Marreese Speights

[STChaser]

Was it just me or does this kid looks like he belongs? I thought he was our best shot blocker / post player last night. The kid is fearless. He even looks like a pitbull out there. And he plays much longer than 6'10. After Brand, Speights should be the next PF off the bench. Evans is great for situational minutes but Speights brings the whole package.

Also, is it just me or is this the most talented team we've had in years? Across the board, we've got Lou Williams, Iguodala, Thaddeus, Sam, Brand, and Speights. The best thing about having a roster so packed with talent is that even if a few guys have an off night, I believe we have enough talent to still pull out games so long as one or two of our players come through for us.

What I really want to see is what Rush brings to this squad. That outside shooting is SO needed. Especially on the starters roster, where no one except Thaddeus could spread the floor last night.

STChaser

[ankle420breaker]

Also, is it just me or is this the most talented team we've had in years? Across the board, we've got Lou Williams, Iguodala, Thaddeus, Sam, Brand, and Speights.

Don't forget about that Andre Miller guy too.

[76ciology]

I think it's been quite a while that we have a team sorrounded by young talented players rather than overpaid role players with the greg buckners and the eric snows of the league.

I can see Iggy playing PG next year and Lou Will playing SG, then Young, Brand and Sammy with our frontcourt. Then when Brand starts to decline, Speights may fill the starting PF position.

I think we're going to have a pretty competitive team for a long time.

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

Mo never plays young guys, this is a fact. It took Ed Stefanski to use this roster correctly. It'll take Ed and some mediocre results to get that scrub Evans on the bench

[IversonsMother]

I don't know about best shot blocker, but he will fit in and should get pt over Ratliff this season in my opinion.

[dbodner]

Mo never plays young guys, this is a fact.

It's actually an opinion. And I believe quite a wrong one.

It's not like he inherited a second year Andre Iguodala, and started him every game the next 3 years. Or a 3rd year Korver, and played him 31 minutes per night. Or played a 20 year old Louis Williams in 61 games his second year in the league, and a 21 year old Louis Williams enough to score 11.5 ppg.

And that Jason Smith kid never got off the bench as a rookie!

I know, I know, Stefanski was the ONLY reason 19 year old Thaddeus Young even sniffed the court last year. We can ignore the fact that Thad played 14 mpg during December before Ed arrived, and his #'s were already gradually increasing every day. But even assuming Ed was the entire reason for Thad's increased playing time (a dubious claim at best), please look at the entire body of works with Maurice Cheeks and young players.

[bballin76]

I'm just imagining a team of:

Speights - C
Brand - PF
Young - SF
Iguodala - SG
Williams - PG

and getting really excited. That would be an offensive and defensive nightmare for teams to contend with. Hopefully Speights and Williams continue to develop into those positions.

[jmon]

I know, I know, Stefanski was the ONLY reason 19 year old Thaddeus Young even sniffed the court last year. We can ignore the fact that Thad played 14 mpg during December before Ed arrived, and his #'s were already gradually increasing every day. But even assuming Ed was the entire reason for Thad's increased playing time (a dubious claim at best), please look at the entire body of works with Maurice Cheeks and young players.

To add...
Kover left 31 minutes behind when he was traded.
Mo and Ed had a "meeting" where they agreed to fill those minutes with young guys. (as opposed to?)
Thad and Carney promptly recieved an increase in their minutes.(As did the core players)
Smith was already getting minutes.
Thad earned more time progressively because he was good.
Smith had his minutes cut because he was bad.

So a player left... his playing time was competed for and Thad won. Thats how I saw it. I don't see anything odd or noteworthy about that for a GM personally.

[geiger]

Speights has a bright future, but unless we are unfortunate and have a lot of injuries, he isn't likely to be on the floor much - at least in the first half of the season. Brand, Evans, Dalembert and Ratliff all will get minutes and Marshall probably will get some as well. We're a much deeper team this season and while last year, Thad had practically no one else in front of him, Speights has a lot to deal with. And the expectations are different as well. Mo will go with veterans until Speights is ready to contribute on both ends of the floor and a lot will depend on how quickly he picks up the system on both ends and any trades or injuries that might happen. I would not be shocked if he barely played all year this season and then became a major contributor as the first man off the bench next year.

As for Mo and Stefanski, it's pretty reasonable that they both get some credit for last season. Stefanski did make trades to open up minutes for young guys and he did ask Mo to play the young guys more so he could evaluate the team while promising Mo that he won't be penalized if the team loses. Mo on the other hand did a very good job of motivating the young kids, getting them ready to play, and putting them in positions where their strengths were accentuated and their weaknesses minimized. Both should get a lot of credit for the jobs they've done.

