Sixers vs. Bobcats: Can this team play disciplined basketball?

[DuckyNinja]

Facing a LB coached team means playing disciplined basketball, a trait that this team seemingly does not have.  We pulling this one out tonight?

[Skates]

This team is really undermanned right now.  I think the loss of Thad is going to be devastating the rest of the season.  Now there are only two starters you have to worry about defending in the two Andre's.  I know he is not playing great right now, but I would start Speights over Evans, just to give it a shot and put another scorer on the first team.  I would also play Donyell more despite hs defensive deficiencies, just play a zone when he is in there.

[rickortreat]

The team is stretched thin, but that only matters at the end of a back to back when the team gets tired.  But discipline is the name of the game, especially with teams that play inside-out, which Charlotte does.  That means fewer steals and easy baskets for the Sixers.

Since that is the way it will be in the playoffs, it's just as well that the Sixers focus on their offense.  Crisp passing, solid cuts, no moving screens, no stupid calls because you forgot to clear the lane.  Andre Iguodala is getting picked on, and the rest of the team needs to step up.  When he drives and gets doubled, it's the other players job to be open so he can pass it.  I think Speights would be an ideal player to have in the mix, since he can finish.

Really we still have enough scoring if Lou and the two Andres have decent nights.  The rest of the scoring comes from Willie Green, Reggie Evans and Speights.  Playing Marshall gives them the additional scorer they need.  It's just a matter of the coaching staff not doing stupid things, like playing Evans and Ivey at the same time.

And if it takes 5 minutes for your team to make a basket, call a time-out, scream at them and make them sit!  Sometimes you have to force your players to suck it up.


The Sixers are still in the hunt for the 5 and 4 seed, but this game is a must win since they only have one easy game left. Although Miami has one more win, the Sixers have a game in hand.

[rickortreat]

Ugh. The Sixers were taken out of the game and then took it over to tie it up, and even take a 4 pt lead.  But that was it, and they settled for trading baskets with the Bobcats, who outperformed them by just enough to win by 3.

The substitution when they put Ivey in the game was a mistake. You do not want him taking a quick three in that situation.  They busted Charlotte's zone, exactly as I wanted, with Speghts getting free in the lane. The Sixers had an advantage inside, but did not do enough passing into the middle.

Had they won, I would have been very happy, but in this loss, they had a three point edge with 1:42 left in the game and didn't score again.

So the answer is they only played a half of disciplined basketball, and sort of blew it at the end by failing to work for good shots. When they relied on Iguodala all they got was a one on one move that took too much effort to have a good chance to go in. There was enough time for a play at that point, and could have gone ahead by a point with a bucket.

The refs really did a terrible job tonight.  Swallowing your whistle at the end of the game is a chicken sh*t ref.  If there's a foul you call the FOUL, or you're not a good ref. You call it at the end just like you do in the middle, or there's no integrity at all. Especially, when it was a foul that you called that put a team back in the game a minute before.

[anklebreaker]

I was at the Flyers game last night, so I missed this one.  Which bigs finished the game for us? 

[bebopdeluxe]

Sammy was on the bench for Theo - who couldn't get a rebound to save his life.

As a 12-15 minute big off the bench, Theo is fine...but I think that DiLeo overthought things there last night.  Sammy should have been in at the end, IMO.

[anklebreaker]

were their guards penetrating at will down the stretch? 

[Skates]

were their guards penetrating at will down the stretch? 

I only caught the last 5 minutes of the game, and it did not appear to be the case at that juncture of the game.  But based on the number of points scored by Felton it must have happened a lot earlier unless he was nialing a lot of jumpers.  Iggy and Miller were taking advantage of Felton's and Augustin's size disadvantage pretty well down the stretch and Lou was penetrating pretty well.  Okafor and Wallace did most of the Bobcats' damage late in the game, Okafor even hit his free throws.

[anklebreaker]

were their guards penetrating at will down the stretch? 

I only caught the last 5 minutes of the game, and it did not appear to be the case at that juncture of the game.  But based on the number of points scored by Felton it must have happened a lot earlier unless he was nialing a lot of jumpers.  Iggy and Miller were taking advantage of Felton's and Augustin's size disadvantage pretty well down the stretch and Lou was penetrating pretty well.  Okafor and Wallace did most of the Bobcats' damage late in the game, Okafor even hit his free throws.

Good stuff Skates.  Just checking, because I recall Evans finishing the game for us last time we played Charlotte, and Felton was just getting whatever he wanted in the paint down the stretch. 

[rickortreat]

were their guards penetrating at will down the stretch? 

I only caught the last 5 minutes of the game, and it did not appear to be the case at that juncture of the game.  But based on the number of points scored by Felton it must have happened a lot earlier unless he was nialing a lot of jumpers.  Iggy and Miller were taking advantage of Felton's and Augustin's size disadvantage pretty well down the stretch and Lou was penetrating pretty well.  Okafor and Wallace did most of the Bobcats' damage late in the game, Okafor even hit his free throws.

