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.

(S4G) My blog, Sixers4guidos, last year started an online petition to bring the old Sixers uniforms back. More than 130 fans from all over the world signed it and the word was spread all around the Internet: evidently a lot of Sixers fans cared. Reactions after the news of the switch were pretty much enthusiastic, 90% were like “about time”… How did the feelings of fans affect your decision? Did you make any survey, poll, market research before you took it? In case, what were the results saying?

(PRICE) We always appreciate the input from our fans and season-ticket holders.  We take a proactive stance when it comes to surveying them so we can accurately gauge their opinion on a great number of topics, which includes our uniforms and logo. 

As a result, we believe we made decisions pertaining to those elements that will be very well-received both locally and nationally.  
 
I know for sure that Ed Stefanski is a fan of the old unis. Did he play any role in the decision of “going retro”? And Snider/Luukko?

Mr. Snider, Peter Luukko and Ed Stefanski all had major input and were very supportive of the decision to return to the traditional red, white and blue logo. Additionally, it is important to acknowledge that the NBA and Adidas were also very helpful as we went through the design and approval process.  

(great ! thank everybody !!)
 
Can we now safely say that changing the uniforms’ colours and the logo wasn’t exactly a smart move? (NOTE: maybe it paid back in terms of revenues, but I don’t care…). I don’t recall Lakers wearing black jerseys, or Knicks adding gold to their logo, so don’t you agree that Sixers, like Celtics, Lakers, Knicks etc, are such a storied franchise that they wouldn’t need to follow “fashion” trends but they should stick to their glorious tradition? (I’m asking also because next winter among the trendy colours there will be purple, and I am scared…) 

Very rarely do teams go through their entire existence without altering their logo or implementing changes to their color scheme to reflect the times. For example, the Knicks and Celtics adopted black as a primary part of their uniform or logos at various points, while the Pistons changed their logo altogether before returning to a modified version of an earlier version. 

Our previous black, silver, gold, red and blue logo was very popular for many, many years but at this point in our franchise’s history – coming off of our 60th Anniversary – we were ready to make a change to our traditional logo.

(have to check about the other franchises, this research could be interesting. Our logo with black, gold etc MIGHT have been popular for a while but sucked big time, I’m sorry)

Can you anticipate something about the look of the 2009-2010 uniforms? Will they look 100% like the old ones or will something be changed/restyled? In case, what? (please make sure that whoever styled the unis of the ‘Shawn Bradley era’ does NOT take part to this process..)

Again, our uniforms will be a modern interpretation of traditional uniforms featuring the red, white and blue color scheme. We will wear white uniforms at home and red uniforms on the road with no alternate uniform for the 2009-10 season.

(sweet to hear)
 
Let’s talk $ a little bit, if you don’t mind. How much does the total of unis sold count in terms of revenues for the franchise (% on the total of merchandise turnover and/or overall figures, if available: number of jerseys sold per year, total of $ made out of those)?

Per team policy, those are figures that we do not discuss publicly.

(uhm, ok. I won’t complain since this is a day of joy !)

THANK YOU MRS PRICE, THANK YOU ERIC, THANK YOU SIXERS !

Now let’s do the same with the uniforms

(UPDATE: reading Kate Fagan’s article, you gotta love Stefanski’s words…

Stefanski said the organization reached out to fans and received an “overwhelming” response to return to the old logo and uniforms.

We guys were “overwhelming”. How cool is that ??)

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.

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

(Brian – Depressed Fan) When it comes right down to it, who gets the playing time: a weak defender who fits the offensive system or a strong defender who does not? What is the priority?

Eddie Jordan: “There has to be a balance. If you have skill to score the basketball, you’re going to play. I mean, you can’t win 0-0. If you have a weaker defender, you play team defense to cover for him. At the same time, if you have four strong offensive players, then you can carry one defender, sometimes two. I think championship teams start with a solid, veteran front line”.

(Ricky – Sixers4guidos) - with strong guido accent – Do you see Lou Williams in the combo guard role he’s played in the past, coming off the bench, or could he slide in as a starting point?

Eddie Jordan: “In this offense, you really play two combo guards at all times. In training camp, we’ll see how Lou handles it. But yes, I see Lou as a combo guard”.

(Uhm. After last year, I don’t think Lou can play the point, which was something I actually thought possible before. To me he doesn’t possess true PG skills and also lacks the correct attitude. He is turning more into a gunner combo guard, ala Jamaal Crawford, which I don’t like much. We’ll see)

(Derek – RealGM) – Can Iguodala play the two?

