Why has this team turned aroun- and will it last?

[bigdavid]

That was a wonderful post by dbodner. It's the first time I enjoyed reading a long post in it's entirety.

I have thought that letting KK go left us without a 3pt threat, perhaps I might be proven wrong however I still think that being the worst team in shooting 3's lets other teams concentrate on our inside game.

After seeing his play with the Suns perhaps we might have given Giricek a better chance with us. How we can decide a players worth by playing him a couple of minutes, And we had to buy him out to get rid of him? go figure

[darius08]

bigdavid: i think the knock on giricek was his defense.

Dabods: Your points make a lot of sense. But Snider himself has said repeatedly that moving Korver created room for Thaddeus. Now that could be spin. But I don't think it is. I think what you're overlooking is that Korver himself played significant minutes at the four. Remember being frustrated at Mo's small ball? On 82games.com it looks like he played half his minutes there.

[bigdavid]

bigdavid: i think the knock on giricek was his defense.

Dabods: Your points make a lot of sense. But Snider himself has said repeatedly that moving Korver created room for Thaddeus. Now that could be spin. But I don't think it is. I think what you're overlooking is that Korver himself played significant minutes at the four. Remember being frustrated at Mo's small ball? On 82games.com it looks like he played half his minutes there.

I agree his defense was questionable, however when you never play you do not have game legs (lack of strenght) and defense requires more energy than offense imo. I just believe that since we had him we might have given him a chance. I am referring it Giricek

[Louis Williams]

I think its as simple as the young players finally finding their niche, Mo settling on a rotation, and everyone buying into the system.

[dbodner]

But Snider himself has said repeatedly that moving Korver created room for Thaddeus

Snider? Talking about basketball?

He probably doesn't even know the Sixers have a Jason Smith, too.

I think what you're overlooking is that Korver himself played significant minutes at the four. Remember being frustrated at Mo's small ball?

Which isn't Korver's fault, but Mo's. Mo's always had an affinity for small ball.

If you remember, Mo was not yet ready to give Thad too many meaningful minutes. I keep going back to the games Willie Green missed, because at that time Carney hadn't played at all in ca 5 games. Yet when Willie Green went down, Mo didn't feel Thad was ready, and catapulted Carney into the starting lineup and relegated Thad to clean-up minutes. And Carney stank in the starting lineup.

Mo simply wasn't ready to give Thad meaningful minutes at the time, and that happens regardless of whether Korver's on the team or not. Korver did not hold Thad back AT ALL imo.

That small ball lineup is also very hard to accurately say who was playing the power forward. It looked to me like it was more of Korver playing on the wings and Iguodala defending the 4.

Regardless, Mo wasn't ready to play Thad meaningful minutes. As Thad progressed, Mo inserted him into the starting lineup. Starters minutes at the 4 were not something Korver was competing for. If Korver were here he'd likely be hitting into Carney, Smith's, Evans and even Lou Will's minutes (or with the emergence of Young, Mo might have relegated Korver to the 20-25 minutes/game he merited), but not Thad's IMO. I will stay with what I said in that it was Mo not being ready to play Thad, and not Korver holding Thad back, and that Thad could have emerged into the starting 4 and gotten meaningful minutes with Korver still here playing 20 minutes per game. And my main contention, that Korver wasn't holding this team back on fast breaks or steals.

If you want to argue that Mo played Kyle too much? Ok. If you want to argue that Mo misused small-ball? Ok. If you want to say Mo wasn't ready to give Thad meaningful minutes, much less starters minutes? Ok.

But you can't tell me that Korver couldn't have had a role on a fast break team, nor that he was holding this team back from being a good fast break team that forced turnovers.

This notion that a fast break team is comprised of 12 guys who can all run fast and jump high is silly.

[dond]

I agree his defense was questionable, however when you never play you do not have game legs (lack of strenght) and defense requires more energy than offense imo. I just believe that since we had him we might have given him a chance. I am referring it Giricek

And, of course, that couldn't be done without cutting back on the playing time of someone else. So, had they done that ... we would be having a different conversation right now depending upon how it went.

