Game 17

Monday, January 23, 2012
Game 17: Wells Fargo Center
Sixers 103, Wizards 83

PHILADELPHIA — A few years back before the Phillies had won a championship and became the darlings of the city, I was chatting with a player when suddenly realized it was time to go.

“You guys have a ceremony to get ready for,” I told the player.

“Really? What’s this one for… the 10th anniversary of the 12th anniversary?”

It’s pretty funny when one remembers how the Phillies used to be. The team seemingly had a special event every other weekend to celebrate its handful of trips to the World Series as well as its lone championship. It was a running joke that the Phillies would do anything to celebrate their shitty history without actually acknowledging they were the losingest franchise in the history of North American professional sports.

And here’s Ben Chapman… the man who tried to prevent Jackie Robinson from breaking Major League Baseball’s color line!

The Phillies don’t do much of the rehashing of old times with ceremonies and parades of former players because they have to anymore. The not-so secret is that good teams and good players pack the stands and since the Phillies are winning, they don’t need to bring back Mike Schmidt or Steve Carlton as much anymore.

In Philadelphia, the Flyers are the team that re-lives its history at every chance and like the Phillies, th Flyers are still celebrating a long ago championship that most folks can’t recollect. It’s been 37 years since the Flyers last won a championship and it doesn’t appear as if the team is any closer to winning one anytime soon.

The Sixers, on the other hand, don’t go the sentimental route all that much. Oh sure, the team brought back Allen Iverson to play for a bit when it was clear there was no other way to get fans to the games, but that act got old quickly.

As far as the Sixers go, there was a celebration for the 25th anniversary of the 1983 championship team, a nice ceremony for the last game played in the Spectrum and a retired number fete for Charles Barkley. Otherwise, the Sixers haven’t dipped into that well all too much over the past decade.

Part of that has to do with unresolved grudges between players and former ownership, and another factor is that the Sixers have not been too great for long stretches of time. In fact, the Sixers’ history includes a team that many argue was the greatest ever (1966-67) as well as the team that set NBA record for futility (1972-73).

Regardless, Philadelphia has a strong basketball tradition. When the BAA began in 1947, the Philadelphia Warriors won the championship. The Warriors lost to the Baltimore Bullets in the second year of the league and in 1950, when the league changed its name to the NBA, the Syracuse Nationals (later to become the Philadelphia 76ers) made it to the championship round in their first season.

A team from Philadelphia has been to the NBA Finals nine times in the history of the league. 

Andre Iguodala eats his vegetables... and you should, too

MIAMI — There is an interesting interview with Andre Iguodala in a recent edition of the magazine, Food Republic, a slick-looking periodical about epicurean pursuits. It seems to be for those types who use the term, “foodie,” without irony and look to Anthony Bourdain as some sort of righteous hipster.

In other words, it’s a magazine not found at the corner newsstand.

Anyway, it’s not often that pro athletes from Philadelphia talk to slick-looking magazines about their personal chefs or healthy eating habits. Even though it’s not uncommon for non-baseball athletes to be progressive in the training room and training table, it’s decidedly a non-Philadelphian thing. Certainly the folks who shell out ridiculous amounts of cash for the tickets aren’t used to turning over the daily menu to the in-home chef.

Still, the interesting part of the interview wasn’t that Iguodala employs a personal chef or knew early on in his NBA career that his diet and performance were linked. That’s just smart and if anything, “smart” is a pretty good adjective to use when describing Iguodala. No, the interesting part was when Iguodala revealed he liked vegetables when he was a kid.

Really… a kid who liked vegetables?

Well, I was weird as a child. I would eat broccoli raw. I would eat cauliflower raw. I also used to love salads. So, yeah, I’ve always liked vegetables.

Maybe that’s not as weird as it sounds. After all, some kids actually like vegetables. In fact, I remember asking for and wanting to eat spinach specifically because of what it did for Popeye. However, I was quite upset to learn that spinach was not sold at the supermarket in cans and I couldn’t squeeze the middle of one, pop the top and have the spinach fly into my mouth as I wreaked havoc in the neighborhood.

Nope, things are never how they look on TV.

Thing is, kids rarely admit to liking vegetables even when they are all grown up. That is, as Iguodala explained, weird.

Then again, it doesn’t take a long time spent around the Philadelphia 76ers do understand that Iguodala is different. Actually, check out the picture on the right… if there was ever a photo that perfectly revealed the man, there it is. He’s serious, put together perfectly with a Burberry tie knotted just so, with the blue blazer revealing the proper amount of cuff from his shirt. No wrinkles, nothing rumpled and the creases exactly where they should be. Serious, professional, to the point.

That’s Iguodala.

And maybe that’s why after an excellent season of gritty, nuanced basketball, folks still haven’t warmed up to the Sixers’ best player. Even though he’s played for seven seasons with the Sixers after being drafted with the ninth-overall pick in 2004, he’s still an enigma—inscrutable even. Though he comes from Springfield, Ill. just like scruffy and popular ex-Phillies outfielder, Jayson Werth, he’s more akin to fellow Illinoisan, Donovan McNabb. At least it seems that way in how he’s perceived.

Case in point came during the postgame press conference at American Airlines Arena on Wednesday night after the Sixers had been eliminated by the Heat. When asked, point blank, if he wanted to return to the Sixers for the 2011-12 season, Iguodala gave a rather McNabbian response:

“It’s always been a dream of mine to play ball for one team. This has been a great ride so far. I’m really looking forward to the summer, letting my body recuperate. I want to get back to 100 percent. I’m looking forward to next year being my best year in the league.

“I always wanted to be in one place, be comfortable in one spot. I still feel the same way, being able to put a stamp on not only my career, but the Philadelphia 76ers record book. I want to keep climbing the charts with some of the greatest basketball players ever. Just for my name to be brought up as having some of the most steals in team history is something I always thought about. I want to continue to climb the charts and take this team to the next level.”

In that setting, Iguodala was presented with a yes or no question. He could have said, “Yes, of course I want to play for the Sixers next season. What a silly question.” But that’s the easy answer. For those who watch him on the floor, doing things the easy way isn’t Iguodala’s modus operandi. Things are much more complicated than yes or no, sometimes. There are shades of grey in even the simplest answer and though Iguodala is contracted to play for the Sixers for the next three years, crazier things have happened.

Think about it… think the San Antonio Spurs could use a guy like Iguodala on a veteran-laden team? How about a young team like Memphis? Imagine Iguodala and Tony Allen playing defense on the same team. Or maybe Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Iguodala in Oklahoma City? How about Dallas with Dirk Nowitzki or L.A. with Kobe? It’s almost unfair.

That’s the thing, though. There are no easy answers with Iguodala. Even the easy idea that Iguodala is the perfect second or third piece on a contending team the way Scottie Pippen was with Michael Jordan is not as simple as it sounds. Yes, perhaps as a lockdown defender on an established club would be the perfect setting for him, but then again, it sounds like a pretty good place for anyone. Who wouldn’t want to be on a team where the task is to simply perform your best skill and that’s it? Sign me up!

It seems as if Iguodala is the landing point for where reality and perception fight. No nothing fans and media types cite his salary as excessive, yet it barely cracks the top 40 of all NBA players. Quick, name 40 players you’d take ahead of Iguodala…

Give up. You can’t do it.

It seems as if Iguodala’s perceived unpopularity comes from his personality. He’s neither boisterous nor zany. He’s not one to suffer fools as evidenced in the 2006 Dunk Contest where he pulled off the most impressive and nuanced dunk of the show only to lose to Nate Robertson because he’s short and a better story. Rather than grin-and-bear it, Iguodala hasn’t appeared in another competition figuring there are better ways to have one’s time wasted.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6z9-l4hnMM]

Iguodala is all nuance and professionalism. There are all the things we can see like the fact that heading into this year he had missed just six games in six seasons and played in 252 regular-season games in a row. He’s led the league not only in games by playing in all 82 in five of his seven seasons, but also minutes played and average minutes per game. The dude plays the game and he's rare in that he's a ridiculously talented athlete with instatiable hard-nosed/blue-collar chops, too. He's the best of both worlds and he shows up and goes to work.

He earns his pay.

This year, his offensive stats dipped off only because he ceded some of the load to his teammates. With Elton Brand, Iguodala was the leader of the Sixers, helping Doug Collins further a system that raised the win total 27 games over last year.

The numbers were down, but in the realm of advanced metrics, Iguodala was charting the best Win Shares per 48 minutes, assist percentage, the best defensive rating and best rate of turnovers given in a season for his career at stages of the season. 

Though he is just one of two players in the NBA to average at least 14 points, five rebounds and six assists a game this season (LeBron James is the other), Iguodala’s value is on defense. According to advanced metrics from 82games.com, the Sixers are a much better team because of Iguodala’s defense. When he was in the lineup during the regular season, the Sixers were above average in holding down the oppositions shooting percentages and forcing turnovers. Without him, the Sixers were worse than the league average.

Iguodala has three years left on his contract and has relented on carrying the offense, but ideally it could better serve the team to identify its go-to man down the stretch.

These facts might have been lost in the black and white, but not to those who really pay close attention.

“I think Andre with his defense and his leadership has been terrific,” Collins said. “He’s averaging about 15 [points] a game, but he had two of the best defensive plays that I’ve seen all year long the other night against Dallas. Unfortunately, we did not convert, but Andre is a playmaker for us. He’s a rebounder, he’s a defender and I think he’s been terrific. 

“I never judge a guy like that based on his statistics. I judge him by the value to his team and how well he plays and if he gives you a chance to win. When we were 3-13 it was his voice that did the most. He said, ‘Guys, hang in there. We’re close.’ That voice helped us battle through that and get us through to where we are today.”

Nevertheless, Iguodala was again inscrutable during the playoffs against the Miami Heat. He struggled during the first two games of the series registering as many points (9) as turnovers. In Game 3 Iguodala had 10 assists and 10 points, but shot just 3 for 10 and played much poorly than the stats suggest.

However, in games 3 and 4, he scored 38 points, including 18 during the second half of the season finale where he nearly stole the game from the Heat. In Game 5 he grabbed 10 rebounds, shot 10 for 14 and helped hold LeBron James to his lowest playoff output.

“He is a very good player,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Iguodala. “He is so unique in terms of how many things he does to impact the game. He is such a good defender, he’s long and he moves his feet. Also, he is a very good rebounder and an intelligent defender. Offensively, I think he gets judged on how many points he scores. He does so many other things.”   

Of course, injuries finally caught up to Iguodala in part because he played for Team USA in last summer’s World Championships. Over the final two months of the season Iguodala played through tendinitis (or chondromalacia) the bared resemblance to the same injury that has sidelined Chase Utley. The difference is Iguodala has been accountable to the fans and teammates by actually facing the media, thus, he doesn’t put unfair pressure on his coaches or teammates to answer questions for him. The injuries were a factor late in the season.

