Heard in the Cheap Seats

Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll evaluate the Eagles’ areas of need heading into the offseason.  For the time being, we will only evaluate the current roster and not delve into possibilities for addressing theses areas of need.  Of course, as the offseason progresses, we’ll take a look at the options available to shore up any soft spots on this Eagles roster.

Today’s post will center on the offensive line.

Andy Reid has a philosophy of building his team from the trenches out.  His drafting strategy bears this out as he frequently has selected an offensive or defensive lineman with his first selection during his tenure—whether or not that is the case this year remains to be seen.

The performance of this year’s OL is difficult to assess.  On the plus side, the big guys only allowed 23 sacks all year.  This number is even more impressive when considering the frequency with which this Philadelphia Eagles team put the ball in the air.  In the running game, the team often struggled to move the chains and pick up big chunks of yardage.  However, it is debatable whether or not the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the line or if the play calling and health of Brian Westbrook played a factor.  Couple this with the fact that the team’s best lineman, Shawn Andrews, was missing for most of the year and you can understand why the performance is difficult to judge.

But maybe that’s just it.  The O line was almost unnoticeable.  It made no debilitating errors but also rarely asserted itself and dominated the trenches.  This year’s starting offensive line has two aging players with expiring contracts in Jon Runyan and William Thomas.  These are exactly the types of players that Eagles tend to let walk—the aging veteran with their best years behind them.  Of course, this is not lost on Andy Reid and Tom Heckert.  The plan all along was to slide Winston Justice to left tackle, move Shawn Andrews out to right tackle and slot Max Jean-Gilles in at the right guard spot.  But there are a few problems with that plan as presently constructed.

The glaring issue is Winston Justice.  Few Eagles fans forget his ill-fated performance against the Giants during the 2007-2008 performance.  I would venture to guess that Donovan McNabb will not soon forget that game either.  Justice has been so much of a disappointment that he often did not even dress for games this past year.  So much for that plan.  Even if Justice was ready to slot into a starting spot, there is some question about Shawn Andrews as well.  He has all the talent in the world but his mental health has to be a concern.  Can we count on him for a full season without distraction?  Is there any guarantee that he can comfortably slide out to the right tackle spot?  The answer is no on both questions and therefore the plan laid out by Reid and Heckert will have to be altered.  

On the interior portion of the line, Todd Herremans had a solid year at the LG spot but I am thoroughly under whelmed by Jamal Jackson.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nick Cole move over to the center position.  He played guard in college but learned the center position shortly after arriving at training camp.  For much of his tenure here, Cole served as the backup center.  He showed he is a capable interior lineman filling in for Andrews and Jean-Gilles and would add some much-needed toughness to the interior part of the line.  It’s probably an unlikely proposition but one that would not shock me.  The Eagles prefer to look inside their organization rather than go searching outside for answers if at all possible.

As mentioned before, the two question marks on this offensive line will be what to do with Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan.  Though Runyan is two years Thomas’ elder, he is more productive and brings a nastiness to the line that is unmatched.  Thomas’s play on the other hand declined as the season wore on and he struggled to keep pace with quicker defensive ends.  Many Eagles fans are clamoring for both tackles to be back with short deals.  In my mind, this all depends on what Eagles feel like they can realistically get in the offseason.  If I had to venture to guess, my money would be on the return of Runyan and the departure of Thomas.  But it is just as likely that the Eagles move Andrews to RT and keep Cole at RG.  If that is the case, Runyan will deaprt and Thomas will stay at LT.  Whatever happens, the Eagles would benefit from a better performance when it comes to run blocking.

As most Eagles fans have heard by now, the source of Jim Johnson’s back pain during the playoffs was a tumor pressing on his spine.  The tumor is a recurrence of Johnson’s melanoma that first appeared in 2001.  The troubling part of the announcement is that it sounds as if the cancer has metastasized.

This is a piece of news that hits close to home for me as my Mom has been fighting melanoma since for almost three years.  It’s nothing short of a dog fight and here’s hoping that Jim Johnson comes out on top and is back coaching next seasons.  Get well Coach Johnson.

