SB Nation User Blog: jemagee

Make Victorino an All Star

jemagee — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:47:37 -0000

Make Victorino an All Star

Ok, so Sandoval may be more deserving, but Shane Victorino of the phillies is one of the 'final five' in the NL for the last roster fan vote...so vote for him and put a fourth phillies on the roster.

Utley, Ibanez All Star Starters

jemagee — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:35:34 -0000

Utley, Ibanez All Star Starters

In case you missed it, this year TBS gets the all star announcements...

Summer League 2009

jemagee — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:55:27 -0000

The 2009 Summer League starts July 6th. The Sixers are sending half a team to Orlando. In what I see as one of the sillier cost saving moves by Comcast, the Sixers and Nets will share a team in Summer League. It's ostensibly known as the 'Nets' team. In the past the Sixers have sent a full squad to the Las Vegas Summer League, but because of the recession (I guess) they decided to go cheap and waste some great opportunities, in my opinion.

First off -- this is the Nets/Sixers. For instance, the Sixers web page has nothing splashy about the Summer League team. The Nets have a a whole section dedicated to Summer League. They have videos of practice using Adobe Flash Player. I'm on Firefox and Vista and really can't get the videos to play much, but there isn't much to see if you do get them to load.

Secondly -- the head coach of the team is a Nets coach (Brian Hill), and from what I can see, he's running the practices. Summer League is a great time for the younger guys on the team to learn a new system especially if a new coach has been hired (or they've never played in the NBA). The Sixers hired new coach Eddie Jordan this off-season as we all know. Summer League would have been a nice chance for him to get to know two key pieces on the Sixers roster (Speights and Holiday) and give these young guys a head start on learning his system (and a head start for Holiday showing himself as an NBA point). I'm sure Speights and Holiday will get minutes and the invitees for the Sixers (Dionte Christmas and Blake Ahearn) may get some run, but will anyone be surprised when the Nets guys get the major minutes? Even with split minutes, how are these games anything more than 'pick up' games for the sixers guys when it's not their system?

Thirdly -- roster make up. I could be entirely wrong on this, but I'm only going on memory without researching every name on the roster. If I'm wrong, please correct me. There are 12 names on the roster, and I only recognize four names related to the Sixers: Speights, Holiday, Ahearn, Christmas. So, only one third of the roster is made up of Sixers invites. Is this another budgetary constraint (do summer league guys get paid?) or was this the Nets saying, "you only get four spots"? Whichever, it's just another indication that this is more Nets than Sixers.

Each member of the Sixers third needs to show something in the Summer League, and they may or may not get the chance to do.

Jrue Holiday

He needs to show that he can run the point. Even in this laid back environment Holiday needs to show some folks (fans) that he can run the point. I also think with the Sixers so far seeming uninterested in signing a point guard not named Andre Miller (who I don't believe will be back), this could be Holiday's chance to get a small head start on Louis Williams in the point guard competition. If Sixers coaches were there, teaching the system they plan to use in the regular season, they could see how Holiday works (or doesn't) on both ends of the court and how he adjusts to his new surroundings. They could get a real strong feel for the kind of game that Holiday is going to bring from day one.

Mareese Speights

Speights had a solid rookie season when he was on the court. Well, he was solid offensively. Defensively he just wasn't good. He was foul prone, showed poor rebounding and overall defense, but he's young and it would seem from the little we've seen of him, he has the upside to improve that defense while continuing to strengthen his offensive game. I know defense isn't vital during the Summer League, but with a pure Sixers team they could have stressed it for guys like Speights . I doubt Speights defensive evolution matters as much to the Nets coaching staff as seeing what a guy like CDR can do. Thus, the Sixers won't get to see what work -- if any -- Speights has done in this off-season.

Blake Ahearn

I'm handling the two invite guys differently cause I think they have slightly different needs in the Summer League. Blake Ahearn was a second round pick of the Spurs at one point. He was one of the best 3 point shooters in the NBDL last year, and as all fans know, that is the Sixers biggest weakness. This isn't the only Summer League team Ahearn is playing on (he's also playing for the Knicks in Vegas), but on both rosters Ahearn should have the same goal: show he can latch on to an NBA roster as a strong bench player. Maybe I'm giving the guy the benefit of the doubt because he was drafted by the Spurs, but I think he'd be a solid 3 point threat off the bench for either team, but he might not get the minutes on this roster that he will on the Knicks roster because he is a Sixers invitee.

