SB Nation - Jrue Holiday

Something Special Brewin? Malcolm Jones Honored As Gatorade National Player Of The Year

Nestor — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:08:15 -0000

Many of us have followed college athletics long enough to know that we shouldn't always get too excited about hype around big time recruits. It is especially true these days in the world of college basketball. Sometimes recruits in hoops such as JF, AA, and KL live up to all the hype. Other times, well I don't think I have to go through the details of the Ben Ball ~~warriors~~ class of 2008 (you can also read the comments in this thread which will go back much further).

Same dynamics also play out in football to a certain extent (even though in football it takes recruits traditionally a year or two to make discernible impact in the program). I think we can write post after posts on who has worked out (MJD, Brian Price, Akeem Ayers, Rahim Moore, XSF) and who hasn't (Ben Olson, Aundre Dean ) in recent years in Westwood. Yet, every once in a while we read and hear about a recruit in football or hoops, and we can't help but hope for something special when everything looks and sounds right about his arrival to Westwood. Well, if you haven't yet then meet Malcolm Jones. He just became the first UCLA football recruit ever to be honored as the Gatorade National High School Player Of The Year:

The LAT writeup provides the eye popping numbers:

Jones, a running back-linebacker, has scored 109 touchdowns in his four-year prep career. This season, he has rushed for 2,156 yards, putting him 40 yards short of tying the single-season school record held by Marc Tyler. He has 36 touchdowns and is nearing 6,000 yards rushing in his career.

Jon Gold from the Daily News had the following comment from MJ's team-mate on how emotional he was yesterday:

"You should have seen the expressions on his face when he was walking out of class," Oaks Christian quarterback Nick Montana said with a wide smile. "He was with his family, biggest smile on his face; I haven't seen him smile like that in a while. He was tearing up a little bit - it was awesome to see."

Well congrats to Malcolm from the entire BN. We have a little more on him after the jump.

Gold sheds a little more light on Malcolm as a student and person off the field:

Jones maintains a 3.46 grade-point average and announced in early October that he would play for UCLA, choosing the Bruins over expected front-runner Stanford. Additionally, Jones is a peer tutor and a youth basketball volunteer referee.

"He's realizes I think that he's really blessed," Marshall Jones Sr. said. "He takes his blessings as something he should utilize for the good of himself and others. And that's what makes me proud of him.

"He's a better person than he is a football player."

He also has the right perspective heading into UCLA next season:

"I really wanted to go to a school where I can really make a name for myself, not just be the "next" star running back at a USC or one of those big-time colleges," Jones said. "I want to prove to everyone that I can really help turn the program around, get them back on top."

Sounds like a Bruin already. lol Here he was few weeks ago reflecting on his team's season, his commitment to UCLA, and the looming CIF playoffs:

Well, Malcolm is going to lead his 13-0 Oaks Christian team into tonight Northwest Division championship game against Gardena Serra. He has played on three consecutive section championship teams.

In terms of some previous history on this award, I should note in hoops it was KL and Jrue Holiday who were also honored as Gatorade NPOY (as I said in my opening grafs, we have mixed records). Previous honorees as Gatorade NPOY includes names such as Peyton Manning, Emmitt Smith and Jeff George. The list also includes Matt disrespected Barkely (won the award in his junior season), who hasn't really done all that much considering the talent he was surrounded with at Southern Cal.

All that said, it's still a big deal. As noted above Malcolm is the first Bruin recruit to win this award. As excited as we all are about him, what I am even more excited is listening to him, he comes as as the perfect Bruin in the mold of ATV. Keeping my fingers crossed, Malcolm experiences the same level of success as our current senior captain both on and off the field starting next year at UCLA.

GO BRUINS.

Sixers lose 8th straight

jsams — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:37:44 -0000

Box Score

There are two reasons the Sixers lost: no defense and poor rebounding. These have been recurring problems all... season... long. And it's all Eddie Jordan's fault. The Sixers were average-to-good in each area last season, and they have all the same players. The only difference? Eddie Jordan. Unless a small miracle happens, and EJ realizes what he's doing wrong, or gets fired, the Sixers are going to finish as one of the five worst teams in the NBA.

