RealGM

Philadelphia 76ers President and General Manager Ed Stefanski announced today that Jeff Ruland has been hired as an assistant coach. Ruland's main area of concentration as part of Head Coach Maurice Cheeks' staff will be to work with and help develop the Sixers post players.

"That I am able to add a coach with the experience and credentials of Jeff Ruland to my staff is exciting," Cheeks said. "He'll be an invaluable resource for our players - particularly our big men - and an asset to the organization as a whole."

Thoughts?

Whatever. Pretty insignificant.

Better be damn good.

Not sure if this is good or bad karma for Brand

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/200 ... _deal.html

This is the the same Jeff Ruland that worked out and recommended Shawn Bradley to Gm Jimmy Lynam. The rest is history. Thanks to Jim and Jeff for that pick back in 1993.

I was hoping Steve Mix would get the job.

His coaching credentials are pretty flat.. anything positive to say about him besides his playing days?

is1531 wrote:This is the the same Jeff Ruland that worked out and recommended Shawn Bradley to Gm Jimmy Lynam. The rest is history. Thanks to Jim and Jeff for that pick back in 1993.

Might be time to let that one go.

If Lynam remains on the bench, Ruland will probably just work with the big men. That's a good move. Sammy has needed a big man coach his entire career. Speights & Smith (next year) could benefit as well.

corwin wrote:If Lynam remains on the bench, Ruland will probably just work with the big men. That's a good move. Sammy has needed a big man coach his entire career. Speights & Smith (next year) could benefit as well.

Moses Malone has been working with the bigs, Dalembert in particular for the past 2 seasons.

In his day Ruland was pretty good at getting guys out on the break. Maybe that's what they're looking for from him. He was a very good player until he got hurt.

IversonsMother wrote:

corwin wrote:If Lynam remains on the bench, Ruland will probably just work with the big men. That's a good move. Sammy has needed a big man coach his entire career. Speights & Smith (next year) could benefit as well.

Moses Malone has been working with the bigs, Dalembert in particular for the past 2 seasons.

I know that. I've never read that he was full time though & I don't often see him when I watch the games on TV. I admit that I could easily be wrong about that.

IIRC Malone started cutting back on the time he spent coaching the bigs last year. Besides how could essentially trading out Moses Malone for Jeff Ruland ever turn out poorly?

Moses Malone did not want to be a full time coach. He's not a full time coach now. They wanted a guy to teach defense and other little tricks to our bigs. Ruland is perfect and unlike Mix, he actually has head coaching experience somewhere. In his playing days and prior to his injury, he was one of the better two way players in the league - a guaranteed 18 and 11 guy who was one of the dirties players around. Why wouldn't you want a guy like that to be a position assistant coach for you? He'll be fine and I can see him one day being a head coach in the NBA.

geiger wrote:Moses Malone did not want to be a full time coach. He's not a full time coach now. They wanted a guy to teach defense and other little tricks to our bigs. Ruland is perfect and unlike Mix, he actually has head coaching experience somewhere. In his playing days and prior to his injury, he was one of the better two way players in the league - a guaranteed 18 and 11 guy who was one of the dirties players around. Why wouldn't you want a guy like that to be a position assistant coach for you? He'll be fine and I can see him one day being a head coach in the NBA.

Between Ruland, Reggie and Royal Ivey we may not win an NBA championship, but we could do pretty well in the world head butting and nut cracking championships. Ruland was a crafty guy btoh with the cheapshots as well as being an effective post-player with limited athletic skills. He could be a very good mentor for a guy like Speights. I'm not sure Ruland or Malone could accomplish much with Sammy, he doesn't seem to listen very well and plays much more of a jumping-jack game, whereas Malone and Ruland were floor-bound grinders for the most part. Sammy could probably learn more from Ratliff who played a more similar game in his prime.

I think Sammy's problem is lack of listening and lack of an ingrained basketball knowledge stemming from the fact that he picked up the game later in life as opposed to kids who have been playing organized ball since they were 6 years old. He doesn't seem to have the desire to be great. It is what it is. Some guys have it and some guys don't. Players with equal talent can have entire different careers based on work ethic, desire, and ability to deal with pressure. That's why a guy like Ruland could be an 18 and 11 player and be one of the best two way centers in the league in spite of some athletic limitations whereas a guy like Jerome James is a 3 point a game waste of space.