But the injuries will heal. In the meantime we’re still scratching our heads over hard answers to easy questions—a place where Iguodala might be at his most compelling. That’s where he is a bit of a rarity in sports in that he is a truth teller. He’s immune to cliché (well, as much as possible) and actually answers questions. Want an answer? Iguodala has one. And though it could be off the mark like some of his long-range jumpers, he’s always provocative. For instance, take his relationship with rookie Evan Turner where a personality clash may have kept the players at odds during the season. When asked about it, Iguodala presented a thoughtful, honest answer

“Evan and I have had a pretty interesting year together — good and bad,” Iguodala said. “We’ve always tried to lean on each other. Over the past week we really bonded and I was happy to see him be in position to do something good and follow through with it.

“I’ve been saying all year that he’s a confidence guy and when his confidence is high, he plays really well. When his confidence is down, he has a lot of self doubt and he doesn’t believe in himself,” Iguodala explained. “But we all know he can play ball and we’ve had many arguments throughout the year in regard to talents and he’s going to prove a lot of people wrong.

“We had a chance to sit down and we had dinner together and were together for about three hours. We just reflected on the whole year and things that happened and what could have changed and things that made us better people or held us back a little bit. It was a good chat.”

When do athletes ever talk like that? It’s kind of like when asked a simple question about whether he will return to the Sixers next year and instead chooses to discuss the legacy he hopes to build.

“I always think about that, keep climbing the charts with some of the greatest basketball players ever — Dr. J, Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones, Hal Greer, Wilt Chamberlain. The franchise has been here forever. And just for my name to be brought up for the guy with the most steals in team history is something I've always thought about,” Iguodala said. “I want to continue to climb the charts and take the team to the next level.”

No, Iguodala is not like most of the athletes that have come through town. He seems to be a strange mix of Charles Barkley and Scott Rolen mixed together. Could it be that the best description is “evolved” more than weird? Either way, he’s right about one thing …

You should eat your vegetables.

Iguodala's pep talk was the turning point

Always the optimist, Doug Collins says he never got down when the Sixers struggled to a 3-13 start the first month of the season. Still, even the half-full view often left the coach with some doubts.

Whatever doubts Collins might have had disappeared for good on Friday night when his club clinched a playoff spot with a 25-point win over the New Jersey Nets at the Center. From 3-13 to 40-36 in a little more than four months takes a lot of believe insomething.

Belief and stubbornness, Collins said.

“I wasn’t sure,” Collins said after the 115-90 victory, “but I hadn’t given up hope. We weren’t going to change what we were doing because we believed in what we were doing. I believe that if you do things that are worth doing that good things will happen. We weren’t going to change.”

Still, there was a moment early on when everything just sort of came together. Part light bulb and part pep talk, the turning point of the season came after a tough loss in Miami the day after Thanksgiving when Andre Iguodala got the team together and gave them a very simple message…

“We’re close,” he told his teammates. “Let’s stick together.”

From that point, the Sixers have gone 37-23 and are the one team in the Eastern Conference that the heavyweights want to avoid in the first round of the playoffs.

Still, did Iguodala realize then that his words would resonate so profoundly? 

“With some of the personalities we have it’s all about confidence,” Iguodala said. “Some of the guys play well based off if the ball is going in the hole for them or not. If the ball is not going in the hole the guy’s confidence can get shot. We had just lost to Miami and we played well, so I felt I had to reiterate to the guys that if we continue to play at that level we’ll beat the majority of the teams in the league and we’ll be alright. Since then, we’ve been doing that.”

What Iguodala’s words did was show the younger guys on the team that just because they were 3-13 that the season wasn’t over. Though it seemed as if the Sixers couldn’t wait for the year to end last season when they only won 27 games with a coach in Eddie Jordan that just didn’t mesh well with the ballclub, it would have been easy for a poor start to demoralize the team.

However, with an active roster comprised of six players with three or fewer years of experience and just five guys over the age of 24, Iguodala’s speech and Elton Brand to support was gigantic.

“For the guys to know that I was 100 percent on board and trying and Andre was on board and trying, it showed that we weren’t giving up on the season even though we were 3-13,” Brand said. 

Brand and Iguodala have coached and prodded the team in areas where it could be difficult for Collins to do so. For instance, after the overtime loss to Sacramento where a few players were out late the night before the noontime game, Collins turned the policing over to Brand and Iguodala and, once again, it worked.

The Sixers have ripped off three straight wins since.

Then again, maybe it goes deeper than just leadership. Though he’s finishing his fourth year in the league and is headed to the postseason for the third time, Thad Young is still just 23. As such, he says last season left him with a lot of bitterness and was an experience he did not want to repeat. After all, he was far too young to be a jaded NBA vet.

But Young explained that the necessary changes from last year had been made and appear to be the big difference.

“We feel like we’ve taken strides and leaps from the beginning of the season until now. I think we’re a contender, a real contender and we can do something really special here,” Young said.

Of course that feeling that Young described had a starting point and it all goes back to that game in Miami.

“It was definitely a turning point. ‘Dre and E.B. have been talking all year and saying that we’re always one step away or that we need a few more things to work on,” Young said. “We’re still not quite there, but we’re definitely a much better team now.”

So from 3-13 to 40-36 and from doormat to a team that makes the opposition feel as if they are trying to handle mercury in so short of time is a pretty big deal and points to the effort the Sixers have put in. Yet, more than that it shows how much the teammates believe in each other and understand leadership when it arises.

No, the Sixers probably won’t be favored to win in the first round, but at the very least they did something this season.

“At the end of the day it’s all about making the playoffs,” Collins said.

Long suffering Elton Brand finally gets second chance at playoffs

There aren’t a whole lot of details that Elton Brand remembers from his last trip to the NBA playoffs except for one important one…

“It was too short,” Brand said.

Five years ago with the Los Angeles Clippers, Brand carried his team to the seventh game of the Western Conference semifinals against the Phoenix Suns where his 36-point performance just wasn’t enough to advance. In fact, with Brand averaging 31 points, 10 rebounds and more than 45 minutes per game in the series, there wasn’t much more he could have done for his Clippers.

Had Brand and the Clippers won Game 7, he certainly would have been the toast of Tinseltown since the Lakers had already lost to the Suns in the previous round. Still, his best memory of his lone playoff appearance is quite pure and it has to do with the basics of why people play the game.

“The excitement and how hard everybody plays – it’s amazing,” Brand said. “Then to win a series and put another team down, that’s what I’ll remember.”

But as fate would have it, Brand hasn’t been back to the playoffs since. More notably, who would have guessed that in 11 NBA seasons headed into the 2010-11 campaign that the 2005-06 Clippers would be the only winning team Brand played for.

Until now, that is.

Wednesday night’s 108-97 victory over the Houston Rockets at the Center all but sewed up a spot for the 76ers in the postseason. The worst the team can do is tie for the No. 8 seed, but of course the Sixers would have to lose the last seven games of the season and the Charlotte Bobcats would have to win out. The chances of that happening are less than one percent.

So with a stomach illness, a dislocated finger and “busted up” hands, Brand is getting another chance and Sixers coach Doug Collins couldn’t be happier.

“For E.B., if there is ever a guy who embodies what Philadelphia is all about, it’s Elton Brand,” Collins said before Wednesday’s game. “He’s an undersized power player who gives you his heart and soul every night and is playing with two busted hands. All he wants to do is win and that’s what this city is all about, so for E.B. it would be fantastic.” 

Nevertheless, after a storied collegiate career where he was the National Player of the Year, took Duke to the championship game and was the No. 1 overall pick of the 1999 NBA draft, Brand hasn’t had the same success as a pro. Just to make it even more frustrating, injuries kept Brand out of nearly every game of the 2007-08 season in his last year with the Clippers and all but 29 games the following year with the Sixers.

After a disappointing season where former coach Eddie Jordan often buried Brand during the fourth quarter of tight games, it seemed as if he was destined to have one of those star-crossed NBA careers.

Until now, that is.

“Elton is a champion. That’s why Elton is not consumed with scoring 20 points – he wants to win,” Collins said. “That’s why it would be great for me to be a part of something like that for him knowing what he went through here for a couple of seasons. I went through it for a year when I broke my foot my first year I was another busted first-round draft pick and it drives you to new heights.”

It’s more than that, though. Collins often defers to Brand and Andre Iguodala in self-policing matters. In fact, Brand spoke to his teammates after last Sunday’s overtime loss to Sacramento when some of the players had been out the night before at the Lil’ Wayne concert. 

In that instance Brand told his teammates about personal responsibility and focus, a point that was driven home by the fact that he played 28 minutes on Wednesday night even though he was struggling with a stomach illness. Truth is, the stomach bug bothered Brand so much that Collins made a special point to talk to his fellow No. 1 overall pick and thank him for the effort.

“You look at us right now and see how far everyone has come and E.B. has been the one guy from start to finish who has been like running water – you know what you’re getting from him every night,” Collins said.

Still, five years between playoff appearances in the NBA seems like a lifetime. Moreover, for a player of Brand’s pedigree to get there just twice in 12 years is almost unfathomable. Better yet, to comb through the records of some of the all-times greats of the game shows just how unique Brand is in this regard. 

Can Brand believe that it’s taken five years for him to get back to the postseason or that he’s been there only twice in 12 seasons?

“Absolutely not,” he said. “The way the season started, it was like, ‘Here we go again.’ But now to be [virtually in the playoffs] and to be an intregral part of it, it feels good. Knowing that we can get even better is what is exciting to me.

“This is special for me to get back there.”

Sixers stand with their closer

There was a moment during the 2009 baseball season when the easy move for manager Charlie Manuel would have simply been for him to sit down Brad Lidge as his closer. In fact, it was set up perfectly for Manuel to pull the plug on Lidge after a late-September game in Miami where the closer gave up two runs on three hits and a walk to give one away.

But Manuel would not bail on his guy despite the 11 blown saves and an ERA closing in on 8. Why would he?

“These are our guys. We’ll stick with him,” Manuel said before a game in Milwaukee that year. “Lidge has to do it. Between him and [Ryan] Madson, they’ve got to get it done.  ... We’ve just got to get better.”

Of course Manuel said he wasn’t going to depose Lidge as the closer even though he used him just four times over the final 11 games and pushed Madson into the two save chances the team had down the stretch. In other words, Lidge was the closer even though Madson was pitching the ninth inning. That’s what is called “managing” and Manuel had been around long enough to know that if he lost Lidge in late 2009, he might not ever get him back.

Apparently loyalty is a character flaw in the eyes of most sports fans.

Just look at how folks are up in arms about Sixers’ coach Doug Collins putting the ball in Andre Iguodala’s hands at the end of tight game. To steal some baseball jargon, Iguodala is the Sixers’ closer and in a tied game with the clock winding down, it’s up to him to get the team some points any way possible.

“The ball’s going to be in his hands,” Collins said after Sunday’s 114-111 overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings.

Iguodala had the ball with seven seconds left in Sunday’s game and the Sixers trailing by two points. Viewed as the team’s best “playmaker,” this made perfect sense. Iguodala could penetrate, look for an open man, pull up for a jumper or drive to the hoop. It’s nothing new and since Allen Iverson left town, Iguodala has been the closer and succeeded at a better rate than the other A.I.