I hate to break it to you, but Allen Iverson will not help either the defense or the rebounding. In fact, he will make both even worse, if that's possible.

On the bright side, Thad killed it on offense, and really looks like he's starting to become a legit scorer. However; he still can't do anything else.

The other young stud, Jrue Holiday, also played a solid game on both ends. He limited dribble penetration for the most part and held Russ Westbrook to 1-11 shooting. Yes, Westbrook did have 15 assists, but a lot of them were results of other Sixers not guarding their guys, not Russ creating for his teammates. Sadly, Jrue is headed bench when "The Answer" arrives.

Thankfully, we'll continue to look ahead to the draft. Only 203 days away!

Game 18 Preview: Oklahoma City vs. Philadelphia

Zorgon — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:32:54 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

Back in action? Nope, not yet!

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This also counts as an open thread, so feel free to post your thoughts during the game here.

Time: 7:00 PM Central Standard Time

Place: The Ford Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

TV: Fox Sports Oklahoma, Comcast Sports Philadelphia, NBATV

Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1)

Enemy Blog(s): Liberty Ballers, Sixers4guidos, DepressedFan

Backstory: The 76ers are a surprise dissapointment among all of the good surprises that have happened this year. Someone has to fall, right? Granted, Elton Brand and Louis Williams have been injured....but that's only been recently. The bottom line is that they lost Andre Miller. And with him, they lost the glue that held the team together. Even in the latest 2 point loss to the Mavericks, the team had 4 more turnovers than assists. That isn't a recipe for winning, and it's bad news for a team that thought they could make the playoffs. Indeed, in the last two years they have made the playoffs, but it looks like they'll have to do even more post-Allen Iverson rebuilding. And no, getting Allen Iverson back doesn't count!

Meanwhile, the Thunder are a shade over .500, and they're looking to keep it that way. They've taken care of business against teams like the 76ers in the past, and the game is at home, so things are looking up. Still, injuries to Nick Collison (possibly out tonight), Kyle Weaver, Kevin Ollie, and Shaun Livingston haven't helped matters, so it remains to be seen whether they have the depth of talent to win this game.

Below: Matchups, Prediction

Matchups:

Center: Nenad Krstic vs. Samuel Dalembert

Luckily, Nenad Krstic will be back tonight, along with a possible chance of Nick Collison. The thunder will need all of the help they can get, because Samuel Dalembert is a mean machine in the post, along with being the 2nd greatest basketball player ever to come out of Canada. I'd expect Krstic to be able to score, since both Dalembert and Brand are immobile centers, but I'd also expect Dalembert lay the smack down in the post.

Power Forward: Jeff Green vs. Elton Brand

Yet another mismatch. Jeff Green will have to make sure to stay out of foul trouble, and Elton Brand will have to make sure to guard Green on the perimeter. Expect Green to have the upper hand if he can stay out of foul trouble.

Small Forward: Kevin Durant vs. Thaddeus Young

Heh, good luck Thaddeus. He'll have a better 3 Point percentage than Durant, but not much else.

Shooting Guard: Thabo Sefolosha vs. Andre Igoudala

This is yet another tough matchup for Sefolosha, as Igoudala is the primary scorer of the 76ers. Still, he won't walk all over Sefolosha, like Ariza did. Rather, I think Sefolosha will be able to shut him down in some cases and force turnovers.

Point Guard: Russell Westbrook vs. Jrue Holiday (Possibly Willie Green)

I don't think either one of these guys is any better than Westbrook. Willie Green is a scoring-type bigger guard, and Jrue Holiday is still a Rookie, with not many stats to his name. This is a real opportunity for Russell Westbrook to shine, get those assists, and score well.

Battle of the Benches

I'll breathe a huge sigh of relief if Nick Collison gets to play tonight, as he'll help out a lot down low. Still, despite all of their badness, the 76ers have a solid bench, with young life-long backup Center Jason Smith, 3 Point Sharpshooter Kapono, and solid scoring guard Willie Green. But Royal Ivey sucks. It's not a bench that blows you away with depth, but they don't really take a huge hit in talent when their backups are on the floor, and they all have clearly defined roles. Their bench gets the win over ours, because I'd say Kapono and Green pretty much own their equivalents on our team.