Good stuff Skates.  Just checking, because I recall Evans finishing the game for us last time we played Charlotte, and Felton was just getting whatever he wanted in the paint down the stretch. 

Willie Green did a great job helping the Sixers come back, once he got some stitches for his chin.  He started nailing threes, and shut down Felton.  They really got into it, and Felton was pissed, but Willie was all over him and taking it to him on the other end.  That was in the third when the Sixers made their comeback.  I could understand resting him for a while, but DiLeo never even thought to put him back in the fourth.  Andre Miller's defense has been really bad lately, he is lazy and refuses to stay in front of the other team's point.

[DuckyNinja]

Willie Green did a great job helping the Sixers come back, once he got some stitches for his chin.  He started nailing threes, and shut down Felton.  They really got into it, and Felton was pissed, but Willie was all over him and taking it to him on the other end.  That was in the third when the Sixers made their comeback.  I could understand resting him for a while, but DiLeo never even thought to put him back in the fourth.  Andre Miller's defense has been really bad lately, he is lazy and refuses to stay in front of the other team's point.

Andre Miller's defense has been really bad all season.  It's the dirty little secret of this Sixers' team.  We have a PG who can't stay in front of anybody with an iota of quickness.  My biggest fear is that they re-sign Miller.  All season I've been complaining that whatever he gives us on offense, he gives right back on defense.  It's not that he's lazy, he simply can't do it.  If they re-sign Miller, we can kiss our chances of winning a championship goodbye for however long we have him.  That's why, when I hear "Andre Miller is really underrated" attributed to guys like DiLeo and Stefanski, I get scared.  And if I hear that "Andre Miller just knows when to score" one more time, I'm going to kill somebody.  Because he really has no fucking idea, and often ends up taking bad shots or taking us out of an offensive rhythm with his selfishness.  Sure, he has a lot of assists, but he's at best the 3rd best passer on this team.  Yes, he has great court vision. Unfortunately, he can't make the goddamn passes other than the alley-oop.

[/rant]

[Skates]

If they re-sign Miller for two years and draft a Rajon Rondo defensive type, who can hopefully add a long range shot by the time he is the starter, and move Lou for a shooter with good wing size, i would be OK with it.  Not the best case scenario, but maybe more realistic.

TK started a thread over on RealGM about what kind of PG you would want to replace Miller with, assuming we can't get a do it all CP3 type.  The skills I would look for in order are:

Defense
good ballhandling (i.e. low TO rate)
court vision, especially on the break
Shooting
playmaking in the half court

[tk76-]

Part of the question is what skills can they do without in their PG.  They must have defense and shooting. 

I'd be willing to sacrifice:

-Floor general skills.  I'd take a natural passer who maybe can't quite run an offense at this point.  i'd take a 'combo guard' if they can defend and shoot.  Maybe they can become Chauncey later, but for now early career Chuancey (before he could run a team) will do nicely.

-Post up scoring.  A great skill of Miller's that we don't really need moving forward.

-Blazing speed.  As long as they can defend, they don't have to be waterbug fast.  If they can pass ahead anything like Miller, then Iguodala and Young have more than enough speed.  Magic Johnson did not need speed to be a HOF fastbreak point.

-High scoring.  Must have a jumper that is respected and be able to run the pick and roll, but they don't need another big time scorer.  With Brand, Young, Iguodala, Speights, Lou and a FA shooter they will have the firepower.  They just can't have a PG that the defense can help off of.  Shooter yes, scorer, not so key.

[tk76-]

Looking at what is out there a few names jump to mind.

Possible stop-gaps while you let a draft pick develop:
-Jarrett Jack
-Dooling
-Duhon (Knicks talk of blowing things up)
-West (could be available if they add Kidd)

These guys can shoot and defend, but are mediocre players.  Can either pass ahead to trigger the break?

Young bench players who need a shot:
-George Hill- is he available, can he defend?
-Critt- does he project to develop a good jumper

The Draft:
No one seems a perfect fit.  Partly the issue is PG's usually develop their jumpers only after a few years in the pros.  Some, like Kidd, don't become good shooters from distance until late in their careers.
 
-Evans is promissing, with star potenial, but may never be a good shooter
-Curry might be the perfect fit if he is not a horrible defender\\
-Teague and Maynor have question marks
-Holliday is a project, but has star potential and might be 'the next Thad' right now, but won't be much next year.
-Flynn, Collison and Lawson all strike me as 'college stars' that get people more excited by what they can do in the NCAA then how they project at the next level.

[DuckyNinja]

The problem is that every time I think through what we need in a PG, I keep coming to the conclusion that either Iggy should be moved to PG and we should get a SG to do the shooting or that a Royal Ivey with a bit more shooting touch is our ideal PG.