Actually, according to the advanced metrics that measure such things, Iguodala is 16^th in the NBA since 2006 in “clutch” points, which account for performance with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter or overtime when neither team ahead by more than five points. Interestingly, Iguodala rated better than All-Stars Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Vince Carter.

This season Iguodala’s scoring average in clutch time has dipped nearly 20 points with Lou Williams leading the club with 28.4 points in clutch time. However, based on other advanced stats, Iguodala is still the man to have the ball when it’s on the line. A look at turnovers, shooting percentage and the inscrutable plus-minus, Collins is right to give the ball to Iguodala. Failing that, Elton Brand is the next-best option.

Reality and statistics seldom mesh, though[1]. That’s when perception takes over and often that does nothing more than unfairly marginalize a player. In this area, perception might as well be Iguodala’s middle name.

In some circles, Iguodala is a poor player because he has a “superstar salary” and not a superstar game. The reality is that notion is just plain stupid. Iguodala barely cracks the top 40 in the NBA in annual salary and isn’t even the highest paid player on the Sixers. Is he one of the top 40 players in the league? Yeah, probably. Is he the best player on the team?

Do we have to answer that?

Take a look at Sunday’s game, too. Iguodala drove to the hoop in the closing seconds and missed a layup, but drew a foul and was awarded two foul shots with a chance to tie the game. So where is the failure in that? It’s hard to fault the “closer” for dictating the action and drawing a foul in the closing seconds of a tight game. Where it hurts is that Iguodala missed the back end of the foul shots and needed Williams’ 30-foot bomb at the buzzer to bail him out, but as far as the work part goes, yeah, Iguodala did that.

He did exactly what Collins hoped.

“He’s going to drive [to] the basket, he’s going to make a play for us, he’s going to get fouled or he’s going to score,” Collins explained. “He has the size to see up over the top of people, and after [opponents are] smothering that pick-and-roll, I feel good that he can make a play out of that.”

Like Manuel, Collins knows that removing his closer can create a chain reaction that may cause more harm in the long term. Egos are fragile in any work place so sometimes the boss needs to lose a battle or two in order to win the war.

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[1] When it comes to the advanced metrics revolution in sports, basketball comes the closest to truly measuring the value of a player. Actually, when compared to baseball it’s not even close. After games in the NBA, coaches and players pour over the stat sheet, looking for nuggets of information that might offer an insight to performance. With the Sixers, Doug Collins lives by points off turnovers and second-chance points. He also talks about forcing the opposition to take shots “in the yard,” which is to say, no three-pointers and no shots in the paint. Going old school, during my high school days at McCaskey in Lancaster, Pa., we determined a player had a decent game if he scored more points than shots attempted. I’m not sure that figures into the world of advanced metrics, but in terms of stats having a value, it worked for us.

Long-range forecast: Could Greg Oden land in Philly?

From time to time we like to offer a suggestion or two regarding player personnel to the pro sports teams in the city. No, it’s never a major undertaking because, frankly, it’s neither our place nor money on the line. In fact, some might believe it’s a little untoward for folks like me to offer such suggestions unsolicited.

But aside from their standing as privately held corporations, pro sports clubs are also a public trust. Because of that I don’t feel particularly guilty about inserting my two cents where no one asked.

Hey, just because it’s a sports team that doesn’t make it OK to be rude.

Anyway, in the past we suggested it might be one of those trendy low-risk/high-reward moves for the Phillies to make a move for Barry Bonds, Jim Thome, Roy Oswalt and Pedro Martinez. We also suggested at one point or another that trading away Cole Hamels or Jayson Werth was worth investigating, too. Of those offerings, we were the first to broach the ideas on grabbing Pedro, Thome and Bonds and dealing Werth, while the others (Oswalt and Hamels) came from within the organization.

So, honk! Honk!

Apropos of nothing, we think it would be a good idea to bring back Pedro if for no other reason than to give the press someone interesting to shoot the breeze with. Not only was Pedro a genius on the mound and the veritable right-handed Koufax, but he also was a top-notch storyteller and a fun guy to have around. Better yet, his Louis Vuitton man-purse was truly fashion forward.

Additionally, we rightly suggested to the 76ers that it would be a really good idea to draft Evan Turner with the No. 2 overall pick last June instead of trading away the selection for Jeff Ruland. So, yes, you’re welcome for that one.

The point? Oh yeah, that…

Obviously, the Sixers have had a pretty nice season and could be a surprise team next month when the playoffs begin. The word on the street is though they probably won’t advance past the first round, no team really wants to face the Sixers in a seven-game series. The team’s youthful energy and inexperience just might be advantages in some regard simply because the players on the team don’t have a track record of failure.

In other words, it might be an upset if the Sixers move past the first round of the playoffs, but it won’t be a surprise.

Of course the Sixers are a flawed team, too. No doubt that fact came to light during the 114-111 overtime loss to the 20-52 Sacramento Kings in which Doug Collins’ gang coughed up an early, double-digit lead. The most difficult part about the loss was it came in the first game of a back-to-back which wraps up on Monday night against the Eastern Conference-leading Chicago Bulls. No, it wasn’t quite a must-win for the Sixers, but it may as well have been.

Still, it’s never too early to come up with ideas on how to improve the ballclub even though the way in which the NBA will conduct its business is still unknown. Chances are there will be a lockout this summer and the current salary cap and the way free agents are bid for could change. If the NBA and the players association does the American thing and eliminates a salary cap[1], then there is no excuse for the 76ers to sit idly by when free agents hit the market.

But for arguments sake, let’s assume everything remains relatively the same. With that in mind, the most interesting potential free agent this summer could be Portland’s Greg Oden.

Remember him?

Oden, of course, just might be the most hard-luck top draft pick in pro sports history. Selected as the top pick of the 2007 NBA Draft after one season at Ohio State, Oden missed what was to be his rookie season when he underwent microfracture surgery on his right knee. He made it through 61 games in 2008-09 averaging nearly nine points and seven rebounds with a handful of big-time games before an injury to his left knee ended his season.

The 2009-2010 season started out with a lot of promise where Oden had a 20-rebound game and was averaging more than 11 points and nearly nine boards per game until his fractured his left patella after just 21 games. That left knee injury never really recovered and in November the Trail Blazers announced Oden was to have microfracture surgery on his left knee.

Once again, done for the year.

Nevertheless, Oden could be a free agent this summer if the Blazers choose not to exercise an $8.7 million qualifying offer. If instead the Blazers choose not to make the offer, Oden hits the open market and is available to any team that wants him.

So we say, Hey Sixers… why not?

Oden could turn out to be the poster child of low-risk, high-reward pickups if Portland allows him to walk, or, maybe in his case, limp. But really, what do we know about Oden? Can he play? Is he damaged to the point where he will never play a full season?

Who knows?

What is known is Oden was a No. 1 overall pick after just one season of college ball. Even though he has missed parts of the last four seasons and has played the equivalent of one full NBA season and, just 23, would be wrapping up his rookie season if he exhausted all of his eligibility at Ohio State. If he were to join the current Sixers’ roster, Oden is younger than rookie Craig Brackins, two-year veteran Jodie Meeks as well as three-year pro Marreese Speights. Meanwhile, Oden was a year ahead of Evan Turner at Ohio State and would have been classmates with Spencer Hawes and Thad Young.

Clearly, Oden would fit right in with the youthful core of the team. Better yet, the Sixers need some size to go with the solid backcourt and wing players. At 7-feet tall, Oden is a true big man the team has missed for a long time.

As for his fragility, the duel surgeries on both knees shouldn’t be limiting. In fact, microfracture surgery seems to be the Tommy John surgery of the NBA where guys like Jason Kidd, Allan Houston, Kenyon Martin, Tracy McGrady, John Stockton, Chris Webber and Amar'e Stoudemire have undergone the procedure and returned without missing a beat. However, Penny Hardaway and Jamaal Mashburn had the surgery yet did not regain their old form.

Nevertheless, stories in The Oregonian indicate the Blazers will make the qualifying offer to Oden simply to save face. After all, Portland took Oden ahead of Kevin Durant in the draft and have paid out nearly $21.8 million in salary to their top pick over the past four years.

Besides, are the Blazers ready to be struck by lightning twice? As everyone remembers, the Blazers took injury-prone big man Sam Bowie with the No. 2 overall pick and had him for all of 139 games over four years, instead of taking Michael Jordan. Durant isn’t quite Jordan-esque yet, but he’s on the right path.

Whether Oden can catch up—and where that takes place—is the interesting part.

---

[1] Never going to happen.

Thad Young gets back to basics

Thaddeus Young was struggling. One look at the game-by-game logs revealed as much. Though his scoring average had steadily been climbing from month-to-month, Young didn’t make a shot in 20 minutes during the ugly loss in Milwaukee on March 12. 

Sixers’ coach Doug Collins noticed Young was missing something during the games against Utah and the Clippers, using him for just 13 minutes during the game in Los Angeles. The fear, says Collins, was that Young was getting run down.

“Thad went through a two or three game period where I was worried that he was tired,” Collins said.

So rather than bury Young on the bench until he regained his snap, Collins had a better idea. On an off day in Sacramento, the coach got a gym and sent Young and a handful of his teammates out to play 3-on-3. No pressure, no whistles, no scrimmages or anything resembling a regular basketball game—the task was for Young to play pickup hoops with some of his friends.

Guess what? It worked.

“Actually, the [assistant coach] Michael Curry and the coaches took Thad and some guys out to just play some up-and-down basketball and they wanted Thad to handle the ball and finish shots during the games,” Collins explained. “So they went over and played and [Curry] came back and said, ‘Thad had a great day, he was in a great rhythm.’ Then he finished that trip very strong.”

After that day in Sacramento, Young’s play improved and so did his energy level. In 23 minutes against the Kings he grabbed 10 rebounds and scored nine points despite shooting just 4-for-12. However, with Andre Iguodala on the bench for the game against Portland last Saturday night, Young scored 19 points on 9-for-11 shooting with six rebounds in 27 minutes.

Apparently all it took was breaking the game down to the basics for Young to find what he’d been missing. It makes sense, too, if you think about it. Though this is his fourth season in the NBA, Young is still just 22 and if he had stayed at Georgia Tech to play all four seasons, he’d be a rookie in the league this year.

Instead, basketball had been a job for Young when he was still a teenager and though he may be a veteran in the league in terms of experience, every once in a while he still needs to strip the game down to its essence and just play.

“We went to the gym—me, Marreese [Speights], Evan Turner,Craig Brackins, Coach Curry and Coach McKie—and we got in there and just played,” Young said. “We played 3-on-3 just to get me back in the groove. Sometimes that’s what you need to get a feel for the ball and to get you a feel for the court and the gym to get you back in a rhythm.”

In Wednesday night’s victory over the Hawks, Young was the best player on the floor. As the first player off the bench, Young scored 16 points on 12 shots, blocked a couple of shots and caused all sorts of trouble for the Hawks in the paint. Most telling was the fact that Collins kept Young in the game for all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter. 

Better yet, Collins said Young was an instant shot of energy when he was in the game, especially after stoppages in play. With the Hawks holding a lead throughout Wednesday’s game, which they built to 11 points in the fourth quarter, Young and fellow reserve Lou Williams proved to be the catalysts of the Sixers’ 11-0 run to start the final quarter.