Coaching and Intangibles

The 76ers have just signed Allen Iverson, so the team might go into "cruise control", as they have some sort of savior coming to the team on Monday. On the other hand, they might be motivated to perform well before he gets there, but that's something I'm doubting. On top of that, they've lost 7 straight, and are away from home. The intangibles are definitely on the side of the Thunder.

Bottom Line

The real danger of the 76ers is their big post guys. If they can dominate inside, and out-rebound us, then we might have a game on our hands. Yet, if they just let Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic nail mid-range jumpers all day, then this could very easily turn into a blowout.

Prediction: Oklahoma City 100, Philadelphia 86

I haven't predicted an over 10 point victory since the Kings game....let's hope I haven't jinxed anything.

How do you think the game will go? Vote in the Poll!

And, again, feel free to drop any comments you might have during, before, or after the game below. I'll be in the Ford Center cheering the team on, but I'll be back to write a recap later tonight. Go Thunder!

Poll

Who's going to win tonight?

No More Answers

aramnath — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:26:29 -0000

More photos » by Jesse D. Garrabrant - NBAE/Getty Images

Allen Iverson rarely wanted to listen to anyone and was satisfied playing his way. (Photo by: Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images)

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The Philadelphia 76ers and Allen Iverson are close to agreeing on a one-year deal. If I were Louis Williams, Jrue Holiday, Marreese Speights and Thaddeus Young I would be very pissed. The odds of Iverson passing the ball their way at any point this season seems remote.

The 76ers motivation in making this move cannot be motivated by anything else but putting butts in the stands, because in terms of basketball it makes no sense. This is a guy that refuses to come off the bench even though his skills are clearly in decline.

His teammates in Memphis don't seem to be missing him much, playing surprisingly well out in the West so far this year and the Nuggets flourished when they swapped him for Chauncey Billups last year.

When A.I. was in his prime he was simply a great scorer that on any given night could win you a game and on the nights he was off was a disaster. The Sixers tried to put him next to Jerry Stackhouse, Larry Hugher and Andre Iguodala, who all certainly had their limitations, but found it impossible to co-exist next to a player like Iverson who needed the ball at all times to be effective. It's no surprise all three played better without A.I.

Iverson always lacked the ability that Jordan, Bird, Magic, Kobe, Lebron, Duncan etc. have in elevating the level of play of his supporting cast. Iverson maximized his abilities in becoming a great scorer, but creating for others always seemed distasteful to him and frankly may always have been beyond his capabilities.

Now with Iverson dominating the ball, Philadelphia's promising youth will be the ones to suffer. Players like Speights and Young will see less touches in the post and will be resigned to setting picks and rolling to the hoop for passes that will rarely come their way. Williams will struggle playing alongside Iverson and Holiday will see reduced minutes stunting his development as a rookie.

Defensively, Iverson has become non-existant. Before he used to play the passing lanes extremely well and was among the league leaders in steals every year. Now his loss in speed and explosion have taken that away from him too.

There certainly is some kind of justice in A.I. coming back to the team where he made his name and which led to an NBA Finals berth, but at what cost? Bringing back Iverson is simply a desperate gambit to make this team competitive now. I'm not sure if he's even capable of that anymore. I know that I wouldn't take a guy past his prime and incapable of playing any way but his own on my team.

Poll

Would you want your favorite team to sign Iverson?

Sixers lose to Hawks

jsams — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:36:47 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

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Box Score

Tonight the Sixers played well enough to keep it interesting, but ultimately lost their fifth straight game. The way they hung in there reminded me of the 07-08 team, which was good to see. They have no business playing with teams like the Celtics, Hawks and Cavs -- especially with 3 of their best players out with injuries -- but as long as they play with as much effort as they did tonight, they'll steal a few wins here and there. At least good teams aren't blowing them out anymore.

Andre Iguodala continues to struggle, and I'm beginning to lose my patience. His jump shot is flat-out painful to watch, and I wish he'd just stop taking them. I'd rather see Thaddeus Young shoot 30 times a game. After watching him put up brick after brick, complain about every foul and non-foul call, make behind the back passes in traffic, and have Joe Johnson back him down with ease, I'm starting to question my once passionate man-crush on Andre Iguodala. I understand that he doesn't have much help on the offensive end, and I don't care.

