The 76ers, coming off their first non-losing season since 2004 but in apparently disarray, are facing a problem: what to do with marginally successful but apparently disliked Head Coach Tony DiLeo?
Today we’ll look at the options. In the interest of balance I’ve got four for each side …
Get rid of the bum
He Lost the Locker Room
In the immediate wake of game six Theo Ratliff called out the coaching, Andre Iguodala didn’t exactly endorse his coach, Reggie Evans, who DiLeo hadn’t played at all in the pivotal game, said the teams performance was embarrassing, and the next day Theo and Andre Miller didn’t show up to their final meeting or even provide an excuse, a slap in the face of the rookie coach. If the 76ers intend on bringing either of those guys back it would be a hard sell that DiLeo is the right man for the job.
He Lost Game Six
Speaking of that elimination game, it really did not speak well of the head coach that the young team lacked energy and drive in his first elimination game. For whatever reason the 6ers didn’t respond in the biggest game of their season, instead they laid down in front of their home crowd. As a coach, effort is on you.
He’s not interesting
Last year the 76ers spent money, were marginally competitive, and reached the playoffs. No one seemed to care. The 76ers couldn’t sell out game six of a series that had already had three buzzer beaters.
To be blunt, the fans don’t care about this team. As long as money remains important, and income is dependent on fans, that matters. Tony DiLeo, who is far from a sexy name, won’t change that fact. Getting a ‘name’ coach like Stan Van Gundy or Eddie Jordan might.
Keep the bum
Where is the team headed?
I mean this as a serious question – what is the goal of this 76ers team? Do you know? Do they? They’re not winning a championship, and with the 17th pick in the draft and no cap relief coming they’re not in a full scale rebuilding mode either. The direction they’re going to take depends a lot on how the offseason shakes out.
Further, Dalembert could be on the move, Miller is probably out of the door, and who knows what else Stefanski has up his sleeve. Because much of this offseason is going to be structured around addition by subtraction, the pieces that come back are far from determined. If the Sixers can move Sammy for a pass first heartbeat they’d do it in a second. Same thing with a shoot first two. Since different coaches demand different personnel (Larry Brown and Mike D’Antoni couldn’t succeed equally with each other’s teams) bringing in a coach before you have an idea of what the team is going to look like doesn’t make a terrible amount of sense.
Enter DiLeo. Always the company man, Tony is going to be willing to be a placeholder until the team starts to truly form. While bigger name coaches obsess over their personal records, DiLeo will do what he imagines to be in the best interest of the team, even if it hurts them in the short term. If Stefanski wants to see if Marreese Speights can play point guard while Lou Williams focuses on his rebounding and some rookie can pull double duty as a Hare Raiser, DiLeo will enforce the marching orders.. On a team where players are expected to be shuffled in and out of their natural positions, that isn’t nothing.
Won’t somebody think of the Children?
Keeping DiLeo signals to the young players that they’re important. DiLeo got chided by his players for coddling the teams’ youth. If he stays on Speights, Young, and Lou Will will know believe that while their coaches faith in them brought criticism upon himself, it was rewarded by management. Just because several vets called out the coach, not everyone in that locker room necessarily felt the same way.
Both teams played hard.
Tony DiLeo had the Sixers ready to play. They did play hard, and putting game six aside it was a rare day that they didn’t show up at all. Besides, even getting to that game six was better than most people expected, and it wasn’t in small part due to the effective defense DiLeo put in place.
This morning City Paper EIC Brian Howard, myself, and a contingent of media types headed down to Citizen’s Bank Park to take a few cuts in the Phillies’ batting cages and drum up support for the 12th Annual Richie Ashburn Home Runs for Heart, an event that holds special meaning this year after the passing of Harry the K to heart related issues.
The event, scheduled to be held at Citizens Bank Park on May 20 and 21 with all benefits going to the American Heart Association, pays tribute to Phillies’ Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, who died of a heart attack in 1997 and gives fans a chance to swing for the fences at CBP.
