Wait, Dalembert practicing in offseason ???

(via Sixerguy)

Sixers just released this ‘shocking’ practice video:

I have few comments to make.

1) nice to see Dalembert practicing in offseason, he has a reputation for being lazy and not working on his game during the summer.

Good sign, he’s showing some serious committment (or fear to lose his starting spot? LOL).

2) his accent (french?) is sweet, I never listened to him speaking in interviews before. He really seems a good dude… too bad he drives us nuts with all his dumb plays…

3) Jason Smith looks BIG. He worked hard in the weight room, evidently. Props to him.

He is still explosive, though (did you check the dunks? similar to the ones he got us used to in his rookie year – like in the pic) and seems on his way to full recover.

I am a Jason Smith fan and I hope he will be back at 100% and contribute next year. Enough of him in press conferences and presentations, we need his arse on a bball court, and with a (classic) Sixers jersey on.

4) I like Jrue Holiday’s shooting form. He has nice mechanics. He has to extend his range clearly but he has a solid ‘shooting fundamentals’ base to build on.

He’s working with Mc Kie, let’s hope he doesn’t imitate Blue with the ultra-slow shot release (LOL).

In a period with few real Sixers news, this was a nice break.

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

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)