“He gives us a speed and a quickness advantage,” Collins said, noting that Young would likely be a starter on another team. “We came out of three or four timeouts [on Wednesday night against the Hawks] where he scored every time. … As a coach it makes you feel so good when you can score coming out of a timeout.”

So maybe Collins’ plan worked?

“Any time you have a day off you want to do something,” Young said. “The other guys went to lift and the six of us went to the gym to play some 3-on-3 to get ourselves back in rhythm.”

Meanwhile, with Andre Iguodala again questionable with right knee tendonitis for Friday’s game in Miami, Collins will need Young to be the spark.

Despite numbers, Iguodala may be having best year

To put it mildly, it really has been an interesting season for Sixers’ forward, Andre Iguodala. He has missed games with an injury, struggled with his shot from time to time, and been a consistent source of fuel for the rumor mill.

In fact, most close observers of the 76ers fall on the side of trade/no-trade argument with very little middle ground when it comes to Iguodala, often citing the remaining years and money on his current deal as the grounds for moving and/or keeping him.

Shoot, to hear Iguodala describe it, his season has been nothing but a struggle. This season, he has missed 12 of the Sixers’ 60 games after missing a grand total of six games and playing in 252 consecutive games in his first six seasons in the league. His shooting percentage dipped last season and has remained low, while his foul-shooting percentage is at a career low. Most noticeable, of course, is the scoring average, which has dipped three whole points per game from 17.1 last season (and a high of 19.9 in 2008) to 14.1 this season.

“It’s been up and down, but I really just try to look at it from a team standpoint,” Iguodala explained after Thursday’s practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. “We started slow when we were trying to find what our niche was and different roles. Then, we started to win and we continued that trend of playing good basketball.”

But there’s a lot more to Iguodala than that. In the realm of advanced metrics, Iguodala is charting the best Win Shares per 48 minutes, assist percentage, the best defensive rating and best rate of turnovers given in a season for his career. 

As head coach Doug Collins explains it, Iguodala just might be having the best season of his career.

“I think Andre with his defense and his leadership has been terrific,” Collins said. “He’s averaging about 15 [points] a game, but he had two of the best defensive plays that I’ve seen all year long the other night against Dallas. Unfortunately, we did not convert, but Andre is a playmaker for us. He’s a rebounder, he’s a defender and I think he’s been terrific. 

“I never judge a guy like that based on his statistics. I judge him by the value to his team and how well he plays and if he gives you a chance to win. When we were 3-13 it was his voice that did the most. He said, ‘Guys, hang in there. We’re close.’ That voice helped us battle through that and get us through to where we are today.”

More than anything else, it has been Iguodala’s defense that has sparked the Sixers’ turnaround. Whether it’s conscious or not, Iguodala has taken fewer shots – especially from behind the three-point arc – ceding some to up-and-comers like Jodie Meeks, Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams. 

Offensively, Iguodala has put aside his contract and ego in order to get the kids involved more.

“I’ve been trying to be a leader and do what I can to make some of the guys become better,” Iguodala said.

Where he has made the team better, however, is on the other end of the court, where Iguodala’s most important effort hasn’t gone unnoticed. Collins has encouraged Iguodala to continue the role he carved out for himself last summer playing for Team USA in the World Championships, where he was the team’s shutdown defender. With Kevin Durant the team’s top scorer and an NBA All-Star like Derrick Rose commanding the ball, Iguodala’s contribution was to guard the opposition’s best scorer in order to make life tough.

In fact, that has been his job with the Sixers, too. With Iguodala hanging all over him, Kobe Bryant hit just three of 11 shots from the field against the Sixers in December. Meanwhile, the Sixers won a tough game in Cleveland last weekend despite the fact that Iguodala didn’t score during the second half.

They say the NBA is all about defense right now and Iguodala is one of the best in the league in that regard.

“If you would talk to the best scorers in the league that he’s guarded and say who is one of the toughest guys you have to go against, they would say, Andre Iguodala,” Collins said, noting that Iguodala is the Sixers’ modern-day Bobby Jones.

“He’s played well against the likes of Paul Pierce, which has given us a very good chance to hang in there with Boston. We have played some of the better teams very well and it’s because of the job he does against the key people.”

Still, the trade talk persists around Iguodala, even though the Sixers have turned into a team that no one wants to see in the first round of the playoffs. They are a team with nine players age 23 or younger, with Iguodala the elder statesman on the team at age 27.

Iguodala is coming into his own on the court, but away from it some wonder why he’s still with the Sixers.

“What happens in business and in sports – it could be an executive or whatever – is that you look at the bottom line of a person’s paycheck and you expect X number of numbers. And I think a lot of players in this league you place a value not of numbers, but their presence and who they are,” Collins explained. “They could be on a rotation off the ball where you get into another spot where a guy couldn’t get, so now that play gets blown up and it wins the game. But there is no stat for that.

“From a coaching standpoint, you understand what he brings. I love what Andre does for us.”

Collins says Iguodala reminds him of another player he coached when he was with the Chicago Bulls.

“[Iguodala is] an intangible man. I’ve coached guys like that. Scottie Pippen was an intangibles man. Grant Hill is another,” Collins said. “They will throw up numbers, but they are also All-Defense and ‘Dre plays both ends of the floor. He’s our best individual defender on the team that is pretty good defensive team because we play really good team defense.” 

So is it possible for a player to seemingly struggle yet make bigger contributions to the team that can be measured? If so, that’s what Iguodala is doing this season.

Best trades ever: Sixers get Wilt

Believe it or not, there are some solid advanced metrics to measure the effectiveness of basketball players. In fact, some of the stats are similar to those used by sabremetrics devotees with baseball, only with basketball the folks who tout the movement aren’t as militant.

Look, the math is still way too difficult and there is no formula to measure the way a basketball player can cut off the baseline from an opponent, but hey, basketball stat heads don’t act like Glenn Beck in front of the chalkboard the way baseball stat heads do often.

Nevertheless, with the NBA trade deadline slipping past quietly in Philadelphia, it’s worth noting that the 76ers (not the Warriors) have pulled off some of the best midseason trades in NBA history. According to the good folks at Basketball-Reference, the Sixers were the benefactors of  receiving the best player in a midseason trade in NBA history.

They worked out the math and everything.

That player, of course, was Wilt Chamberlain, who was traded from the San Francisco Warriors to the Sixers for Connie Dierking, Paul Neumann, Lee Shaffer and cash (try putting that one in the trade machine). Wilt was averaging 38.9 points and 23.5 rebounds in the first 38 games of the 1964-65 season for the Warriors, which came to a 19.1 three-year weighted win share.

No, there were no bonus points for the fact that it was Wilt Chamberlain.

Here’s the formula I don’t understand used to determine the worth of the player:

3yr Weighted Avg = 0.6 * WS82_Y + 0.3 * WS82_Y-1 + 0.1 * WS82_Y-2

Yeah, I don’t get it either. Nevertheless, the Sixers also got Dikembe Mutombo on a snowy, February day in 2001, which rates as the 14th best player received for a 9.2 three-year weighted win share. Sure, the Sixers lost Theo Ratliff in that deal, but with Dikembe the team got to the Finals for the first time since 1983.

There was also the Mike Gminski trade for Roy Hinson and Tim McCormick in 1988 at No. 60 (6.4) and the Andre Miller (6.1) for Allen Iverson (7.8) deal that was listed at No. 76 for the Sixers and may have worked out better for Philly than Denver.

Interestingly, the Sixers have not sent away too many statistically great players during the season. They just wait to get the No. 1 pick in the 1986 draft and give away Hall of Famers for that. Nevertheless, early in the 1971-72 season, the Sixers sent Archie Clark (10.8) at No. 5 to the Baltimore Bullets for Fred Carter and Kevin Loughery. It’s doubtful one could point to the Clarke trade as the impetus to the 9-72 season in 1972-73 since Clark played just one game the season before. However, Clark could have helped the ’72-73 Sixers to double-digit wins.

So, with the blockbusters that went down in the Atlantic Division this week, it’s worth mentioning that the Knicks appear have been the big winners not because they got Carmelo Anthony from Denver, but because they got Chauncey Billups. New New Jersey point guard Deron Williams isn’t too far behind, but it’s worth noting that Billups just might be the best player traded twice during a season...

Take that, Adrian Dantley!

Here we go again

So here we go again. Off into the annual rite of the spring and summer where the Philadelphia 76ers attempt to find a new coach. By this point we’re all used to how it works since the team has had seven coaches — seven! — in the past eight years.

Larry Brown turned in six seasons, which, excluding Billy Cunningham’s seven-year run, is the longest tenure since the team moved to Philadelphia from Syracuse. Since then the Sixers have averaged a coach a year, had two seasons in which they had two coaches and two other one-and-done tenures after Eddie Jordan’s quick departure.

In fact, hang around the Wachovia Center on game day and you can see a whole bunch of former head coaches for the Sixers working for the team in one capacity or another. Hell, two of them (Jim Lynam and Randy Ayers) served as assistant coaches, while Tony DiLeo (senior vice president and assistant general manager) and Chris Ford (scout) aren’t too tough to find at a ballgame.

Regardless, if a team has eight coaches in eight years, chances are those guys aren’t the real problem. Maybe the guys selecting the players and the coaches have been victims of bad luck, advice or basketball theories. Either way, Philadelphia is a good place for a coach to start and end a career in a relatively short time.

Aside from that, it’s strange that anyone would want the job after what has occurred since Brown left. Certainly there will be a bunch of guys climbing over each other to get the gig simply because there aren’t too many NBA head coaching jobs out there, but really… what a mess. Baring some sort of miraculous infusion of talent/injection into the current players on the roster, or maybe the free-agent signing (for cheap) of the guy from the movie, Flubber, the Sixers aren’t going to be very good next year, either.

But if there is an interesting caveat, it’s this: Samuel Dalembert will play for his eighth coach. If Dalembert plays for the 76ers next season, it will be nine seasons in the NBA with eight different coaches all for just one team.

How does that happen?

“I tell my friends around the league about it and they laugh at me,” Dalembert told reporters on Thursday.

Then again it could come full circle for Dalembert. Though the Sixers deny all the chatter and rumors, there is a report out there that Brown has been given permission by his boss in Charlotte, Michael Jordan, to talk to the Sixers about running things. Really though, is Larry Brown the answer?

Sure, the Sixers have had just one season above .500 since Brown left, but unless he has cap room and/or a trade partner to take some big contracts off his hands, the team is in a perfect spot to get young and grow. And as we know, youthful, inexperienced ballplayers suffer through a lot of growing pains. Knowing Brown’s track record with young players and for not sticking around in one place for too long, there are better choices.

In other words, a young, up-and-coming coach who is given enough time and patience to push the team in the proverbial right direction is the way to go. Forget about recycling a familiar name, or getting into the cronyism that helped Jordan land the job in the first place—the Sixers really need to think unconventionally.

And then they need to step back and give the guy a chance.

Why not call up Brad Stevens, the 33-year-old coach who took Butler to the NCAA Championship a couple of weeks ago? He probably won’t take the gig, but at least it shows original thought for a change.