Dionte Christmas

Christmas is also an invite of the Sixers. I don't know a lot about him since I don't watch a lot of college ball anymore and Temple doesn't have the profile it did during the Cheney era. (National games aren't as abundant as they used to be, and I believe the A-10 isn't as good as it used to be either, but I could be wrong). Christmas is an undrafted free agent whose name I first heard when Temple played Duke (I think Duke) early in the season and he had a good game (didn't he?). I know that he's popular with many Sixers fans just from reading the blogs out there -- lots of fans do like him.Here's a guy just trying to get his shot with an NBA team, but will he get the minutes from the Nets coaching staff? Christmas will get a second chance to prove himself as it seems he's signed with the Clippers for the Vegas Summer League. I know a few people out there who would hate "Christmas in Los Angeles". How can you have Christmas with no snow

Summer League games in Orlando start July 6th, and the Nets/Sixers team plays in the first game at 3 pm local time. I just checked the NBA TV schedule and the ESPN schedule and saw no sign of Summer League games being on TV. The Nets page referenced earlier indicates you might be able to watch online, but NBA online video just isn't as good as MLB video yet. They use Adobe Flash Player, which if inferior to the MLB product, in my opinion.

So that's it. That's my Sunday morning rambling about Summer League and why I'm disappointed in the Sixers do not have their own team. Yes, I realize Summer League isn't a huge deal (remember when John Salmons wowed a guy like Larry Bird with some of the moves he made?) but I still think a 'Sixers only' team would have had a chance to learn some things that the mixed squad won't -- especially since it's made up of 8 Nets players.

One more note. I don't know if he'll ever stick in the NBA but there's one undrafted free agent name to watch if you can find him anywhere: Ben Woodside. Woodside went to North Dakota State and is from a small town in Minnesota. He will play for the Wolves in the Las Vegas Summer League. He's a guy I wish the Sixers had invited to the Summer League, but that's my own personal bias. I have no illusions about him being more than a 9/10 guy of a bench, but he just seems like he'd be a good guy to have on a bench if your only point guards are Louis Williams and Jrue Holiday.

Due to Width Mike Sweetney Counts as 3 Players

jemagee — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:03:21 -0000

Due to Width Mike Sweetney Counts as 3 Players

now that's comedy

Moving On - Free Agency - Liberty Ballers

jemagee — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:00:23 -0000

Moving On - Free Agency - Liberty Ballers

One fans look at the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers and how they should approach the 2009 free agency period.

Michael Curry Fired

jemagee — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:59:18 -0000

Michael Curry Fired

Sorry Mike, but Rip makes more and is harder to get rid of...cya

Please fire the Brewers 3rd base coach - stupid idiot

jemagee — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:26:31 -0000

Please fire the Brewers 3rd base coach - stupid idiot

I's the source, watching Monday Night Baseball on ESPN

Moving On - Free Agency

jemagee — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:57:59 -0000

Ok...I'm not sure about all of you, but I feel like the 'drafting Jrue Holiday' debate has been beaten to death and no one has won or lost because no one could win or lose. It takes maybe 3 years to figure out how guys are really going to turn out - especially drafted that low. So until then, there are other issues the sixers have to deal with.

I supposed that we could talk about summer league, but I don't want to. I find it irritating and a waste of time right now. The sixers are working with the Nets which means it'll be a mish mash of players and who knows what else and I find it no more interesting than a pick up game. I'd rather the Sixers do some kind of OTA like in the NFL for a week, I think they'd get more out of it than this stuff. Run 5 on 5s with players on the team together. To me, summer league is more of a waste of time then usual - though maybe Holiday and Speights get some time together.

I'm going by memory here, but I think free agency opens on July 1st, but there's a 'signing moratorium' until July 8th. You can agree but you can't make it official.

Now, let's remember the basics, the sixers have no cap room, but they have room under the luxury tax. Depending on who you believe, Comcast is or isn't willing to pay the luxury tax, I fall in the category that believes Comcast isn't willing to pay the luxury tax.

The numbers aren't set yet, according to what I've read, but the cap/tax levels aren't likely to move much if at all this off season so the sixers probably have about 8-9 million left before paying the tax as I understand it.