Jrue Holiday was equally painful to watch. The defensive stud himself was torched by Mike Bibby. However; this was his second career start, and he's the youngest player in the NBA -- he's entitled to these types of games. For much of the game I had to remind myself that Royal Ivey and Jrue Holiday did not switch numbers, because that's who Jrue looked like. If you're a Sixers fan, no further explanation is needed, but if you've never seen Royal Ivey play, YouTube him. If you don't find a single highlight, there's a reason for that.

Even though Andre and Jrue stunk, the other young fellers impressed. Carney and Smith were all over the place, and look like legitimate bench players. I'm convinced that both of them could play key minutes for a contender right now. And Thaddeus Young was fantastic on the offensive end.

The Sixers gave their best effort tonight, and I'm pleased about that. But after three straight years of "We tried really hard, but still lost," as the team's motto, I'm enjoying watching this team less and less.

Player of the game: Jason Smith.

Challenges For The Caretaker Of Westwood: Will Howland Adapt & Adjust?

Nestor — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0000

More photos » by Lori Shepler - AP

Time for youth movement in Howlandwood

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I am an eternal optimist when it comes to talking about Coach Howland's basketball program in Westwood. For good reasons he is loved around this community and has earned the moniker "the Caretaker of Westwood" as the heir apparent of the greatest Coach ever to lead any American sports team. That said it doesn't mean we cannot be honest about about concerns and questions when they arise about his program on and off court. Right now there are few of them and we have legitimate reasons to wonder about where Howland is taking the UCLA basketball program both in the short and long term. We wonder that because right now we think UCLA basketball is in a very precarious position and how Howland react, adjust and navigate through it in the coming weeks will have ramifications for our program in next few years.

I don't really want to go over the details of last night's game too much. The scoreboard tells the story and frankly the blowout was even worse. I want to focus on few of the big issues that I think will determine what kind of season we end up having in Westwood. BTW after last night we need lower our expectation even more. Forget about making the Big Dance. Right now I am not sure whether we can qualify for the NIT with a winning record at the end of this season. Chew on that for a minute. We are that bad (and it is not going to feel any better tonight after we get done being handled by Butler). So what's our deal (as Jim Harbaugh said last time he left the Mosoluem). Come with me after the flip.

First, the obvious problem starts at our pg. The PG position at PointGuarU is a clusterf**k. It's a mess. I don't want to reach a conclusion on JA. I still think he has a shot of emerging as a credible Pac-10 pg by the time he is done in Westwood. I think it is unfair to make long term conclusion about his game given the fact that he has bee dealing with injuries this season and just doesn't have enough experience as the starting pg of this program. That said, right now he is not a Pac-10 level pg. He certainly wouldn't start for a good team and he is playing for a very bad one right now.

How did we get into this situation? Well the blame lies with Coach Howland, his staff and the primadonna we all know as Jrue Holiday. Obviously Holiday was supposed to be our starting pg this year, but apparently (from what we have heard) he couldn't handle Howland's tough coaching style in Westwood, so he bailed early. Well that is fine. That leads me ask two questions: 1) why didn't Coach Howland have a contingency plan when he knew the brat was going to leave at the end of the season (especially when recruits such as Donte Medder might have been open to coming to Westwood) and 2) why didn't Howland bench Holiday's primadonna a$$ more last season and give more time in favor of someone like ML (who during the second half brought lot more defensive energy and urgency in the game, See i.e. games against ASU and WSU)?

The second question, leads me to my second issue with out team: minute allocation. We find a number of our young players such as JA and ML so inexperience because Howland was too stubborn not to give them enough mins last year. He did the same with RW in his freshman season as well. His stubbornness worked out fine earlier in Westwood because he had enough experience (NBA level at that) on his roster but not this time around. We are seeing that issue again playing out with the minutes given to Nikola Dragovic (and JK).