Beat the teams you are supposed to beat and find a way to win a few against those people expect you to lose.  That’s the blueprint every team draws up when the season starts.  In November, the Sixers had a hard team beating anyone and would almost certainly have found a way to squander yesterday’s game against the Washington Wizards.

After jumping out to an early 15-point lead, the second unit seemed disinterested and intent on allowing the Wizards to get back into the game.  To make matters worse, Samuel Dalembert went down with an ankle injury at the close of the 1^st half.  All signs were pointing to the letdown Philadelphia fans know all too well.  

For the majority of the second half not much changed.  As a fan watching this game, you would be forgiven for being lulled to sleep.  There just wasn’t much to watch.  Fortunately, the Sixers were able to close out the game strong and avoid that dreaded letdown.  It certainly wasn’t pretty by any means but they did what they needed to do to pull out the victory.  Interestingly, Dalembert’s replacement at the center position in the second half was Elton Brand.  Brand responded by playing spirited basketball—blocking shots with ferocity.  Tony DiLeo indicated after the game that Brand will serve as Dalembert’s replacement moving forward.  For the time being, this will delay the lingering question of what lineup to use when Brand returns to his starting position.  Although Brand is undersized for the center spot, he is a very solid post defender and capable of providing weak-side help.  Dalembert was playing good ball in the last few games, so this loss hurts, but it will be a good experiment as well in getting Brand and Speights the minutes we’ve been craving.

The game was ugly but the Sixers found a way to win.  They outshot their opponent from beyond the arc, shot for a high field-goal percentage and were able to play solid team defense.  Not surprisingly, the Sixers were terrible from the free throw line with an 11-20 performance.  As has been said here many times, a team that shoots from the line the way they do will have a hard time winning when the games grind to a near halt and the physicality increases.  Unfortunately, like three-point shooting, free-throw percentage is not something that changes over night.

For now, the Sixers finally got over the hump and stand at one game above .500.  With a win tonight against the New Jersey Nets they would give themselves a little breathing room.

The Sixers have a huge seven game home stand heading into the All Star break that begins tomorrow night.  To me, it is a crucial stretch of games if the Sixers want to make any noise in the Eastern Conference.  The first thing the Sixers need to do is show that they are not allergic to being above the .500 mark.  In all seriousness, I don’t like labeling one stretch of games during a marathon of a season as a must win situation, but I believe these next seven games are as close as it gets.  Obviously, I don’t mean the team has to go 7-0 on this home stand, but I think anything less than a 5-2 mark would be a disappointment and could hurt the Sixers down the road.

The stand starts with back to back games against Washington and New Jersey, followed by Boston, Indiana, Miami, Phoenix, and Memphis.  It would help to win the first two games against teams they should beat at home.  Then, the Sixers would need to find a way to win 3 of their remaining five for a successful home stand.  I contend they have to defend their homecourt and get the job done.  There are quite a few reasons I am making such a big deal about all this.  The most obvious is that the Sixers have been playing their best basketball of the season in the month of January, and it is important to head into the break riding some momentum.  The other reasons come simply from looking at the schedule itself.  The Sixers have 38 games remaining, so after this stretch, there will only be 31 games left to play.  It is their last true home stand for the rest of the season.  Of the 31 remaining games following the All Star break, 18 will be on the road, including a 4 game east cost road trip and a 5 game west coast road trip in March.  Bottom line, the schedule does not favor the Sixers after the break.  So, they simply cannot afford to fall flat on their faces in these next seven games.  Although I don’t expect the Sixers to do much of anything before the trade deadline ( no they are not trading Elton Brand, Chad Ford!), how they do on this home stand could affect how Ed Stefanski approaches the trade deadline.  If they were to play great basketball and win 6 games, Stefanski may decide to get aggressive, and conversely, if they were to suck up the joint, it may make Stefanski look at moving pieces to get some cap room and draft picks.  I doubt it, but it could happen.  The last thing is, if they can come away from this with 5 or 6 wins, they could move closer to a better seed in the playoffs, and that would mean avoiding Boston, Orlando, or Cleveland for the first round. 

