Friday Links

- i've been looking for this for a couple of days and someone finally uploaded to youtube. 6'1" louis williams stuffs 6'11" mehmet okur as he's coming in on the break (especially impressive because williams has his back turned to okur until the last second) then runs down the court and skies for an alley oop slam. of the guys who are in the regular rotation (haven't seen much of thaddeus), louis williams has by far the most star potential.


- saw this on profootballtalk.com a few days ago. with their 8-8 finish, the birds locked up the 19th pick in the draft. i haven't seen it mentioned by the local media, but it's interesting to note that the eagles had the toughest schedule in the nfl this season based on opponent win percentage (.563).

The King is Dead

billy king is finally gone. here is a scouting report on ed stefanski:

So they've turned to Stefanski, a Philadelphia native who played basketball at Penn. He teamed with Rod Thorn to reshape the Nets and is known as a sharp talent evaluator. Stefanski also served as New Jersey's director of scouting for four years and helped bring Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson to the Nets.

sharp talent evaluator. that'll be nice.

billy king drafts (this is not a joke)

2007
1 - Thaddeus Young - Georgia Tech University
1 - Daequan Cook - Ohio State University
1 - Petteri Koponen - Finland
2 - Kyrylo Fesenko - Ukraine

2006
1 - Thabo Sefolosha - Switzerland

2005
2 - Louis Williams - South Gwinnett High School

2004
1 - Andre Iguodala - Arizona

2003
2 - Paccelis Morlende - France

2002
1 - Jiri Welsch - Slovenia
2 - Sam Clancy - USC

2001
1 - Samuel Dalembert - Seton Hall
2 - Damone Brown - Syracuse
2 - Alvin Jones - Georgia Tech

2000
1 - Craig Claxton - Hofstra
2 - Mark Karcher - Temple

1999
2 - Todd MacCulloch - Washington

1998
1 - Larry Hughes - Saint Louis
2 - Casey Shaw - Toledo

1997
1 - Keith Van Horn - Utah
2 - Marko Milic - Slovenia
2 - Kebu Stewart - Cal State Bakersfield
2 - James Collins - Florida State


billy king trades (again, not a joke)

2006
Acquired Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two first round draft picks for Allen Iverson and Ivan McFarlin

2005
Acquired Rodney Rogers and Jamal Mashburn from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Glenn Robinson

2005
Acquired Chris Webber, Matt Barnes and Michael Bradley from the Sacramento Kings in a six-player deal that sent Kenny Thomas, Brian Skinner and Corliss Williamson to Sacramento

2004
Acquired Corliss Williamson and an undiclosed amount of cash from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Derrick Coleman and Amal McCaskill

2004
Traded Eric Snow to Cleveland for Kedrick Brown and Kevin Ollie

2003
Acquired Glenn Robinson from the Atlanta Hawks and Marc Jackson from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a four-team deal that sent Keith Van Horn to New York and Randy Holcomb, along with a future-protected first-round pick and an undisclosed amount of cash to Atlanta

2002
Acquired Kenny Thomas from the Houston Rockets in a three-team deal that sent Mark Bryant and Art Long, along with a future first round pick to the Denver Nuggets

2002
Acquired Todd MacCulloch and Keith Van Horn from New Jersey for Dikembe Mutombo

2001
As part of a three-way deal, acquired Derrick Coleman from Charlotte for George Lynch, Jerome Moiso and Robert Traylor, as well as Corie Blount and Vonteego from Golden State for Cedric Henderson and a conditional first round pick

2001
Acquired Dikembe Mutombo and Roshown McLeod from Atlanta for Toni Kukoc, Nazr Mohammed, Theo Ratliff and Pepe Sanchez

2000
Acquired Toni Kukoc from Chicago as part of a three-way deal that sent Larry Hughes and Billy OWens to Golden State and Bruce Bowen and John Starks to Chicago