Eddie Jordan: “Yes. I think he can flow from the two to the three. I like to think he’s a three-man first. It depends on the roster, if Smith or Speights can earn time, then he’s at the two. I played Jared Jeffries at the two on a team that went to the second round of the playoffs. I will use him at the two if one of those big men can earn the time”.

(No Jared Jeffries on the Sixers, thank you… and no Reggie Evans at the two either, LOL)

(Dannie - ReclinerGM) How will Samuel Dalembert fit into the offense next year?

Eddie Jordan: “Just like everyone else Samuel has to buy into being an unselfish player that cares about his teammates. That has been a knock on him, he has to get past the selfish up and down mentality of playing in the NBA.

I’d like to see him care about his teammates, the offense can run through him or around him, and he can still be a valuable part of the offense. He has to have an approach that he can be highly competitive and being unselfish teammate and that’s what we’re looking for first”.

(love this reply. Hidden message: Sam, move your ass and don’t complain or you’ll get single digit minutes soon)

(Ricky – Sixers4guidos) The Sixers couldn’t sell out the arena last year, even during the playoffs. Is this because the Sixers just have to win more basketball games, or play a fun style of basketball or both?

Eddie Jordan: ”I don’t know. I really don’t. I haven’t been here long enough to understand why they haven’t filled the arena for playoff games. I think if you have an exciting team and they win than people will come out to see them.

That’s been proven throughout the NBA in the history of the NBA. If you win and you’re exciting, and if you have a chance to play for either the Conference championship or NBA championship, than they will come and fill the arena. So outside of that I don’t have a problem”.

(coach is right, I should have put this question to the GM and not to him. Anyway, in Philly even winning games doesn’t guarantee you filling the seats, as we saw during the 2008 and 2009 playoffs, when we couldn’t sell the arena out despite the team being up 2-1 in both series…)

(Brian – Depressed Fan) During your time in Washington it seemed as if once you had your full arsenal of players with Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, and Antawn Jamison you were one of the fastest teams in the NBA and had close to the most possessions per game. Than when you were hit by injuries in 2007-08 that pace slowed considerably and that was how you competed with a depleted roster. What do you foresee for the Sixers this year, do you see them as a top 10 team in possessions per game?

Eddie Jordan: “I think we’re going to be a high possession team. Two reasons: number one we have terrific athletes. I think Andre Iguodala can run, I think Thaddeus Young is a runner, Samuel at the center position can be a runner if he puts his mind to it, Willie Green can get up the floor, Jason Smith was very athletic before he got hurt and that’s number one.

Number two, this team has shown they can generate points on the defensive end. They can create turnovers and they get out and run. We should continue to defend well, rebound well, turn people over, get out and get earlier baskets and if not than get into the offense.

I think part of this team matches Washington. Gilbert Arenas was a really quick shooter off the break and in the offense, Antawn Jamison at the forward position was a catch and shoot guy in the early offense, so I don’t see those type of players here and when we were hit by injuries especially Gilbert we had to slow it down because our backup guards weren’t fast enough (DeShawn Stevenson and Antonio Daniels) so we slowed the game up a little bit. I really envision our 76ers being a high possession team”.

(not surprising but still good to hear. After all that’s what Sixers hired him for, I guess)

(Chris – Heard in the cheap seats) One of the primary weaknesses of this team last year was defending the perimeter and I’m curious what is your philosophy is on the defensive end of the floor particularly around defending the three point shot?

Eddie Jordan: “Well you emphasize containing the defense, you emphasize containing the dribble. One of the first things you work on, and work on very often throughout the season is one-on-one containment. If you can defend the first dribble, then you’ve done 80 percent of your job on the perimeter. If you get deep on the first dribble than it’s hard for help to come.

If you can stay in front of your man on the first dribble than that’s how you can stop the draw and kicks and you don’t have to help so much. When you help you leave somebody to help and there’s a shooter left open or the next guy passes to the next guy.

So that’s number one, you have to defend the first dribble and defend the dribble on the perimeter. How do you do that? First of all you’d like to have guys who are defenders first, you have to have athletes. You have to be able to move your feet, stay in front of the dribble, change direction, and sometimes get up on somebody to make it hard for them to even put the ball on the floor.

That’s how you can number one stop the three, two if there is help you have to keep coming in the rotation and that’s a term we use throughout the season. Don’t stop your defensive rotation, if they draw and kick and one guy flies at him another guy must come and another guy must come so keep coming and you have to run people off the three.

