Now that Jay Wright has reassured us of his sanity by removing himself as a candidate to succeed Tony DiLeo, the Sixers' search for a more generic "Mr. Right" continues, perhaps with the help of eharmony.com. While from a PR standpoint, the Villanova coach would be a dream choice, there is no reason to believe it would have made much difference in the won-lost column. College coaching has little more in common with the NBA than with the Iditarod.
For nearly a decade, the Sixers have gone through coaches the way Elizabeth Taylor went through husbands but the team would been better served if they had stayed with one low-profile professional. I would not presume to speak for Ms. Taylor.
The importance of NBA coaches tends to be exaggerated. In most cases, they make only a marginal difference. Look at the surviving coaches in the playoffs right now - Karl, Van Gundy, Brown and Jackson. Have they been indispensable to their teams' success? Hardly. Denver became a contender the day they unloaded Iverson for Billups. The tipping point for Orlando and Cleveland was adding solid role players for their franchise players, Dwight Howard and LeBron. There was no brilliant strategizing by George Karl, Stan Van Gundy or Mike Brown.
The Lakers attained championship caliber when they managed to acquire Pau Gasol at a fire sale. Even Phil Jackson concedes that his team's effort is uneven. If the Zen Master himself has trouble motivating his troops, what hope is there for mere mortals like Randy Ayers, Jim O'Brien, Mo Cheeks, Tony DiLeo, Kurt Rambis, Dwane Casey, Eddie Jordan or Tom Thibodeau?
The real issue is team personnel and the Sixers' roster right now is loaded with riddles a super computer couldn't solve. Those personnel issues would have persisted, but Cheeks' replacement with "don't call him interim coach" DiLeo and the Elton Brand imbroglio were major distractions that resulted in more questions than answers. Of course, the franchise must name a coach reasonably soon to address the player issues in conjunction with the front office. But if they think that if they sift through enough sand, they can find the one man capable of leading them to the promised land, they are on a fool's errand.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Jimmy Rollins' Struggles
In 1968, American Bob Beamon pulled off one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in athletic history. He won the Olympic gold medal in the long jump in Mexico City with a jump of 29' 2 1/2". This was 21 3/4" more than the previous record. Beamon himself had never jumped even 27' and he never would again. The new record was to last for 23 years. Even allowing for the benefit of Mexico City's altitude, it was astonishing. Which naturally leads us to Jimmy Rollins.
Rollins' early-season struggles at the plate are well documented and much discussed. But has J-Roll fallen victim to his own Beamon-like moments? In 2006, Jimmy batted .277, just about his career average, but he broke out with 25 hr. Then came his epic MVP 2007 season when his numbers approached the surreal: .296 average, 41 stolen bases, 94 rbi, 139 runs, 20 triples, AND 30 hr. Out of the leadoff spot! But then came last year's fairly pedestrian output and this year's nightmarish beginning.
Aside from 2006-07, Rollins has never hit more than 14 hr and one can't help but think that those 25-30 long ball seasons were an aberration that Jimmy should not try to replicate. Without even trying to go long, Jimmy would probably hit 15-20 hr a year, and that should more than enough for the team if he got on base more often with the opportunity to put his legs to use, particularly given the abundance of power in the current Phillies' lineup.
Ricky Henderson, Rollins' boyhood idol, routinely did things as a leadoff man bordering on the supernatural with an unprecented combination of speed, power and average. It is understandable that Jimmy would want to pattern his game after his hero. But even the legendary Henderson, who hit almost 300 career home runs, only broke the 20 hr mark three times in his 26 year career. Rollins has already done it twice in 8 full seasons. There is no need to do it again.
Rollins' early-season struggles at the plate are well documented and much discussed. But has J-Roll fallen victim to his own Beamon-like moments? In 2006, Jimmy batted .277, just about his career average, but he broke out with 25 hr. Then came his epic MVP 2007 season when his numbers approached the surreal: .296 average, 41 stolen bases, 94 rbi, 139 runs, 20 triples, AND 30 hr. Out of the leadoff spot! But then came last year's fairly pedestrian output and this year's nightmarish beginning.
Aside from 2006-07, Rollins has never hit more than 14 hr and one can't help but think that those 25-30 long ball seasons were an aberration that Jimmy should not try to replicate. Without even trying to go long, Jimmy would probably hit 15-20 hr a year, and that should more than enough for the team if he got on base more often with the opportunity to put his legs to use, particularly given the abundance of power in the current Phillies' lineup.