1999
Traded future 1st round draft pick to Atlanta for the draft rights to Jumaine Jones

1999
Traded Tim Thomas and Scott Williams to Milwaukee for Tyrone Hill and Jerald Honeycutt

1998
Traded future No 1 draft choice to Utah for Nazr Mohammed

1998
Traded Terry Cummings to New York for Herb Williams and Ronnie Grandison

1998
Acquired Joe Smith and Brian Shaw from Golden State for Jimmy Jackson and Clarence Weatherspoon

1997
Acquired Eric Snow from Seattle for 2nd round pick

1997
Acquired Theo Ratliff, Aaron McKie, and first round draft choice from Detroit for Jerry Stackhouse, Eric Montross and a 2nd round draft choice

1997
Traded No 2 draft pick (Keith Van Horn), Lucious Harris, Michael Cage and Don MacLean to New Jersey for No 7 draft pick (Tim Thomas), No 21 draft pick (Anthony Parker), Jimmy Jackson and Eric Montross

1997
Traded Clarence Weatherspoon and Michael Cage to Boston for Dino Radja (nullified)

Wednesday Links

- congrats to jimmy rollins for his mvp season

- phil sheridan says the eagles need "swagger" to beat the patriots. one bill belichick would disagree:

The Patriots gave their defense six concepts to remember entering the week of preparation. "Don't ever make the mistake of thinking [Marshall] Faulk is staying home to block,'' the Pats' game plan that week said. "That's either a screen or he's going to have a delayed release out of the backfield.'' And: "Remember, no matter what your eyes tell you, you'll never see the same play twice. It may look like the same play, but it's not. Don't play the actual play. Play whatever your assigned concept is.'' And "Be physical with them at all times. They don't like that.''

Belichick told Holley: "We're not going to say, 'Watch out for these 50 things.' It's too overwhelming. The concepts will get it done the majority of the time, as long as we don't give up the big play ... [If] they hit an out for 10 yards, life goes on. Let's take away something and then we'll try to scramble to handle the things that we know we're not quite as solid on.'' Faulk gained 130 yards in the game, but never hit a home run. Neither did the Rams. New England won 20-17 in one of the great upsets in Super Bowl history.

Football is a brutal business. Belichick is brutally frank with his players. In front of his team after a 28-10 loss to the Packers in 2002, Belichick said: "We have a lot of smart guys in this room, but on the football field we play like a bunch of f------- morons.'' Holley writes: "If you are one of the players flinching at the harshness of these words, you might as well begin packing. There is no way you are going to last as a New England Patriot. This is one of the reasons the Patriots' college scouts are asked by their bosses, 'Can this player handle tough coaching?' ''

Belichick doesn't buy the canned and cliché stuff you hear in the press all the time. As the Patriots struggled trying to repeat as champs in 2002, he read in the paper one day that one of players said the team had to get its "swagger'' back. That day, in the team meeting, he said: "You know what? We didn't have a 'swagger' last year. What we had was a sense of urgency about playing well, being smart, and capitalizing on every opportunity and situation that came our way ... It wasn't about a f------- swagger. You can take that swagger and shove it right up your a--, OK?''

what's the single biggest difference between bill belichick and andy reid -- tough coaching. reid believes in individual responsibility and empowerment. he's the barney of NFL coaches, "everyone is special", "we're all winners". you'll note the patriots only give their players 6 things to think about for an entire gameplan. the worst coast offense gives players 30 things to think about on every play.

- david aldridge asks the anti-iverson crowd whether they're happy with the "team" now that they're fully into rebuilding mode and losing by 30 every night. for those of you eager to turn the page on the reid/mcnabb era, this is what we're looking at when the eagles go into rebuilding mode. does anyone seriously think that billy king has the foresight and wherewithal to trade andre miller? he should have traded him last season, f-ing billy king.