You have to rebound the ball and not give a guy a second chance because you see a lot of games where there’s an offensive rebound and a kick out for a three. Those are daggers as we like to call them. So again stay in front of the dribble, keep coming in your rotation if there’s a breakdown, and you have to rebound the ball so there won’t be a kick out for a three”.

(Ricky – Sixers4guidos) In terms of veterans inside the locker room, Andre Miller might not be back, same for Theo Ratliff and Donyell Marshall. Do you think the team will need a couple of veterans to keep the locker room united and also to play on the floor or are you fine with 25 year olds running the show?

Eddie Jordan: “I think that’s a good question, that’s a good point. You always like to have solid veterans in the locker room to keep everything professional, to keep a work ethic, to keep a focus, to keep a serious mindset of going to practice everyday, and that’s very important.

Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler were great leaders in our locker room in Washington. You like to have responsible veterans to be there and keep our young guys focused. It is a relatively young team, but I do think our young guys are very serious and they have great work ethic. I’m talking about Thaddeus Young and even Andre Iguodala is still very young and has great work ethic and a serious mindset. That is a big part in the NBA”.

(yes coach, I always raise good points…LOL. Let’s expect another couple of seasoned players to be signed to replace Theo and Marshall. And you are right about Thad and Andre)

(Dannie – ReclinerGM) How would you address the roster the way it is in terms of strengths and weaknesses?

Eddie Jordan: “I haven’t had much time to talk about personnel with our front office. I just got the job on Friday and we’re looking at the draft and working guys out tomorrow. We’ve already addressed some issues with the team: three point shooting, point guard if Andre doesn’t come back, and probably another big man that can defend in the paint.

Right now I think the playoff experience that this young core group has had is very important they’ve got to the first round two years in a row. Number two this team competes. They’re undersized but they compete. I think that’s partly due to one of the best players being defensive minded: Andre Iguodala.

If one of your best players defends than everyone else follows. It’s a young team it’s a team that’s got some talent and some young players that haven’t played a whole lot like Jason Smith.

Plus Elton was out all year and he’s been a continuous all-star. So I like the fact that they compete and they’ve got two guys coming back from injury that didn’t compete last year”.

(Great point about Iguodala, but unfortunately the playoffs experience of 2008 didn’t help much in 2009, as the run ended exactly in the same way…)

(Brian – Depressed Fan) Will there be a full-time shooting coach on staff?

Eddie Jordan: ”Yes it is something we’re looking into. We hope there will be”.

(definitely good news. How about hiring also a FREE THROW SHOOTING COACH, full time ??)

(Brian – Depressed Fan) Coaching against the Sixers you were 7-11 against them and I was wondering as an opposing coach what is the look on the Sixers. What are you trying to shut-down what are you trying to exploit? As the Sixers coach what are you going to do to try to improve those areas?

Eddie Jordan: “Number one when you’re going against the Sixers you want to prepare to not turn the ball over. They’re a very fast team and if you turn the ball over against the Sixers than they can get out on the fast break on you and score on the open floor.

So number one, limit your turnovers. Number two you can’t allow them to get offensive rebounds. Samuel Dalembert and Andre Iguodala can both hit the glass and they both pose problems on the offensive glass.

I also think that the bench with Lou Williams coming off and Willie Green was coming off the bench at one time, I think the bench had a lot of risk takers but they turned you over. You’d have to keep the energy off their bench.

Now as far as us as a team when I’m coaching them I think you have to be a lot more organized and a lot more often in the offense. I think that’s a big key for us this year”.

(great question by Brian, who knows the game well. Jordan’s reply is good in theory, too bad the record shows his plans didn’t work, LOL. Ok, chill out, I’m just being evil…)

(Jeff – Philadunkia) The shooting guard position has kind of been a pressing issue during the off-season so far. I saw that you have Toney Douglas of Florida State, Stefon Jackson from UTEP, Jodie Meeks from Kentucky, and Terrance Williams from Louisville coming in tomorrow to workout who are all shooting guards. Is this definitely a need position that you’re looking into in the off-season?

Eddie Jordan: “Yes it is a very big issue that we’re addressing that we need better three point shooting whether it’s from our forward or from our guard spots. Both positions have to improve and the coach and the coaching staff has looked at improving through development.

Now that’s not always going to be the end all, we need to acquire better shooters. Our job is to continue to work with our players and see if Willie Green can be a better three point shooter, if Andre Iguodala can be a better three point shooter, if Lou Williams can be a better three point shooter.