Had it gone well and he turned out to be a real player ... well, then who knows what the conversation would be.

Had it gone badly ... well, then you know what we would be hearing ... Somebody would have to be a dope for playing him.

So, you don't get to just give him a chance without paying a price somewhere else.

[darius08]

But Snider himself has said repeatedly that moving Korver created room for Thaddeus

Snider? Talking about basketball?

LOL. I meant stefanski.

I wasn't disagreeing with most of your post. But I do think the way Mo plays this team, moving Korver opened up some time (not 1 for 1, but say 1 for 2) for Thad.

[Skates]

One big side effect of Thad starting has been Evans coming off the bench in most games. He has provided a nice spark with his physical play, rebounding and even some scoring of late. He has a number of nice breakaway dunks considering his size and type of game. He comes in and starts bodying people up and it gives the team a spark. His rebounding is more useful when Sammy is off the floor as they often go after the same missed shots and lose the ball out of bounds fighting over it. His offensive shortcomings are less of a problem playing on the second unit.

With regards to the young guys, Thad played very well, but seems to be hitting the rookie wall a bit lately. It makes sense since he didn't start playing a lot until this calendar year. At the same time Carney is stepping up and Smith is pushing past the wall and ankle injury. Along with Williams they give the team some offensive and defensive spark.

The guys on the team have also made the most out of the roles they have been given. Other than Sammy's recent outburst, if you want to call it that, they have played great team ball with different guys starring at different times.

The biggest thing with this team seems to be heart and mental toughness though. They bounce back from losses, play hard when they are behind and don't act intimidated by anyone. Even in the Celtics game where they were severely outskilled, they played with a chip on their shoulders. The young guys are especially impressive in their mindset, they bounce back from bad plays to amke good ones, forget about bad performances and play like they aren't afarid of any other players or teams.

[tk76]

Good point about Evans impact as a bench player with his energy and rebounding (and no one to fight for when rebounding.)

We now go 9+ deep with Evans, Carney, Lou and Smith coming off the bench (not to mention good spot minutes from Ollie and even Booth.) This helps our up-tempo style, and makes it more likely there will be someone hot to pick up the slack if one of our starters is having an off night.

For example, Carney was huge for us in the last few games. We probably can't expect that kind of regular contribution from him- but before he wasn't even in the rotation enough to take advantage of one of his hot shooting nights.

[sixers_610]

But Snider himself has said repeatedly that moving Korver created room for Thaddeus

He probably doesn't even know the Sixers have a Jason Smith, too.

Either that or he's convinced it's the same person playing for both teams. Kind of like the white Deion Sanders.

[tk76]

This guy thinks Mo is the reason for the turnaround. This link is "Dedicated" to a certain poster (and to Dond also):
http://daily.phanaticmag.com/2008/03/de ... sorry.html

[LieCheatSteal]

The switch from Evans to Young in the starting lineup. Evans is better suited as a bench player and Young is better as a starter. Young brings a little post presence as Evans brings energy off the bench. These two things were absent in the bench (Evans' energy) and in the starting lineup (Young's post presence). Also, Young is faster than Evans down the floor so, instead of Iggy and Green racing, now its Iggy, Green and Young. This makes the fastbreak more effective, even if they don't score.

[sixersinsider]

The Insider would have to agree that the korver trade laid the ground work for the new look sixers. (Korver played the majority of his minutes defending the post and was continually outclassed))It would be even inapropiate to play him as a wing on defense.
(evans would be on the bench)Korver was in one of the worst shooting slumps of his life when he was traded.. he was considered a luxury to an uptempo offense that has no post player that commanded a double team when he touched the ball in the post.

[darius08]

I dont think a 3 point shooter like Korver is a luxury in an uptempo game. I think he's essential to it. The trailer 3-point shooter makes the fast break so much more deadly. It prevents defenses from simply rushing back and collapsing around the basket. They not only need to get back on d but get back man to man.

[dond]

This guy thinks Mo is the reason for the turnaround. This link is "Dedicated" to a certain poster (and to Dond also):
http://daily.phanaticmag.com/2008/03/de ... sorry.html

Wow !!! Thank you for bringing that to this forum. As you know, no-one has more respect for coach Cheeks than I do. I may have even gotten a little teary eyed while reading it. Great Stuff !!!!

