The Sixers dropped another game tonight, losing 96-86 to the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas. The Sixers blew a 12 point second half lead en route to their 5th loss in the last 6 games, dropping their record to 13-19 on the season.
This is not what I envisioned at the start of this season. I will admit that I drank the Kool-Aid just like everyone else. When the Sixers were able to sign Elton Brand and retain both Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams, I was expecting a continued improvement in this team. Instead, it seems they are going backwards, and may again be back to where they used to be when Billy King so famously signed below average players to huge long term contracts. I realize that it is still early, although the season is close to the midway point believe it or not, and that Elton Brand has been injured the past couple weeks.
However, its pretty obvious to me that these are not the pieces that will bring this team back to NBA contenders. They have a point guard who can’t shoot, a 2 guard who can’t shoot or handle, a young swing man who needs more time to develop, a high priced power forward in Elton Brand, who even before his injury looked to me like he was definitely not the same player he was before his Achilles injury last year, and to top it all of, my favorite Sam Dalembert, who is pretty much a waste of athletic ability. This team has no shooters and no true scorers. When you have to use Andre Iguodala as your go-to guy when the team needs a bucket, that is not a winning team.
Tonight’s game against the Mavs was a great example of many of the problems, regardless of not having Brand in the lineup. This team cannot defend! If a team cannot defend and can’t throw the ball in the Atlantic Ocean, how do we expect them to win? Everyone points to their horrible 3 point shooting as well as the fact that they give up a high percentage on opponents 3 point shooting. The Mavs tonight had 27 assists on 36 field goals, and many of those were outside jumpers. The main problem that I’ve seen is this team has no one who can stop penetration, which leads to wide open looks for the opposition. I am not sure how to change this. I do believe when Brand come back the team will play better and possibly sneak into the playoffs, but I am frustrated with this team, and unless they can pull off a miraculous trade, I do not see my frustrations subsiding any time soon. Stay tuned.
I’ll grant you that parts of this team are poorly constructed, but I think you may be undervaluing Young and Speights. Thad came back with a much improved jumper and a better understanding of how to get himself open without the ball. I think when Brand comes back you’ll see the benefits of the extended minutes Speights has been getting. I think given time he’ll be able to play with Brand b/c he has better basketball instincts than Sammy.
Though they are flawed, I think that the Spurs game tells you a lot about this team. Playing back to back on the last game of a 2 week road trip (including the holidays), with only 1 win, they could have easily packed it in after being down 20+ in the first half. They came back and had a real chance to win. At the very least they play hard every game.
I completely agree regarding Thad and Speights, and I have been hoping they started giving Speights more minutes and taking minutes away from Dalembert. I hope they continue that trend much like last year when they started playing Thad. I do think the Spurs game showed some resolve, and I believe they will improve as the season progresses, but I feel they don’t have an identity. You can’t win consistently in this league with no perimeter shooters or half court offense. Being a great fastbreak team will not lead to much. I would like them to use Brand more in the low post. We will see when he returns. But, as a fan, I am concerned. Sneaking into the playoffs is not good enough in my opinion.