I had DeShawn Stevenson the last two years and he improved to be a 40 percent shooter last year from the three point line. So its how much work can our current players put in and how much work our players are willing to put in with our coaches to improve and get better.

Than its up to our front office to see if we can make transactions where we can acquire, without losing our core guys, some shooters”.

(I’d pay to see Green turning into a Stevenson type of three point shooter… If coach Jordan manages to reach this goal, he will be officially proclaimed the new Red Auerbach)

(Anthony – Heard in the cheap seats) The coaches last season tried to fit Elton Brand into a certain system and than he obviously got hurt. So how do you see Elton Brand fitting into what you want to do, especially offensively? Also do you believe as a coach it’s better to fit a player into your system or kind of tweak the system to better utilize the skill-sets that certain players have?

Eddie Jordan: “Number one Elton will be moved around in the offense, he’ll be facing the basket from the logo area, he’ll be facing the basket from the elbow, he’ll be posting up on the box.

He’ll even look at the basket from the top of the key or between the top of the key the free throw area, he’ll play a lot of two man games off the elbow like Kobe and Lamar Odom would do or Kobe and Gasol would do, hopefully he can get out and run, than we’ll do some pick and rolls with forwards and guards and Elton likes to pick and than pop so all those options are available for Elton in this offense.

Number two, I think that Elton is a guy who has to defend the post, but again a lot of these things will work out in training camp. Good coaches develop players and fit a system with their players. Whether it’s the triangle, whether it’s the UCLA offense that Jerry Sloan has been using for 20 some odd years, we fit the offense to our best players and that’s what good coaches do.

Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, and Caron Butler were the highest scoring trio in the NBA in the system and before that Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes, and Antawn Jamison were the highest scoring trio in the NBA and that’s because we tilted the system to fit our best players”.

(Ricky – Sixers4guidos) Is there any chance that Thaddeus Young could evolve into an Antawn Jamison type of power forward?

Eddie Jordan: ”That’s a very good comparison. I think he could because Antawn was an interior player to start and even when I talked to coach Dean Smith he said that he saw Antawn had been taking a lot of threes and he never thought that he would evolve into that type of player but it’s effective and I said yes coach he’s worked on it and he’s been an unorthodox player since he’s started with scoring in the paint and he moved out to the three.

I think Thaddeus being left handed could pose some problems of first being an interior player and we’re going to see if he can move out and improve his mid-range jump shot and see if he can make a high percentage of his three point shots”.

(again, I knew I rock, LOL… actually I hate comparisons, but I know you americans like them so I threw one out there. I like both Thaddeus Young and Jamison so I would be happy to see this “transformation” happening)

Thank everybody, it was nice to have the chance to do this and all bloggers did a great job, each on his part. Sixers said this kind of interaction could be repeated soon, maybe with the GM or some of the players, so stay tuned.

This, in a nutshell, is the surprising (?) result of a quick Q & A session I did with Dave/College Wolf of TWolves blog, the site covering Minnesota of the Bloguin network. 

For your pleasure (?), here is the complete transcript, I think it should work as a warning for Ed Stefanski and all of us Sixers fans.

(S4G): Casey’s record as T’Wolves head coach in 2006/2007 was 33-49 and was 20-20 the year after, when Mc Hale fired him and put Randy Wittman in his place (Wittman went 12-30 the rest of the way…). What do you remember of that stint, other than they were surely troubled seasons in Minnesota, and that coaching Szczerbiak, Olowokandi, Ricky Davis, Marco Jaric etc surely wasn’t an easy task?

(CW): Yes, we had bad teams, but don’t forget though that we also had KG near his absolute prime. Those seasons he was one of the (arguably) Top 5 players in the league. With that said, the Casey Coaching Era (CCE) was quite a while ago, so I apologize for not being to elaborate with tons and tons of details for you and your readers. 

However, a few things stick out in my mind, and I can assure you that they were not good things. First off, Casey was nearly an epic fail at coaching X’s and O’s. At times, some of us Wolves fans wondered if he had any idea if he knew what he was doing at all. He was especially terrible coming out of timeouts. 

It might not have been as bad as I am making it sound, but our playcalling/execution coming out of timeouts was absurd and horrendous.  It seemed like we would never score, and most times it resulted in a turnover or terrible shot. 

Again, it probably wasn’t *that bad*, but the fact that it is something I’ve never forgotten about the CCE has got to mean something. Casey’s substitutions were illogical and nonsensical. We fans were pulling our hairs out because his lineups and distribution of minutes made absolutely no sense. 

