Sixers - Suns

[DuckyNinja]

Who guards Amare?

[rickortreat]

They'll probably try Thad at first.  No way they give the start to Speights. Getting the coaching staff to give that player the minutes he should get seems impossible.

It's just too stupid.  He's the best post player they have and they will need him to go deep in the playoffs.  It makes sense to try to develop him as much as possible to prepare the team for that. I can't understand why, it isn't for any logical reason.

[DuckyNinja]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand Thad totally abuses Amare in the first quarter.  Amare may be the laziest player I have ever seen.  It doesn't look like he's giving any effort at all.

[rickortreat]

Yeah, he looks very disinterested, now I know why they want to trade him, even though he's leading the team in scoring.  Phoenix looks clueless when it comes to dealing with the Sixers. They can't stop them at all.

It's going to be very hard to keep Speights on the bench when he puts up 16 points and 5 boards in 12 min.  He's shooting 80% so far.  Hard for the team to avoid passing to him, even though you could see he was trying to get the others involved.

If I was the Suns coach, I'd just play Shaq and Amare and post them up. It's absurd that Shaq still can't shoot free throws. His shot is so bad, he'd have a better chance bouncing it off the floor and into the net. Even so, the Sixers can't stop them, and they foul them anyway. They should slow the game down and pound it inside.  They like to run, but the Sixers are so much faster that it isn't even funny.

[DuckyNinja]

I wonder why they're not just looking to trade Nash.  He won't bring back as much as Amare, but they have two legitimate post presences and at least two great 3 point shooters (Richardson and Barbosa).  And Hill isn't really a speed guy either.  Wouldn't a halfcourt PG make more sense for them?

[rickortreat]

I wonder why they're not just looking to trade Nash.  He won't bring back as much as Amare, but they have two legitimate post presences and at least two great 3 point shooters (Richardson and Barbosa).  And Hill isn't really a speed guy either.  Wouldn't a halfcourt PG make more sense for them?

Yes, but there's no reason Nash can't be that guy.  Good point guards aren't all that easy to find.

Enough about the Suns.  The Sixers kicked their asses tonight, the only taint being that they played the Pistons in Detroit last night. Marreese Speights got 24 min. and put up 24 pts. 7 boards a steal and two blocks on 11-16.  Thad Young had 25 points shooting 10-14 including 2 for 2 from 3 point range, 5 boards all in 30 min. Iguodala was 6 of 14 but made 10-11 from the free-throw line for 22 points.

This shows the kind of scoring potential the Sixers have, Speights and Young are both 20 pt. scorers given the minutes, and so are Iguodala and Williams. Andre Miller can score 20, but tends not to when the rest of the team is scoring so easily. Willie Green has already put up 20 points this season. That's 6 players who can really score the ball for the Sixers, there aren't too many other teams with players capable of that level of play.

The team can really get some momentum here, winning the next game against Memphis heading into the all-star break. After the rest, only Denver and Orlando figure to give them much of a challenge.  That's 8 more games in Feb. with a reasonable chance at 6 or better victories.  The team is finally 2 games above .500, having played at better than a .750 clip for Tony Dileo.

They are a lot better than most in the league realize.  Speights has been under the radar, unless you pay attention to John Hollinger. He is about the only one who gave the Sixers credit when they started winning, in his power rankings.  IMO, by the end of this month, they won't be under the radar any longer. A team that plays .750 ball is an elite team.

[Skates]

Well, watching the Suns is like watching the end of the Barkely and Iverson eras in Philly, only with more talent.  Stoudemire is basically pulling a Vince Carter act and the team needs rebuilt, although they have some decent talent to rebuild around.

The Sixers looked very good against the Suns tonight, beating them at the punch each time.  The Suns are tired and out of sorts, but this was the kind of step on their neck game I have been wanting to see out of this team.  Too many times we let teams like this climb back into the game and win it with a last second shot.

