Sixers vs Raptors 10.29.08

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

A) There are about ten-twenty players who have averaged 20 PPG. Among them, I believe Kobe and LeBron are the best closers in basketball. I'm not sure if Paul averaged 20 PPG, because if he did. I would have put him over LeBron. Because I agree with Skip. Unless LeBron improves his jumpshot, he will always struggle against teams that have good perimeter players.

Which is why, this eastern conference. With at least 3 teams with guards/forwards experienced and/or athletic enough(Boston, Detroit, Us). Is vastly superior to the conference Cleveland played in when they reached the finals. Oh, and people only remember that they reached the finals. They don't remember that San Antonio kicked Cleveland's rear end by: Stopping LeBron. Who singlehandedly is the Cavaliers. Cleveland is a mediocre playoff team. The improved conference will show it.

B)Nothing's wrong. Except when Maurice Cheeks pretty much only has 1 play installed for this new, athletic team that would be beautiful under Phil Jackson's triangle offense. Yes, this team under the triangle would be beast. Iguodala and Miller are excellent playmakers. Brand has averaged at least 3 APG throughout his career, so he can kick the ball out. It's a nice dream that will never happen.

Hopefully 15-20 games in, Maurice Cheeks understands what kind of ball club he has. What kind of sub pattern to use. And what an offense actually is. If he doesn't and we're .500 or god forbid, sub-500. He gets the axe.

[sixers_610]

lol is this a joke? what have the 76ers done that the raptors haven't?

Won 3 nba titles? multiple hall of famers?

[LongLiveHinkie]

Denied the Raptors Toronto's only chance at a championship this century back in 2001. The list goes on.

[76ciology]

IMO, the problem with our team is that we are forcing guys like AI2 and EB to be no.1 options on offense, which they aren't really capable of. IMO, they are more of a no.2 and no.3 option on offense.

If not Brand or Iggy, WHO is the # 1 option?

Well, they can BE our no.1 option but that would not give us a much needed lift on the offensive end to be a legit team in the league. We could beat average teams in the league but against the top ranking teams in the league, we'll look more of pretenders not contenders out there. And last night was a good example.

With Brand, it's because he is a jump shooting PF. He's not the type of PF where you can just dump the ball to him at the post and expect to get good looks out of double team. He needs a facilitator to give him good looks, comparable to David West with CP3. He's a kind of guy who can give you 20ppg but he's not the kind of guy who can dominate the game with his scoring. Like I said, a good comparison is how KG is to the Celtics.

With Iggy, I think it has already been proven and has been debated over and over again that he isn't capable of being no.1 option of offense. He doesn't have what it takes to create shots for his own against good defenders. And his shooting is the usual suspect.

IMO, Thaddeus Young or L-Will CAN BE our no.1 options on offense. This is just a hunch because I can't be stating facts that aren't proven yet. But Thaddeus Young and Louis Williams got scorers mentality and have enough skills to have what it takes to score against good defenders. They don't need facilitators, they can simply create shots on their own. Louis Williams has tremendous advantage because of his quickness, shooting ability and slashing skills. While Thaddeus Young, aside from being a natural scorer, I think he's floater is a shot that would be very hard to defend.

[76ciology]

A) If Brand isn't a number one option, then who in this league is?

See the post I just posted previous to this.

B) Is a "number one option" really even needed? What's wrong with having several players who are all very capable scorers? As long everyone meshes well together and play well off of each other, then that's all that matters.

It's not really needed, although it would really be tough to build a team that could be considered "elite" and yet not have somebody to be no.1 option on offense. Like for instance, with the Pistons. But we need guys who can hit shots from the perimeter to create problems for opposing teams and we need guys who can score 20ppg, even if they are not being called to be no.1 options on offense.

The problem with our team is that we don't have that much diverse options on offense. We have too much weakness on offense, and most of it is accredited for not being capable of hitting shots from the perimeter.