Also, it didn’t seem like Casey had “control” of his team at all. Granted, we had a few bad apples back then, but he was far too passive and timid to be the leader of our team at that time. Now, it could have been simply that these things were factors of Casey being a rookie head coach.  I don’t know. 

Perhaps he has gotten better the past two years as a bench coach for the Dallas Mavericks.  For his sake I hope that he has learned a thing or two.

(S4G): Why did Minnesota decide to give him the team that year? Was it another “Randy Ayers case” (=lack of better options) or what?

(CW): I am not entirely sure.  Glen Taylor and McHale were doing their best to “win now”, and I think they viewed Dwane Casey as a hot-shot up and coming assistant coach, in the same mold as someone like Nate McMillan. 

It’s not that they had a lack of better options, because they went out and actively recruited Casey. It was just a complete swing and a miss, because it was obvious that Casey was in way too far over his head. At the time, I had thought he was one of the worst coaches I’d ever seen. Little did I know what to expect from the Randy (Dim)Wittman era…

(S4G): Which were Casey’s strengths as a coach, and what was he missing?

(CW): I honestly cannot remember any “strengths” besides the fact that he was a nice guy. Also, I think he did a decent job getting our players to play defense during his 20-20 second season, although the stats might say otherwise (I didn’t check). 

He was missing everything. Namely: experience, presentation, advanced game knowledge/strategy, good assistants, and good players.

(S4G): Can being fired by Kevin Mc Hale be considered a plus in a coach’s resume?

(CW): No comment
 

(S4G): Would you recommend the Sixers to give the helm to Casey? Why? Any other team where he would be a good fit?

(CW): No, I would not recommend him being the new head coach of your team. He just doesn’t strike me as a guy that will ever be a truly successful NBA *head coach.*  I think his ideal position is that of an assistant coach for a veteran contending team. Those players would be much more likely to listen to him and his ideals, rather than a rebuilding team full of youngsters. 

I realize that the Sixers are a veteran, contending (hopefully) team, but I wouldn’t want you guys to waste your championship window because a coach like Casey was hired.  I think you guys could do much better. 

I don’t think he would be a good fit as a head coach anywhere in the NBA.  As an assistant coach, yes. You could probably do worse with the plethora of no-name assistants that have been floating around the league for years.

Thank you for enlightening us, Dave…

Conclusion: please say “NO” to Dwane Casey !!

Next !

While I am working at the new site, Ed Stefanski is working at finding a coach for the next season.

After interviewing Eddie Jordan, setting up another chat with Tom Thibodeau (currently pending), Sixers just confirmed via Twitter that they have completed interviews with Casey and Rambis also.

My comment on all those candidates is: uhm…

Avery Johnson is still my fav man for the job.

Thibodeau built himself a (deserved, I guess) reputation of being a great defensive mind: too bad no one has a clue on whether he would be a good HEAD coach, meaning there is also an offensive phase to consider.

There are tons of examples of good assistent coaches that failed miserably when given the helm: the name Iavaroni is the first one that comes to my mind.

Casey and Rambis to me are smokescreens. At least I hope so. Their resumes are far from impressive, I’m sorry, we need something better. They both would be Randy Ayers part II.

I would like to remind all of Sixers fans that last summer Elton Brand was signed after EVERYONE thought that Sixers would have picked Josh Smith for the PF spot.

So stay tuned, don’t complain (yet) and expect our GM to make a move with no hurry.

He might not be the greatest coach alive but I take my hat off to him as a professional, basketball guy and person.

I’m glad he will remain in the franchise, he adds a lot to this organization.

Check the 20 minute-video just released by the Sixers and tell me if I’m wrong.

Now please get Anthony Johnson (or that Thibodeau guy) here and leave Jordan & mainly Collins doing what they are doing…

(Back to blogging after a much needed break…)

No disrespect for DiLeo, rather the opposite.

Tony was ax excellent front office guy, he did a lot of good things in that key position (= leading to all Sixers’ smart drafting over the last years) and I am happy the franchise will have him back at that desk after he decided not to come back as a coach. 

Of course there is NO ONE in the world that believes in the official version of the “personal reasons” behind DiLeo’s call. Not coincidentially the initials of those two words are PR… anyway it doesn’t matter now, as long as he stays in the organization and continues to contribute in making the Sixers a better team.

The 32-27 record he compiled, after the 9-14 start with Cheeks, says he did a good job on the bench as well. Especially considering that the last year he coached Berlin was still split in two…

So I think we have to thank Tony DiLeo, a ‘rookie’ coach, for taking a team that was going nowhere to the playoffs, providing many exciting games and even some fun. The biggest problems came at the end, with that awful Game 6, the statements by Ratliff etc.