Yeah, we could go on and on with names of young and promising coaches in basketball, but it won’t do anything to change the fact that the NBA may as well be a European soccer league the way Philadelphians care about it. Just think about all the kids growing up following every team but the one in their home town.

Seven coaches in eight years makes it tough for anyone to climb on board.

Iverson quietly makes his exit

The 76ers cruised to a big, 19-point defeat in Atlanta on Wednesday night, which in the scheme of things is probably for the best. The Sixers are the very embodiment of a team that is damned if they do and damned if they don’t. The team could very well catch fire over the final 23 games and sneak into the last playoff spot.

Think about that for a second — a No. 8 seed means at least two extra home dates with LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal in town. That’s two sellouts for folks to come watch another visiting club instead of the hometown team.

That’s the point though, isn’t it? The Sixers aren’t good enough to get those extra two games against LeBron and Shaq, and they aren’t bad enough to make a difference in the lottery. If that doesn’t explain this team, nothing else does.

But now they don’t even have a hook or an angle. Oh sure, basketball junkies might want to tune in to check out how Lou Williams, Jrue Holliday and Thad Young fare the rest of the way, but your common, everyday sports fan who is simply interested in the wins, losses and not the nuance of it is likely gone.

Not that they were hanging around too much this season to begin with.

See, Allen Iverson is gone. Oh sure, we’ve strolled down this path before, but really, Iverson is done. We mean it this time. Not that we didn’t mean it before, like when he was traded to Denver, sent to Detroit, allegedly causing scenes in riverboat casinos and then signing on for Memphis for just three games. Hell, by this point we’ve probably written the story about Allen Iverson’s last stand in the NBA three times already. Truth be told, the guy was probably done when he bailed out on the Pistons late last season.

This time though it really is over because no other NBA team is sillier than the Sixers. Sure, the cynical types might look at the December signing of Iverson as a way to sell a few more tickets, which really didn’t work out quite like everyone had hoped. After all, that line about not being able to go home again wouldn’t be a saying if it wasn’t true.

Still, nothing has changed. One minute Iverson was here, the next he slipped away mysteriously. This time there was no trade, indefinite suspension or any of the old standbys. Instead, Iverson allegedly left the team because his four-year old daughter is sick with an undisclosed illness. Actually, not only hasn’t anyone spoken about the girl’s illness, but even those usually in the know say the information is particularly cryptic.

That makes it easier to understand this end for Iverson. When the health of a child or family matters is the concern, everything else seems pretty unimportant. Let’s just hope for the sake of little Messiah Iverson that the doctors can figure this out.

Forget about the fact that Iverson went away for five games, missed the All-Star Game, came back for a couple of games before disappearing again only to turn up at a benefit in Charlotte. The truth is Iverson’s departure not only was typical of him and the exact opposite of his entrance at every stop of his career, it is also indicative of how Sixers’ almost always go out.

Think about it for a second… aside from Julius Erving (who had been offered up in a bunch of alleged trades during his waning years, including one for the No. 3 pick in the 1984 draft… Chicago smartly decided to keep the pick), which Sixers player went away on good terms?

Let’s go through the list… Wilt was traded. Moses and Barkley were traded, too. Andrew Toney had the injuries and the battles with management, while Mo Cheeks was traded away but wasn’t told until he found Michael Barkann waiting on his doorstep. When a player and the Sixers are really done with each other, usually that’s it. After all, aside from World B. Free there aren’t any old-timers hanging around the games. Sure, fences get mended and everyone gets back on good terms, but when it’s over it’s over.

There’s no going back.

Sure, we’ll see Iverson again. The Sixers will probably put his No. 3 in the rafters next to Wilt, Mo Cheeks, Barkley and Doc, and Iverson is undoubtedly a Hall of Famer. We’ll surely see him at the induction ceremony.

But what we won’t see is how Iverson deals with life away from basketball and the spotlight and the adjustment that sometimes is so difficult. We also won’t know about how he handles the family matters that have besieged him, though we can only hope he comes out ahead.

No, there’s no way to practice for where he is headed now.

Primoz Brezec, we hardly knew ye

When one thinks back on the historical significance ofsome of the mega-deals that have gone down in the name of basketball in this town, it almost leaves a guy breathless. Ponder for a moment the fact that two teams with origins in Philadelphia traded away Wilt Chamberlain when he was in the prime of his career…

Not once, but twice!

Imagine that—arguably the greatest individual talent ever to play basketball was traded from the Warriors to the Sixers for Connie Dierking, Paul Neumann, Lee Shaffer and cash before going from the 76ers to the Lakers for Jerry Chambers, Archie Clark and Darrall Imhoff. The first trade came a season after Wilt led the league in scoring with nearly 35 points per game and 23 rebounds, while the second one came two seasons after the Sixers won their first NBA title (third for a Philly team) and the big man went for 24-24 and led the league in assists.

But just like that, he was gone. Poof!

Trading away Wilt Chamberlain was hardly the most dubious deal in the history of Philadelphia NBA teams. Nope, not even close. Ever hear the story about how Maurice Cheeks was traded in August of 1989 to the Spurs, only Mo didn’t know about it until he arrived back at his house and found a reporter there waiting at his doorstep. Go ahead and ask Michael Barkann about that one sometime because he was the guy who broke the news to Cheeks.

No word if Michael B tracked down Christian Welp and David Wingate, too, to tell them they were packaged with Cheeks to get Johnny Dawkins and Jay Vincent.

Charles Barkley was traded simply because he had outgrown Philadelphia and probably would have been arrested for aggravated assault on Armen Gilliam if he had to stay another day longer. The Barkley deal returned the Sixers Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang and Tim Perry, which is the basketball equivalent to trading Curt Schilling for Travis Lee, Omar Daal, Vicente Padilla and Nelson Figueroa.

Sometimes trades have to be made for the sanity of everyone who remains. Barkley and Schilling had to go for just that very reason—we needed to stay sane and so did they. However, on the scale of trades that should have warranted the state to step in and send owner Harold Katz upstate to the nervous hospital for a little vaca, the deal on draft day of 1986 is an all-timer.

Whenever I think about the Deal of ’86, I think of it two different ways. In one I look at it kind of like Robert E. Lee meeting Ulysses Grant in the courthouse at Appomattox in 1865 to sign the papers signaling the end of the Civil War. Then Lee slowly rode off on that white horse of his and wandered around in the wilderness until it was time to check out.

The other thing I think of is the Saturday Night Live sketch from the ‘90s when Kevin Nealon and Victoria Jackson play interviewers who ask dumb politicians deftly worded questions about just how far they can shove their heads into their derriere. Always gets a giggle, though in real life it’s not so funny.

Think about it—in one day the Sixers traded Hall-of-Famer Moses Malone and solid frontcourt man Terry Catledge to Washington and then sent the No. 1 overall pick of the deep (yet cursed) 1986 draft to Cleveland. The pick turned out to be perennial All-Star Brad Daugherty. Maybe the Sixers somehow knew that Daugherty’s Hall-of-Fame career would be cut short at age 28 because of back injuries? Or maybe they didn’t want a guy who got 21-and-11 during the last four years of his career?

Either way, the Sixers turned away Moses Malone, Brad Daugherty and Terry Catledge, plus two first-round draft picks and got back Roy Hinson, Cliff Robinson and Jeff Ruland…

No, there’s no punch line. That really happened!

I still can’t believe the Spectrum wasn’t overrun with an angry mob out of an old movie like It’s a Wonderful Life with folks screaming for Harold Katz as if he were the miserly Old Man Potter. Why weren’t there riots?

So it is above the din of discontent that we recall the inglorious days of yore when our NBA team out-smarted itself and ruined things for a while. In the aftermath of Wilt going to the Lakers, the Sixers set the record for the worst season in the history of the sport with just 9 wins in 1973. And, perhaps, maybe it’s even reasonable to think that the Sixers have never really recovered from Draft Day of ’86. Why not? In addition to losing two Hall-of-Fame quality players, they also gave up two first-round draft picks and picked up Jeff Ruland, who went on to play just 18 games over the course of five years. Current Sixers’ GM Ed Stefanski knows that if he puts his hand over an open flame and keeps it there for a bit, it’s not going to end well.

Smart right?

Maybe. But then again, maybe not. After all, at 20-33 these Sixers are going nowhere fast. They are too good to benefit from the draft and too bad to do anything of note in the playoffs. Moreover, two players—Elton brand and Andre Iguodala—have contracts that aren’t very conducive to a team hoping to rebuild in the current salary-capped NBA. I think I called it NBA DMZ a few days ago. Basketball limbo might be a better term.

With the majority of fans hoping the team would unload a valuable player, but cap-unfriendly guy like Iguodala for any number of teams we heard about on the rumor mill (and confirmed by the GM) in order to acquire the coveted expiring contract so favored in these crazy times, it was funny to hear the reaction to an actual deal. No, funny is not the right word there because it implies that a good time was had by all. Let’s just say it was fascinating to couch the reaction from the fans against the words from Stefanski. See, the GM thinks his team is underachieving and isn’t as bad as the 20-33 record indicates.

No argument here.

However, if the GM makes a deal he doesn’t want to give up Iguodala for Jeff Ruland. Sure-and-steady Eddie wants some talent back in a trade, too. Why wouldn’t he? Good for him.

“For us to take back expiring contracts for talent didn’t make much sense, and it would not have gotten us close to a lot of the team [much further under the cap],” Stefanski explained.

Fair enough. So when the only deal at the trade deadline is one which the Sixers sent Royal Ivey, Primoz Brezec and a second-round pick to the Milwaukee Bucks for guard Jodie Meeks and center Francisco Elson, well, let’s just say it feels a bit underwhelming. In fact, it feels a bit disappointing, too. I mean, think of all those little kids out there talking about, “Roy-al with Cheese!” and sporting those Primoz jerseys with ol’ number whatever he was on the back.

Nobody ever thinks about the kids.

In light of the mega-deal, I solicited opinions from the man on the street (via Twitter) for thoughts on the deadline blockbuster… this is what I got back:

A fellow named Robert from Philadelphia asked, “Who are the Sixers?”

Oh come on, we know… but do we really know them. They never let us get close enough.

A man who calls himself Kevin from Philadelphia seemed most distraught, writing: “Just when I got my Royal Ivey jersey...”

Isn’t that how it always works?

A guy named Dan from Delaware astutely pointed out that Francisco Elson speaks five different language, including his native tongue, Dutch, says this fact will help him in Philly: “He can translate DNP-CD however he likes.”

After that the responses just got weird and I kind of checked out after the one from a guy who describes himself as a “Philly Phanatic,” who asked: “Is the real Ed Stefanski in a cave somewhere and actually Billy King has pulled a 'Face Off' switcheroo?”

When we start comparing the 2009-10 Sixers to a Travolta/Cage vehicle, it's time to stop.

Yes, the trading deadline can send us all off the deep end, but at least this time we didn’t have to go for the torches and pitchforks to storm whatever it is to strom.

