I was at the Wachovia Center for last night’s embarrassing end to the Sixers season. There were quite a few empty seats in the building, and as the final buzzer sounded I thought maybe they were the smart ones. I am not going to break down last night’s game because it is pointless. I am not even going to go too much into anything regarding the Sixers. There is going to be plenty of time for all that. I just want to say that I am disappointed and as I sit and think about this season, I really didn’t see any growth in this team.
What bothered me about last night is the team clearly had no interest in fighting for their playoff lives. There was no sense of urgency. I never once saw any Sixer talking to each other on the bench during timeouts. They looked like a combination of a team running in quicksand and being stoned at the same time. Trust me, that isn’t a good combination. What we saw last night from the Sixers is inexcusable. There is nothing else to say about it. The one thing I would tell any naysayers during this season was that the Sixers are a young team that fights and plays hard. I can’t even say that anymore. Not after last night’s game, and especially not after what they said after the Magic embarrassed them in their home building.
“I”m going to sit down with Ed and discuss what I think will get us over the [hump].”- Andre Iguodala
Really, Andre? Dude, you are a good player, but come on! Who the hell is he? What has Andre Iguodala done to earn the right to even utter those words?!
“We weren”t always there.”
“We had mental lapses.”
“We had inner turmoil.”- Andre Iguodala
Maybe try being a leader and doing something about it instead of using it as an excuse after the season ends in a disappointing way.
“The coaches are responsible for guys [being] prepared and playing,” “They have to hold guys accountable. It’’s been that way all year, so you couldn”t expect anything different.
“You have to step up and get into guys. If [as the coach] you don”t have that type of personality, to be able to go at guys . . . “
“At the same time, it’’s your position. You”ve seen the mistakes and all that going on. Was anybody getting talked to about that? To me, this is losing if you have situations like that.”
“[The lack of that] has bothered me, and I”ve told them it’’s bothered me, that it’’s something you”ve got to deal with,”
“When you see the lack of effort, the lack of concentration, the lack of being able to get things done, and to stick with the same thing, to me you”re just trying to play guys, and I don”t feel good about it.”
“You don”t know if you”re going to get back to this position,” “This is my 14th year. It’’s not guaranteed that I”ll be in the playoffs again. To not get the effort, to see how things went, the lack of hustle, that leaves a distaste.
“I”m not a coach, I don”t make the substitutions. But if you”re going to do it like that, then that’’s the way it’’s done, then you get that type of game. You”re going to get whupped, plain and simple.
“If you see mistakes and you don”t address them when it’’s going on, guys get comfortable . . . That’’s why you lose seven games while you”re trying to move up [in the seedings].- All made by Theo Ratliff
I understand what Ratliff was saying, but please enough with the finger pointing. The Sixers for the most part did not stand up and hold themselves accountable. Now we find out, that certain players on the team feel that other players lack focus.
Believe me, that was just a sampling of the quotes from the spoiled mouths of the Sixers. I am just glad I wasn’t holding anything that could have been thrown thru the window when I read them. There is blame to go around on all sides here. I personally don’t think Tony DiLeo should be back. I think they need a tough minded proven coach who will figure out if these kids have any desire to be winners. There are some pieces on this team, but tons of problems. Questions surround this team at every position. Like I said, we will be discussing all that in the months to come. For now, I will just say I am disappointed and shocked at what I saw from this team, and especially at what I heard from their mouths after the fact. I have been wanting this team to grow, and based on how this season ended, you would be hard pressed to convince me that they did any growing at all this year. I am not sure if they “get it”. I am going to step away from thinking about the Sixers for a bit, but we will definitely be looking at this team and its future very soon. Until then, maybe we should just watch the Bulls and Celtics series to remind ourselves what NBA basketball is supposed to look like.
Great read. I feel the same way. They had no sense of urgency at all. When people on ESPN were saying it was a lock for Philly to win game 6, I knew they would come out like that. Just a pathetic performance.
I agree that they need a new coach. All he has done this season was put in different combinations and tested if they worked. A lot of them didn”t. Why the hell is Lou/Dre Miller/Royal running at the same time against players like Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis? If the Magic had a small lineup, which they don”t because there aren”t many small players on that team, it would make sense. But when you have Royal Ivey trying to cover Turkoglu, it just isn”t going to work out. Tony didn”t do anything with this team to help them grow. He just let them play and let their skills do the work.
I think that’’s the promising thing to take out of this. They still made the playoffs, and took a top team to the edge again, with purely skill. Some of the players grew, like Iguodala, Thad Young, and Mo Speights. Of course Thad and Mo still have plenty of growing to do, but they are very young. Iggy is finally turning the corner, in my opinion. His shot has gotten much better, he is an elite defender, and puts up superstar numbers. I don”t think he”ll ever be that DWade/Lebron/Kobe/CP3 type of superstar, but he puts up the numbers consistently.
Then there are the players that haven”t grown, like Lou Williams and Sammy D. I don”t know about Sammy. I think if they can get anything for him at this point, they should do it. Yeah, he’’s a top defending center in the league, but can”t play more than 24 minutes a game it seems like. He does stupid things with the ball, too. Lou has a nice shot, but he is not a point guard…and not the starting guard this team needs. Willie Green needs to not be starting anymore, also. He should be getting about 12-15 mins off the bench.
All great points Jimmy. Sammy looks like a lost cause. It’’s been the same thing with him every year. One big problem with this team is they have a bunch of guys who have skills, but are the wrong skills for their position. With Brand in the lineup Iggy would play the 2, but he isn”t really a 2 guard. Young isn”t a tru 3 or 4, Lou isn”t a point guard but he is too small for shooting guard, and on and on. I really want a proven veteran coach who knows defense. It has become obvious to me that a lot of guys on this team need a good kick in their ass. I do think that if given time, Stefanski will do a good job, the problem is, once you are locked into contracts in the NBA, it is hard to change up the roster. Should be an interesting offseason.