So if you agree that this a crucial stretch in the Sixers season, then the question becomes how does the team make it a successful one.  To me, the answers are simple there.  The Sixers are not going to be world beaters with this team, but they certainly have the capabilities to make this more than a “squeak into the playoffs and get crushed in the first round” season.  They need to continue to incorporate Elton Brand, because I don’t give a damn what anybody says, they are a better team with him.  The Sixers need to continue to focus on the defensive end.  We all like to focus on their deficiencies on the offensive end, but if they are able to play great defense, then those problems are not as glaring.  With the team that the Sixers have, they play their best when they are getting stops on the defensive end and creating turnovers.  Think about it.  Whenever they go on a run, it is almost always due to them creating turnovers, flying around on defense, and blocking shots.  That’s how they end up on most of their fast breaks.  They are not like the Suns or Warriors where they just chuck the ball up the floor and shoot.  Their break is predicated by their defense.  Finally, the Sixers need to continue to evolve within Tony DiLeo’s offensive system.  If they can be a top 10 defensive team, with their ability in transition, the Sixers only need to be an average half court team, and I think they have shown signs that they can do that.  A trend they need to stop is turning the ball over.  They absolutely need to take better care of the basketball than they have been lately.

Like I said, this is as important as a home stand could possibly be, and it remains to be seen if the Sixers have the stuff to make it a successful one.  They need to “man up”, play with aggressiveness for 48 minutes a game, and if they do that I think we might all be pretty damn happy with how the next 7 games turn out.  The game I am most looking forward to is the Celtic game.  I don’t expect the Sixers to win, but I hate the Celtics, and they embarrassed the Sixers earlier this year.  I am looking for the Sixers to really get after the Celts in that game.  The whole home stand should be some good stuff, and I really hope I get to write about all the momentum the Sixers gained when it’s all over with.

Statement games are overrated.  To pinpoint one game during the course of an 82-game season that signifies some sort of seismic shift in a team is asinine.  Seasons don’t change fates in one night and teams don’t gel against one team.  It doesn’t happen.  But if there was anything that would classify as a statement game, last night’s defeat of the Houston Rockets comes pretty close.

Photo courtesy of the AP

The Sixers, coming off a tough loss to the New Orleans Hornets looked sluggish to open the game.  That sin can be understood with a seven-game stint in the friendly confines of the Wachovia Center within reach.  The turnovers mounted quickly, 14 in the first half to be exact, and it looked like the Sixers might be heading for a similar fate as the previous game.

But the Sixers kept grinding and eventually settled down.  A glance at some of the key stats would lead you to believe that the Sixers would have a tough time winning this game.  They were outscored at the three-point line 24-3 and committed 18 turnovers (but only four in the second half).  However, a couple of key stats jump out in the Sixers favor.

As usual, the Sixers outran their opponent.  The Rockets simply could not match the up-tempo style of the Sixers and it showed in the 25 fast break points the Sixers were able to garner.  But the most important number of this game was 93.  The Sixers were able to hold a solid and healthy Houston Rockets team to 93 points due in large part to the 14 blocks the team had.  This effort was led by none other than Elton Brand with 6 blocks.  Say what you will about his ability to fit with this team on the offensive end, but there is no denying he vastly improves the defensive play.  Tonight, Brand played a high-energy game and found a rhythm on the offensive end of the floor.  If he is able to play at that level for the remainder of the season this team will be dangerous.

The Sixers, a team that normally struggles from the line, knocked down 20-21 at the charity stripe last night.  This is a trend that needs to continue.  As the season winds to an end, games slow down and accuracy from the free throw line becomes imperative.  The Sixers need to find a more consistent stroke at the line to be successful down the stretch and in the playoffs. 

