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 🙂

Extra thoughts after Game 2

After watching live Game 2 and recapping it, I slept three hours, went to work, had a meeting.

Now I am here in office at lunch break thinking again about a WINNABLE game that we let slip away, and that we eventually might regret not having won.

I already said in my recap what basically didn’t work (read the post below this), I’ll add some more points to conclude the analysis.

I agree with Iguodala that Magic were better in “the small things”:

“We feel like we had some opportunities,” Iguodala said. “They did all the little things. They hit a big 3. They got all the little loose balls. They made the shots. They got all the rebounds. They did a great job of sealing the game this time.”

True that.

Like failing to get the defensive rebound off a missed free throw by Orlando, giving them an extra possession, that resulted into a three pointer (70-61 Magic, end of the third).

Or miss four shots from the line in the crucial third quarter (5/9).

Or, mostly, let them score on four of the first five possessions after Howard fouled out (3.11 left to play, 84-76), making the crowd go wild.

All of the above contributed.

Few more points to mull over.

Where are these young Sixers going?

Sixerdave is finally back to work.

I just received two articles by him, and here is the first one, a recap of the (regular) season just finished, with some thoughts about 2009/2010.

SIXERS END ROCKY SEASON AT .500

The Sixers have earned a first round playoff series with the Orlando Magic to end the season. 

It was a turbulent season that saw Maurice Cheeks get fired as head coach, Elton Brand struggle with injuries and young players step into different roles and positions. 

By beating an undermanned Cavaliers team, the Sixers moved to 41-41, a one game improvement over last season.

With Chicago losing to Toronto, the Sixers were able to leapfrog the Bulls into the 6th position in the Eastern Conference. 

With Garnett out, the Sixers may have benefitted from staying in the 7th position, however this week the Sixers couldn’t beat Boston with Garnett and Allen both out of the lineup.

Orlando also presents problems for Philadelphia. Dwight Howard is one of the best players in the league.  Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis will provide challenges for Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young.

Looking back at the 2008-2009 season, we immediately think of Brand’s injuries, Cheeks’ firing, and interim coach Tony Dileo. But the question is – what direction is this team going? 

Most of the core is young and growing. As difficult as it is to believe, Iguodala is just 25 years old.  Marreese Speights, Thaddeus Young, Lou Williams, and Jason Smith are 23 or younger. 

But Brand will be coming off an injury yet again. What impact will Brand have? And can he gel with our younger players? Will he be an 18 and 10 guy, or a 14 and 8 guy? Will the Sixers consider his signing to be a failure and trade him at the deadline next season?

Team leader Andre Miller – in the pic – becomes a free agent this offseason. Do the Sixers resign him? He’s getting older and his lack of speed showed in his recent effort against Boston. Should the Sixers hand the keys to Lou Williams? Golden State, Sacramento, and Portland could be interested in Miller’s services and it is well known that Miller prefers the West Coast.

By keeping Miller on board, the Sixers could be challenging for the last few playoff spots in the East. But is he the guy to lead us to elite status in the East? At his age, it’s unlikely. Maybe the Sixers need to take a step back to take a step forward by going back into the draft and finding a star to lead them back to the top.

The Andres carry Sixers to playoffs

Finally the stretch of several weeks of crazy work SEEMS over, and starting from today I’ll “normally” watch and blog the remaining Sixers games.

This couldn’t have been more timely because I just enjoyed the 95-90 W over the Pistons that officially brought Sixers (40-35, .533) to the post season.

And I am 3/3 on the prediction I made some days ago about the last ten games.

But what matters the most is that ALL Sixers, in Thaddeus Young’s absence, picked up the slack and showed some great effort on both ends of the floor in the last three games, not coincidentially all won.

In the last one, vs the Iverson-less Pistons, the two Andres carried the load, not only offensively, because they logged in 90 out of the possible 96 minutes (!!!).

This was an “interesting” move, especially in such a tough, close game, that looked like a playoffs matchup. As minutes, and quarters, were passing, I was asking to myself “Why in the hell we aren’t making any sub at all ???”

DiLeo gave the explaination after the game:

A game of shortcomings in Indy

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I saw that pretty much coming (just check the title of the post below this one…).

So I really can’t say the 100-89 loss to Indiana, breaking a four game winning streak (27-25, .519), shocked me.

Still, it pissed me off enough.

First, we lost to a team that was 21-33 before the game.

Second, Pacers are bad enough with their full roster but last night they were without Dunleavy Jr. and Foster.

Third, we should, and could have won, despite playing bad basketball for large part of the night, horrible bball for extended stretches, and trailing for 48 minutes. 

Let’s make a short recap and then try to analyze good things and bad ones.

In the FIRST QUARTER we started sluggish, to say the least, immediately digging double digit deficits: 12-2, 17-4. We didn’t get back on defense quickly, we missed a ton of easy shots, Hibbert (…) and Nesterovic (……..) abused Dalembert. The 28-18 final score was even a bargain. 

But the worst part was yet to come, because in the SECOND QUARTER we forgot to guard Granger (9 pts) and Murphy (7 consecutive pts), letting Pacers building a 20 point lead (49-29, 4 minutes to play). A nice 14-1 run put us back into the game, and at the break Indiana’s lead was cut to eleven (55-44).

