New Sixers uniforms: a missed chance

I am sorry, but this is a missed chance.

Call me nostalgic, call me old fart, call me (uhm, what’s the opposite of “up to date”?), but these uniforms (pics via Sixers.com)…

… that you can also see here…

… still cannot compete with these:

..meaning the, classic, storied, glorious, TRUE SIXERS uniforms that we signed the petition for, and that we outscooped everyone about. The kind of unis that never get old, to sum it up.

Few hours before unveiling the 2009/2010 jerseys, Sixers said via Twitter, in reply to a tweet by your fav guido blogger, that the new uniforms would have been “a nice blend of old and new”. As soon as I read that, I started having a bad feeling…

I think that by simply going back to our 1982/83 jerseys – ok, minus the short shorts – we would have done a better job.

But I don’t want to sound too negative or only complain: they are still a HUGE IMPROVEMENT over the ugly ones we wore for more than a decade.

Let’s see the half full part of the glass: it’s nice to definitely get rid of the nonsense black jerseys. And the fact that the new ones have our old logo on (the real, Sixers logo !!) is a big plus, that’s true.

But the red ones look “too Clippers” to me (hey, I love the Clippers and I think their jerseys are very cool… but it’s their jerseys !), and the white ones…well… uhm… they look like… a missed chance.

Not horrible, not bad, and not even mediocre, don’t get me wrong.

More like “coulda/shoulda”, if you know what I mean.

Holiday falls to Sixers. Happy?

Apparently, yes. And welcome to Sixerland dude.

(NOTE: please give me credit at least for avoiding any pun in the title… Holiday time, Sixers go Holiday etc).

I always admitted I don’t know shlt about college bball. I confirm it again, of course, I cannot pretent to be an expert now, it would be silly.

I just don’t have the time to follow NCAA hoops, watching and blogging the Sixers from here requires a lot of time and dedication, so no room for junior overseas bball (LOL).

That’s why I really don’t know what to say about Jrue Holiday, Sixers’ latest draft pick.

He was expected to be a Top 10 pick, I read almost everywhere. That’s why I used the verb “fall” for the title. I guess that is said every year for many, many players.

But what I am 100% sure of is:

1) in recent years, very rarely Sixers completely f’d the draft up. Instead, they often found good/very good players and also some gems, even with late picks.

Think Willie Green, Korver, Lou Williams, all excellent players in terms of # of pick/efficiency ratio. Dalembert as well – not his fault if he was eventually overpaid, we are talking about what spot he was drafted at. Jason Smith had a promising rookie season and then got injured, but he showed he can play.

Thad Young and, to a lesser extent – but only because he played only a full season – Marreese Speights, can be considered real steals. Very good players that many teams passed on – and now regret it.

The only Rodney Carney could perhaps be labeled as a bust so far, but it’s not completely excluded yet that he will lately turn into a good/decent NBA player (think Matt Barnes or John Salmons, also former Sixers).

That’s why I am confident that DiLeo (almost a genius in evaluating young talent) & his staff did a good job once again. Also I am always optimistic, so no reason to panic or complain.

2) we needed a PG and we drafted a PG. Makes sense.

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)

Sixers season ends in embarassment

Ok, first let’s take the hat off to the Orlando Magic.

They played a great t-e-a-m game despite all the absences, won 89-114, and deservedly advanced to the second round, 4-2. End of the story.

Now let’s talk about the Sixers’ game. Horrible. Awful. Atrocious. Embarassing. I don’t know what to say.

We simply weren’t ready to play, we didn’t come out to play. Not “play hard”, play. We didn’t show up.

I won’t waste time recapping the game, analyzing this and that, breaking down individual performances. Sixers were outplayed, outrebounded, outhustled, outfucked by the Orlando Magic’s reserves in a 48 minute-butt whipping.

Forget the stats, while Bulls and Celtics were making history (third overtime just started as I’m typing this), Sixers pulled out a memorable choking act, losing all of the four periods, giving up 62 points and 57% from the field (23/40, including 6/9 from three) in the first half and trailing constantly in double digit until the final buzzer, with margins from eleven to the final twentyfive. 

I could mention at least four embarassing plays for each Sixer that was put on the floor: turnovers, airballs, dunks on, shots blocked etc. I won’t go on details as it could be very painful.

Gortat = a polish David Robinson. JJ Redick = Ray Allen part II. Rafer Alston = the new Dennis Johnson. It was that kind of night.

