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.

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 🙂

Shocking insight: Dwane Casey… sucks !!!!

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 !

Sixers piling up interviews: Casey and Rambis last

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.

Tony DiLeo is a class act and a real asset

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…

DiLeo back to the desk, good move

(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)

Scary: Billy King wants to return !!!

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):

Sixers lose to Denver, keep (injured) Miller

(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.

Exclusive interview with Federico Buffa

(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.