While I will resist placing some sort of artificial importance on this game, it was a good win against a solid Western Conference foe.  Tonight, the Sixer showed that even when they are not hitting on all cylinders, they can come away with a win.  If that team shows up for the rest of the season, the Sixers might find themselves with home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

One of the great things about being a huge sports fan is that there is always something to watch on TV.  If you are a fan of one of the regular television comedies or drams, you have to wait a week between shows, and even then they are not year round.  Well, tonight is one of those fun nights for me as a sports fan.  My back is sore from shoveling that heavy snow, ice, and rain mix, and I wasn’t in the mood to go out.  Instead, I watched the final college basketball game at our beloved Spectrum, flipped to the Wake Forest, Duke game at timeouts, and now as I sit here typing, I am watching the Sixers face the Rockets.  All of it has been good television, but I decided the first thing I would write about would be the big game at the Spectrum.  Especially, since the Spectrum is a place I, like many Philadelphians, hold near and dear to my heart.

Villanova came into this game 15-4 overall, and 3-3 in the Big East.  They desperately needed a signature win.  It’s not like the Wildcats were in danger of not making the NCAA Tournament, with all 4 losses being tough battles against teams currently ranked in the top 12 in the country.  Still, a team can’t go through an entire season losing every game against top opponents, no matter how tough their conference is.  ‘Nova has had some tough losses, with the toughest to swallow coming in a 1 point loss to Louisville.  Well, tonight they were due.  The Wildcats faced a Pitt team with only one blemish on their record.  Coming out with a victory against Pittsburgh is never easy to do.  They are one of those teams that, even when you beat them, you come out of the game feeling like you lost. 

The Spectrum was electric all night, as everyone in the building knew they were witnessing the final college basketball game in a place that has hosted so many memorable sporting events over the years.  Even though Pitt jumped out to an early lead, they never stood a chance.  Not on this night.  This was the night where the team from the Main Line would close the final chapter on the college basketball history of the Spectrum with a victory.  Villanova played suffocating defense all night, holding the Panthers just 3 for 16 from beyond the arc, and forcing 17 turnovers.  I thought the defensive game plan by Jay Wright was phenomenal.  Villanova was trapping all over the floor as well as sending a lot of aggressive double teams at Sam Young.  It also didn’t hurt that DeJuan Blair couldn’t keep himself on the floor because of dumb fouls on his part.  On the offensive end, it is virtually impossible to have a smooth game against Pitt.  But, what Villanova did was hit big shots when they needed them, especially from three point land.  The Wildcats made 6 of the 15 three pointers they attempted, but the biggest came from Scottie Reynolds.  Reynolds drained one from about 27 feet with 5:28 left in the ballgame to put ‘Nova up by seven and they never looked back.  The crowd went crazy, cue the Rocky music, and that was the end for Pitt.  It was fitting that on this night there were some huge contributions by the Philly kids on both sides.  Reggie Redding led the Wildcats with 18 points and seven rebounds, and Shane Clark, even though he finished with 0 points, came up with 7 rebounds, including 4 huge ones on the offensive glass.  Philly product Brad Wanaker had a great game for the Panthers.

You can bet that those kids from Philadelphia knew the significance of playing in this game.  For the Wildcats that may not understand the history of the Spectrum, Jay Wright will make sure they are aware.  As the final seconds ticked down Wright looked up at a scoreboard that read Villanova 67- Pitt 57, and you could see what this game meant to him.  So, there will be no more college basketball played inside the old Spectrum, and soon it will not exist at all, but this game was a great way to close the book on the storied building.

Last time these two teams clashed, I speculated that the Sixers loss to the San Antonio Spurs to close out a tough roadtrip was not a harbinger of things to come.  I could not have been more wrong.

Immediately following that heartbreaking loss, the Philly boys went on to rattle off seven straight wins.  Perhaps my lack of confidence in the team triggered the run of success?  If so, the Sixers might be in for another nice run because I remain skeptical.

A lot has changed since the last game for both teams.  Perhaps most obvious, the Sixers have added their heralded offseason acquisition back to the lineup.  The early returns on Elton Brand’s addition to the lineup are incomplete.  In his first game back, he seemed to find a rhythm in the game, locate the open spots on the floor and rebound effectively.  In his next appearance, he looked out of sorts.  Which Brand will show up tonight?