I think we lost the game in the THIRD QUARTER, particularly when we had the chance to make it first a three point game, then a five point game, but with the score at 66-60 and 68-60, Thaddeus Young and Willie Green misfired on w-i-d-e o-p-e-n threes on two consecutive (key) offensive possessions, leaving the door open to Daniels to push Pacers’ lead to double digit again (70-60).

Untimely (All Star) break for Sixers

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Ouh, and happy Saint Valentine’s day everybody, it’s been a f’n busy week at work, I can finally relax now and take care of my blog.

So Sixers got to the All Star break with a 27-24 record (.529) after the 91-87 W over Memphis of three days ago – the (late) recap follows below, at the end of this post.

As many noted, included myself, the break…breaks a nice streak of games: four straight Ws, 5-2 in the seven game-homestand, 14-4 after the loss at San Antonio (Jan 3), 18-10 since Di Leo took over as head coach (Dec 13, W over Wizards).

Sixers clearly found their rythm, a nice balance offesnively and defensively, good chemistry, so I think this interruption comes at the wrong time.

And I’ll pass on the fact that the All Star Game is still #2 in my “Things I could not care less about” list, just after maths.

Still the All Star weekend it’s the chance to take a look at what happened in the last weeks and, mostly, try to make an analysis of the future.

First off, while trade rumors are becoming crazy (yesterday an actual deal was concluded, Raptors sent Jermaine O’Neal and Jamario Moon to Miami, in exchange for Shawn Marion), I’ll state one more time what I think Sixers should do before trade deadline: NOTHING.

While it’s crystal-clear what our biggest need is (get a SHOOTER to upgrade the SG position), it’s apparently less clear what we would miss if our biggest asset (Andre Miller) is traded.

Welcome to the high-flying Sixers show

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Too bad the All star-break is coming soon.

Because these Sixers are rolling, and the nightly show is just as exciting as it could be.

The 108-91 W over Phoenix, third straight (26-24, .520) is just another example. 

A 48 minute-rain of dunks, alley oops, high flying blocks, spectacular passes, hustle plays. To cut it short, a rout, that Suns could only witness, without offering much resistence.

I was really amazed by the show, one of those games that you would like to extend for a couple of extra quarters.

Yes, the Suns were in the second night of a back-to-back (tough W @ Detroit the night before). Yes, Nash and Shaq have lost a step, maybe two. Yes, it’s not the same squad that came close to the NBA Finals a couple of years ago.

Still, a 28-21 team came to town, and it was absolutely destroyed by the YOUNG Sixers, outplayed in every aspect of the game, basically from the tip off. 

Few flashes , that could help us understanding what happened

Our bench players hotter than Heat

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The 2008/2009 Miami Heat have to be the most boring team in NBA history.

Really. This must be said, but it shouldn’t take anything from our 94-84 W of last night (25-24, .510).

Our bench gave us a great lift, especially in the fourth quarter, sparking the decisive break that put us in condition to secure the win.

I’ll keep the story of the first three quarters VERY short, because it was really an ugly display of basketball on both sides.

Miami is a team that does NOT play in transition, does NOT have a passing game, does NOT have a great circulation and does NOT have low post scorers. So how did they stay in the game, and even build a 8 point lead in the third (57-65) ??

Some good zone defense, taking care of the ball, getting easy baskets off pick-and-roll situations. Enough.

Sixers had a nice start, with Young closing the first period with 8 points on 4/5, but then a bad second quarter offensively: poor circulation, forced shots, unforced turnovers. And we allowed a lot of layups, again, due to slow rotations on the pick and roll.  

Sam, is that you ????

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Few hours after Sixers learned that Elton Brand would have been out for the season with the shoulder injury, the often criticized (also here, of course) Sam Dalembert picked up the slack and pulled out a monster performance in Sixers’ 99-94 W over Indiana (24-24, .500).

Sixers desperately needed this game, coming off a memorable fourth quarter (offensive) collapse versus the Nets and the hearbreaking last second loss against the reigning champs, Boston f’n Celtics.

They needed a total team effort and a great night from another whipping boy, Willie Green, and the two Andres to avoid another late comeback by their opponent. It was a fun game, in which both teams saw pretty big leads evaporate.

Since this recap comes one day late, I won’t go with the quarter-by-quarter analysis, instead I will try to focus on some facts that I found interesting.

Indiana (the team) has a hole in the paint just as big as Indiana (the State). Dalembert dominated for the whole game on both ends of the floor: he had 7 rebounds in the first quarter alone and could have ended with 20+20 had he not missed a couple of layups and putbacks under or just around the basket.

Ok, not so difficult to do when you face Foster, Nesterovic and Hibbert, but still Sam was a presence like he should always be, and changed the game.

 His 6/6 from the line has to be underlined also, Sam is usually a pretty good free throw shooter (around 70% over the last years) but this season he has rarely been involved much offensively and his pctg from the line decreased a little bit, also because the number of attempts has been significantly reduced. Clearly, he found his rhythm last night.

Sam’s rebounds started a lot of fastbreaks, and we could score many easy points in transition. Speaking of first quarter nice stats, Andre Miller had seven dimes in the period, and Sixers knocked down nine of their first eleven shots (23-14).