LeBron James

i hope people saw that game lebron james had last night. it was the single greatest playoff performance i've ever seen. not even close. if you didn't see it, here are some links:

- truehoop
- espn
- inquirer
- cnnsi
- sportsline

people are going to bring up jordan's 63 point game and magic's game against the sixers in 80. those were damn terrific, but it's interesting to note that a) the bulls lost jordan's 63 point game and b) magic's team was still pretty good even though kareem was injured (michael cooper, jamaal wilkes, and norm nixon were on that team).

lebron is playing on a team with the same types of players that AI has been playing with (i.e. guys who can't play) and with a team that literally runs no offensive sets and has no coaching. every possession in the 4th quarter and overtime was clear out and give lebron the ball at the top of the key. it was ridiculous, and yet against a very good defensive team in the pistons, lebron was driving the lane and getting in for layups and dunks or getting fouled. i've never seen anything like it.

it's hard to believe he's only 22.

Even Screamin' A Sees the Obvious

egad. it's so obvious what the right move was, even screamin' a gets this one right:

The New York Knicks didn't share King's thinking when they drafted Patrick Ewing in 1985. The San Antonio Spurs didn't, either, when they practically threw their season to get David Robinson in the 1987 draft. The same could be said for the Orlando Magic with Shaquille O'Neal in 1992 and the Spurs again with Tim Duncan in 1997, essentially because they all picked the better of two choices:

Keep trying to win now and stay mediocre.

Or sacrifice a season to ensure more fruitful ones to come.

from bumble:

see your point, but tough to root against this team. they are playing better team ball. At 7-8 they should still get an athlete. Not a dominant center, but a solid athlete. I cannot ever root for my team to lose. Why watch?

i'd just like to point out the sixers sit at 11th, not 7-8. 11th!

here are some of the players picked at 11:

- 2006 - jj redick
- 2005 - fran vazquez
- 2004 - andris biedrins
- 2003 - mickael pietrus
- 2002 - jared jeffries
- 2001 - kedrick brown
- 2000 - jerome moiso
- 1999 - trajan langdon
- 1998 - bonzi wells
- 1997 - olivier st-jean
- 1996 - todd fuller
- 1995 - gary trent

this is the type of player we're likely to get by winning those meaningless games. i hate to hear "there's no guarantees" as a counter argument. then you might as well not even play the games. of course there are no guarantees. you work to put yourself in the best position to win a title. winning those meaningless games reduces our chances of seeing the sixers win meaningful games down the line.

Congratulations Ed Snider and Billy King!

by focusing on short-term winning rather than long-term strategy, you've succeeded in your attempt to eliminate the possibility that the sixers will get greg oden. with last night's unfortunate win, the sixers now have less than a 1% chance to win the top pick in the draft.

congrats again on your continuing quest to run the franchise into the ground. job well done.

rat bastards.

Lack of Activity

sorry for the lack of activity lately, i'm bombed at work. transitioning a couple of my clients to someone else and taking on some new clients.

here's what is bouncing around in my head:

- superbowl - both superbowl teams play straight up defense. no gimmicks, no blitzing. for me, it reinforces the notion that JJ's scheme is flawed.

- signing day - penn state managed to eek into the top 25 (24) in rivals.com's rankings for their recruiting class, but this is how bad it's gotten for them: a) as big dog mentioned, joe pa is losing the battle in NJ to rutgers. RUTGERS! b) broderick green (rated the 14th best running back in the nation) chose USC over PSU even though USC also signed two guys who not only are the number 1 and 2 RBs in the nation but some also consider the two best players in the nation. meanwhile, PSU's RB stable is bare and green would have had a chance to start right away. gah.

- sixers - this is just awful. this team is just perky enough to get into the playoffs in the awful east. the sixers are blowing their chance at getting either difference making player. i can't stand it. billy king is on TV preaching some nonsense about not tanking because he has to be concerned about teaching the players how to win. hey billy, here's how you win. it's pretty simple -- have the best freaking players.

