Cheeks better get shooters on the floor

Philadelphia, PA (The Phanatic Magazine) - I guess you can blame Elton Brand.

The Sixers new high-priced forward just isn't fitting in right?

One question though, when has Brand been on the floor with anyone who can shoot the basketball?

Mo Cheeks refuses to use the only two Sixers that can shoot on a consistent basis -- Donyell Marshall and Kareem Rush.

On Friday night in the Motor City, with Brand on the sidelines nursing an ailing right hamstring, Cheeks was forced, kicking and screaming, to use Marshall.

For whatever reason, Cheeks doesn't value shooters. He waited an eternity as the Pistons built up a 15-point advantage before he looked the veteran's way.

"As the game went on, I didn't think I would get in," Marshall said afterwards. "Then Coach called me, and he said, 'You all right?' and everyone was laughing. I said, 'Yeah.', " in an obvious reference to Stephon Marbury's problems in New York.

Heck, Cheeks even sent Reggie Evans to the scorer's table to replace Marshall in the fourth quarter. As the offensively challenged Evans sat, no doubt dreaming about basketballs clanging off the rim, Marshall hit the first of two threes that would ignite the Sixers.

Cheeks wisely changed his mind, left Marshall alone and the Reading native sealed the game with his second three.

In fact, a guy who has played in all of four games this season was Cheeks' top option down the stretch.

That says volumes not only about just how bad Andre Iguodala has been at the offensive end but just how bad the Sixers are in the half court.

The reason is obvious to anyone not named Cheeks. Opposing coaches have no respect for the Sixers' shooters and ignore the weakside, collapsing on Brand, Iguodala or whoever else gets Cheeks' call to make a big bucket.

The remedy is equally obvious and sits five-to-10 feet away from Cheeks on a daily basis.

No one is saying Marshall or Rush are All-Stars. The game of both players is deeply flawed.

That said, both are top-tier NBA shooters that could make life much easier for Brand and Cheeks with 10-to-15 minutes a night.

Cheeks is in a race to figure that out. The Sixers' mentor thinks he's in a marathon. Ed Stefanski thinks it's a sprint.

Guess which opinion matters more?