Ricky Henderson, Rollins' boyhood idol, routinely did things as a leadoff man bordering on the supernatural with an unprecented combination of speed, power and average. It is understandable that Jimmy would want to pattern his game after his hero. But even the legendary Henderson, who hit almost 300 career home runs, only broke the 20 hr mark three times in his 26 year career. Rollins has already done it twice in 8 full seasons. There is no need to do it again.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Sixers' Post-Mortem - A Lost Season
The Sixers' 2008-09 season has mercifully concluded - RIP. But the ignominious manner in which it ended - getting blown out at home by a decimated Orlando team - exceeded the norms of human decency. All women and children should have been evacuated from the Wachovia Center by half time. Anyone who paid for their tickets that night now knows how former Wachovia Bank stockholders must feel.
Even though Philadelphia matched their record from the previous year, including the six-game first round playoff loss, the campaign must be considered a major step backward. When Mo Cheeks was replaced by Tony DiLeo in what seems like decades ago, the mantra echoing from the front office was that the team needed a new direction. Unfortunately, what we are left with in the spring of 2009 is NO DIRECTION. The promise, momentum and excitement generated in the latter part of the 07-08 season are nowhere to be seen.
If Andre Miller does not return, the Sixer offense requires major reconstruction. Even if he does return, there are numerous personnel issues - the proper roles for Brand and Iguodala, the enigma that is Dalembert, how to use Speese. The list is endless.
The Sixers have boxed themselves into a corner and in the short term, it's hard to see a way out. They rolled the dice with the Elton Brand signing and now they have to make it work, even if it kills them - which it might. They gave Iguodala the kind of the money to do things which he is not capable of, like take over the offense. And they replaced Mo Cheeks in mid-stream with a front office exec with minimal, and not necessarily relevant, coaching experience.
Coach DiLeo seems like a good man who did an adequate job. But there is no reason to believe that Cheeks, who was saddled with the Brand experiment early on, would not have done at least as well. Neither DiLeo nor Cheeks will ever be confused with Red Auerbach, but for the most part, NBA coaching is overrated - continuity is more important. Coaches should be changed intra-season in only the most extreme circumstances. This instance did not qualify.
Throughout the year, the party line from announcers, coaching staff, and front office was that no matter what the won-loss record was, these players always gave maximum effort. Well in a do-or-die game six, the Sixers could have phoned in their performance. Opponents' shots went uncontested and the best we could get was finger-pointing after the game. Truly a lost season.
Even though Philadelphia matched their record from the previous year, including the six-game first round playoff loss, the campaign must be considered a major step backward. When Mo Cheeks was replaced by Tony DiLeo in what seems like decades ago, the mantra echoing from the front office was that the team needed a new direction. Unfortunately, what we are left with in the spring of 2009 is NO DIRECTION. The promise, momentum and excitement generated in the latter part of the 07-08 season are nowhere to be seen.
If Andre Miller does not return, the Sixer offense requires major reconstruction. Even if he does return, there are numerous personnel issues - the proper roles for Brand and Iguodala, the enigma that is Dalembert, how to use Speese. The list is endless.
The Sixers have boxed themselves into a corner and in the short term, it's hard to see a way out. They rolled the dice with the Elton Brand signing and now they have to make it work, even if it kills them - which it might. They gave Iguodala the kind of the money to do things which he is not capable of, like take over the offense. And they replaced Mo Cheeks in mid-stream with a front office exec with minimal, and not necessarily relevant, coaching experience.
Coach DiLeo seems like a good man who did an adequate job. But there is no reason to believe that Cheeks, who was saddled with the Brand experiment early on, would not have done at least as well. Neither DiLeo nor Cheeks will ever be confused with Red Auerbach, but for the most part, NBA coaching is overrated - continuity is more important. Coaches should be changed intra-season in only the most extreme circumstances. This instance did not qualify.
Throughout the year, the party line from announcers, coaching staff, and front office was that no matter what the won-loss record was, these players always gave maximum effort. Well in a do-or-die game six, the Sixers could have phoned in their performance. Opponents' shots went uncontested and the best we could get was finger-pointing after the game. Truly a lost season.
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