Nikola Dragovic ate up 22 worthless mintues last night in Anaheim. When he came into the game the score I believe was tied up at 7-7. As soon as he came in his total lack of defensive instincts and intensity, change the complexion of the entire game. The Pilots went on a 9-2 run with him on the court and never looked back. Before Dragovic came in we were not doing too well offensively, but at least we were showing a defensive pulse. We lost all of it after he stepped on the court. The issue is when Dragovic comes on the court, the team loses its classic Howland identity. Ben Ball is predicated upon tough inside-the jersey defense, rebounding, and a solid fundamentals on offense that depends on selective high percentage shots. Well Dragovic doesn't help with any of that (and I don't care much for padded rebounding stats accumulated due to clankers on the offensive end).

Dragovic has no idea how to hedge. He can't really box out. He never finds himself in the right position and he usually sees eithe his man blowing right by him or leaving him wide open. He seeminly has defensive brain cramps in ever possession showing no clue on how to play team-defense. It is a pathetic site to watch him play "Ben Ball". I have no idea why Howland is so obssessed with giving him so many minutes and sitting down players like BL and RN. He didn't do it in his second year when he had no problem sitting down certain Lavin (btw how comical was it it listen to him talk about an "anemic offense" last night?) recruited players so that he could go with AA, JF, JS and LMR. I don't understand why he can't do the same this year. Last night Dragovic shouldn't have been alllowed back on the court after his intial mins. I also though BL played with much more passion and intensity than JK who showed zero signs of urgency and senior leadership on the court.

Third, I am not seeing any signs of Howland holding his young team accountable. Last night was the second game in a row when DG chucked a 3 pointer with lots of time left on the clock? I mean WTF is up with that? DG shooting 3 pointers? I don't understand why Howland didn't bench him immediately after pulling moronic stunts like that. It wasn't just DG who was pulling idiotic and poorly coached "stunts" on the court. Perhaps Howland could have sent a statement if he stated ML at the 1 during second half to send a message to JA.

As for Howland's style of offense, I am not sure he needs to make wholesale changes. The numbers from last few years back him up interms of effectiveness of his offense. However, during last few years he also had college superstars such as JF, RW and DC running it. He doesn't have anyone close to their calliber in his backcourt right now. So he does need to make adjustments, which might entail loosening up the reigns or shifting around his personnel, going with talent and potential over "experience," to make sure he gets the most athletic combination (i.e. more mins for MM) on the court. Right now I rather have Howland struggle with an athletic team that he teaches through taking its lump on the court, than an experienced core, which hasn't proven itself after 3-4 years in Westwood. In other words, Howland needs to do IMHO what he did in his second year in Westwood: go with the youth movement.

This is an interesting moment for Howland. If you think about it he is the ultimate builder/rebuilder of programs. He has done it at three different schools. However, he has never been in a situation where he had to maintain and build on success. This is a first for him. It will mean he will need to make adjustments and some changes to continue the incredible success he has blessed us with in Westwood. It is clear the opponents (and the currrent landscape of basketball with the way draft works) have adjusted to him. It will be up to Howland to make some moves to counter so that he can continue the incredible job of caretaking he has done so far in Westwood.

We will have our game thread up late tonight when we take on Butler. We are all rooting for him.

GO BRUINS.

Sixers lose to Celtics 113-110

jsams — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:58:48 -0000

More photos » by Mary Schwalm - AP

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Box Score

To no one's surprise, the Sixers lost again. The odds were stacked against them, playing the mighty Celtics on their home floor, and missing three of their best players: Lou Williams, Mo Speights and Elton Brand. The Sixers could've easily mailed this game in, especially down 10 points with 5 minutes to go, but they didn't, and I respect that. They battled for 48 minutes and only lost by three points. But don't confuse "battling" with playing well, because they didn't play well. Their defense was shredded once again, and it took insane performances from Bill Green and Jason Kapono to keep them in the ball-game.

I know I'm going to hear, "No way dude, the Sixers blew that game!" Well, if you believed the outer-worldly performances from Bill Green and Jason Kapono would last for four quarters, then yeah, I guess they blew the game. And if you believed the Celtics were never going to turn it up a notch, then yeah, the Sixers blew the game. The bottom line is, the Sixers were shooting 10 times better than usual, and the Celtics were in third or fourth gear until the final quarter. There's no way the Sixers "gave the game away" because it took every ounce of their bodies just to keep the game close for three quarters.