More, I think DiLeo wasn’t the right coach if we think in the medium-long term. He’s not the coach that can take you to the upper level. In my opinion these young Sixers need a hard-nosed, experienced coach: my ideal candidate would be Jerry Sloan, to give you a rough idea.

I don’t like the two names I read (Doug Collins IMO is done, while Eddie Jordan’s resume isn’t exactly appealing), that’s why I hope that Avery Johnson will come. He is the right mix between experience (as both player and coach), freshness (still young but not rookie) and charisma.

I know AJ has a reputation of being tough, very demanding, authoritative, maybe even annoying, and getting into players’ minds too much, but I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, given Sixers’ rosters and the personalities of our guys. Another players’ coach won’t work in Sixerland, I’m afraid. JVG would be a ok coach also.

The ball is in Stefanski’s field now, but the first move of the offseason is a good one.

Thank you for everything, Tony.

(S4G update: some changes will be made in the blog soon, stay tuned)

Now relax, he wants to run ANOTHER TEAM…

We don’t have to worry, LOL.

Former Sixers GM talked to Mark Kram in a nice interview, and I would like to add some comments.

Overall he says some interesting things and at the end of the reading you have the impression he has matured, and he realized SOME of his mistakes, he is aware of them.

So I’ll give him some credit for that, at least he’s not acting like a complete jackass.

But, being the “politician” that he is, he doesn’t get much into a deeper analysis of his job as Sixers’ GM (trades, signings, relationship with coaches, players etc), admitting his (dozens of) boneheaded moves, and is more focusing about showcasing himself for a future job. Smart, uh?

The most interesting excerpts to me are:

(about giving the team to Randy “juicy face” Ayers, in the summer of 2003)

“I think it was unfair to give him Allen, Derrick Coleman and Glenn Robinson to coach,” King said. “I think a veteran coach would have had a hard time managing these three difficult personalities. So it was unfair to ask a rookie coach in the league to work with them.”

Who could have said it? LOL. By that time Paul Silas was available, coming off good seasons in Charlotte, just to name one. Instead, we got Juicy Face, a mediocre coach, that was put at the helm of a disfunctional team, and eventually fired. Ayers was replaced by Chris Ford (…).

And (about starting to entertain offers for Iverson):

“I had hoped that I could do what Indiana had done, when they had Reggie Miller as the elder statesman and surrounded him with young players,” King says. “But it became clear that that was not going to work.”

Again, pretty shocking… jeez.

Final gem (about dealing with Iverson):

“You have to do your job rather than try to keep your job,” says King, who found himself at odds with Iverson over his inability to show up for practice. “I was doing my job and there came a point where I was just trying to keep my job”.

(in the pic, King explaining Iverson how he is trying to keep his job)

Well, you managed to keep your job for a way too long time (ten years !! in different roles, but he was with the Sixers 1997-2007…), also considering your track record.

For a deeper research, and to know S4G’ opinion about King, start from this post.

Some team will probably hire King sooner of later, (over)valuing his “great experience” as a GM. It will be its problem.

Back to real basketball, Game 5 is tonight.

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S #2 SIXERS JERSEY !! S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

Here is when the six-hour time zone difference vs the US f’s you up.

So that’s what happened between last night and tonight, CGT (central guido time).

I stayed up a little bit longer and started following the Denver game on Yahoo.com, until the end of the first quarter.

At around 1.40 AM I finally went to bed (you know, have to work the day after etc etc), with Sixers up twelve, 25-13. Not too bad of a start vs the #2 team in the Western Conference, I thought.

This morning at work I couldn’t resist and I immediately checked the boxscore. Mmmhhh, we lost 89-101, damn it (27-26, .509). Wait, not only that, but Miller got injured !! Double damage. Jeez.

So I worked my butt off for the usual 10 hrs in office, then finally went home and, after spaghetti and meatballs dinner, started watching the replaying game on League Pass, of course already knowing the end….

But in the meantime the trade deadline was approaching (10 PM CGT), so I had to watch the Nuggets slowly killing us, but always keeping another window of my laptop open to see whether Stefanski would deal Miller or not.

At the end of the day the two bad news (loss + injury to Miller) were countered by a good one: our PG is not going anywhere, injured or not.

I’ll keep the Miller part short: if you follow this blog you know I was, am and will be a fan of Andre Miller, so I’m happy we kept him.

