Weighing Sixers’ playoffs “experience”

Making this quick before leaving for the weekend (maybe I’ll be able to update the post later, with all the sums etc).

Ok, it’s a given that this is a pretty young team, with some veteran presence only in the back up department.

So I tried to check our players’ playoffs experience, making a small research through the years.

My source has mainly been Basketball reference and here is what I found.

In order:

SPEIGHTS, IVEY: 0 playoffs games played.

Barely a surprise: the first is a rookie, the second sucks (LOL) and has always played for bad teams (feel free to add the Sixers to this category).

YOUNG, WILLIAMS: 6 playoffs game played (2-4 record)

They were members of 2007/2008 Sixers, that were eliminated by Pistons, 2-4.

IGUODALA, DALEMBERT, GREEN: 11 playoffs games played (3-8 record).

They were members of two Sixers teams that made it to the postseason, in 2004/2005 with Jim O’Brien, and in 2007/2008 with Maurice Cheeks. Sixers lost to Pistons in both occasions, 1-4 in 2004 and 2-4 in 2008.

MILLER: 21 playoffs games played (5-16 record)

Here is the recap of his career in the postseason:

• 2004 (Denver Nuggets), lost 1-4 in the first round to Minnesota
• 2005 (Denver Nuggets), lost 1-4 in the first round to Spurs
• 2006 (Denver Nuggets), lost 1-4 in the first round to the LA Clippers (LOL)
• 2008 (Philadelphia Sixers), lost 2-4 in the first round to the Pistons

(uhm, I think I gave some strong arguments to his critics, LOL)

Danny Ainge is a lucky ass

The Celtics trashing the Lakers in game 6 for their 17th title made last night a lil’ bit sour.

Italy had previously dominated archrival France in the European championship (2-0), so it was overall a good sports day. Still, it sucks that Boston won. I hate the Celtics (hey, just as much as I hate the Lakers…) and I hate the fact that Ainge’s “plan” at the end worked.

With this sour grapes/rant/typical Sixers fan post I will try to prove some points of the theory expressed in the title. Fellow Celtics haters will perhaps like this, Celtics fans will love it even more because it shows how much we all are envious. You see, it’s a win-win situation (LOL) in which everybody is happy, so let’s start.

Sixer-by-Sixer 07/08 breakdown: Reggie Evans

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Smart guidoish reading tip: guys, fine Sixers blog Recliner GM is doing another player-by-player analysis of the past season. Only difference, Dannie’s posts are way better than mine (LOL).

Seriously, make sure to check them out, so far Recliner GM covered Sam Dalembert, Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young and Andre Miller, it’s interesting to see when we share the same thoughts about our players (most of the times) and where our views differ (sometimes, but here it’s when the best  discussions are generated). Anyway, it’s always worth reading them I think, as Sixers coverage is never enough for real fans.

Time to take a look at one of Sixers4guidos’ favorite players, forward Reggie Evans.

Being right on something hoops-related happens to me so rarely, then when it does, I like to remind it and brag a little bit: I was a fan of Reggie Evans since Day 1. Pretty cool, uh?

OVERALL EFFICIENCY AND RATE

Evans had a heck of a season in my opinion, and was a key contributor in building that “never give up” attitude that was a Sixers’ trademark this year, and one of the things that fans appreciated the most.

Reggie is a player whose efficiency goes beyond the numbers, and that it would be stupid to judge looking at his stats, or only at them. Boxscores never tell the energy he brings, the example he is for his team mates, the boost that he provides to the team and the crowd. Not coincidentially, by the end of the year he had a remarkable amount of groupies fans at the Wachovia center, who formed a sort of “Reggie’s corner” inside the building. This is an example:

Sixer-by-Sixer 07/08 breakdown: Andre Iguodala

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Hey guys, before I go on throwing out my BS about Iguodala, log on to www.sixers.com: on the right side of the page you will find a poll on “Your favorite Sixers logo”.

Please remember to cast your vote for the only, real, cool Sixers logo, the one with the round ball that is shown top left on this page (option B on the poll), as integral part of Sixers4guidos’ logo:

 

The REAL Sixers logo is luckily ranked #1 while I’m typing this (44% of the votes) but the ugly one they are using now is close second (41%).

So let’s take advantage of this chance to show how current Sixers’ corporate ‘equipment’ sucks and how this storied franchise should go back full time to its traditions: bring the old uniforms – in the picture. with Andre modeling – and the old logo back !! 

Vote for option B, over and over, until we get rid of the anonymous, meaningless one we have now.

Back to our player-by-player analysis, trying to judge Iguodala’s season.

OVERALL EFFICIENCY AND RATE

Iguodala this year made another step in the direction that we were hoping for.

He’s on his way to become an all star. His regular season numbers are at superstar status (19.9 PPG with 45.6% FG, 5.4 RPG, 4.8 APG, 2.1 SPG – with his career highs in bold) or very close to.

Sixer-by-Sixer 07/08 breakdown: Willie Green

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Guys, sorry for the absence of these days but I’m changing job, town, house and I’m pretty busy… this will last some more weeks.

Time to go on with Sixers4guidos’ analysis, with a post about shooting guard Willie Green, the player I loved to hate over the last years. Now it’s payback time for Willie, let’s give him his props.

OVERALL EFFICIENCY AND RATE

Just like Andre Miller, Willie Green had his best season ever, reaching career highs in games played (74, all of them as a starter), minutes played (26.6), FG % (.436), rebounds (2.5), assist (2 !), and points (12.4).