I'm not sure what to say about the defense, besides "What defense?" The Celtics had a ton of open shots, just like every other team who plays the Sixers. The constant switching and over-helping seems to be the root of their problems, and that falls mostly on the head coach.

Andre Iguodala did not take a jumper until the second quarter. He was 4-6 from the field. I was very pleased. However; his next 12 shots were all jumpers -- most of them heavily contested and early in the shot clock. He made four of them. I hate watching Andre Iguodala take bad jumper after bad jumper. He's not Kobe Bryant. In his defense, no one else was doing anything offensively, but when Lou, Brand and Speights return I want Andre to take a lot less jumpers. Drive, kick, dunk... no more jumpers unless they're wide open!

Jrue was very up and down, as expected. He played very rookie-ish, but I'm completely fine with that. God bless Eddie Jordan for leaving him in. Sure, he had no other options, but that hasn't stopped him before.

Tonight was a tough loss, but they were playing the Celtics, and missing three key players, so don't get too down on the team. Plus, Jrue played 34 minutes. That alone warrants a celebration.

That's all I got for tonight. Have a good Thanksgiving, and Go Cowboys!

Sixers lose to Wizards, but Jrue is free!

jsams — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:33:10 -0000

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Box Score

The Sixers did not play a particularly well tonight, and lost to the Wizards. Poor defense, worse rebounding, Antawn Jamison -- the list goes on -- but that's not what's important. What's important is what transpired during the final 10 minutes of the game.

Sixers fans have been screaming "FREE JRUE" since training camp, to no avail. Tonight, down 11 with 10 minutes to go, Eddie Jordan finally played rookie instead of making his usual Royal Ivey substitution. (The equivalent of the white flag.) Much like the last game Jrue played, he came in with a quick trigger finger, doing everything in his power to prove that he deserves more minutes. However; unlike the Memphis game, Jrue's shots were falling, which led to good defense, which led to good rebounding, which forced Jordan to leave him in for more than 4 minutes. The result? A ferocious comeback fueled by the rookie. The comeback feel just short when Lou Williams' potential buzzer-beater rimmed out, but that doesn't take anything away from the "Holiday goodness" we saw during the final 10 minutes.

From this day forward, the 19-year-old Holiday should be freed for good, with an emphasis on should since we have no evidence of Eddie Jordan doing what should be done, yet.

Now, for all the people out there saying, "10 minutes dude? Even Eddy Curry had a great 10-minute stretch once," this is a completely different situation. I am not claiming that Jrue is going to be an All-Star, a good player, or even an NBA starter. I'm just saying that he deserves 10-15 minutes a night and should play more than Royal Ivey and Willie Green. There is no logical explanation why he shouldn't. None!

If I were a betting man (which I am), I'd bet that Jrue Holiday earned himself at least a time share with Bill Green as the backup point guard. If not, than Sixers fans really have a right to be outraged. What Jrue did tonight was better than what Green and Ivey have done all year -- combined!

Five paragraphs later, here are Jrue's final numbers: 10 minutes, 11 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 0 turnovers on 4-6 shooting. Even those absurd numbers don't justify what Holiday meant to the Sixers tonight. He was all over the place. And if you think I'm excited, you should've heard Marc Zumoff pop a blood vessel screaming like a 12-year old girl after Jrue made his third three.

I have two more things to say about Jrue "I turn grown men into teenage girls" Holiday -- some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want first? The bad news? Okay. We cannot expect this kind of game from Jrue every night. Duh! The good news is, Jrue is only 19 years old and loves to play defense -- something we can expect to continue every night.

Rest of the game after the jump.

It's a shame that it's taken this long to mention Lou Williams, because he was brilliant tonight. I've been saying that the Sixers need a go-to scorer in order for them to be a legitimate contender, and Lou might be turning into that guy. Don't take this as me bashing Andre Iguodala, because he is still the Sixers best player, but he is not -- and never will be -- a number one scorer. Just like Allen Iverson needed to be surrounded by defensive studs to reach his full potential, Iguodala needs to be surrounded by at least one superior scorer to reach his full potential.