- phillies - still getting really excited about the team. watched the meet the phils show the other day. haven't done that in years. i'm with ben this year, win or lose i'm along for the ride. give pat some credit here, he's converted an unlikeable team into a likeable one pretty quickly.

Stop Winning!

this is horrible. why do the sixers keep winning? the team has dropped to third worst record in the league and the hated celtics have passed us. nothing will be worse than having to watch bill russell II playing for the celtics. gosh, i can't even root for this team to lose and get what i want.

STOP WINNING DAMMIT!

any chance we can get doug moe or gene shue to coach this team?

STOP WINNING! STOP! STOP! STOP!

Tuesday Links

- mark eckel seems to think that mcnabb may be the one who's going to go and identifies tampa and minnesota as possible destinations

- rich hoffman suspects that the stability of the eagles was one of the factors that pushed parcells to retirement

- the end of this article about steve spagnuolo being named the giants d coordinator mentions that jeff garcia will be a guest on the tonight show

- now that the phils have chase utley locked up, i hope the phils can agree to terms with ryan howard as well. randy miller thinks that howard and his dad want alfonso soriano money, which could make signing him a tricky situation considering his service time.

- andre miller is fitting in nicely on the sixers, which is exactly why he has trade value. get rid of him so the team can continue on its merry losing streak and get greg oden. there has to be some contender out there in need of a lead guard.

- so far so good on the AI/carmelo pairing. sigh. not having to carry the scoring load all by himself, allen shot a respectable 9 for 16 in their first game together.

Sixers Win!

first head-to-head matchup between two leading oden contenders goes to sixers, who fought the good fight by getting plastered by memphis.

Kevin Durant vs. Greg Oden

kevin durant is going to be a great player in the NBA someday, one of the best. he is better than KG was at the same point in their careers (if only because he has the killer instinct and alpha dog mentality that garnett lacks), but for me it's still greg oden or bust.

why?

because durant is a face up big man. i don't want a face up big man because they don't win titles.

what this team needs is a back to the basket player who loves playing down low, is a rebounding machine, and is a defensive force. teams built around those types of players win titles. having a face up big man is impressive and enjoyable to watch, but it is a waste of size. there are plenty of guards who have a face up game better than any face up big man.

KG, nowitzki, ewing (yes he played good defense, but on offense he had little post game and played more face to basket), karl malone, david robinson pre-tim duncan, chris webber. titles - zero. all face to the basket guys.

olajuwon, duncan, shaq, kareem, moses, wallace, parish, the list goes on. all of these guys played (or play) a back to the basket game. wallace doesn't have any offensive game, but is under the basket on offensive possessions.

there are only two exceptions -- bill laimbeer (who had a spot up kind of game but the pistons had james edwards at backup who was a back to the basket kind of player, dennis rodman who was a rebounding machine, and mark aguirre who was unstoppable in the post) and the jordan bulls.

so if you are a team that already has a back to the basket center, then i think you can take durant and win... or if you believe durant is the next jordan, then you take him. if not, gotta get oden. face up players win NCAA championships, but post up players win NBA titles.

Open Sixers Thread

per request, an open thread for sixers talk

Larry Brown Returning?

hooray! not only do the sixers absolutely suck, they're also considering bringing back larry brown. not really a surprise i guess.

how the heck can this team consider bringing him back after the way he left the team and all that BS he pulled. lest anyone forget, he forced the team to let fire him by quitting on the team, and the king of fools ed snider, in his rage, let him go to another team without compensation. (how the heck did that guy get rich?)

remember the last playoff series against the pistons? remember how the team called timeout and LB sat on the bench by himself? remember that? you know, the series when he decided that he wanted to coach that team instead of the sixers, starting a process where the pistons fired rick carlisle because LB surreptitiously let it be known that he wanted the job? of course the pistons got the same treatment in the end. i guess it was worth it for them since they got a title out of it, but frankly, i thought that team should have won 3 titles instead of the 1 they did win.

