What's your take on DiLeo so far?

[tk76-]

The team's new philosophy, he said, is, "If you're open, you shoot."

"I was disappointed some guys didn't take threes" against the Rockets, DiLeo said. "And I told them that."

He added: "They might have had the green light to some degree, but now you have to take it. It takes the decision away, to some degree."

DiLeo said his players should be glancing at the bench only if they don't take the shot.

Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles had a different philosophy.

"There's an awful lot of guys out there shooting threes who shouldn't be shooting them," Skiles said.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20090108_Sixers_Notes___Sixers__mission__Shoot_the_three.html

In his 11-game tenure before last night, the Sixers had already increased their scoring average from 93.3 to 98.5 and their floor percentage from 43.4 to 48.9. The next step is to try and open up the offense, which should create more lanes to the basket for their slashers and cutters.

He has given them the green light.

"If they're open, shoot it," DiLeo said. "No hesitation. We got a big one late in the game against Houston [Tuesday night] when Lou hit Andre Iguodala on the baseline. I was disappointed a couple of times when we didn't take them when they were open."

Make no mistake, he doesn't want a parade of launches; he does want the trey more integrated into what thy do.

They remain a team that wants to run, and they do that as well as any team in the league, being the leader in fastbreak points. That includes a season-high 29 against the Rockets.

"We don't want to forget what we're about," DiLeo said, "but we don't want a situation where the other team makes 10 and we make one."

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20090108_Sixers_coach_DiLeo_wants_to_see_team_shoot_more_threes.html

[tk76-]

I do think the Sixers have been better on offense w/DiLeo, as the numbers bear out.  I also agree that a team can't tun down open shots, and needs to take them without over thinking it.  That said, players like Lou, Iguodala and Green have historically struggled when they settle for long jumpers, and this team can never live and die with jumpers.

I guess it depends on how things are implemented.  As was written, if the threes can lead to better spacing it could open up driving lanes.
...

As for the offense overall, I guess its hard to judge with Brand out.  I'm amazed at their fg%, but that has a lot to do with all of the fast break scoring.  I read about trying to get more early offense, but I'm not sure how much we have seen of that compared to under Cheeks (that has a nasty sound to it.)

One curious thing s that the team has found success using some strange line-ups.  They often have 2 or 3 horrible offensive players next to Lou and Miller or Iguodala and still get bye.  I've seen Theo, Evans and Ivey all out there together.  I guess less minutes for Sam allows them to put other poor offensive players out there, for better or worse.

[tk76-]

As for player development, we've already talked about how he is using the young guys.  Iguodala and Lou have flourished, while Thad has struggled and been bounced around from PF to SF.  Speights' play and minutes have been up and down.  Theo and Ivey have become regular fictures of the rotation.  Evans has played too much.

[Derek Bodner]

I'm not sure how much of the increased scoring (and proficiency) is DiLeo, and how much of it are guys just naturally playing better.  Iguodala and Lou weren't going to struggle for the entire year like they did the first month.

[tk76-]

Also, the team scores more when they go small, which thye do more since Brand has been out.

The FG% has been impressive.

[Skates]

As for shooting the threes, I am guessing that DiLeo sees them shooting better in practice and being hesitant in games.  Hesitant shooters are bad shooters.  If he just wanted someone to randomly shoot threes he would play rush more, but he doesn't.  Part of his idea is that shooting the shots will still spread the defense according to Salmi.  Plus the Sixers are a good offensive rebounding team which makes a missed three slightly less of a negative. 

It is too soon to say that DiLeo has had much of an effect, plus he obviously had to get back into a coaching mindset and adjust to NBA style coaching.  He certainly seems to have no problem sitting guys who aren't playing well and the team does seem to be executing a little more crisply.  He does not seem to run out of timeouts like Mo routinely did, the team seems to play well coming out of timeouts, but his end of game play calling (all Iggy, all the time) leaves much to be desired.  I liked seeing the young guys on the floor with the game on the line.  Overall, I see small changes and I still don't expect him to be coach long-term, but we will see. 

[rickortreat]

I think he's been a little slow in discovering that Speights can really play, and there were a couple of times when I thought the groups they put on the floor were very dumb, and it was quickly apparent on the score board just how dumb he was.

But I think he's light-years ahead of Cheeks as a coach. I'd agree with Dabods that Iguodala and Williams were going to start shooting better, but I think DiLeo has had a lot to do with them shooting over 50% in a number of games, even against good teams like SA. The half-court offense is much, much better even with the same players on the floor.  Considering that he has a better record and hasn't had Brand for most of that time, I think he's done a great job.

If Tony starts giving Speights more minutes (though I am pleased that he uses him in crunch time) and works Brand back in without disrupting the offense I doubt I'll have much to complain about. The team was clearly loosing and going nowhere with Cheeks. DiLeo has them on a two game win streak.  Even though the Sixers lost most of their WC games, they did start to play better even though they had nothing to show for it. DiLeo kept them working and fighting, when a lesser coach could have lost the team. I think he's actually above average as a coach, makes good situational calls too.