I too have hopes that the resurgence of the Sixers has just begun and Maurice Cheeks will be around for a long, long time leading this team to many championships. I believe he is just the kind of guy that can do it.
And I also believe that Ed Stafanski will, of course, be a major factor in all of this too.

Go Sixers ... The fun is just beginning.

[cavsfan_osiris]

By the responses in this thread you can tell there isn't one thing you can point to, there's a bunch of different things.

I'm surprised Lou hasn't gotten more love in this thread. He has been huge of the bench providing something that the Detroit Pistons don't have, a guy who can create on his own and break down a defense. Lou has been very important off the bench and has hit big shots. Of course propers to TNice. He has had in my opinion a much better rookie season than Durant. I also love coach Cheeks. He's one heck of a coach and I was actually hoping that if Mike Brown didn't work out in Cleveland that Philly would fire Cheeks and the Cavs would hire him.

The only team Philly has no chance of beating in the East is Boston. Other than the Celts they can compete with any team in the East. I know people are going to point to their inexperience in the post-season, but with Miller and a star like Iggy I'm not worried about that.

The obvious concern is three point shooting. Philly's margin for error is small because they really don't have the firepower to cover up poor play with 3 bombs. My Cavs are a good example of a team that covers up big problems by hitting threes when Gibson was playing, Damon Jones does and LeBron if he gets hot.

The ironic thing about that is I don't think the 76'ers find their identity unless Korver gets traded. With no big man on the 76'ers that demands attention in the post Korver didn't get his 3 point looks in an efficient manner. That coupled with his horrific defense didn't make him a good fit with this Philly team. He fits better with Utah and Philly is better because he's gone.

And even with Philly's problems shooting three's Carney and Iggy can get hot and provide the team with some range at times. I love how Philly is playing right now. Getting the 5th seed, maybe even the 4th seed isn't out of reach. They are only 5 games behind Cleveland and play them three more times. Philly is a much better team right now than Cleveland in my opinion who is struggling to figure things out after the trade.

[dond]

Well, somebody believes ... NBA.COM power rankings show the Sixers at no. 12

NUMBER 12 !!!!!!


http://www.nba.com/powerrankings/index.html

Just ahead of the Denver Nuggets, I might add ...

[tk76]

I love how Philly is playing right now. Getting the 5th seed, maybe even the 4th seed isn't out of reach. They are only 5 games behind Cleveland and play them three more times. Philly is a much better team right now than Cleveland in my opinion who is struggling to figure things out after the trade.

Is Cleveland really struggling that badly. The've lost a few games, but that's bound to happen when you turn over so much of your roster. At very least it's got to be a big adjustment going from Gooden to Wallace.

I can't imagine the Sixers catching the Cav's- or sweeping the three games- but then again I didn't see them running off 15 of 19 either. It should be interesting to see how the Sixers and Cavs match upover the next few years- with Thad and Iguodala trying to match up with the force of nature that is Lebron.

[cavsfan_osiris]

I was wrong I think Cleveland/Philly only play 2 more times. Yes, I do think Cleveland is playing that bad right now and Philly is playing that good right now. I've started watching Philly for a little while now because I really like Mo Cheeks and I've been impressed long before they started getting wins.

That's not to say Cleveland cant' turn it around and Philly can't cool off, but right now Philly is that good. Boston is the class of the East, after them Philly is the best team in the East right now.

Philly is most definitely for real. The only glaring weakness is three point shooting, but they make up for that elsewhere and every team in the East except Boston has glaring weaknesses.

[Skates]

Other than going with the up-tempo style, the best coaching moves Cheeks has made this year have been his willingness to keep players and whole line-ups on the floor when they are hot. A number of the games where we were losing and came back, like at Chicago, were the result of Mo finding a combo of players that had it going that day and sticking with them. Credit the players also with not complaining too much (except Sammy's little outburst) about sitting a little longer than usual when Mo goes with the hot hands.