my quick takes about Jordan:

I am not that excited, honestly. My fav candidate was Avery Johnson – but he apparently declined – followed by this Thibodeau guy (I liked the challenge and the bold move) and Jeff Van Gundy.

If you want to see the half full part of the glass, I am happy we didn’t get the washed up Doug Collins, or Casey (read below), or Rambis.

Is Eddie Jordan a good coach? Yes, probably. Despite the 230-288 record (8-18 in the postseason), I mean.

Will he play fun basketball, uptempo, exciting offense, fastbreak, high scoring? More than likely.

Is he the kind of coach that helps a team plenty of (young) talent improve? We’ll see. I am optimistic in this sense but not 100% sure. He looks like a good teacher, though.

Is Eddie Jordan a coach that can take the Sixers to the title? Probably not. And I think the goal of a team should be winning a title, not piling up 44-46 W seasons. But Doc Rivers won a title, so you’ll never know…

Of course, I will be more than happy to be proved wrong for the 245th time.

So my first comment to the Eddie Jordan hiring is/was: uhm…

(but let’s quickly move to the Jordan blogger conference call of this morning, that I took part to… read above)