The truth is Sixers are far from being a good playoffs team, and many things have to be re-evaluated this summer, taking this crappy game into consideration.

The sad end of course doesn’t take anything from the good things that were done before, including the two wins versus Orlando, a team that was supposed to blow us, but it’s a clear sign that something is still lacking, especially in the players’ minds.

2008/2009 Sixers improved of only one game from the previous regular season (from 40 to 41 wins) and repeated the exact sequence of last year’s playoffs series, winning the first game on the road and going up 2-1, only to see the season end with three straight losses.

The season perhaps didn’t, but the final game surely deserved all the boos that the crowd rained on the team. A shameful finish indeed.

Let’s leave the main stage to the grown folks, we still have a lot of homework to do.

Things turn “normal”, Orlando wins

Game 5 went exactly how everybody thought Game 1, 2, 3 and 4 would have gone.

Needless to say, the Magic won, 91-78, gaining the 3-2 lead in the series and some momentum.

Sixers fought well, showed their nice pride one more time, and should be praised for the effort, but fell short in the fourth, for the reasons that I’ll try to explain.

1) our leaders worn out.

DiLeo again played Iguodala & Miller WAY too much, 46 and 44 minutes respectively.

This is short-sighted, if not plain stupid, as I already pointed out after Game 4, when they both got 45 min. Imagine how fresh their legs & their minds were at the end of Game 5… bad decision definitely.

Consider that Dwight Howard,that is 23 y/o and is a beast, logged in “just” 37 minutes, with no particular foul troubles.

And Magic depend on him just as much as we do on the Andres, if not more (you might want to check his stat line…).

2) ZERO contribution from the bench.

Of course the initial assumption should be that ‘in order to contribute you first have to play’, which is correct, but anyway this time Lou & co. didn’t do a damn thing worth mentioning.

In fact Marcin effin’ Gortat alone scored as many points as our whole bench, which should tell you everything you need to know. The second unit combined for a miserable six points, eight rebounds and five assists – all by Williams.

It’s the first time that our bench is outscored – and outplayed – by Orlando’s, and this is pretty worrying. Also because Magic backups are nothing special, and I’m being kind.

Payback time for Turkoglu & the Magic

Well, perfect way to end a shitty bad day. A last second loss.

Hedo Turkoglu hit a tough three with one second left (in the Getty Images pic) to give Orlando a 81-84 W at the Wachovia center, and tie the series at 2-2.

We saw Turkoglu countless times on You Tube in these days, reviewing the game winner that Iguodala scored on him in Game 1 over and over. Now the Magic forward will be on the right side of some footage soon. Payback time.

Hedo hit a lot of game winners in his career, building himself a reputation of being a clutch player: maybe this is the most important shot, as it avoided an overtime that could have easily put his team into a 1-3 hole. Not to mention he was having a crappy series so far (11 PPG on 23% from the floor !!) so this play was huge, unfortunately.

Sixers came only close to another memorable comeback: trailing by ten with 4.32 to go in the fourth (69-79), and honestly looking in a slump, they went on a  stunning 12-2 run and tied the game at 81 on a dunk by Dalembert, off a nice feed by Iguodala when there were 14 seconds to play.

But Orlando had the last possession and Turkoglu made sure it was the decisive one, knocking down a contested three over Thaddeus Young. You can only tip your hat off to him, we couldn’t play better defense. Iguodala’s desperation shot at the buzzer hit only the side of the rim. Series even.

Sixers hold off Magic in emotional Game 3

And I’m glad that my 4-1 Magic prediction can already be filed under the “BS” category.

Sixers lead the series 2-1 after the 96-94 W in Game 3 that I just finished watching.

It was a typical playoffs game, intense, overall well played, that gave me a lot of mixed feelings through the quarters, from joy & pleasure to angryness & fear. Real stars shined, role players stepped up, (supposed) stars choked. We saw everything this night.

Basically it was a 48 minutes rollercoaster run, with the happy end that is making everything sweet now, at 5 AM, while I’m typing this recap.

Let’s start from the finish: Thaddeus Young scored the decisive basket with 2 seconds to go on a lefhaded layup (in the pic), after Sixers inbounded the ball with 7 seconds left.

I honestly think he traveled before the spin move that preceded the release of his shot, but maybe he didn’t have complete possession because a defender tipped the ball out of his hands before, I have to review it more times before having a clearer idea.

