10-21-2004, 07:51 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Kwisatz Haderach
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Coatesville, PA
Age: 25
Posts: 24,242
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SI.com 76ers season preview..
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When Jim O'Brien was hired as a Celtics assistant in 1997, he had a hard time shaking the feeling that he was in the wrong place. He had grown up in North Philly, despising Boston, and now here he was, going to work for Rick Pitino on the Celtics' staff. "On the way to the press conference, I said to Red [Auerbach], 'I can't tell you how many times your teams made me cry growing up,'" O'Brien recalls. "He took a big puff of his cigar, blew the smoke toward me, and said, 'That's good.'"
O'Brien, who replaced Pitino in January 2001 and took Boston to the '02 conference finals, is much more at home in his new assignment: coaching the team for which he rooted as a kid. And the team needs help. Riddled by injuries in 2003-04, Philadelphia missed the playoffs for the first time in six years. O'Brien, who succeeds interim coach Chris Ford -- the replacement after Randy Ayers was fired last February -- believes the Sixers can snap back. "We have four guys who have averaged double figures for their career; two who have averaged over 20 points for their career," he says. "We have two guys [Aaron McKie and Corliss Williamson] who've won Sixth Man awards. And we have an MVP."
O'Brien showed how highly he regards his MVP when he went all the way to Turkey to meet with Allen Iverson before the Olympics. With Eric Snow traded to Cleveland, O'Brien wants Iverson to run the offense as well as ignite the pressure defense.
So far, coming home has been good for O'Brien. He's building a house in Newtown Square, where his wife, Sharon (whose father is Hall of Fame coach Jack Ramsay), grew up. Still, he hasn't forgotten his time in Boston. "I learned a lot from Red," O'Brien says. "And I'd be more than happy to bring it to Philadelphia and create that rivalry again." -- Bill Syken
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I'm almost always slanted towards the optimistic side of things, but outside of Philly the optimism for the 76ers is to a level I don't remember in years. Not even the year the Sixers went to the finals was much expected of them, but now Sports Illustrated is one of many sources to list the 76ers as the #4 seed in the East, which means them winning the Atlantic.
I wonder when this optimism will leak into the city, and if it'll happen before the Eagles season concludes.
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Who cares about a championship drought?:
My teams will never win a championship anyway, so why don't you discuss everything else at my forum? Good idea, right? Yeah, I thought so. It's called.. Booing Santa Claus. See you there.
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Originally Posted by Henry Rollins
“The average is the borderline that keeps mere men in their place. Those who step over the line are heroes by the very act. Go.”
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SI.com 76ers season preview..
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