For some time, I have rejected the theory that Elton Brand is a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.  But I am drawing ever so close to converting my belief.  Tonight, in a matchup against a team with a strong front line, Brand will undoubtedly need to play a larger role if the Sixers are to come away victorious.  Not to mention, the team needs to get back to hitting the outside shot.  At his been my belief that this sudden improvement in outside shooting ability was nothing more than a temporary fluke bound for a statistical correction.  Plain and simple: the Sixers are comprised of a team of lousy shooters.  Let’s hope I am wrong but I get the feeling that these guys are cooling off.

The Rockets on the other hand, are struggling to find their groove with the return of Ron Artest and Tracy McGrady to the regular rotation.  In fact, the team struggled so mightily that Rafer Alston questioned the character of the team.  When Skip-to-my-Lou is doubting the character of a team there are some serious issues that need to be addressed.  In addition to McGrady and Artest, Yao Ming is also expected back in the lineup this evening.  In the past, Dalembert has done a solid job containing Ming.  He will need to continue that trend tonight to come away with a victory.  But none of the aforementioned names is the most important addition to the Rockets team since the last encounter.  Instead, that honor goes to Shane Battier.  Battier brings the ability to stretch a defense with his long-range touch and can drive opposing players batty with his defensive intensity.  The way the Sixers have been defending the three, Battier could spell trouble.

That being said, the three keys to a Sixer victory tonight are:

Defend the perimeter: Somewhere in the midst of the break just prior to Brand’s return, the Sixers forgot how to defend the perimeter.  There has been an astonishing lack of ball pressure and defensive rotation.  It nearly cost them against the Knicks and it did cost them against the Hornets.  The Sixers need to defend the three tonight in order to have a shot.

Limit Turnovers: The Sixers have started a disturbing trend of turning the ball over at inopportune moments.  Against a team like the Rockets, the Sixers need to maximize every offensive position and take care of the basketball.

Get out and run: I know this seems painstakingly obvious, but I think it is even more crucial against the Rockets.  The Sixers are more athletic than this team and can beat them down the floor on any occasion.  The Sixers should look to run at every opportunity-even on a made shot when possible.  Pushing the pace of this game will limit the effectiveness of a hobbled Ming and McGrady.

This is a tough matchup for the Sixers and they will have to be clicking on all cylinders to come away with a W.  I hope I am wrong.

Now that the biggest waste of time, the NHL All Star game is in the rearview mirror, I wanted to preview the last three months of the Flyers season.  Currently, the Flyers sit as the 6^th seed in the Eastern Conference, behind division foes the Devils and Rangers, as well as the Bruins, Capitals, and Canadiens.  Realistically, there are 10 teams vying for 8 playoff spots in the conference, with the other 4 being Buffalo, Carolina, Florida, and Pittsburgh.  The Flyers have 59 points, and it would most likely take an extremely bad stretch of hockey for them to fall out of the playoffs.  At the moment, Carolina holds the 8^th seed and trail the Flyers by 8 points with the Flyers holding two games in hand.

I said that it would take a bad stretch for the Flyers to miss the playoffs, and that is true, however we all know that it can easily happen with poor goaltending or another rash of injuries.  With all that being said, let’s take a snapshot look at the rest of the season and the keys to reaching the playoffs.

1)       Beat the teams you’re supposed to.

The Flyers have 36 games remaining in the season, of which 12 are against teams with virtually no shot at making the playoffs.  The Flyers need to get points in almost all of these games to rack up as many as they can.

2)       Take Advantage of Opportunities.

Of their 36 remaining games, 22 of them will come against Eastern Conference teams fighting for the playoffs.  This includes 5 huge games against the Rangers, 4 versus the Bruins, and 2 each against the Devils and Capitals.  In order to make their playoff push, the Flyers need to play well against these teams.  They cannot afford to give ground in these games.  For example, losing 4 out of 5 to the Rangers could prove devastating.