Coincidentially, Sixers showed how bad they can be without Miller in the last two games. Actually in the first one he was simply in an off night, while yesterday he had to leave, with his team mates creating a total mess on the court for the rest of the game…

I hope WITH Miller we won’t have to enjoy such horrendous bball in the future.

While watching the Chauncey & Melo show, I tried to send him a question to John Hollinger in his chat on ESPN.com asking him about Miller, but another guy anticipated me. Anyway, here is Hollinger’s opinion about Stefanski’s decision:

Chris Laurel Springs: Were you suprised the Sixers did not trade Andre Miller? 

John Hollinger: For what? There wasn’t much available in terms of point guards and shooting specialists, so you’re better off just re-signing him at a lower number in a depressed market this summer.

Hey John, how about I hire you for Sixers4guidos ? Does that opportunity sound intriguing? Send me your resume, LOL.

So back to the Nuggets game. I’m glad we play them only twice a year.

There, we let a 17-point lead evaporate, for a pretty unbelievable loss down the stretch. Here, it was “just” 16, for a more-than-believable one. At this pace, in a decade and 1/2 we could perhaps pull one W vs them.

It was 31-15 in the second quarter (10.04 left), after a 360° lefhanded layup by Andre Iguodala, his only field goal of the game by the way.

It became 70-83 in the fourth (8.05), then 80-95 (2.12), Nuggets’ largest lead.

What happened in between? Few things.

Like Billups scoring 17 points in the third and Denver going on 12-0 and 24-4 runs. The same period in which Sixers started shooting 1/10 and finished 8/24.

Or Sixers going on with another nice 0/9 to begin the fourth. We reached a remarkable 3/16 until someone put the round thing in the round iron more consistently, too bad it was late.

You know, those kind of things that don’t really help you winning games vs tough opponents… Including the injury to your starting PG, of course (the score was at 49-54, 8 minutes left), that was playing pretty well, of course.

If you think that the boxscore is not clear enough, I have more features for you. Like Roundball Mining Company’s recap, always an interesting read. Or what follows below.

SIXERS4GUIDOS’ BRICK-LAYING RESEARCH CENTRE.

For my loyal readers, in order of awfulness (?):

Royal Ivey is shooting 3/22 in the last four games (13.6% !!!!), 32% for the season. That includes several airballs when he is wide open. 

Reggie Evans is shooting 3/20 in the last eight (15% !), 36% for the season (!!!). Around 3/4 of those shots are putbacks and layups around the rim. F-i-f-t-e-e-n percent over eight games.

Lou Williams, simply UNWATCHABLE last night with passes to his opponents or jacked up long range shots with no rythm, is shooting 25/83 in the last eight (30%) and 41/129 in the last twelve (31%). Notice that this means he’s taking MORE THAN TEN SHOTS PER GAME, in around 25 minutes of action. Makes Antoine Walker look like John Stockton.

Willie Green is shooting 18/51 in the last five (35%).

Thaddeus Young is shooting 46/115 in the last eight (40%).

Love it? I think you got the point.

Take Miller out and we become the Clippers of the East. And I do love the Clippers, but one Clipper team is enough.

Andre, please, come back soon. Make it 502. As a Sixer.

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S SIXERS #2 JERSEY ! S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

I can hear you from an Ocean away.. “Who the hell is Federico Buffa?”. Long story short: the best italian journalist covering the NBA. Currently for Sky Television.

He has been doing that forever, basically, and here he’s a living legend for every bball fan in Italy, despite still being in his 40’s (http://www.federicobuffa.com/).

Since you cliché-lovers old american asses always love comparisons, I think the definition of “italian Peter Vecsey” might fit.

Seriously, Federico probably knows the NBA better than many journalists living in the US, and is a real basketball junkie just as much as we all are. That’s why he enjoys talking to whoever shares his same passion, including your resident guido blogger.

He’s really a nice guy to deal with, that likes to crack jokes and talk hoops. I met him Friday 23 in Milan, and HERE IS OUR DIALOGUE:

S4G: So how many times did you watch the Sixers this year?

FB: Ten times ! I checked it before coming here (laughs). The last two Sixers games I watched were vs Mavs and vs Spurs, that I commented for Sky.

In that occasion you told a nice DiLeo story…

Yes, when he played in Germany he beat the Milan Xerox team I was rooting for and scored 36 points, in a Korac Cup game. It was 1974/75 if I am not mistaken and the game was played in Palalido, in front of… uhm, around 600 fans.