We, like most of the group, mixed in some decent cuts with some, well, not so decent cuts, but that story (and accompanying pictures) are for another day. Today I just wanted to tell a quick tale of shock.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure I should probably admit that, at times, I’ve taken the occasional shot at womens sports. Â I’m a pretty firm believer that any competent high school off guard could be a WNBA all star and I find the fact that one of my friends works for a women’s soccer team hilarious. I literally just took a break from writing this to mock her. So, with that in mind please take this following point with appropriate seriousness: the Phillies’ ball girls can absolutely rake. Irena and Kelli, the two ball girls working the event, both took a couple swings with the rest of the media, and both absolutely showed the boys club up. The girls peppered the cage (alas, we were forced inside due to concerns about the weather) with frozen ropes right up the middle. While the best of us were content with a couple hard drives the other way, these girls were like mini Placido Polanco’s out there. For a couple minutes it looked like I was going to have to directly follow one of them and I seriously considered pulling up lame with a fake injured hammy rather than face the embarrassment of getting obviously out hit by a girl.
Anyway, the full story of that event is forthcoming, so keep hitting refresh time and time and time again until we eventually decide to actually write it and toss it up.
** For more information about getting involved and joining the program, helping to raise money for the disease that is the No. 1 killer in Pennsylvania, contact Deborah Dixon at the American Heart Association. She can be reached at deb.dixon@heart.org or at 610-234-2415. Individuals and teams are both encouraged.
Look, we know your hometown 76ers have been eliminated and that it would take a superhuman performance for any non-Lakers or Cavs team to stop LeBron and Kobe from meeting for crown, but if you’re a hoops fan, you just can’t help but enjoy what you’ve been seeing in the NBA playoffs. We know we’re being a bit fanboyish with this one, but here are four reasons, in no particular order, why you really need to be paying attention.
The Legend of Rajon Rondo. I know Rondo plays for the hated Boston Celtics, but his evolution has been nothing short of epic. Back at Kentucky, Rondowas a skinny athlete who couldn’t take minutes from Pat Sparks, a chubby local Kentuckian best known for hitting a tournament buzzer beater and mocking Billy Packer directly after. Now? You gotta talk about him when you talk about Chris Paul, Deron Williams and DerrickRose as the next guard of standout point men.
The Death of the Big Man. Every year since the Bulls started their dynasty, the argument can be made that the NBA championship was won by the team with the most dominant big man — think of course, of Michael Jordan (who may well have been the best post player in the league for his last three chips) or the 2005 Detroit Pistons. It’s a fun trend for gamblers, but an annoying one for NBA fans. But this year, barring a huge shock, the best big man will not. This means one of two things: first, and most likely, we’re entering the age of LeBron. Beware. The other possibility, however, is far more exciting: It is possible that the new set of rules that allow quick, penetrating guards to basically go where they want on the court have finally made the positions more equal. For years, everyone assumed that games slow down in the playoffs. This year, that may not be the case.
Mavs v. Nuggets. It’s far from the marquee matchup of the round, but the Mavs and the Nugs have the potential to provide the best seven-game series of any matchup until the finals. The Mavs have no fears, they just beat San Antonio, which still carries as much playoff clout as anyone out there. In the wake of the playoff series, you heard Andre Iguodala complain that the 76ers’ younger players weren’t ready to contribute. It was a dick move, but it had some validity to it — in the playoffs, younger players often have a hard time adjusting. Think of it this way: For young players, the road to the championship is an unexplored one. Often, even though their cars are faster and slicker, they have a harder time getting to the final destination that some older, slower models who know where all the potholes and dead ends lie. Well, J Kidd, Dirk and the gang certainly know the route to a loss in the finals, which has to be worth something.
On the other side, you have the fantastic dynamic that is Chauncey Billups being put in charge of a team of unrepentant troublemakers. Carmelo is Paul Pierce with a DUI, Kenyon Martin’s locker sticker reads “730″ (think Big L), J.R. Smith thinks he’s open right now and Chris Anderson had a well-known heroin habit. They’re also all really talented and now have a guy leading them who knows how to do it. Add in the fun individual matchups (Kidd and Billups, Meloand Josh Howard, Dirk and a suddenly youthful Martin) and you got yourself a series that could end up being pretty good.
The Evolution of moneyball. Earlier this year, Michael Lewis made waves when he wrote a gushing New York Times Magazine cover story on Shane Battier, the Houston Rockets and the moneyballization of the NBA. Put simply, the league is now full of awesome super-secret stats that measure much of the intangibles we’ve been striving to figure out for years. Two teams at the top of this curve — the Rockets and the Mavericks — will enter round two heavy underdogs to teams that conventional wisdom has judged way better.