Willie won the competition for the starting spot at SG with Carney – a competition that apperently didn’t even start… – and was effective all year, providing Sixers his best asset, the ability to score. Green is instant offense and you can count on that.

My rate for Willie Green is 8 (scale is from 1 to 10, being 10 the top).

Sixer-by-Sixer 07/08 breakdown: Andre Miller

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Sixers4guidos starts its player-by-player analysis of the season with the guy who in my humble opinion should receive the ‘Sixers MVP award’, point guard Andre Miller.

OVERALL EFFICIENCY AND RATE

Miller had arguably the best season of his career.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you should know I am not a stat maniac, but his 17 PPG and .492 % FG (both career highs) are pretty impressive, especially coming at 32 y/o. 

Seven assists for 2.5 turnovers is a nice ratio as well, considering he plays 36 minutes in an up tempo team.

He’s always been known more as a playmaker than a scorer, but this year we saw that in the right system he can be also a reliable #2 option for his team, carrying the load offensively in many nights. He often knocked down clutch shots down the stretch, which never hurts….

My rate for Andre Miller is 9 (scale is from 1 to 10, being 10 the top).

Detroit has a new/old fan (Pistons 4, Sixers 2)

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I am back home after a 4 days romantic trip to Verona (the city of Romeo and Juliet !) with my wife, finally back blogging also.

I am changing job & town in the next weeks, so it’s possible that new posts and updates will have some pauses.

Anyway I’ll have BIG NEWS SOON, so give me a free pass and stay tuned on Sixers4guidos.

So the Sixers season is over after the 77-100 loss to the Pistons in game 6 of the first round: 4-2, end. While I’m typing this post, Detroit has a 2-1 lead over Orlando in the second round.

Of course no need to recap the game one week after it was played, and also because it was another blowout (2-15 Detroit to start it, 12-30 after the first quarter, 33-51 at the half…).

I’ll just point out some things, the feelings I had after the end of the series.

1) Detroit deserved to advance, of course. Can’t argue with three consecutive wins after trailing 1-2, also because the wins came in a pretty impressive way. The best team won, simple as that.

2) I am VERY HAPPY with what Sixers did in the season and in the series. Idiots complaining about the 2-1 lead we had, about the collapses in the last two games, about Iguodala’s (actual) shortcomings, perhaps forget where did we come from.

Sixers blow a unique chance (Pistons 2, Sixers 2)

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Yeah, the series is still open, yeah before it started everybody would have thought that being 2-2 after four games would have been damn good, but still I have the feeling that we missed a great chance.

1) First off, give Pistons their props for the deserved 84-93 win of last night, they proved why they have been to the Conference finals five years in a row.

2) we better try to analyze how we let a 14 point lead (43-29, 4.30 left in the second) turn into a 15 point deficit (65-80, 8.30 to play in the fourth. That means a 22-51 break in 20 minutes of action !

3) we should think about possible solutions to avoid that happening again.

Pistons played like a veteran team, never losing composure also when everything looked going in the wrong sense for them.

Sixers’ FIRST QUARTER was great: Sammy knocked down a couple of free throws and had a huge block on Billups (0/3 + 3 turnovers to start the game…), igniting the crowd and setting the tone for his team mates. Iguodala hit his first two shots, one being a step back jumper (the same shot that NEVER went in before) and the other a thunderous dunk over Rasheed Wallace. We all thought it could be the right night for him and for the Sixers.

By the half of the period all Sixers starters had already scored, while Detroit (with Maxiell in at PF) struggled: it was 17-10 and it ended at 25-19, with Green and Dalembert scoring six points, Iguodala five and Young four. Mo didn’t make any substitution.

Sixers wind blowing (Pistons 1, Sixers 2)

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I don’t know if there are Reggie Evans groupies yet. If not, time to create a group of them.

Evans, a reborn Dalembert and Andre Miller were – in this order, to me – our key players in the 95-75 unexpected thrashing of the Pistons in game 3.

This means few things:

1) my 4-1 Pistons prediction is already off the mark (and I love it, of course…)

2) young Sixers are psychologically more solid and mature than we all thought, bouncing back from the blow out of game 2 and answering it with another blow out. This against a veteran team that was supposed to regain the lead of the series, also mentally I mean, after the “distraction” of game 1. It didn’t happen, I see.

3) Pistons might still win the series, of course, but after these three games they are actually closer to a memorable collapse than to a “routine” advancement to the second round. Some signs (looks, faces, body language etc) should worry a lil bit their hot fans.

Your normal Game 2 (Pistons 1, Sixers 1)

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The 105-88 loss of last night is exactly the game that we were expecting. Even in Game 1, I mean.

Pistons absolutely destroyed the Sixers, outplaying us in every possible way and the final score doesn’t even give the idea of how hard we got beat.

I don’t think it’s necessary to recap the game, let’s say we could stay with Detroit only in the FIRST QUARTER and only because it lasted 12 minutes (LOL).

Andre Miller’s (lucky) bank shot at the buzzer made it 25-18, putting an end to a lesson of playoffs basketball. I would say ‘Detroit playoffs basketball’ if the expression wouldn’t remind me of that annoying chorus that you hear there….

To sum it up, Pistons played a damn stifling defense, pushing us to shoot FOUR AIRBALLS in the period, that Iguodala ended with 0/6, while Sixers as a team were 3/14 initially.

On the other side, Rasheed Wallace did his job, exactly like in game 1, scoring 11 points with a conbination of low post moves over Dalembert (embarassed in every one-on-one situation) and a long three. Thaddeus Young was the only effective Sixers, with 6 points off some nice offensive rebounds.