The talent on this team is considerable, but they still aren't getting past the second round of the playoffs this year.  They are probably moving towards keeping Miller, which I think is a mistake in the long run.  Sammy has been really effective lately at playing D against other big men, I bitch when he stinks out there, so I have to hand it to him when he has become valuable again.  I think the biggest incompatiility on this team when Brand is around is between he and Sammy.  Sammy is at his best when he is the only real big man out there, although that won't do us any good if we want to be real contenders at some point.

[DuckyNinja]

I think the biggest incompatibility is between Brand and Miller.  Miller is really good at fitting the ball into tight spaces or throwing the alley-oop.  He's really NOT good at making a quick pass to an open cutter.  I notice a few times every game where a guy is wide open and Miller just can't get him the ball (whereas Iggy and Williams have shown that ability at times).  Brand loves the pick and roll, Miller can't run it.  I'm taking the wait and see approach.

The one thing that really can't be question right now is the amount of talent this team has.  Iguodala is a fantabulous player, and there's a lot of guys stepping up around him.

[Skates]

I think the biggest incompatibility is between Brand and Miller.  Miller is really good at fitting the ball into tight spaces or throwing the alley-oop.  He's really NOT good at making a quick pass to an open cutter.  I notice a few times every game where a guy is wide open and Miller just can't get him the ball (whereas Iggy and Williams have shown that ability at times).  Brand loves the pick and roll, Miller can't run it.  I'm taking the wait and see approach.

The reason I see Sammy as more incompatible with Brand is because Miller can give the ball up to another player to pick and roll/pop with Brand on the other side of the floor, while Sam seems to have no idea what to do with himself when Brand is around.  You are right though, Miller's skill set does not compliment Brand very well.

[tk76-]

I think Sam is incompatible with any legit PF.  He is best utilized in a small ball line-up, where is herbounding and shot blocking allow the team to get away with a guy a small as Thad at PF.

In a conventional line-up there is no where for Sam to play on offense.

Maybe he'd be good next to Bosh or Sheed- bigs who prefer to stand out at 18 feet.  Brand can shoot, but he likes to play around the lane.

Also, agree 100% with Skates' game breakdown.  Great to see the team stomp on a dissinterested, but talented Suns team.

And Speights making regret wanting to put him in as part of an Amare trade

[anklebreaker]

Just getting back from the game.  I was so pumped up about that win I had to call Ike Reese on 610 on the way home just to discuss the game with someone (by the way, 610 sorely needed someone like Ike who actually enjoys talking hoops, something 610 lacks). 

Speights and Thad couldn't be stopped.  Iguodala quietly had a nice night.  Our defense looked great for 4 quarters and we dominated them on the boards (which was a surprise).  Thad got us going early and had 14 points with over 2:30 left in the 1st quarter... when he went out, Speights came in.  The end. 

[Derek Bodner]

That is the worst defensive frontcourt I think I've ever seen.  Amare made his case on why NOT to trade for him.  They're terrible in the pick and roll, and absolutely brutal defensively in transition.

[carolina blue]

It will be interesting to see how long they give Kerr to fix that mess.

Letting D'Antoni go and the Marion/Shaq deal seemingly initiated this downward spiral.  It looks like they'll have 2010 cap space, but will Kerr be around to use it?

[tk76-]

I only see management continuing to break things.  There is no fixing going on.

Dantoni, Marion, Diaw and soon Amare.

I'm not saying they were ever going to win it all, but for whatever reason they have decided to blow their team up and start from scratch.  Maybe they forget what its like to be a bad/rebuilding team in the NBA.

That franchise is sunk and 2010 will not save them... all they have going for them is warm weather.

[anklebreaker]

Dantoni, Marion, Diaw and soon Amare.

Don't forget about Raja 

I love how a determinant to the Shaq deal was to help them get past San Antonio in the playoffs.  What did that series go last year?  4-1 Spurs?  Their style of play w/ Mike D. did sort of come to a screeching halt in the playoffs, but I'm not sure that less drastic additions/revisions to the roster couldn't have sufficed and kept them in contention, rather than Kerr ripping their identity out entirely. 

To Shaq's credit, he's actually playing better this year than most anticipated giving his age and injury concerns, but nonetheless the team has deviated from their winning ways and their success this season is a far cry from what it was.