This is an excerpt from a Caryl Kauffman article where she's more negative than I can ever remember her being, given the circumstances it's hard to blame her.
Quote:
The handling of several players is baffling, perhaps even more so because the preseason talk about them was so upbeat. The list begins with Glenn Robinson, but certainly doesn’t end there. Kenny Thomas, Brian Skinner, Samuel Dalembert and even Willie Green haven’t lived up to expectations, or been given the minutes to do so.
Until Thomas was called upon to play major minutes in the absence of Corliss Williamson, the 6-foot-7 power forward was clearly not a happy camper.
Signed just a year ago to a lucrative, long-term deal, Thomas looked to be a big part of the future of this franchise. But after he started the season slowly on the offensive end he was relegated to the bench after 10 games -- behind not only Williamson, but Josh Davis as well.
Thomas acquitted himself well Friday night against the Grizzlies, something coach Jim O’Brien was clearly pleased with. But whether Thomas will get on board now is a huge question mark.
Then there’s Robinson, whose status with the organization is far from clear. Sore ankles, sore knees is what O’Brien says when asked about Robinson, but there’s much more going on with this one.
From the beginning, Robinson’s situation has been mishandled. On the first day of training camp, O’Brien told the gathered media that Robinson was not only in great shape, but picking up the defensive system very quickly.
A few weeks later, Robinson, a 10-year veteran, had lost the starting small forward spot to rookie Andre Iguodala, and a few days before the start of the season team president Billy King announced that he’d try to trade the unhappy shooter.
Little has been seen of Robinson since. After King’s announcement, Robinson returned home to Gary, Ind., but was summoned back to the team a short time later.
O’Brien claims he went to Robinson a short time back and offered him the chance to compete for the starting power-forward spot. At that time, O’Brien said, Robinson said his ankles and elbows were too sore to play.
Robinson has not spoken publicly since.
There was a better way to handle the situation. Robinson didn’t fit this team, which was clear from before the start of training camp, but to alienate, not to mention devalue, a 10-year veteran just doesn’t make sense. Wouldn’t it have been better to start Robinson while quietly pursuing a trade?
As for Skinner, the 6-foot-9, 265-pound center was the 76ers’ top free-agent signing in the offseason and was coming off a career-year in Milwaukee to boot.
With the Bucks, Skinner averaged 10.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in 28.2 minutes. Now, for a sub-.500 team, he is averaging just 11.4 minutes, 2.7 points and 3.3 rebounds. And this makes sense how?
And that’s not even taking into consideration the money. Combined, Thomas, Robinson and Skinner will earn $21.4 million.
Finally, we get to the young players. Dalembert, who showed such promise a year ago, has looked dazed and confused both on and off the court. He clearly doesn’t understand what he’s supposed to be doing, and he doesn’t understand how he went from starting the last half of last season to coming off the bench.
Green, too, has struggled after showing a tremendous amount of potential last year. Perhaps the expectations were too high. Perhaps it would have been better to bring Green along a bit more slowly. Perhaps it’s a sophomore slump.
Early in the season, O’Brien said that the 76ers would only reach their potential if Dalembert and Green reached theirs. Neither look close to turning the corner at this point, and you have to wonder if there’s not something more O’Brien and his staff could try.
__________________ 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.
Quote:
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.”
Originally posted by PhillyPhanatic!
This is an excerpt from a Caryl Kauffman article where she's more negative than I can ever remember her being, given the circumstances it's hard to blame her.
As long as Obie is in charge, the Sixers will die a slow death until he is gone. His handling of the Robinson situation tells me a great deal about his intelligence, which is none. Sure, the Sixers will have winning stretches along the way, just like Obie's Celts did, but ultimately, like the Cetls, the Sixers is a team in a little turmoil.
It isn't O'Briens job to babysit these unhappy teammates. It seems like at least 5 of the guys on this team are all mad that they aren't getting their chances.
Being a team is about playing to win as a team. It isn't about motivating a bunch of overpaid babies to work for their contract.
I am sorry but this is how I feel. I like the Sixers and wish them success but you are not going to win unless people start caring about the team more then their individual stats.
Originally posted by Fenway!
It isn't O'Briens job to babysit these unhappy teammates. It seems like at least 5 of the guys on this team are all mad that they aren't getting their chances.