i'm sticking by my post a few months ago, larry brown is the devil:

who has the devil ever developed or "guided"? seriously? all mephistopheles does is bitch about people to the media. he doesn't develop them. yes, yes, satan is one of the best x's and o's coaches of all time, but it's well known that he doesn't develop young players and greatly prefers working with veterans who already know how to play. he doesn't have the patience, the temperment, or frankly the integrity to "develop" a headcase. by the time he leaves, the players know him for the weasel he is. they work with him every day. they know that everything non-basketball related that comes out of his mouth is complete bulldung. you never, *ever* hear an ex-larry brown player pining to be reunited with that turd. even danny manning (old cloven hoof's all-time favorite player) was once mortified at the thought of being reunited with lucifer.

the only hope i'm clinging to is that he's not coming in to coach the team. the ability to develop young players has to be a primary skill of the sixers coach. the devil is not the guy for that. sigh.

Iverson a Nugget

sixers trade iverson and ivan mcfarlin to denver for andre miller, joe smith, and 2 first round picks in 2007 (denver and dallas).

probably the best deal they could have done. they'll still only have their own lottery pick since denver and dallas are both likely to make the playoffs, but i'm glad they got picks instead of just expiring contracts. that would probably have irritated me almost as much as getting nothing in return for abreu irritated ben.

next steps for the sixers:

- lose
- lose
- lose

it's greg oden or bust, sixers. i hope you're smart enough to realize it.

Iverson Update

latest from espn's marc stein:

The Nuggets, then, remain at the forefront of the Iverson chase, where they've been since the middle of last week, largely because they're offering Philly two picks in the first round of the June draft. No other Iverson suitor has matched that pitch yet, but the Nuggets still must find a third team to absorb the long-term contract of Nene -- or placing Reggie Evans somewhere can also make the salary-cap math work -- to satisfy all of the Sixers' current demands.

Philly has made it quite clear that it wants nothing but expiring contracts along with those draft picks, along with its chief aim of getting back a top-flight youngster like Minnesota's Randy Foye or Shaun Livingston of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Those names, of course, aren't just picked at random. Philly's longstanding interest in the Villanova-schooled Foye will continue to keep Minnesota in the race, but the short-on-assets Wolves -- who don't have a tradeable first-round pick for the rest of the decade -- need a third-team conduit to complete a trade as much as Denver.
Multiple sources, meanwhile, insisted over the weekend that the Clippers are an increasingly feasible destination for Iverson. The Clips have indeed shown interest in Iverson for months, but only at a certain price. Translation: The Clips have been interested only in building a deal around the very available Corey Maggette and keeping Livingston out of it.

Although there's been no indication that the Clips are prepared to lift Livingston's untouchable tag, sources say Philly remains hopeful that the Clips will eventually relent if their 4-11 slump deepens. Dragging out the race, as Sixers general manager Billy King publicly announced on Sunday he is willing to do, also raises the possibility that the list of suitors will grow. Miami unexpectedly stated an interest last week and more teams could follow as the season takes greater shape.

getting two first rounders is by far the best thing the sixers could hope for in an iverson deal. my gosh, i hope that happens. foye is going to be a nice nba player, but this franchise has to get itself a big man. i only know of one guy in the history of the nba who was able to win without a big man... and i don't see any michael jordan's running around these days.

getting the picks is step one. step two is finding someone other than billy king to use them.

AI Trade Goal

the goal of trading AI should be to maximize the chances of selecting greg oden in next year's draft. i don't care what mix of garbage players and/or contracts the sixers have to take back. the goal of this trade is simple: get the best draft pick(s) possible.

this is supposed to be the best draft for big men in 10 years. get picks.