Anyway I think Sixers’ victory is completely deserved as we led for the whole night and showed we are a feisty team, with a fighting attitute, that never gives up and can give anybody troubles. So yes, we are still the underdog, but Orlando realized (assuming that was necessary) they have to play their butt off if they want to advance to the second round.

WHY WE WON THE GAME?

1) total team effort. DiLeo used ten players, EVERYBODY gave a significant contribution: not coincidentially all Sixers scored. Evans & Ivey, the guys that got less minutes, had several good, hustle plays, especially on defense, being instrumental in building our early lead.

2) the two Andres taking it to another level. Miller’s and Iguodala’s stat lines speak for themselves. They carried us for 48 minutes.

Iguodala missed two big free throws that could have actually closed the game with 42 seconds to go and Sixers up three (94-91) , but that was the only thing I can blame him for.

It’s a pretty scaring sign, because this is a deja vu from Game 1 (minus the game winner…), I know, and the fact that he was 9/11 from the line before bricking those two won’t help his confidence much. But I won’t complain after such a happy night, I’ll take Iggy’s 29-7-4, the 9/15 from the field and live with it. Andre, take Thad to dinner, he saved your ass (LOL).

Miller came close to a triple double and there is NOTHING he did bad that I can remember.

3) bench edge. Again, our second unit outpalyed Magic’s reserves. We outscored them 21-10. Orlando used basically only eight players. Anthony Johnson went back being the old bum he is, Pietrus had a couple of threes in the third, but that’s pretty much everything THEY (not he) did.

4) signs of life from players previously MIA. Green finally had a decent game, with hot start (3/3 in the 1st) and a huge basket down the stretch (94-91 lead). Dalembert managed to keep his fouls in control and stayed on the court for a good 30 minutes, rebounded the ball well and patrolled the paint (3 blocks). Well done, we need both of them if we want to keep the dream alive.

Few tips to win Game 2

Ok, Game 1 is over and after shocking half the League with our fantastic comeback we are heading into tomorrow with an unexpected 1-0 lead.

With this post I’ll try to prove how Game 2 is a golden opportunity for the Sixers to put the Magic into a (too ?) big hole and I’ll provide few, unrequested tips to win it.

And before you remind it, yes, I said Magic in five, but I’ll gladly miss also this prediction… I won’t be ashamed, one more time.

So here is the situation.

The pressure is now on both teams, I think.

Orlando, that still is the better team, of course can’t afford to lose both games at home. Sixers can’t afford a blowout in Game 2 as well, because it would mean that what happened Sunday was accidental (which I don’t believe).

The (shifted) home court advantage is not a factor in Sixers’ favor yet, that’s my point. It would be so with a 3-2 advantage, not now. Sixers should remember that the Magic already won TWICE in regular season in Philly, therefore thinking that we could advance to the secodn round by ‘simply’ winning the three games at home would be stupid.

Psychologically the conditions are completely different, though, and here we could have an edge.

Not only the loss per se, but the way it came (the 18 point lead squandered, the last second shot etc) clearly could a negative effect on Orlando players’ minds just as big as the positive effect it had on ours. But they had three days to regroup, analyze the mistakes, and move on.

David 1, Goliath 0. Not too bad of a Game 1

Or, in other – and more polite- words, F’N UNBELIEVABLE.

This game winner by Andre Iguodala with 2.2 seconds left capped a memorable comeback and gave Sixers a 98-100 win at Orlando (Magic 0 – Sixers 1).

Enjoy it in high definition:

With that tough 22-foot fadeway jumper over Turkoglu, that by the way eventually missed the last second three that would have given Orlando the win, Iguodala (more than) made up for a couple of big free throws he bricked missed before, with Sixers down one (96-95) and 1.07 minutes to play.

(Wanna have some good laughs? Log on to the Sixers board of philly.com – scroll down to “Discuss Sixers” – and read the threads started by some posters BEFORE the end of the game…I’ll give you some titles: “Iggy, the essence of mediocrity”, “Max contract Iggy”, “Nice FTs Iggy”… gotta love positive, optimistic, patient Philly fans, LOL).

But it was a team effort and a lot of guys should get the praise.

And Orlando should get part of the blame, of course, because there is no way you can let a 18-point lead evaporate late in a playoffs game: it was 79-61 Magic with 1.12 left in the third !

How did we come to that? Let’s take a step back.

The bad news for the Sixers is that Superman exists. The good news is that his team is beatable.

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.