jsa

With the many recent off season moves, the 76ers are committing to stronger offense and weaker defense in the front court. With Coleman at PF and Van Horn at SF, teams should drive, not post up or jump shoot. No shot blocker, except a decent Coleman, to worry about in this years rendition.

If Van Horn moves to PF, and Mckie or Buckner are in the game, the post defense suffers but the perimeter defense actually becomes quite good. Dalembert or Jones might work better with that first unit, and the more offensive MacCullough with this unit.

Combo's may be critical in this situation. Brown's a master at this, so even without the personnel he may get decent results.Lots of subs this year, I suspect.

I would much rather watch the growing pains of Sam Clancy than have Buckner, Williams, and Rentzias hogging minutes. If he is quick enough, he may team well with Van Horn against opposing forward combinations.

robyg1974

You have Derrick Coleman starting at PF and Todd MacCulloch starting at C.

Their backups are Mark Bryant, Alvin Jones, Samuel Dalembert, Sam Clancy, and this Efthimos Rentzias fella?

Are those REALLY the only backup PFs and Cs this team has right now?

It seems to ME that the ONLY WAY the 76ers can improve their frontcourt--both in terms of quality AND quantity--is by trading Derrick Coleman, either by himself or with Eric Snow and/or John Salmons.

Any ideas?

How about Coleman and Bryant to the Wiz for Christian Laettner, Popeye Jones (sign-and-trade), and Chris Whitney?

And how about we get a nice veteran backup big guy, since we don't REALLY want any of those scrubs we mentioned earlier to touch the FLOOR. Somebody old, cheap, mediocre but COMPETENT like... Grant Long? Or Charles Oakley?

Here's what the 76ers could look like after making that deal with the Wiz and then signing Grant Long:

Starting lineup

PG Eric Snow (28 minutes/game)
SG Allen Iverson (40 minutes/game)
SF Keith Van Horn (32 minutes/game)
PF Popeye Jones (20 minutes/game)
C Todd MacCulloch (32 minutes/game)

Key reserves: Aaron McKie (24 minutes/game), Christian Laettner (20 minutes/game), Greg Buckner (16 minutes/game), Monty Williams (12 minutes/game), Chris Whitney (8 minutes/game), Grant Long (8 minutes/game)

End of the bench OR stashed on the IR OR waived/cut (no PT, in other words): John Salmons, Samuel Dalembert, Efthimos Rentzias, Sam Clancy, Alvin Jones

[NOTES: Van Horn would play 16 of his 32 minutes/game at PF in a quicker, offensive-oriented lineup; Whitney and Iverson would never play at the same time for obvious perimeter defensive purposes.]

I think that you're looking at an improved team right there, folks. Of course, Van Horn would have to REALLY step up and score a lot of points for this team--but why did you trade for him if you didn't already PLAN on that happening ANYWAY?

ANYWAY, like I said, I'd love to hear some other ideas. If anybody can think of a way to get some inside help by trading someone OTHER than D.C., let me know.

BY THE WAY, isn't it appropriate for D.C. to get traded to D.C.? Why didn't this happen a LONG time ago?

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Roby G.

jsa

My gut feeling is that the 76ers are thru with personnel moves until the season starts and they see how it goes.

So that leaves DC as the Pf , with his strong inside play and hopeless perimeter defense. The centers are either offense mostly (MacCullough) or defense only (Dalembert, Jones) so they must be used judisciously in the right combinations, I think.

When Van Horn moves to PF, he can defend the perimeter, but not the post against powerful post-up type PF's. Hence, maybe one of the shot blocking 6/foul kids has to be in the game in those situations to prevent many easy scores. At SF, it may be that Van Horn can really only defend post up type small forwards like Weatherspoon and Fortson, who are short and not quick with the ball. So a defensive shot blocker would help then as well. But you can't play those kids with clueless offense and team play as much as MacCullough. Perhaps Coleman will play more center this year. In the East, he is good enough.