No but it's O'Brien's job to put players in a position so they can succeed and with his offensive and defensive systems he's not doing that at all. If he put players in the right place, more players would be playing better, having better statistics and because of those stats they'd be playing more.
Quote:
Being a team is about playing to win as a team. It isn't about motivating a bunch of overpaid babies to work for their contract.
I am sorry but this is how I feel. I like the Sixers and wish them success but you are not going to win unless people start caring about the team more then their individual stats.
It's not that players are complaining about stats, I don't think one person has complained about their numbers or shots, all complaints have been for a lack of playing time. O'Brien had all offseason to pick this team, he said he was happy with it, but now he has several players jammed into his doghouse. Then O'Brien had the preseason to figure out the rotation (since we all knew Kirk Haston and Nate James weren't making the team) and 17 games in we don't have a consistent rotation yet.
__________________ 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.
Quote:
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.”
does obie know what a rebound actually is,sure you can run and gun if your dallas or sac town but with the players on the sixers roster it aint happening
is kyle korver banned from stepping inside the 3 point line?
The Sixers could run and gun, if they started different guys and committed to it.
PG - Allen Iverson (and tell him to playmake, not play shoot)
SG - Andre Igoudala
SF - Kyle Korver
PF - Brian Skinner
C - Samuel Dalembert
That group should play 30+ minutes a night and would be able to run with the best of them. Although, I wouldn't hold my breathe on it happening.
Even if you went with that, you're 2nd unit of players could still be a halfcourt team with Salmons, Green, Williamson and Jackson playing minutes off the bench.
Why is this so difficult to grasp for Jim O'Brien?
__________________
My favorite NBA players: Kobe Bryant * Carmelo Anthony * Ben Gordon * Deron Williams * Joe Johnson * Kevin Martin * Tim Duncan * Kyle Lowry * Thad Young * Amare Stoudemire * Dwight Howard * Josh Smith * Brandon Roy * LaMarcus Aldridge * Rudy Gay * Al Horford * Brandan Wright * Craig Smith * Renaldo Balkman
2008-09 Favorite Rookies: Jerryd Bayless (POR), Roy Hibbert (IND), Greg Oden (POR), Jamont Gordon (undrafted), Chris Douglas-Roberts (NJN), Joe Alexander (MIL), Patrick Ewing, Jr. (SAC)
College Basketball: "Where 7-Foot Bigs Foul Out Happen"
because he is an idiot, he can't comprehend anything involving rotations, he would run my hosue league team into the ground
__________________
Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph. - Haile Selassie I
She pretty much summed it up right there. This is what Sixer fans already knew but it's good to read it from someone else. What I don't get is, why doesn't the coach see it?
I was all for his hiring but I'll be calling for his firing pretty soon if he doesn't right this ship.
Iam starting 2 regret Philly hiring him. But there's nothing much from a fan point of view that we can do just like every other situations a team makes.
Its very frustrating to see Philly loss giving the weak competition they have and the way they loss and most of all, the talent they have on their team.
I agree with this article in its entirety. To me Kyle Kover is not good enough to be a starting 5 and Kenny Thomas is definetly not getting enough game time.
of Sac and Dallas are run-n-gun teams, but where have they gotten so far? In fact, Dallas, after acquiring Dampier, is now less gun and gun. Sac, after losing Divac and depth, is no longer the gunning team they used to be. All the championship teams in the last 5 Finals, from Detroit, to the 3-time Lakers, to the Spurs, have run half-court offense in the Finals.
We saw how the Nets' defense destroyed that Obie's Pierce-and-Walker gunning offense (jacking up treys if open) team in the playoffs a couple seasons ago.
What's my point? Sac and Dallas had much better players suited for their gunning offense, yet they have won nothing. I don't think the Sixers have anything close the shooters Sac and Dallas have, so no way Sixers can hope to run.
Kyle Kover is an interesting guy. He's kinda like a scrappy player who would probably a running game with a good PG to get him open shots. But I think Kover would struggle in a halfcourt game when defenses hunker down. And Iverson is not and probably at this stage in his career is highly unlikely to become great playmaker, like a Kidd or even a Bibby.
Player mismanagement baffling..
Linear Mode