Hear him roar

The plan was to write something about how the Sixers willlikely finish out the season with the players they have. With the trade deadline inching ever closer and the last playoff in the East looking more difficult to catch with each passing game, it’s nearly time to pull the plug on the pro basketball season in Philadelphia.

That’s a shame, too. It would be neat to see the Sixers sneak into the playoffs and go up against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. Oh sure, they’ll lose, but that’s beside the point. The 2009-10 season could be one of the last great NBA seasons for a while with the collective bargaining agreement about to expire and the threat of a lockout looming. If the NBA is going away from a while, it could be with LeBron, Shaq and Kobe in the Finals and the Western Conference race as tight as ever.

Things are pretty good for the NBA on the court. Off the court? Not so much.

A backup plan was to write something about the Winter Olympics and the most successful day for the U.S.A. in the winter games, ever. On Wednesday, Shani Davis, Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn won gold and Julia Mancuso took a silver. That’s four medals in one day, including one where some dude can wear snow pants that look like denim.

You can’t wear jeans to the Olympics… c’mon!

Maybe we can wait a day to write about the Olympics after Johnny Weir skates. Yeah, that’s the plan. I saw where someone wrote that Johnny Weir is the best Sasha Baron Cohen character. That sounds about right. Actually, the Lancaster County native is so over the top that it seems as if he is parodying figure skating. If that’s his intent, he’s hilarious. And if it’s not, well, that’s hilarious, too.

But when word came out that Tiger Woods is going to show in face in public on Friday at a “press conference,” for the first time since he drove his car into a fire hydrant and then took a nap on his front lawn, all bets were off. See, we’ve only heard about Tiger and his various exploits in the time since he had that little accident.

Y’know, it made all the papers.

Here’s the interesting caveat about it, though… Tiger is going to hold his press conference only he will not be taking any questions. In other words, he’s going to stand in front of a bunch of cameras and folks with recorders and note pads and sermonize. He’s going to deliver a speech because it sure as shoot ain’t going to be a press conference. See, a “conference” implies that there will be a give and take. In a press conference, ideas are exchanged, questions proffered and answers—sometimes—attempted.

If a guy is going to just stand there and pontificate, what’s the point of calling everyone in?

Maybe that’s the problem? Maybe the fact that if Tiger Woods wants to talk (and only on his terms) everyone will go running to wherever he wants them just to be talked at. The arrogance of that guy, huh?

Then again, we already knew about Tiger’s arrogance—that is if the stories and reports are to be believed. Plus, three months after the event occurred and now the guy is ready to talk? He already gave the police the stiff-arm and then drove up traffic to his web site by posting ambiguous mea culpas. Now what does he want to say that he couldn’t say before? What’s in it for him?

Oh, I get it now… he wants to play in the Masters and has to do his penance first.

Sheesh, the dude hasn’t even said a word yet and I already want him to shut up.

It will be fun to listen in though. What else do people do on a Friday at 11 a.m. aside from work? Watch guys in faux jeans or faux fur compete in the Olympics? Actually, come to think of it, that might be the way to go.

Forget the draft (just win, baby!)

Even though the 76ers are playing some decent basketballlately and slowly making up ground for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, some fans of the team are actually aghast. Winning games and slipping into the playoffs doesn’t serve these guys well, the argument goes.

There is some logic to that, but not much. Sure, the Sixers might be able to add a missing piece to help build for the future, however, even if they lose every game for the rest of the season they have a small shot at nabbing the top pick.

So what’s wrong with making the playoffs? Based on the Sixers’ draft history winning ball games and trying to rebuild with free agents (always difficult to do with the NBA’s salary cap) might be the best tact.

Sure, we know all about the recent picks like Jrue Holliday, Marreese Speights, Thaddeus Young, Lou Williams, Andre Iguodala and Sam Dalembert, who are all solid players and should help the team in the future. All of those players were selected well out of the top 10 picks (except for Iguodala) from draft classes that weren’t known for being particularly deep, so in that regard the team did pretty well.

It’s just when the Sixers get into the top handful of picks where things get crazy. Yes, Allen Iverson was the top overall pick in 1996 and he’s headed for the Hall of Fame, and Charles Barkley was taken fifth overall in the famous 1984 draft. But for every Iverson and Barkley there is a Shawn Bradley, Sharone Wright, Charles Smith, Keith Van Horn, Marvin “Bad News” Barnes and whatever the hell that was in 1986.

Indeed, June hasn’t been the kindest month for the Sixers.

Just look at what happened from 1973to 1975 where the Sixers had four picks in the top five and six first-round selections. That’s where following the NBA-record nine-win season the team took Doug Collins with the top pick in ’73 (not bad), took Roman Catholic and St. Joe’s alum Mike Bantom with the fourth-pick before it was disallowed for some reason[1], and then snagged Raymond Lewis from California State University at Los Angeles at No. 18.

Collins, of course, was a four-time All-Star and scored 22 points per game in during the run to the Finals in 1977. However, injuries ended Collins’ career before he turned 30. Bantom spent nine seasons in the NBA before closing out his career with the Sixers in 1982. Instead of latching on with the ’83 title team, Bantom played in Italy.

The dubiousness of the ’73 draft was trumped in a big way in 1974 where the Sixers took Bad News Barnes with the second overall pick. It actually might have been an interesting pick had Barnes not jumped to the Spirit of St. Louis in the ABA before becoming the poster child for the era of bad behavior in the 1970s.

In the history of nicknames, Barnes’ was perfect. During his rookie season with St. Louis, he disappeared for days presumably to renegotiate his contract—in the middle of his first season, no less. After days off the grind (much easier to do in 1974), Barnes was finally located with his agent in a pool hall in Dayton, Oh.

They always turn up in the first place you should look…

Barnes played in just 315 pro games, made the playoffs once in the ABA and appeared in two ABA All-Star Games. That was when he was in relative control. When Barnes was in full Bad News mode, it was pretty dark. Check out this interview he gave to Fanhouse last December:

"I was making 40 to 50 grand a week [selling] the drugs,'' said Barnes. "I was making so much money (in the selling of marijuana) it was hard to stay focused (on basketball).''

Barnes said he served as an investor with drug kingpin Paul Edward Hindelang Jr., who would later cooperate with the government and forfeit $50 million in drug-trafficking proceeds. Barnes said Hindelang's right-hand man was Roosevelt Becton, a friend of the basketball player whom he describes as the "godfather'' who "ran St. Louis.''

"Hindelang was the guy who started the 'mother ship,' which would park five miles away and boats would shoot for the (Colombia) shore,'' Barnes said. "He got a two-ton freighter a bunch of us (contributed for financially). Then it would go down and buy two tons of Colombian marijuana.

"It was the best marijuana. We bought it from the Colombian government for a dollar a pound ... I was investing money (in the operation).''

Talk about wasted talent:

"I was one of the five best players on the planet, period"

"I would have been one of the 50 greatest players of all time,'' said Barnes, 57, who now works with at-risk teenagers in his Men to Men program in his hometown of Providence, R.I., telling them the pitfalls of drugs. "I was one of the five best players on the planet period (with St. Louis). Just ask anybody (from) back then ... I was kicking some butt. ... But I was going on a downhill spiral. I met drug traffickers in St. Louis and they showed me another way of life. And that was detrimental to my basketball career.''

Maybe it wasn’t so bad that Barnes didn’t end up with the Sixers. Imagine Barnes in the frontcourt with Darryl Dawkins and Julius Erving with a team that featured Collins, George McGinnis, World B. Free, Henry Bibby, Steve Mix and Caldwell Jones. That’s a team that could have gone 11 deep with Jellybean Bryant and Harvey Catchings filling roles, too.

Instead, Barnes was a wasted No. 2 pick in a deep draft  where the Sixers could have snapped up any one of the 18 players who went on to play at least 550 games in the NBA. This includes Hall of Famer George Gervin.

The team finished up the three-year stretch of top picks by getting Dawkins with the No. 5 pick before swiping Free in the second round. In 1975, the Sixers did about just as well as they could do, arguably getting the two players that went on to have the best careers of the draft class.

Still, the team didn’t really come together until Doc came aboard in 1976. And despite the loss to the Blazers in the ’77 Finals and to the Lakers in ’80 and ‘82, the championship squad wasn’t built on top draft picks, though Andrew Toney was the No. 8 pick in the 1980 draft.

They got Mo Cheeks late in the second round in 1978, Clint Richardson late in the second in 1979, as well as Franklin Edwards and Mark McNamara late in the first rounds of the 1981 and 1982 drafts. Otherwise, the best Sixers’ team was built with trades and signings… Bobby Jones came from Denver for McGinnis; they bought Doc from the Nets; Marc Iavaroni was signed after the Knicks waived him; and Moses arrived in a trade with Houston in which the Sixers gave up Caldwell Jones and their first pick of the ’83 draft.

Not bad.

If only the Sixers could have drafted as well when given a top pick. Oh sure, Barkley and Iverson were hard to mess up, especially since two of the greatest players ever were taken ahead of Sir Chuck (Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael Jordan). But just imagine what could have been if the Sixers had simply drafted Brad Daugherty with the top pick of the 1986 draft and dropped him into the frontcourt with Barkley and Moses.

Instead, just before it was their turn to make the No. 1 pick, owner Harold Katz sent it to Cleveland for Roy Hinson (yes, Roy Hinson!) before dealing Moses and Terry Catledge to Washington for Cliff Robinson and Jeff Ruland.

/shakes head/

Those trades made little sense in 1986 and make even less sense now.

What were they thinking?

Imagine those three up front with Cheeks and Hersey Hawkins in the backcourt.

Go ahead… we’ll wait.

Now imagine that the Sixers can knock off the Celtics or Pistons as the ‘80s end and instead of taking Christian Welp at No. 16 in 1987, they get Mark Jackson (third all-time in assists) or Reggie Lewis (perennial All-Star before his untimely death). Sure, the No. 3 pick of Charles Smith and subsequent deal for Hawkins worked out, but what if the Sixers would have just kept the pick and taken Mitch Richmond instead. That lineup turns to Moses, Barkley, Daugherty, Cheeks and Richmond.

Sigh!  

Strangely, the Sixers eventually have had a bunch of No. 1 picks in recent years, starting with Iverson, Joe Smith, Derrick Coleman, Elton Brand and Chris Webber.

What? They couldn’t swing a deal for Kwame Brown?

Try this out—from 1990 to 1999 drafts, the Sixers have had 20 top 10 draft picks end up on their roster. Ready for them?

1990—Coleman (No. 1 to New Jersey) and Willie Burton (No. 9 to Miami)

1991—Dikembe Mutombo (No. 4 to Denver)

1992—Jim Jackson (No. 4 to New Jersey) and Clarence Witherspoon (No. 9)

1993—Webber (No. 1 to Orlando), Bradley (No. 2) and Rodney Rogers (No. 9 to Denver)

1994—Donyell Marshall (No. 4 to Golden State), Sharone Wright (No. 6) and Eric Montross (No. 9 to Boston)

1995—Joe Smith (No. 1 to Golden State) and Jerry Stackhouse (No. 3)

1996—Iverson(No. 1)

1997—Keith Van Horn (No. 2) and Tim Thomas (No. 7 to New Jersey)

1998—Robert Traylor (No. 6 to Dallas) and Larry Hughes (No. 8)

1999—Brand (No. 1 to Chicago) and Andre Miller (No. 8 to Cleveland)

So the Sixers certainly have had chances to rebuild with the draft, only it really hasn’t worked out that way. Even the roster for the 2001 run to the Finals was constructed with trades and free-agent moves. Considering that as recently as 1995 to 1997 that the team had a top three pick each year and kept one player longer than two seasons explains all one needs to know about the Sixers in the draft.