3)       March Madness

With 15 games, March will be a busy month for the Flyers.  More than that, it looks to be the crucial month in terms of reaching the playoffs.  There is only one game in the entire month against a team that will not be in the playoff hunt.  They play the Bruins, Rangers, and Devils twice each, and throw in games against division leaders Detroit and Calgary from the West, and it looks to be a tough month of hockey.  If the Flyers can make it through the gauntlet, they will almost surely be in great playoff position.  Their April schedule is extremely soft, save for a home and home against the Rangers.

The Flyers look to be positioning themselves nicely for the Stanley Cup playoffs, but they definitely cannot have any major lulls the rest of the way.  But, the way I see it for this team, just making the playoffs is not acceptable.  This is a team that has championship aspirations.  I think if they can accomplish the keys listed above, they should be able to have a little home ice advantage in the playoffs, which, considering the way the Flyguys play at the Wachovia Center, might end up being very important.  They won’t catch the Bruins, but a 2 or 3 seed is certainly attainable, and that should be the goal.  In order to do that they will need consistent strong goaltending, which they have not always received, as well as continued strong play from both the power play and penalty killing units.  Currently, the Flyers are first overall on the power play and seventh on the penalty kill.  I would like to see the penalty kill improve, as they have struggled of late.  It should be a fun run, and I certainly believe the Flyers will be in the playoffs.  We all know that, in hockey, once you’re in the playoffs, everybody has a shot.  Playoff hockey is some of the best theatre in professional sports.  Some great goaltending and timely goal scoring and you could be hoisting the Stanley Cup.

Well that won’t tell us much about how Elton Brand will be integrated back into the offense will it?  In only 13 minutes, Elton Brand scored 6 points on 3-4 shooting from the field in the midst of a 116-110 win over the New York Kicks.  His only points came around the bucket and he was rarely given the ball in the half-court.

What I find interesting, and mildly concerning, is Brand’s post-game remarks.  “It’s nice to have one under the belt.  Hopefully, the next game is a more fundamental matchup and I’ll get more minutes in the game.”  For weeks, the talk has been about how Brand needs to fit into the Sixers style of play rather than his teammates adapting to him.  The Knicks being a Mike D’Antoni coached team like to push the style of play.  They are not quite as quick paced as the “7 seconds or less” version of the Suns, but they can get up and down the floor.  As a skeptic, Brand’s quip could b interpreted as a disdain for this frenetic style of play and desire to play against teams where the half-court offense will be more important.  For now, I will give Brand the benefit of the doubt and assume he was referring to the way the two teams were matched up and not a reference to the Sixers fast-break offense.  However, a player’s quotes immediately following a game are often telling, so this is certainly worth watching.

What I liked:

Not rushing Brand back: I think Tony DiLeo is doing the right thing bringing Brand back slowly.  It is probably more about Elton finding his rhythm with teammates than it is about his condition as DiLeo has intimated, but it matters little.  Brand will be able to slowly find where he fits in on this team at a point where the club is clicking on all cylinders. 

The little we saw of Brand: It would be impossible to judge Brand or the performance of the team in full because of the scant playing time Brand received.  However, when Brand was on the floor he was effective.  In addition, we saw one of the side benefits of the Sixers newfound willingness to shoot from long-range—Brand’s rebounding ability.  Brand is one of the best offensive rebounders in the game and his second-chance points will likely increase with the new philosophy. 

Brand was also able to find the right spots on the floor.  Early in the season, he seemed to be catching the ball out of position and clogging up the lane at times.  He seemed like the proverbial square peg in a round hole.  Last night, Brand was not clogging lanes to the hoop and even laid a crushing pick at the top of the key to allow Andre Iguodala to get to the hoop.

The little we saw of the Sixers with Brand in the lineup: Perhaps more importantly than how Brand plays when he is on the floor is how the rest of the team plays.  Will they slow the pace down to get him involved?  Will they force the ball to him in the half-court sets?  We don’t have enough of a sample size to answer that question confidently yet, but the team is off to a good start.

Improvement in free throw shooting:

In a six-point game, that 26-32 from the line was crucial.  Here’s hoping this is the start of a trend because good teams do not struggle from the line.