So then the rotation becomes:

C Mac/Coleman/ Dalen-jones
Pf Coleman/Van Horn/Williams
Sf Van Horn/McKie/Buckner
SG Iverson/Mckie
Pg Snow/Mckie/Salmons

Minutes as follows: Iverson, Van Horn,Mckie, Coleman, MacCullough,Snow, Williams, Buckner, Salmons,Dalen-Jones.

Brown has got to do a jig saw rotation to assure a semblence of the type of defense he aspires to, and still keep his key players on the floor when needed.

Greg(I'm Greek)

Well,you can't know if Rentzias can help the team.I know him better than you do;he is not a bad player at all!Of course,there are european players better than him who just couldn't fit in the NBA,so I can't promise anything,but don't count him off only because he has a strange name!
I'm not sure if you know that Rentzias was Gasol's teamate in spanish team Barcelona.But i'm sure you don't know that Gasol was Rentzias' substitute!
This can mean sth,right?

sixersonline

Greg, Thanks for the insight on Rentzias. I'm also looking forward to seeing what he brings to the team.

But I have a strong feeling that he won't see much playing time this season, other than possibly some garbage minutes. Just a hunch I have based on

a) How Larry Brown usually uses his rookies. (Sparingly, if at all)
b) the Log Jam at PF, (DC, Van Horn, Skinner, Clancy?)

I'm going on the assumption based on the scouting reports I've read, and Rentzias' play in the summer league, that he's more of a finesse player despite his listed size (6'11" 250 lbs) , than a legit center (let me know if this is accurate).

But needless to say, I'm hoping he surprises everyone and does really well.

BBallFan

Van Horn at SF won't work (unless he switches roles with the PF on the defensive end). He never has, and never will be able to guard SFs.

Greg(I'm Greek)

Your assumption isn't wrong,sixersonline.Rentzias has strength near the hoop,but in the last couple of years he has turned to a 3-point-shooting-center.You surely know the Sixers much better than I do,so I have to admit that he is probably not exactly what this team needs.

jsa

Are folks suggesting that the stating lineup be : ?

Coleman c
Van Horn PF
Buckner or Williams SF
Iverson G
Snow G

This is quite good defensively except for shot blocking, and gives you MacCullough and Mckie as excellent subs. But the 76ers previously let MacCullogh leave because they didn't want to pay a sub starter's money.

Although they have added solid role players, Brown is going to have to coach his butt off to have combo's on the floor that exploit the opponents, rather than vice versa.

I hope the optomism of the Greek poster about Rentzias is well founded.And maybe a year without 20 injuries would be a nice change.

BEEZ

Starting lineup

PG Eric Snow
SG Allen Iverson
SF Keith Van Horn
PF Derrick Coleman *but while he's out possibly Skinner*
C Todd MacCulloch

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I have no clue!

BBallFan

Again, if anyone watched the Nets last year, they'd know that Keith Van Horn never has, and never will be able to guard SFs. KMart guarded every 3, unless the other team had a 3 without quickness.

BEEZ

I mean we all know his defense aint great and that 90% of the startig 3's in this league he cant keep up with. That still doesnt take away that he will be starting at 3 spot when the season starts

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I have no clue!

sixersonline

I'm not quite convinced KVH will be starting at the 3. Or at least I'm not quite convinced he SHOULD be starting (or playing good minutes at the 3. You never know with LB.

If it's one thing we know about Larry Brown it's that he won't tolerate poor defense at the SF spot for very long. He rode Harpring hard all of last year, trying to get him to be like Lynch. he had Lynch focusing on nothing but defending and rebounding. He quickly fell in and out of love with both Toni Kukoc and Tim Thomas because of their lack of defense.

If Brown tries to force KVH to play a position he's not suited to do well at, I can't see anything good coming of it. NJ made the mistake of trying to force him into the 3-spot to accomodate Martin playing the 4, and we all know how their team felt about Van Horn by the end of the season.

And the thing that makes this a no-brainer at least to start out the season, is that DC will be out for a good while. With DC out, there's really no other starting caliber PF on the roster other than KVH. Considering all Brown usually asks for from his 3 is defense and rebounding, I'm thinking Monty Williams, Buckner, or possibly Mckie, and perhaps even Vanhorn for brief stints if the matchups favor it, can fill that position by committee.

just my $ 0.02