Speaking of Allen Iverson, he is exactly who Lou Williams reminds me of. For better of worse, it looks like Lou Williams is Allen Iverson 2.0 -- a gambler on defense, the ability to make the good pass, but not a true point guard, and the ability to score at will. No, Lou isn't as good as the original and never will be, but keep in mind he is only 23 and has only started 13 games in the NBA.

(The game-winning attempt upset some people. Lou dribbled 11 seconds off the clock and pulled up for a jumper instead of driving to the basket. I completely understand why fans are mad that he didn't go to the basket, but I'm okay with the shot myself. What I'm not okay with is the 11 seconds he dribbled off the clock. I would've much rather seen him take a quicker shot, so the Sixers could foul and get the ball back should he miss. My counter to the people saying he should've taken it to the hoop is: how many NBA players settle for a game-winning jump shot instead of taking it to the hole? 99%. That doesn't make it right, but that's the NBA folks. Everyone wants to be a hero and hold the pose.)

Another developing story is the improvement of our bench players, slowly but surely. Rodney Carney has emerged as a legitimate sixth man. He was no match for Antawn Jamison tonight, but in fairness, neither was anyone else. Most nights Carney will provide good defense, good rebounding, athleticism and the occasional three, but you guys already knew this. Jason Smith is also starting to establish himself as a pretty good 8th man. Add these two to Jrue and a healthy Speights and the Sixers roll pretty deep.

Everyone else was pretty played pretty normal tonight. Etlon looked nothing like he looked he had in the past three games, but left with a sore hamstring, so maybe that had something to do with it. Thad was pretty good, not great. Sam was decent, but still did "Sam-like" things. Bill was Bill. Andre Iguodala was the only real disappointment.

I don't want to spend too much time on Iguodala. He was bad tonight. He's been bad. He takes way too many jumpers and needs to stop. That's all there is to it. On the bright side, he was 8-8 from the free throw line, swishing every one.

But wait, there's an elephant in the room. "The Sixers lost the game. The defense and rebounding were bad once again. They can't win like this."

All valid points, but a wise man once said: "Watch the individual players and hope they develop. Try and ignore the whole team/coach thing if you want to remain a fan and keep your sanity." I saw enough development from two individuals (Lou and Jrue) tonight to get me excited, and I still believe that this team can put it all together and go on a nice run before it's all said and done. If Sam, Elton, Thaddeus, Andre, Lou and the bench all play like their capable of, this team can do some special things. First things first, everyone needs to accept their role, but that's a whole 'nother post.

Bottom line, this is the most excited I've been about a Sixers game since game 3 of the Magic series. For the first 12 games of the season, I barely moved during the games. Tonight I was jumping around, screaming and fist-pumping. If nothing else, it's something to build on.

Player of the game: Lou Williams

*Update* Kate Fagan tweet: Brands saw doc. Has right hamstring soreness and tightness and is officially listed as day-to-day.

Sixers beat Nets, barely.

jsams — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:04:00 -0000

by Bill Kostroun - AP

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Until further notice, the Sixers are a below average basketball team and there are very few games they "should" win, but this was one of them. For a team with as many talented players as the Sixers, it shouldn't take 48 minutes to eek out a win against a depleted Nets team, who came into tonight's game with an 0-7 record and only 8 players on their active roster. I'm not taking anything away from the Nets because they are an NBA team and what they lacked in health and talent, they made up with effort and team ball. I guess that's what it comes down to; the Sixers have some good players, but they aren't a good team -- yet.

That said, they still won the game and evened their record at 4-4. But after eight games, their record isn't what concerns me; it's how they've gotten there.

Here are a few things we can agree on after eight games.

According to rumors -- mostly from disgruntled Wizards fans -- Eddie Jordan was tough on rookies. Well, they're no longer rumors. From not playing Jrue during a freakin' pre-season game because he was afraid Nate Robinson would damage his psyche to pulling Jrue after one rookie mistake, and sitting him for the remainder of the game, Eddie has done nothing to disprove the rumors. It'd be one thing if he was sitting Jrue in favor of a legit backup point guard, but he's playing Royal Ivey instead. Come on now. Rookies make mistakes, and Jrue shouldn't be expected to play perfect in order to stay on the court.
Elton Brand is done. I'm tired of waiting. We've made enough excuses for him. It's time to accept the fact that he's a rich man's Reggie Evans, with a higher basketball IQ and less hustle. He can't finish around the rim, and I cringe every time he takes a jump shot.
Marreese Speights needs to replace Sam in the starting lineup. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: M16 is the Sixers most talented offensive player. He's not the best defender -- so what. What he brings to the table on the offensive end heavily out-weighs what he doesn't bring on the defensive end.