As I three it there's at least three issues that the sixers have to deal with, two immediately and one is kind of a luxury they don't have to fill this year. It's a 'contending teams' issue per se:

Starting Point Guard
Center
Bench

Point Guard

Wherever you stand on the Jrue Holiday debate, I think we can all agree that he probably won't be ready to start once the season starts. A new way of life, a new place, a new coach, a new system, he's going to be pretty busy. Andre Miller would be the 'easiest' to keep cause the sixers can afford to offer him more but there's the pesky salary cap and the whole 'he doesn't fit the system' issues. Plus he's old and I don't think he'd sign a two year deal, or three, and I don't want the sixers to sign anyone for more than three years. I see the next point guard as a place holder until Holiday is ready (All star break 2011 is my prediction) to take over the reins. There are a lot of point guards out there that might be 'gettable' but for one reason or another I don't think they're viable. Sessions will want too much money, Kidd will want to win. One named bandied about is Brevin Knight, which is an interesting stop gap as long as you're willing to take on a point guard who shoots worse than Andre Miller (seriously, dude has a sub 15% 3 point FG% for his career if I read the numbers right), but he is a solid pass first point guard who can play some defense. Not ideal of course, but the ideal point guard isn't available for the sixers this off season. I don't know anything about Jamal Tinsley except that Indiana hates him and has been looking to dump him for over a year now - if they would be willing to take on problem number 2 - why the hell not - unless his contract runs until like 2015.

Center

Sam Dalembert has to go, while he may be adequate defensively, he will kill the new offense that Eddie Jordan will want to instigate. When Jordan was hired, I felt it was the 'death knell' for three players as sixers. One of them is gone (Evans) one is relegated to the bench and hopefully no more than 10 MPG (Green) and then there is Dalembert. The rumored (bs?) bobcats trade never happened, and honestly, I don't think it would have helped. Mohammed is terrible offensively too but doesn't bring the defense even Sam Dalembert brings. So yes, the sixers need to upgrade center and trade Sam, but they can upgrade the center position without HAVING to trade Sam, yet, and they has the money to do it. One Polish Hammer later of the Orlando Magic. Restricted free agent, Orlando probably can't match a solid deal to him after ruining their team last week with the trade for Vince Carter. Chad Ford projects that he'll get 14-16 on the open market which sounds like less than MLE for 3 years I think. I sign him for 4 at least and offer him much more - according to one poster on another board the sixers could give him like 35 million over the life of his contract. This is a position of need right now with options right now. I think the primary target this off season has to be Gortat. That's just me.

Bench

The sixers need two things off the bench, shooters and defense. They added a shooter (Kapono) who doesn't do much else by giving up little to nothing that isn't easy to replace. Jason Smith might come back healthy and provide some outside shooting (but I don't think 3's) and speights may progress defensively but these aren't htings you can count on. Lou and Will doen't shoot or defend very well, and if you can improve either of those by trading them, more power to them. As for Lou Williams as point guard, I don't buy it, it's been 2 season with various amounts of attempting and none of it is working and as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't progress either. It's a failed experiment in my opinion, don't keep trying it. To paraphrase:

Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

So yes, I think it would be insane to keep running Lou Williams out as point guard and he should be the third point guard after draft night and a free agent being signed. But improving the bench, in the short term, like I said, it's a luxury, the sixers aren't really going to contend next year in my opinion (i've stated why repeatedly, if someone reads all the way to this and is interesting, I'll explain again in the comments.

So that's it, I guess, a little 'priming the pump' to start off the free agency discussion. I went purely from memory here, I don't know which free agents are available at all the positions off the top of my head and the moneys are just estimations, but I think there are two things that have to be done this offseason, to sum up:

- - Get a point guard - to mentor holiday
  - Get a center who can defend but has offensive skill

One other thing, and if you think this makes me not a fan, whatever. I don't think if the sixers miss the playoffs next year it would be a bad thing. LIke I said, they aren't championship contenders, so being in the lottery wouldn't be horrible. If Chad Ford has any credibility with you, next years draft is deep in big men (you know, big men, like centers, like the sixers migth need). Now, I'm not saying I want the sixers to lose, I just am not worried about the won loss record as much as I am worried about the following:

The continued development of Thaddeus young as a three towards stardom

Integration of Elton Brand as a sixer, and a fully healthy season after some freak injuries, as a power forward

Andre Iguodalas continued (and still increasing) development as a shooting guard.

Speights and Holiday progressing as I hope and believe they will

Learning the system, the new Jordan system, and getting it backwards and forwards

To me those 5 things are more important than whatever record the sixers have next year.

I could say more about other things - but I kind of wanted to focus this on free agency, and since i tend to ramble and meander, I'll just stop now.

Thanks for reading, I know some of you think all I do is criticize, but really I don't - I swear - so feel free to rip this apart :)

Carrasco is Electric

jemagee — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:14:59 -0000

Carrasco is Electric

Instead of bringing him up, if he's electric, see if he can help them get Cliff Lee :)

Did the Grizz make a mistake?

jemagee — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:58:11 -0000

Did the Grizz make a mistake?

Rudy Gay and the #2 for Stoudemire?

Get an extension with Stoudemire in place and I think Stoudemire is better than Gay and Thabeet