Between the NFL draft, the various playoffs, and the Phillies finally getting their sea legs much has been happening in the world of sports. Lets catch up.
Craig Sager caught up with Ron Artest yesterday to talk about Brandon Roy and the Portland Trail Blazers. The results were everything you could hope for and more.
So I know everyone is making a big deal about AI2 demanding that the Sixers blow up their team and Theo Ratliff calling out Tony DiLeo, but the quote of the postgame has to belong to Andre Miller. Check it out:
“They’re actually better without Dwight Howard,” Sixers guard Andre Miller said. “One of their players told me that they were better without Dwight Howard. They said the ball moves quicker. They’re not standing around a lot.”
Wow. Not only did Miller opine that the Magic are better without their star, but he said in no uncertain terms that a player on the Magic agrees. Give that a story a day or two and watch it take off.
UPDATE: THAT WASN’T THE CRAZIEST THING THAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT! Here, courtesy of Gary W. Green at the Orlando Sentinal, is photographic evidence that Sammy DID kiss Hedo last night.
the kiss
the death
what a world.
Phils Mets tonight, Boston Chicago tomorrow, and minicamps all weekend – I’m off to breathe life into my dying laptop and/or sneeze in Joe Biden’s airplane …
A couple of days ago one of the Phillies announcers (probably either Franzke or LA) made a smart point. He said the trip the Phillies made to Colorado, a trip that occurred just five games ago, feels like it happened six months ago.
Between dealing with the pageantry of the World Series, constant rainouts, the hoopla around the Kalas commemorative ceremonies, scheduling and canceling meetings with the President and everything else the Phillies have had a lot on their plate.
In baseball, a game or comfort and repetitions, this can take a toll. So far, the Phillies have played on four consecutive days just once (for what its worth, and its probably not a terrible amount, they won the final three), and after another rainout last night they’ll have to try again tonight in the first of nine scheduled tilts. It’ll be a welcome return to normalcy for the Phils, whose pitchers have begun to openly pine for a regular schedule and for their WBC warriors, who didn’t get their typical spring ABs.
Is that an excuse? Probably, and it could be this type of talk that Charlie is referring to when he says his team has lost some the drive that got them to the title, but its also next in a long line of reasons why its still way too soon to worry. No matter how far ahead the Marlins are.
My thoughts: Underclassmen have the option of declaring for the NBA draft, not signing an agent, and withdrawing their name once. Scottie, who will be a senior next year, is merely using this opportunity to get a few runs in against pro talent in front of pro scouts – it’ll be a shock if the guard doesn’t come back. Win-win.
My Thoughts: Trent Cole and Mike Patterson, I hope your cell phones are charged, you’re going to be using them quite a bit today. The Birds spent the entire offseason jettisoning team leaders (Dawk, Tra, Runyon) and now it is becoming obvious why they need them.
My Thoughts: Why oh why couldn’t the 76ers have tanked?? We’ve been obsessed with Rubio since at least August 2006 when we came emailed this blog post to a friend and marked him down as one to watch. Rubio is Next, and I can’t wait to watch his game day-in day-out.
My Thoughts: Not a bad time waster for the day after a rainout, and its probably a good sign the new beat guy is working this hard to find the truth behind a suspicious quote. I remember last year being shocked that I was the only person who made a big deal about the fact that Charlie said, in no uncertain terms, that the Nationals were tossing at Utley. Something about the code of baseball writers I suppose. Anyway, kudos to Martino, even if I doubt there is too much behind Cholly’s call out.
The Story: Some poster on BuffaloBills.com breaks down every (we think) sack Jason Peters “gave up” last year and comes to the conclusion that he was pretty nice. h/t the 700 level
My Thoughts: I need some more time to digest this before I can formulate a coherant thought. Initial reaction: dope.
This February the NBA trade deadline passed with the Sixers holding onto Andre Miller, an expiring contract who is expected to bolt at the end of the season. At the time I believed the move made little sense, now I’m not so sure. Lets look at the two sides:
Gotta Make the Move.