But the interesting thing is that by that time nobody cared about basketball in Germany, their League and their teams were pretty weak, and were supposed to lose vs us… instead, it was a blowout. I hated him (laughs).

But I always had the impression that he was a real basketball guy and a coach that works hard on the court. Totally different from, say, a coach like Ed Tapscott, another man who took over as head coach this year.

The impression I have is that Jim Lynam is more than an assistant coach to him, he seems to make many calls for the Sixers.

Jim Lynam is Philly basketball, period. Great coach. I met him many times, he’s a nice guy and loves to have drinks in good company (laughs). Anyway, great assistants always make great coaches. Actually Di Leo changed something in the rotations that clearly helped the team and boosted some players’ confidence. He’s doing a great job thus far, he surprised me, I admit.

Same here. Do you think he has chances to stay as a coach also next year?

Yes.

Other coaches that you would see coming to Philly next year?

Avery Johnson, definitely (Ricky smiles in agreement). Maybe Saunders (Ricky nearly throws up).

How about Jeff Van Gundy?

Oh, I would love that, I’m a JVG fan. He’s the best at “teaching” basket and making his players better, also thank to his great staff. But he’s really demanding, he asks a lot to his players and after a while that can backfire.

I see Avery Johnson more fitting with the Sixers job, he would be fine for Andre Miller also. Avery doesn’t work well if his PG can’t watch him in the eyes. With Miller this wouldn’t happen. He is a little demanding too, but with a different style.

Do you see Lou Williams as a future PG for the Sixers?

No, I think he’s at his best as 6th man off the bench.

Brand is coming back and people say he could break the chemistry just created (the interview was made the night before Elton’s comeback).

I think he can fit in Sixers’ system, he is a great trailer. Sixers shouldn’t wait for him, it’s up to Brand finding the right place. If Sixers play their style of basketball, they take a shot in the first 10 seconds of each possession….

How about some small ball, with Brand as center?

I think Sixers can play that way better than anybody in the East. Thad is a fabulous four, and DiLeo had a major role in his improvement. He gave him more freedom, in this DiLeo is different from Cheeks, that was more “old school”, playing classic basketball.

Who’s gonna lose the spot in the starting lineup when Brand will be back full time?

I think Thaddeus Young, that is going to see his minutes cut a little bit also. I don’t think Iguodala can play the two for long stretches, he doesn’t have the required ball handling skills and can’t shoot coming off screens (so we’re stuck with Willie Green…).

Your boy Dalembert – Believe it or not, Federico loves Sam… he says he’s one of the smartest players in the League. OFF the court, he underlines, LOL -  is going to be an All Star, he got a zillion votes…

(laughs) I would like to know who actually voted for him…

How come this guy, so intelligent according to you, didn’t improve at all over the years in the NBA?

I think he hasn’t improved since his Seton Hall years (laughs). Seriously, we all know his limitations but he can change the game like nobody in the NBA, in terms of defense and intimidating presence.

You see Sam being traded?

With that contract, it will be tough. But maybe someone will bite (laughs).

Let’s take a step back, to Cheeks’ firing. Did the move surprise you?

Not much, honestly. He had to pay the price because he wasn’t chosen by the GM, just like Sam Mitchell in Toronto, who also, and not coincidentially, got the axe this year. I think Cheeks is a good coach but he lacks something.

His firing was perhaps the most painful given his history in Philly and his lovely character. Fans liked him. Anyway, Stefanski showed some balls by firing him and giving the team to a coach with zero experience in the NBA. Clearly, he must have been supported by the ownership in that decision.

Speaking of (real) surprises, how about this Speights dude ?? I recall you weren’t high on him this summer.

Yes, I admit he is better than I expected. He’s coming out of a great basketball school, as his fundamentals show, has a great ball IQ and has nice little range. The Speights pick to me confirms that Sixers weren’t sure to land Brand before signing him. That move was a (underrated) masterpiece by Stefanski, who created the necessary cap space in a couple of days… of course, it took David Faulk also (laughs).

To conclude, do you see the Sixers making a move before trade deadline?

It could be, they just have too many assets, especially in terms of good, young players, and many teams will call them…

And would you make a move if you were Sixers’ GM?

No, I wouldn’t touch that chemistry.

Anything we forgot?

That we finally saw some real crowds at Sixers games lately !! (true !) And I would love to see more Philly guys in a Sixers uniform. Starting from my favorite player, Rasheed Wallace (we would like that too !!).

(in the second part of the interview, Federico will cover the NBA guidos, oops, !! italian players. Stay tuned.)