Andre Miller and AI2 are not scorers, they are more of a facilitator on offense. They excel more on creating opportunities for guys to score rather than scoring for themselves.

Thaddeus Young, although has the potential to be a good scorer in the league, is still a work in progress.

Sammy D, the guy who makes you tremble when he pulls for jumpers.

And now that leaves you Elton Brand, even with his 6'8 height, as the guy who is a proven scorer on offense and can give you 20ppg in a consistent basis.

The problem right now is that we're relying SOLELY on a guy who can give can JUST give you 20ppg. And with good PF/C defenders, he isn't capable of creating opportunists for others and is reduced to a jump shooting big man. I mean, watch the replay with the Raptors vs Sixers last night. You can see how most of our offensive possessions came down to isolation plays for EB. Because our offensive sets are easy to stop. And it was just the Raptors. Not the Pistons, Cavs or the Spurs.

[76ciology]

B)Nothing's wrong. Except when Maurice Cheeks pretty much only has 1 play installed for this new, athletic team that would be beautiful under Phil Jackson's triangle offense. Yes, this team under the triangle would be beast. Iguodala and Miller are excellent playmakers. Brand has averaged at least 3 APG throughout his career, so he can kick the ball out. It's a nice dream that will never happen.

Hopefully 15-20 games in, Maurice Cheeks understands what kind of ball club he has. What kind of sub pattern to use. And what an offense actually is. If he doesn't and we're .500 or god forbid, sub-500. He gets the axe.

Not really..

The triangle offense works best when you have the three zones covered. To make it to simpler terms, these zones are comprised of "inside", "midrange" and "three point distance." And in order to have a team that would be a good fit for a triangle, you need not just have versatility from your players but you need great perimeter shooting to cover the 3/3 areas and to have enough spacing to operate. Since the spacing is also vital for the triangle offense.

But yeah, Mo Cheeks is doing a horrible job for our team's offense. He focused too much on transition offense rather on what matters more, half court offense.

[freshie2]

Let's give this team some time on offense. It's a huge shift right now from the end of last season where the offense ran solely through the perimeter, now they have to try to work with/through in inside presence in Brand. Huge shift for them. Biggest impacts on Wednesday's game were Thad's early foul trouble and Sam's inability to hit his peeps early. Opening night, new big name player, new style for him, disappointing loss, but it's only 1 of 82 so I don't think anyone should be concerned.

As for Mo, we don't know where his focus is during coaching sessions...they are successful in transition, so you want to take advantage of that as much as possible. For my money, push the ball and then resort to Brand in the post when denied...they still should be more effective getting the ball across half court looking for the primary and secondary break before getting into a half court set.

This will take some time...they probably won't truly gel for a few weeks, but they do have so much more talent on the floor than previous years. My biggest area of curiosity is how Speights works into the rotation...I can't see Theo and Donyell ahead of him for long.

[cb4jk15]

Samuel Dalembert rejecting Bosh:

Streaming Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gK0vdTDGpo&fmt=18

Download Link:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/xffzhd

Samuel Dalembert 2nd Block on Bosh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DReob-0Egy8&fmt=18

Download Link:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/pxun7s

Louis Williams nice And1 against Toronto:

Streaming Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gipBzOutdes&fmt=18

Download Link:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/6t33ug

Enjoy!

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

Maybe a better system would be the Princeton Offense? I don't know. I just like this idea of having tall perimeter guys like Iggy and Thad and a savvy veteran like Andre Miller penertrate and attack the paint while Elton Brand attracts the defense to him. Kind of like what we saw last night against the Knicks. But it IS the Knicks lol.

[Nofx8881]

thanks

[Gold Chain]

I am going to see the Sixers in town on Nov. 12 here in Toronto.

Sixers looked a little confused in the opener. I am a big Raps fan but I think Philly did not really come to play in that game. The game on the 12th is a much truer test of the teams, but the opening night win will be key for us come April.