Tank it? No t'anks.

---

[1] My research came up small. Why did the Sixers draft Mike Bantom No. 4, have the pick disallowed and then watch Banton go to Phoenix at No. 8?

The solution for the Sixers is no Answer

The 76ers took care of Minnesota on Tuesday night in a game that was decided pretty early on. Thanks to a 12-0 early in the second quarter that spurred a 73-point first half for a Wachovia Center record, the Sixers rolled to their fifth victory in a row.

While it’s debatable whether or not the winning streak and positive gains in the standards serve the team or the franchise well, that’s not the main issue here. Instead, the Sixers are 20-31 with one game to go in Toronto on Wednesday night… if they can get out of snowy Philadelphia, that is.

But yes, the Sixers are heading into the All-Star Break feeling pretty good about things. Considering they are just 4½ games out of the final playoff spot in the East, it’s no wonder. Throw in the fact that the Sixers poured in 119 points with 30 assists and it proves that the team just might be pulling together.

So is it any coincidence that the Sixers have won five in a row and scored at least 101 points in the last four games without Allen Iverson?

How about the fact that with Iverson away from the team in order to tend to a personal matter, Willie Green has stepped into the lineup and shot 61 percent (22-for-36) with 57 points in four games? Or better yet, how about coach Eddie Jordan saying the big reason for the five-game winning streak has been the leadership from Green?

Coincidence?

What do you think?

With Iverson away, the Sixers have been playing exactly the way most folks expected when they started the season in late October. They are loose, confident and looking very much like the team that won 32 of their final 59 games last season to slip into the playoffs. Moreover, the sense around the team is that everything is right where it’s supposed to be.

“To me it’s been a combination of guys stepping up and a bunch of guys all playing well at the same time,” Green said.

“We’re starting to look more like the team that past couple of years that went to the playoffs. We’re just busy trying to dig ourselves out of a hole.”

And that’s just it. Would folks rather see the Sixers make a run at the playoffs and squeeze into a low seed and a probable first-round exit, or is it better to take a chance on the ping-pong balls? Sure, it would make sense for the team to attempt to add and develop the missing pieces through the draft, but even that’s no guarantee for anything. Just think about how many times the Sixers have been in this position in the past only to land on their bottoms in the same spot the next year.

Just look at when the Sixers had the No. 2 overall pick in 1993 and took Shawn Bradley. Thanks to that pick the team ended up with the No. 6 pick in 1994 (Sharone Wright), No. 3 in 1995 (Jerry Stackhouse), No. 1 in 1996 (Iverson), No. 2 in 1997 (Keith Van Horn), and No. 8 in 1998 (Larry Hughes). With the players taken in those drafts the Sixers should have been set for a decade based on the tank theory, but all that happened was they ended up in the lottery six years in a row with six different coaches.

Anyone want to take a chance with the No. 9 pick added to this bunch?

How about this plan instead:

Let Iverson play out the string and then sail off into the sunset. If he wants to keep playing next season, let him—just not with the Sixers if he demands on taking a starting gig and minutes away from anyone on the roster. After all, the Sixers aren’t the only team that has had success this season when Iverson went away. Just look at what Memphis has done since The Answer “retired.” Rather than being a mentoring veteran on a team with seven players in their first or second years in the NBA, and 10 players with no more than three years of experience, Iverson threw a fit about coming off the bench.

Kind of ironic that the oldest guy on the team was also the biggest baby.

The numbers explain it all. Four straight wins in which the team has averaged 107 points for the Sixers, a .553 winning percentage in the hardcore Western Conference for Memphis and a 9-16 record for his teams when he gets into a game this season.

Besides, at this point in their careers there is nothing Iverson does better than Green.

So there’s the elephant in the room. Clearly the Sixers are a better team without Iverson, but for now the players are going to (unironically) chalk it up to things finally starting to come together.

 “Our defense is playing a little better and we’re communicating a little more,” said Andre Iguodala, who has scored 19.3 points per game in Iverson’s absence. “On offense we got in a good flow, too.”

No one is admitting as much now, but for the Sixers the answer appears to be no Answer.

Getting Iggy with it

If there was one sequence that personified the season for Andre Iguodala—and maybe the Sixers, too, for that matter—it came in the final seconds of regulation in Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls at the Wachovia Center. Trailing by one point, Iguodala got the ball at the third-point arc above the top of the key where he hesitated as if getting ready to shoot before streaking to the hoop.

More than just a good, basketball move, it also was the smart play because even if Iguodala could not convert the layup, the odds were strong that he would draw a foul.

And that’s exactly what he did.

But that’s also where the Sixers got that sinking feeling again. That’s because after making his first foul shot to tie the game, the second one clunked off the back of the rim to give Chicago a chance to win the game with a final shot.

Eventually, the Sixers didn’t suffer for Iguodala’s missed freebie. In overtime Iguodala was the catalyst in helping the team to their second victory in a row. It was his three-pointer with 1:19 to go in overtime that finally gave the Sixers a lead they would never relinquish, just as it was his steal in the third quarter that started the second half run that culminated with his two foul shots with five seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Better yet, Iguodala was everywhere on Wednesday night, turning in one of his better all-around performances of the season with 25 points, eight assists and eight boards. It was an effort that was especially eye-popping when considering how the last three games went for the Sixers’ forward. During that span he has scored just 31 points on 30 shots, including an especially anemic eight-point effort against the Lakers last Friday night.

Over the last six games heading into Wednesday’s tilt against Chicago, Iguodala failed to score in double digits in four games and struggled to average 13 points on 40 percent shooting during the month of January.

For a guy wearing the label as the team’s franchise player, those numbers aren’t good enough.

Of course there are a lot of other things swirling around Iguodala that have nothing to do with his play, yet very well could influence it. One of those, of course, is the return of Allen Iverson to the Sixers, which may (or may not) have some influence on Iguodala’s game. It’s worth noting that Iverson did not play on Wednesday night.

It goes without saying that the trade rumors could have an effect on Iguodala’s play over the past few weeks. With the Feb. 18 trade deadline quickly approaching, the hottest rumors have the Sixers making deals with Phoenix or Houston for Amare Stoudemire or Tracy McGrady and those coveted expiring contracts that NBA GMs love and covet. Then again, even the East’s top team Cleveland has been mentioned as one of those landing spots.

Iguodala, however, does not have one of those contracts. Instead he has three years plus a player option remaining on his current deal, which doesn’t give GM Ed Stefanski much wiggle room despite the fact that the Sixers rank 23rd out of 30 teams in player payroll. In some potential deals the Stefanski might go in already in a tough spot since Elton Brand still has three years remaining on his $80 million deal.

Nevertheless, Iguodala sounds as if he would welcome a trade anywhere Stefanski can put together a deal.

“I feel like I’m one of the top players in the league and I can give whatever team I’m on a whole different dimension,” Iguodala said after Wednesday’s game. “Thinking in that perspective alone gives me that added confidence. It shows a new team what I can bring to the table.”

Still, Iguodala’s play on Wednesday night was such that some folks watching wondered aloud, “Who’s that guy wearing Iguodala’s uniform?” Then again, maybe the Iguodala on display this season is the real act. After all, in six seasons he’s appeared in just 17 playoffs games and never made an All-Star team. Clearly he’s not a guy who can carry a team, but might be a nice complimentary piece in Phoenix, Houston or Cleveland.

Besides, durability is nothing to sneeze at in the NBA and in his six seasons Iguodala has missed a grand total of just six games—all during the 2006-07 season. No matter who Iguodala ends up playing for, he’s dependable. His coaches and teammates can always expect him to be on the court.

Whether or not it’s the guy who dropped 25 on the Bulls on Wednesday night is a different matter.

One for the ages

There are human beings that travel around in order to cover the Philadelphia 76ers. Believe it or not, they are smart and caring people who live lives and have others who care about them. In fact, guys like Martin Frank and Dennis Deitch or two fellows that I consider friends and I wish them no ill will.

Apparently the team in which they cover is a little more sadistic, but we'll get to that in a moment. If these folks are going to survive the season and come out on the other side of it OK, we should know a little something about them just in case...

Martin and Dennis are as talented as they come in this business of ours. Martin always cuts to the heart of a story and he sees things that most people miss. He and I also spent a long May afternoon wiling away the time at Pimilco before Smarty Jones ran to a record-smashing victory in the 2004 Preakness. Since there were a slew of races on the undercard before the big race and they had a betting window in the press box, Martin and I decided the only logical thing to do was to study the race form and put a few dollars on a horse or two.

If I remember the day correctly, Martin did OK with the horses and the writing. I did better with the writing than I did with the horses. On the plus side, I came away with a better understanding of the phenomenon known as, "The betting window in the press box." I'm on the pro side of the argument (if there is even an argument).

Deitch is the most clever dude covering sports in Philadelphia. That’s not hyperbole or blowing smoke, either. Facts are facts and if there is anything remotely interesting going on with the 76ers, Deitch is the first place to check. That’s not a knock on anyone else, it’s just that Dennis sees through all the traps and talking points floated out there.

So when I finished watching the Lakers and Celtics play in one of the more entertaining NBA games this season, I flipped over to watch the Sixers face the Nets…

Yeah.

Let’s just say there was a bit of a difference in the quality of play in the two games. After watching the Lakers handle the Sixers last Friday night, my interest was piqued enough to want to watch how they measure up against a better opponent. Better yet, it was quite a treat to see a stellar performance from Celtics’ point guard Rajon Rondo. That dude can play.

Meanwhile, up at the Meadowlands it didn’t take very long for my heart to sink into the pit of my stomach and immediately feel a bit of empathy for Martin, Dennis and the rest of the gang. Did they get hazard pay for traveling to North Jersey to watch that game? Do their eyes still ache more than a day later?

I can only imagine that Deitch probably had to drop to one knee in order to catch his breath and re-organize his thoughts shortly after the final horn sounded. Poor guy.

The Sixers beat the Nets on Sunday evening, but not by much. Thanks to… well, thanks to no one in particular, the Sixers dealt the Nets their 42nd defeat (83-79) of the season in 46 games. For those scoring at home, the Nets are on pace to finish 7-75 this season, which is two wins shy of the all-time worst season in pro sports by the 1972-73 76ers. Frankly, it’s amazing that any team in this age of sports (with expansion and a salary cap) outside of the Los Angeles Clippers could flirt with a record that seemed like the NBA’s version of Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak.

Yet like the ’73 Sixers once were, the Nets are 4-42, but just missed pulling off their second win in three games. If the Nets could have won on Sunday night, it seemingly makes the record for the worst season safe for another year. But if there was ever a game the Nets should have won, it was the one against the Sixers. After all, the Nets’ defense held the Sixers to 36.5 percent shooting from the field and out-rebounded them, 50-47.