[freshie2]

I'd be more prone to put him right into the rotation as well, but I think Geiger is right that it will take some time for him to get major minutes. I think they'll start with Evans as the main back up PF, but hopefully Speights plays his way into more minutes by the All Star break. Speights has shown enough in his raw talent to go with him over Evans (they both will make silly mistakes, but Speights is much better offensively and longer), but I can't see the Sixers putting him ahead of Evans at the beginning of the season.

[CoachK]

I can see Iggy playing PG next year and Lou Will playing SG, then Young, Brand and Sammy with our frontcourt. Then when Brand starts to decline, Speights may fill the starting PF position.

If Iggy is playing PG next year the Sixers will be in big trouble. No way Iggy can play PG IMO. If I'm not mistaken Iggy was in the top 5 of all forwards in turn overs last year. IMO one of Iggy's weaknesses is the ability to hold onto the ball. Someone puts some pressure on him from about half court as a PG all kind of weird things will happen.

[is1531]

Mo never plays young guys, this is a fact. It took Ed Stefanski to use this roster correctly. It'll take Ed and some mediocre results to get that scrub Evans on the bench

Believe it or not Mo Joe played young guys last night and we went -25 in the 2nd quarter. That is Mo Joe for you. I wonder what Mo Joe saw. I would give Speights all the minutes when Brand goes to the bench. I loved that shot Evans had blocked that went through the net backwards. The refs had to confer, giving the 76ers the ball with 1 second on the 24 second clock and Iggy hits a tray. This could only happen with Evans.

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

Indeed. Iggy has court vision, but no handles. If he had handles, he would be a major 25 PPG scorer.

[tk76]

If Iggy is playing PG next year the Sixers will be in big trouble. No way Iggy can play PG IMO. If I'm not mistaken Iggy was in the top 5 of all forwards in turn overs last year.

I agree that Iguodla is not a viable option at the point (unlike a guy like Roy or JJ), but Iguodala actually dramatically cut down on TO's last year. I think the 2nd half of the season he barely committed 2/game- it was his biggest area of improvement last year.

I think the Idea would be to have a motion offense where Lou and Iguodala slit PG duties. Lou as more of the primary guy bringing the ball up, but with Iguodala doing his share of creating of the dribble to allow Lou to run some off the ball and not have to be a true PG. It could wrk, but we will have to see how both players develop. I expect to see a lot of Iguodala-Lou sharing the baxckcourt this year, show we should get a good indication if they could be a viable combo.

[Skates]

Indeed. Iggy has court vision, but no handles. If he had handles, he would be a major 25 PPG scorer.

Iggy is a very good ball handler for a wing player. He is no PG, but peole who say he has a bad handle in general are incorrect. What he lacks is an explosive power handle on drives to the basket, that is where his offensive game is lacking and is why teams can easily force him to shoot jumpers if they defend him early on the drive. If he had that he would average 25 ppg as you noted. His handle in the open court and on the perimeter is very good. some guys have great power handles, but look very sloppy in the open court. Dr. J was a good example of this. It is another reason why Iggy is a high end complimentary player and not a franchise-level scorer.

As far as the turnovers go, early last year he tried to do way too much, but as tk noted he got much better as he eased into his role on a much improved team later in the year.

[ZigZag]

iguodala is fast not quick which is why he has trouble. He can handle a ball but he doesn't have a dribble. There is a difference. Iverson had a dribble but Snow could handle the ball.

[ankle420breaker]

Speights had a solid game today. Shot 6-7 for 12 points in 15 minutes of action.

[is1531]

Speights was the diffference in the game today. Cheeks chose to play Speights just 2 minutes in the ist half. In the 2nd half he played the entire 4th quarter shooting 5-5 drawing a charge and making a steal. I love the pass that Iggy made to Speights for the dunk.

If the 76ers want to see Speights grow faster we need Miller feeding Speights in the post where Speights can be most effective since he is ambidexrous. Up until this point Miller has not given Speights that opportunity. In yesterday's game, Miller did not play in the 4th quarter, so they had no opportunity to connect.

Speights has a very quick release, so if you see him opened the defense has no time to recover the way he releases the ball.

I would like to see 3 starters in the game at all times so we do not lose scorers. I am counting on Lou Williams, Speights , Rush or Green to be our ist 3 players off the bench to give us scoring.

[darius08]

Speights was phenomenal. If he keeps thi sup, we have something very special in him. What's most impressive is that he can be a genuine two way big man. We're lucky enough to have one in Brand. But to have a second one is amazing. There just aren't that many great two-way big men in league.

[ankle420breaker]

I love the pass that Iggy made to Speights for the dunk.

Yeah... saw that. Nice little wrap around pass in traffic. Good hands by Speights... he goes up fast and hard when he gets the ball that close. I don't know if Mo will be able to keep Speights off the floor too far into the season.