Miller had more value to a team attempting to clear cap space than he did here in Philly, where barring drastic moves the 76ers won’t be able to pursue free agents no matter what they do. On top of that, because the Sixers won’t be able to easily maneuver this offseason, getting worse (the effect trading Miller would almost certainly have) would provide the team with a better draft pick, their one noticeable draft pick.
With Miller gone, the logic went, next year the 76ers could build around Iguodala, Elton Brand, and the young core of Thaddeus Young, Marreese Speights, and an incoming draft pick. If they slipped into the lottery and a guy like Tyreke Evans fell to them they could a hell of a core to play with.
The sixers stood pat though, and last night aside, almost certainly won’t make it out of the first round of the playoffs. Keeping Miller was worth a couple of wins this year and a couple less next. For a team who couldn’t use a couple more wins this year, not turning him into some sort of asset was insane.
But Wait …
In the NBA there are two way to get better. The first, and most obvious way, is to bring in better players, either through the draft or free agency, and yes, Millers presence made that slightly harder. What he may have made much easier, however, is the second way: a teams’ own players can improve.
Not only do young guys like Thad Young and M16 have better chances to succeed catches passes in the right spot from Andre Miller than they do fighting for rebounds from Lou Williams, but entrance into the playoffs has also given Andre Iguodala a stage to show off. For the Sixers, if they’re about anything, the 2009 playoffs are about the continued development of Andre Iguodala. AI2 was awful in last years’ postseason, a black mark on an up-and-coming team’s two postseason wins. Â This morning Rich Hofmann wrote that – for both better and for worse – reputations are made in the postseason. Last postseason, AI2 did not help his reputation.
This year, after putting up 20, 8, 8, and a game winning jump shot, he already has. Andre Iguodala led sportscenter, and he fronted Sports Illustrated’s home page. Better, he knew it. After hitting the game-winner Iggy mugged for the cameras. He wanted the shot – there was not way he was passing there – took it, and hit it. He wanted to be the man, and came through as the man when it mattered. It would have been an important shot in the first 82, but only in the second set was it truly big.
If Andre Iguodala becomes that guy, the guy who can hit a game winner in the playoffs after playing a well-rounded do-everything type game (you know, this guy) then not trading Andre Miller gave the 76ers one of the pieces they need to be an elite team.
Look, AI2 isn’t ever going to win the MVP, and he’s probably never going to be the best player on a 50 win team either (he certainly wouldn’t be the best player on any of this year’s nine 50-win teams), let alone a championship level one. But, neither could Pierce, and he has emerged as a closer with a ring. If this matchup is the stone Iggy needed to step on to because AI9 (which he prefers) instead of AI2 (which everyone calls him instead), well then maybe the drop from 11 to 16 isn’t that bad after all.
This week print edition lacks a Sports Complex column, but in its stead we’re loaded up the ‘A Million Stories’ section with tales from the sports world. Charles gives a scene from the latest Bellator fight:
Technically Wilson Reis was the headliner, but by the time he climbed into the cage last Friday night at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Casino, the crowd was thin. Reis (pronounced “Hayz”) was born in Brazil and fights out of Philly; many of the attendees had come to see a New Yorker in the preceding bout.
Their loss. Though Reis’ opponent, Henry Martinez, stood 4 inches taller, Reis spent much of the fight seated cowboy-style on his opponent’s back, legs hooked tightly into his thighs. From there, he dropped heavy blows around the side of Martinez’s head. The only thing that could dislodge him was the bell.
Reis was all smiles after the unanimous decision. He didn’t even notice the sparse audience, he said. “I only see the cage. It’s all I focus on.”
and I try to capture a moment in the passing of HK.
Several hours after Harry Kalas, Hall of Fame voice of the Phillies, died after collapsing in the announcer’s booth of Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., Scott Franzke, who will assume some of Harry’s play-by-play duties, took over Harry’s innings in a contest between the Phils and the Nats. Obviously emotionally drained, he went through the motions and reminisced about his friend.
Then, in the third inning, Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino hit the first home run Harry couldn’t call, forcing Franzke to tell the world about it. It wasn’t easy. Kalas had made the words “It’s outta here” famous, turning every Phillies long ball into an event. If you live in Philly, you’ve heard those words, and know what they mean. Franzke, trying his damnedest to keep his composure, mustered a weak “outta here,” and tried to move quickly on to the next batter. He couldn’t. His voice cracking, he sat back in the booth and attempted to compose himself as Chase Utley came to bat in silence.