Looks like the Nets might have a date with destiny.

“I looked at the stat sheet and saw we shot, what, 36 percent? And still won the ball game? Man,” Allen Iverson said. “Obviously they didn’t play well at all for us to be able to win a game like that.”

What about the gang who had to sit there and then write about the game afterwards? How demoralized are those guys? Do you think it’s easy watching bad games night after night? Having seen the 2002 and 2004 Phillies up close the answer is an obvious, no. Losing is a communicable ailment that is airborne and contagious. It infects all that it comes in contact with and ruins the good will of kind-hearted people.

Worse, a game like Sunday’s in the Meadowlands can break a man’s spirit. When the game ended I was worried about the writing corps and feared that something bad was going to happen. Maybe after filing a story they would go to their car in the parking lot and find that the tires of the car had been slashed. Maybe after watching the game someone developed a rash and needed to rush down the Turnpike in order to get something lanced?

These are the times that try men’s souls.

Fortunately, morale appears to be high. In the Delaware County Daily Times, Mr. Deitch looked at the game from a historical perspective. Sure, the Sixers won the game, but in the process they nearly took the sport back to its peach basket days.

Deitch wrote:

If you said that this abomination set the game of basketball back 50 years, Wilt Chamberlain would crawl out of his grave and smack you for disrespecting his era.

Burn the tape. What, they don’t use tape any longer? Melt the memory card.

If you witnessed this game, seek therapy. And you might want to enter a decontamination shower, like Meryl Steep in “Silkwood.”

It really was that awful.

Here’s the ugliness Double D describes: The Nets scored just two fastbreak points in the game and were whistled for a shot-clock violation when trailing by two points with less than two minutes to go in the game. With feats like that one has to wonder about the Nets’ chances against the Washington Generals.

It wasn’t too much better on the winning side, either, with the Sixers missing 16 shots in the final quarter. More telling was the fact that the Sixers didn’t break into double-figures in scoring in the final quarter until the final minute. By that point the Sixers had to score because the Nets kept fouling them to stop the clock.

And to think, after the game some of the Sixers had the nerve to talk about how bad the Nets are.

“It is a frustrating thing. We just can’t play down to the level of our competition,” Iverson said.

“I’ve been on some pretty poor teams, but never that poor,” said Elton Brand, who went from going 66-7 in two seasons at Duke, to 15-67 in his first season in the NBA with the Bulls.

To be fair, maybe Sunday’s epic wasn’t the worst game ever or set the league back a half century, but it wasn’t one to be proud of, either.

Wrote Deitch:

So, maybe the fog of time just made it seem like Sunday night's game was the worst. But trust me -- this was a once-in-a-decade display. There were at least five shots that hit off the side or bottom of the backboard. (I'm still trying to figure out where the hell Willie Green was aiming that fourth-quarter shot.) The general sloppiness and disorder was brutal to watch, and the fact that both teams saved their worst play for the fourth quarter -- you know, when you're supposed to put your best foot forward -- made it a form of torture to watch.

Send the video to Abu Ghraib.

Lots of things are underrated

It’s been an interesting week for this li’l scribbler. Fairly entertaining, too. After all, it was quite a treat to take in not one, but two (two!) interesting college basketball games featuring three Top 16 teams along with a talented yet dysfunctional NHL club.

Of course there were a couple of things I didn’t quite get about a bunch of it—which is par for the course, I suppose. For instance, why is it that Villanova can pack the much-larger Wachovia Center, while Temple struggles to fill the second deck of the Liacouras Center? Both teams play exciting, up-tempo basketball and likely will be involved in some sort of madness come March.

Of course with money as tight as it is for a lot of folks, it’s understandable why some folks might not be able to get tickets for a basketball game. Still, compared to other ways to spend your entertainment dollar, the $15-to-$35 ticket prices for a game at the Liacouras Center aren’t too bad.

For Vllanova games at the Wachovia Center the prices start at $17 and go up to $65 for the lower bowl. Of course club box seats and other hoity-toity things like that go for a little more, but given the budgets most families must adhere to these days, it’s not awful. No, it’s not cheap when everything is factored in, and it’s not like the old days when families could regularly attend games, but those days, as they say, are gone.

Affording things ain’t so easy any more.

Nevertheless, the most interesting thing that occurred this week happened when I was up at the Temple game and I’m kind of bummed that I missed it. Fortunately, there is some compelling video out there of Sixers’ center Sam Dalembert sprinting from the airport to the Wachovia Center in order to get there in time for the opening tip. Even more compelling was the tearful recollection of Dalembert’s trip to his birth city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti where the devastation and grimness of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit last week undoubtedly will be something he will never forget.

Coincidentally, Matt Pesotski, of the always trenchant The 700 Level, was on the same flight from Florida as Dalembert and saw the Sixers’ center dash from the plane, through the concourse and on his way to the arena. Yet after spending the previous two days in Haiti and flying all day, Dalembert showed up in time to score 10 points and grab 15 rebounds against the Trailblazers…

… And the Sixers lost.

Check out the really good video produced by the gang at CSN of Sam hurrying to the game:

http://www.csnphilly.com/common/global_flash/player/spe16x9.swf?flv=vidcast_24854&sid=162&d=www.csnphilly.com

Speaking of the 76ers, there was an interesting little nugget in the most recent issue of Sports Illustrated concerning the NBA’s most underrated players. According to a poll of 190 NBA players, John Salmons of the Bulls finished second in the voting behind Joe Johnson of the Hawks.

Now Johnson isn’t exactly underrated considering he has averaged 21 points per game over the past five seasons and went to the last three All-Star Games. Calling Johnson underrated is like calling certain rock bands “alternative” when they move over a million units. What’s “alternative” about that?

So by default John Salmons is the most underrated player in the NBA. Remember him? You know, the kid from Plymouth-Whitemarsh who played collegiately at Miami and was drafted in the first round of the 2002 draft by the Spurs and immediately traded to the Sixers?

Yeah, that guy.

When Salmons was with the Sixers he never averaged more than 7.5 points per game and never more than 25 minutes per game. With Allen Iverson, Willie Green and Kyle Korver in the backcourt and Chris Webber splitting up the shots with Iverson, Salmons was a role player for the Sixers. However, after jumping to Sacramento after the 2006 season before moving on to Chicago in a trade midway through the 2009 season, Salmons didn’t have to wait for his turn anymore.

Sure, his scoring numbers are down from 18.3 in 2009 to 13.3 this season, but where Salmons stands out is on defense. Check out a Bulls game sometime and chances are Salmons will be checking the opposition’s best scorer.

Chalk Salmons up to one of those “What if?” situations, especially considering that only the lowly Nets allow the opposition to shoot at a higher percentage than the Sixers amongst Eastern Conference clubs. Worse, opponents shoot better than 41 percent from three-point range against the Sixers—that’s the worst (or the best) rate in the NBA.

Clearly Salmons was underrated by the Sixers, too.

Haiti and Sam Dalembert, Part II

An hour before tip-off, Sam Dalembert did not look like he was ready to play a basketball game. Understandably drained and confused by what had occurred in his birth country a little more than 24-hours before, Dalembert eyes gave answers to questions that his mind could not.

Was his aunt OK, despite the news that her house had been “cracked” by the earthquake that registered 7.0 on the Richter Scale a little before 5 p.m. in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Tuesday? Or, when would the next message from Dalembert’s father arrive? Just before the tiny Carribean island lost power, the elder Dalembert sent an e-mail signifying they were, “OK.”

“OK” is a relative term, of course. Even in the most technologically advanced country, an earthquake the magnitude of the one that devastated Haiti on Tuesday would leave its mark. Put that earthquake in the poorest country on this side of the globe that was still reeling from being battered by four hurricanes since September of 2008, and it sounds so cruel.

It isn’t enough that the average Haitian lives on less than $2 a day and had been governed by infamous dictatorships for decades, now the people on the poor island are waiting for the aid to arrive while gathering the dead amidst total destruction.

They are poor, Dalembert says, but proud.

"A huge part of me will always love the country, love the people in it. We're strong people, we deal with stuff. No matter what's going on, we always find a way to stay happy. We joke about situations when most people wouldn't make a joke," he said. "That's why people say, 'Why is Sam always smiling?' When you come from where I come from and where you are right now, every day is a blessing. I don't have to deal with finding food. I don't have to deal with looking in my freezer and not finding food."

Dalembert’s birth city Port-au-Prince, so close to the epicenter of the quake, is a city larger than Philadelphia yet currently has no operational hospital. Actually, it had nothing before the earthquake hit, but now it has death and destruction without hyperbole. Haiti, as it was, is gone.

Moreover, Dalembert’s father was in Port-au-Prince with members of his family on a business trip when the earthquake hit. Before Wednesday’s game against the Knicks, Dalembert said his dad sent a message via an e-mail from his aunt with the news of his whereabouts. 

But that was more than a day ago and no word has trickled out since.

“Yesterday I turned the TV on and just kept on watching and watching and just waiting for an answer in front of the phone. I contacted everybody I know there, but no answer,” Dalembert said before Wednesday’s game. “I wasn’t able to get as much information as I wanted to. It’s really frustrating. All I’ve got is watching the screen. I’m here and there’s nothing I can do. It’s really killing me right now.”

How does anyone attempt to understand the unfathomable? Better yet, how does a guy show up for work with so much uncertainty in his life? If Dalembert decided to check out and coast through the New York Knicks, who would have blamed him?

“Hopefully, for two hours he can escape,” Sixers’ coach Eddie Jordan said before the 93-92 defeat.

“I could tell that today was a different day for him because he wasn’t the same old Sam,” Allen Iverson said. “When I saw it on the news last night the first thing I did was call him, and you could tell in his voice he was struggling with the situation.”

There were two ways Dalembert could have gone against the Knicks… he could have disappeared, or he could have lit it up.

Dalembert lit it up with a season-high 21 rebounds to go with 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting.

“He showed what type of a professional he is—he came out here and did everything he had to do for us on the basketball court to give us a chance to win, and that shows a lot of character on his part,” Iverson said.

It turned out that playing basketball was the easy part. It became a type of therapy since there was no one for Dalmebert to call and the only way he can do to help is send money. In fact, the Sixers revealed after the game that in addition to pulling down all those rebounds, Dalembert was organizing a benefit to raise funds for more aid for Haiti.

For now though, all he can do is wait and hope that maybe he’ll hear something soon.

“It’s tough, frustrating,” Dalembert said. “It’s crazy, out of your mind. It’s like you’re locked in a cage. You cannot move. You cannot do anything. I tried to go over there, but they said there’s no plane going there. Nobody can go there.

“There’s really nothing I can do except play, then send money and help out.”

Imagine not being able to talk to your family. Or imagine not knowing whether your closest friend, father, aunt, brother or sister are alive or dead.

Imagine having all of that weighing you down into an emotional abyss as if it where an anchor on the Titanic...

All before you go and pull down 21 rebounds.

To help Sam Dalembert send relief aid to Haiti, go to the UNICEF site.