What I didn’t like:

Effort on the Defensive End of the Floor:  Despite the win, I wasn’t pleased with the Sixers’ effort-particularly at the defensive end of the floor.  The Knicks were allowed far too much operating room to jack up 32 threes—knocking down 15.  Many of these three-point attempts came without a Sixer jersey in the frame.  The Sixers were slow on their rotations tonight and it almost cost them.  Next time a team knocks down 15 threes, I can assure you the end result will be different.

Pace of the Game: At this point you are probably raising your eyebrow wondering why I had a problem with the pace of the game when the Sixers scored 116 points and held a commanding 21-7 advantage in fast-break points.  But it wasn’t so much the pace of the game that I took issue with, it was who was dictating it throughout the game.  The fast-break points in this game are deceiving.  While the Sixers did hold the edge by a wide margin, the Knicks were often the team dictating the pace by creating fast-breaks off of made shots.  Too many times, the Sixers were beat down the floor after made shots.  The result was a game-long drill on defending the break. 

Perimeter Defense: I touched on this aspect of the game already with the weak defense against the three, but I think it extends beyond simply defending the arc.  The Sixers need to extend their ball pressure out and harass the ball handler a bit more.  Against a team like the Knicks that is looking to get as many positions as possible during the course of the game, pressure on the ball handler disrupts the flow of the offense.  Surprisingly, the only Sixer to do this with any regularity last night was Willie Green.  The best defensive sequence of the night was sparked by his end-to-end pressure on Nate Robinson.

Overall, the Sixers did just enough to win, but need to improve on the defensive end of the floor.  The next two games will be a good measuring stick.

It has been discussed by Sixers fans for weeks. Well, tomorrow it will actually take place on the court when the Sixers face the Knicks –Elton Brand will be back in the lineup. I have stated many times here that I believe that the Sixers will improve with Brand back on the floor. But, that doesn’t change the fact that there is definitely plenty of skepticism out there on whether or not Brand fits in with this team.

It’s pretty obvious to anyone who understands the game of basketball, that the Sixers had a much better offensive flow after Brand’s injury. They were flat out playing better basketball and I am not going to deny that. I have said it before so I will not continue to harp on it, but I think a lot of the better play can be attributed to the system Tony DiLeo has put into place. I also think that they have been much better defensively, and when you are getting stops and forcing turnovers, your offense becomes a lot more efficient. With an athletic, fast team like the Sixers, their defense is really the key to their offense. Elton Brand is an excellent interior defender, and he can certainly contribute on that end of the floor. The way DiLeo like his defense to play is to be aggressive out top and play passing lanes, and then allow the interior defenders to block shots. Brand is a great shot blocker. Obviously, none of this addresses the true problem.

At the beginning of the season the Sixers offense was dreadful and stagnant. When Brand was injured, many fans attributed the offensive success the team was having to his not being on the floor. I feel it had more to do with the team simply trying to fit their offense to Brand. I have been reading some very interesting and telling quotes from Sixers players recently regarding the return of Brand. To a man, they are insisting that Brand’s return will only make the team better, and he will fit in perfectly. But, that isn’t the interesting part. The words they have been using are. They have been saying things such as Brand will “fit in”, and he will “adjust”, and that he has been able to “watch and see how they play”. To me, that suggests that at the beginning of the year Mo Cheeks had the team trying to fit to Elton, but at this point it will be the other way around, and I like hearing that. At first DiLeo has said Brand will be coming off the bench for 4-6 minute stints until he gets his “game legs” back. Once that happens, we all know that Brand will be back in the starting lineup. The question then becomes, who comes off the bench? My guess would be Thaddeus Young. I want Young in the starting lineup, but the truth is he will probably finish most games and that’s what matters. Willie Green, in my opinion, should not be a starter, but I am fine with it as long as he is not finishing games. It is hard to deny that Iguodala excels at the “3”, and that is why with Brand starting at power forward it will probably be Young that goes to the bench. I really do think the signing of Elton Brand was a great thing for the Sixers, and as the season progresses, we will see the play of the Sixers elevate. Let’s hope that’s the case, because if it isn’t, then the Sixers have made a huge error in personnel judgement.