The one positive we can take out of tonight was the play of Thaddeus Young. To this point in the season, Thad has been nothing short of awful, but it was only a matter of time before he turned it around. I'm not ready to say he's officially turned it around after one good game against the Nets, but his jumper looked 10 times better than it had at any point during the season. If he can regain his late-season form of last year, paired with the improved play of Lou, Andre and Marreese, the Sixers should start to see improvement.

I'm still holding out hope that Eddie Jordan's abysmal rotations will improve, the defense will improve, and the Princeton Offense will show up sometime within the next 12 games. It's still way too early to make any snap judgements, but if there's no improvement after 20 games, the Sixers are in deep, deep trouble, as is my 47-win prediction.

Player of the game: Marreese Speights

Sixers lose to Celtics 105-74

jsams — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:25:34 -0000

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Box Score

The biggest difference between this year's Sixers/Celtics game and the games of year's past was the way it started. The Sixers came out cool, calm, and confident. In previous years the Sixers were about to pee their pants halfway through the first quarter before they eventually pulling it together, but this time the Sixers came out, played good defense, didn't force anything, and limited the turnovers. This can be attributed to a couple things. One, the team is a year older and more experienced against superior opponents. Two, their ball movement, spacing and passing actually resembles an NBA offense. And three, Lou Williams is running the offense better than expected. Now, they didn't maintain their lights out defense, nor did they refrain from turning the ball over, but it all fell apart when Eddie Jordan went to the bench.
Lou Williams has really impressed me so far. He's running the offense much better than I expected. He has the ability to score every time he brings it up, and sets up his teammates at a pretty high rate. The best way to describe his game "controlled". The offense went from smooth to stale when Lou rested.
I liked what I saw from Andre Iguodala tonight. He played good team defense, good man defense, and played the passing lanes brilliantly. He was aggressive on the offensive end, and did what a star player is supposed to do -- "take over". "Taking over" doesn't mean you force stupid shots. It means you play good defense, take good shots, and set your teammates up for easy buckets. Andre did all of that.
Thaddeus Young was awful on both ends of the floor, plain and simple.
Samuel Dalembert played really well tonight. He showed some skills in the post, including two sexy jump hooks -- one over KG and one over Perkins. And the interior defense was 10 times better when Sammy was in the game, as was the rebounding.
This was the first I've seen of Jrue Holiday this season, and nothing he did tonight warrants giving him big minutes yet. However; he still should take the majority of Bill Green's minutes. They both did about the same to help the team, but Jrue needs experience since he actually has a future.
Any combination of Kapono, Holiday, Green, Thad, Speights or Smith played little to no defense tonight.
I'm not sure what the Princeton Offense looks like, but I think I witnessed the beginning stages of it tonight -- at least when the starters were in. The ball movement and spacing is much better than it was last year -- again, when the starters were in the game.
Almost everything Eddie Jordan has done this season concerns me. The Sixers biggest downfall -- every game -- is when the bench comes in during the second quarter. You would think that Eddie would leave at least 2 or 3 starters in to prevent this from happening. No. Instead he brings 5 bench guys in at a time and they either blow the lead, or dig a deeper hole. Fail.
There are some positive things to take from tonight's 31 point loss like, Andre Iguodala's defense and aggressiveness, Lou Williams' control, Jason Kapono's shot, the Sixers' calmness to start the game, and Elton Brand who made a bigger difference than his numbers project. Let's not forget, the Celtics are a really, really, really good team, and they showed why tonight. I still have hope that the Sixers can score the fourth or fifth seed, and maybe even the third the way the Cavs are playing.

Player of the game: Sam Dalembert

Runner-Up: Jaime Maggio

Fun fact: Jrue Holiday is ambidextrous.