We miss you, Harry.
Five more local (well, four local and one local to my heart) stories
When someone finally asks me for my five favorite SI stories I’m going to immediately name three than stammer around for days searching the achieves trying to name the next two. One of those first three? The infamous Todd Marinovich robo QB piece, an absolutely stunning article on America’s next great Quarterback. It gets better with age.
The timing of yesterday’s announcement by Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt that the team would “listen to [trade] opportunities and see what actually exists” coming so soon after the news that the “Giants and the Cleveland Browns recently reopened talks” about Braylon Edwards is not a coincidence.
The NHL Playoffs are upon us, and the marquee matchup of the first round features the Philadelphia Flyboys and that team that that guy who is supposed to be next but everyone hates. Since (to be gentle) I’m not the biggest X’s and O’s guy when it comes to the game of sticks we’ll leave the prognosticating to the prognosticators (speaking of, ESPN’s best guesses are HERE, Philly.com’s are HERE, SI’s are HERE, and PuckDaddy’s is HERE) and just lop some generic ill-will towards our half-wit neighbors to the west.
Last May we had the chance to interview Harry Kalas for a Two Minutes With … segment. He really was unlike anyone else we’ve talked to. Harry was every bit the larger-than-life figure you made him out to be, and every story you hear about him is endearing.
The piece is available HERE, and includes a sad quote about when he wanted to hang it up. The rest of the interview is HERE.
In the past years, many of us have remarked that Harry has been like grandfather. His presence and his voice were always calming, always a tone of relaxation and the good life. The first time we heard his voice every spring, nothing else mattered. The Phillies were back, and his words conveyed optimism and promise, even in the worst of seasons. In the best of times, there was no greater sound than Harry shouting it out over the joy of the crowd.
To me, Harry is part of my family. He is my fifth uncle, my summer retreat. He is Phillies baseball. Throughout the 24 years of my life, there have been few constants, and besides my family, there has been the Phillies, and there has been Harry Kalas. For millions across the Delaware Valley and beyond, the feeling is exactly similar. So listening today was tough – Tom McCarthy and Chris Wheeler, and Gary Matthews and Larry Andersen filled the gaps well, but there was no voice. There was no regal baritone serenading me to the field. There was no optimistic tingle in the hearty chords. There was no “High Hopes.” There was no “outta here.”
Dom Cheek (far left) and Maalik Wayns (center right), Villanova’s
backcourt of the future, pick up some hardware at the elite 24 game.
With Ring Day happily celebrated and over with, what better time is there to remember the other championship level team the Philadelphia area boasts? It’s not the Eagles we’re talking about (though perhaps some draft day trades can get them there), nor is it the Flyers (no matter how strong they finish this final push), Sixers (hah) or even that team Bon Jovi used to own, which doesn’t exist anymore — it’s next year’s Villanova Wildcats.
They’re the topic of this week’s column, Nova 2010, which looks back on this year’s head-and-hearts team that streaked to the Final Four:
In the wake of Nova’s impressive run to the Final Four, a common refrain has emerged: This year’s team hit its ceiling; they did their best. It isn’t meant as a backhanded compliment, but it says plenty by omission: The 2008-2009 Villanova Wildcats played great, but talent-wise, they were probably just all right, at least as far as national powers go.
And next years’ run-and-shoot version: a group that, put simply, is awesome:
While this year’s Nova team went eight deep on a good day, next year’s could feasibly run out two units like hockey lines, then ride the hot hands late. Think about the combinations: Put Stokes and King at the forward spots, Scottie at the two and see what Fisher, already perhaps the Big East’s most dangerous player in transition, can do with an open floor. Let Wayns run an offense around Dom Cheek with tough defenders like Redding and Antonio Pena. Remember the four-guard offense, and how fun it was? Well, next year the Wildcats can run it with nothing but All-Americans.
Look, playing with heart is a talent, and lets not take anything away from the 2009 Villanova Wildcats and everything they admirably achieved. That said, talent is a talent as well, and next year’s team has it in spades. This year UNC showed Villanova the difference between playing great and being great. Next year, if all goes right, Nova might have a chance to do the same.
Staff Blog
Why the 76ers should and should not keep Tony DiLeo