Armon Gilliam Commercial

hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving. due to family responsibilities (hosting thanksgiving and two other get togethers), i was unable to spend any time blogging this week.

one curious thing i saw on tv, i don't know what the commercial was for, but i swear i saw one time sixer armon "hammer" gilliam playing one-on-one against a midget and then getting dunked on by said midget. i'd bet dollars to donuts that it was him. hope he's not doing it for the money. he had a long career and was once a top 5 pick, hope he didn't squander all that money.

most of my memories about him are as part of the great UNLV teams back in the 80s. the only thing i remember about him as a sixer is that he was a pretty soft player, which was ironic given his nickname.

Trying to Keep Things Positive

there's always a silver lining, no matter how bad things get, right? as we enter the holiday season, we should try to stay positive and look for some good things despite yesterday's abomination. what are the silver linings are there? here's what i see:

- i'm thankful we still have allen iverson. he's not perfect and the team around him stinks, but a big part of the reason i love watching and rooting for him is evidenced in this small blurb from today's inquirer:

"I loved our effort," Cheeks said after the game.

But when asked whether he liked the Sixers' effort as well, Allen Iverson spit out a "no" as if he had just found something strange in his cheeseburger.

"Look, I'm not trying to be an ass, I promise you," Iverson said in the visiting locker room at Staples Center before getting three stitches in his chin courtesy of an accidental elbow by Corey Maggette on Maggette's drive to the hoop. "But I don't care nothing about that.

"I don't care who you're playing against, if you're playing a little rec-league team. The effort is supposed to be there every night. So it's not a big thing for me. To say, 'Yeah, we gave effort' or whatever, you're supposed to give effort. But when you go out and play basketball, you're supposed to win the basketball game.

"If you're satisfied the effort that you give, then some positive things are supposed to happen, and the most positive thing that can happen is to win... . You don't pay nobody a million dollars, a whole bunch of money, then not give effort."

- i'm thankful that we have confirmation that the drops are not a result of mcnabb throwing the ball too hard. our receivers are really just that bad.

- i'm thankful that the flyers went back to sucking after winning two games straight to remind people to keep their expectations low.

- i'm thankful that bobby clarke is gone. now maybe i can let go of some of the bitterness of having to watch john vanbiesbrouck that season that cujo wanted to play here and might have pushed the flyers over the top.

- i'm thankful that the phillies didn't sign soriano to that ludicrous contract and then subject me to months of hype and buildup, but i'm more thankful that the phillies appear to have a nice core of likeable and talented young players to build around.

- i'm thankful that i no longer have to look at head wade's misshapen noggin' as he's lecturing me about the potential of the team. just remember, no matter how bad things may look with gillick, this is how bad things were.

- i'm thankful that brian dawkins signed a new contract. although it's becoming clear to me that he's not the same difference making player he once was, i am glad that he'll retire as an eagle.

- i'm thankful that reno mahe is winning me over. honestly. i like him more and more each week and especially because he's not being forced into the 3rd down back role.

- i'm thankful that heather mitts is back in town.

- i'm thankful that chris webber only has two more years left on his contract.

- i'm thankful that i don't root for teams from cleveland, seattle, kansas city, or new orleans. i'm also thankful that i got to experience the golden age of philadelphia sports -- 1974 to 1989 by my estimation.

happy holidays all

Sixers/Flyers

i know the sixers started out 3-0, but does anyone seriously believe this team will be competitive? while i continue to be impressed with AI's ability to play at a high level with no practice and no interest in conditioning, there is precious little to prompt optimism from the rest of the squad. the team cannot rebound and will struggle to score unless they're shooting lights out from the outside. everyone keeps talking about igoudala, but his upside isn't that high. he'll be a good defender on the wing and an athletic guy on the break, but i doubt he'll ever score consistently.

the flyers are screwed for a while, with no bright side in the visible horizon. good thing clarke waited until he ensured the team will suck for the next 5 years before he quit. what's the use in doing a half-ass job at ruining the franchise? at least now there's no danger that fans will hold out some hope of being competitive. that recaptured time and energy must be his gift to us.

That's My Basketball Team!

mama iverson is now the owner of an aba team