Messages

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Stefanski on WIP with Eskin

« on: December 02, 2008, 06:33:42 PM »

I know speights got some time with the 'main' unit the last game cause sam got 2 stupid fouls - i mean the first quarter was the best qurater last game right?

You're not really saying that one quarter with two stupid fouls is evidence of anything are you?

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Stefanski on WIP with Eskin

« on: December 02, 2008, 06:31:58 PM »

Yes, as with every stat, +/- has plenty of problems. I'm saying what I see: a guy with potential (Speights) who still makes a lot of mistakes but will hopefully grow out of them vs. a guy who makes less bonehead mistakes (Sam) but who'll probably never grow out of them. The stats also seem to say that. You see something else so it'd be helpful if you pointed to the stats that also back up your subjective observations. If there's none, then it's hard to have a discussion since you see one thing and I see another.

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Stefanski on WIP with Eskin

« on: December 02, 2008, 06:03:45 PM »

He makes a lot of bonehead mistakes and Dalembert is still (for all his faults) better than him

I whole heartedly disagree - but until Speights gets minutes with the rest of the starting 4 it's comparing apples and oranges - his offensive game is already light years ahead of sams and his lapses aren't any worse than sams - and defensively sam hasn't exactly stunned me this year - his lack of iq is really showing

Sam is particularly boneheaded this year.

But the +/- back me up. Defense is better with Sam there. it is MUCH worse with Speights in there. The offense is better with Sam there. The rebounding is better with Sam there. The only thing that is better with Speghts in there is the offensive rebounding percentages.  That's not to say I dislike Speights. I love his potential. But that's diff't from what he can deliver now.

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Stefanski on WIP with Eskin

« on: December 02, 2008, 05:55:23 PM »

I know how much you guys hate Willie Green, but the Sixers really have no choice right now.

They have lots of choices, starting with waiting it out, making a trade and firing the coach. Moving this lineup around is worse than shuffling the deck chairs on the Atlantic.

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Stefanski on WIP with Eskin

« on: December 02, 2008, 05:54:08 PM »

if they bench Thad for Willie I might just lose it.

Yeah, I agree.

In general, either the personnel we have right now ramps up their intensity or we trade people. I don't see lineup changes having a big effect. It's not like there's a guy on the bench who's a better defender or a better offensive player or fits better than someone else.  Even Speights who is great is great for a rookie. He makes a lot of bonehead mistakes and Dalembert is still (for all his faults) better than him. Of course that may change in a few years (and presumably that's the promise we all love) but right now even that change isn't worth makign...

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Sixers @ Bulls - Dec 2 2008

« on: December 02, 2008, 04:11:25 PM »

You know who is shooting a career low fg%? Without an almost attached?

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Stefanski on WIP with Eskin

« on: December 02, 2008, 03:58:16 PM »

Damn. Missed it. Looks like h'es not longer on. Anyone catch it?

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Tracking Free Agency

« on: August 06, 2008, 10:27:33 PM »

Such a large contract with Iggy dramatically reduces flexibility. Suppose 'Dala doesn't play up to the contract, i.e. simply performs at last year's level (maybe with increased fg% or 3pt% but essentially last year's level).  Then he becomes untradable.  Not that he wouldn't be a valuable player, but that he wouldn't be valuable for the contract he has. So if we're not clicking and need to make some changes, we wouldn't have many options. We'd be forced to build around 'Dala, meaning we'd have tradable pieces of:
*Brand (if he recovers from injury, he'd be movalbe; if not, we're in trouble there too). What a pity to have to move him?
*Miller. It's unclear to me what his market value really is.
*T.Young. It'd be a real pity to trade him.
*Speights. It'd be a pity to trade a young guy showing promise.

All our other players would have negative value relative to their contract or would just not bring much back (J.Smith).

Now I realize you shouldn't give out contracts solely with an eye towards tradability. But this is a team that does not have lots of talent on reasonable contracts and therefore doesn't have lots of flexibility. Iguodala on this huge contract could really push us towards a dead end.

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Eskin: Sixers about to sign Kareem Rush

« on: August 03, 2008, 11:32:55 AM »

Yes, Rush's problem is that he never gets to the foul line. In fact, as a jump shooter he's very efficient. Compare his efg% on jump shots (46.9%) to the much discussed Michael Redd (47%). Of course Redd's efg% is more impressive since he's creating his own shot more often but 47% on jump shots is decent. It's not fabulous though. Contrast it to James Jones who was at 58%. Still, for the min., it's not bad.

Rush's problem is that he never ever gets to the line. He attempted 42 TOTAL free throws last season.

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Tracking Free Agency

« on: July 22, 2008, 09:34:59 AM »

If all of these guys take the tender, next year's free agent pool is going to be fabulous. At best one or two of them are targeted by teams with cap space. The rest will have to settle for the MLE. Can you imagine being able to nab guys like Gordon for the MLE? Reminds me of how Detroit got Billups.

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Iguodala's PPG w/ Brand

« on: July 12, 2008, 11:44:34 PM »

Almost mechanically Iguodala's points have to go down. We scored 96 points per game last season. Even if we jump drastically (which I don't see happening because I don't see our pace of play going up) we could move up to 100 points per game: roughly 9th in the league.

That's only 4 more points. You figure Brand is going to get 20, say 12 more than what we're getting from that position in those minutes right now.  You figure Thaddeus will also deliver another 2-3 more. So that's 15 more minus the 4 total increase = 11 points per game that have got to come from someone.

An ideal candidate is Miller. He's a reluctant scorer to begin with. You can expect 3 points per game drop from him. That still leaves us with 8 that have got to come from elsewhere.  Iguodala, Green and Dalembert are my prime candidates for that drop.

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: Summer League

« on: July 11, 2008, 05:51:23 AM »

From the Cheeks transcript. If Speights keep this up, looks like he might even see (non-garbage) minutes this coming year. Now that we have brand, that would be pure gravy.

Has anybody jumped out to you in mini camp?
CHEEKS: Thaddeus (Young) has been great, Jason Smith is working really hard and I think Marreese (Speights) is going to be very good. It?s going to take some time, but he?s got a chance - especially with a player like Elton (Brand) around who can help teach him as well. Marreese (Speights) has been a pleasant surprise this mini camp.

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Philadelphia 76ers / Re: What we are learning about Ed and the teams direction

« on: July 02, 2008, 10:40:48 AM »

Smith's prowess on the defensive end must clearly be whta is attractive to us. He has the tools to be an amazing defender. If he develops them, a line-up that features Iguodala, Thaddeus (another player with the tools & desire to develop into a superlative defender), Smith and Dalember would be an amazing defensive line-up. The other team, whoever they are, would struggle to score. The problem is that so would we.