By John McMullen
The City of Brotherly Love is quite the sports town these days.
Over the weekend of Oct. 16-17, nearly 204,000 people crammed into the city's sports complex in South Philadelphia to watch the Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and Temple football.
The Phils are currently vying to become the first National League team to make three straight World Series appearances since the 1942-44 St. Louis Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Flyers are coming off a run to the Stanley Cup Finals and the Eagles are a regular in the NFL postseason. Things are even humming on the college level where Temple sports a top 25 basketball program and had its best football season since 1979, while, over on the Main Line, Villanova is always a threat to make the NCAA Final Four in hoops and is
coming off the university's first FCS football national championship.
The 76ers, once one of the NBA's marquee franchises thanks to legends like Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Billy Cunningham, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson, have not been a part of the city's sports revival.
In fact attending a Sixers game last year at the Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) Center was a bit depressing. Poor decisions by the front office have hampered the team's development culminating in an awful 27-55 season last season in which head coach Eddie Jordan lost his team by Christmas.
To be blunt, then-Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski probably should have joined his hand-picked coach and friend on the unemployment line after last year's disastrous run. But, the Comcast-Spectacor braintrust of Ed Snider and Peter Luukko, loathe to admit another in a long line of mistakes,
gave the embattled Philadelphia basketball chief one more chance.
This time, with the leash pulled tight in the form of assistant general manager Tony DiLeo and consultant Gene Shue watching over his shoulder, Stefanski made a prudent decision and inked the highly regarded Doug Collins to be the team's mentor in 2010-11.
The hire happened a year after it should have and cost the Sixers dearly in the crowded, very competitive Philadelphia sports market, but Stefanski was finally moving the team in the right direction again.
Dealing underachieving center Samuel Dalembert to Sacramento for Spencer Hawes and Andres Nocioni, and landing Evan Turner after lucking out a bit in the NBA Draft Lottery also were regarded as feathers in Stefanski's cap.
That said, you could still sense the Sixers' brass wasn't all that comfortable with Stefanski leading the organization and that sentiment came into focus in August when Snider and Luukko demoted him and named his old boss in New Jersey. Rod Thorn, as the team's new president.
Thorn, an NBA veteran of more than four decades, is one of the league's most highly-regarded executives, while Collins' basketball knowledge is without peer, almost encyclopedic.
If winning truly starts at the top, the Sixers are about to arrive fashionably late to Philadelphia's sports revival.
2009-10 Results: 27-55, fourth in Atlantic; Missed playoffs.
ADDITIONS: G/F Evan Turner, C Tony Battie, C Spencer Hawes, F Andres Nocioni, F Craig Brackins, F Darius Songaila
SUBTRACTIONS: F Rodney Carney, C Francisco Elson, C Samuel Dalembert, G Willie Green, F/C Jason Smith
PROJECTED STARTING FIVE:
PG- Jrue Holiday
SG- Andre Iguodala
SF- Thaddeus Young
PF- Elton Brand
C- Spencer Hawes
KEY RESERVES: G/F Evan Turner, F Jason Kapono, F/C Marresse Speights, F Andres
Nocioni, G Lou Williams, C Tony Battie, F Craig Brackins, F Darius Songaila
FRONTCOURT: Thaddeus Young is best served as a small forward but has often played out of position at the four spot during his first three years in the pros. A natural scorer with an array of lost-post moves and a feathery touch around the basket, Young was lost in Jordan's Princeton Offense and seemed to lose confidence. He's excellent in transition and can use his speed and quickness to torture bigger players on the block while his length is a problem with smaller defenders. Young's defense and rebounding, however, leave a lot to be desired and Collins would like him to stop handling the ball so much and let Jrue Holiday run the offense.
"I told him he cannot be a mistake player," Collins said when speaking about his young forward. "I told him when I was in college I had the ball a lot in my hands, and then I figured it out when I was playing with Maurice Cheeks that I would throw the ball to him and let him do all the work, and then I would get the shots at the other end, and it was easy. So why don't you do that with Jrue?"
Before a devastating Achilles injury Elton Brand was a horse on both ends of the floor. Collins asked the veteran to drop weight in the offseason in order to regain some quickness and take some of the pounding off his aging legs and the classy Brand has done everything possible to get himself ready. But, Brand has never struck me as an out of shape guy, his Achilles injury robbed him of any explosion and it's likely there is simply nothing left. Expect Brand to lose playing time as this season progresses.
It's no secret Dalembert wanted out of Philly and it's no secret the team had tried to move him on a number of occasions but a massive contract with a 15 percent trade kicker nixed that. With that deal set to expire after this season the Sixers were able to move him for Hawes and Nocioni. Hawes, who has struggled with a balky back this preseason, is the polar opposite of Dalembert, a wide body with a high basketball IQ, nice shooting touch and the ability to pass from the pivot. However, Hawes can't touch Dalembert's ability as a shot-blocker and rebounder, making interior defense a big question mark for this Sixers team.
BACKCOURT: Andre Iguodala is Philadelphia's best all-around player and the defensive stopper on Team USA's Gold Medal-winning team at the World Championships this summer. An athletic marvel, Iguodala can stuff the stat sheet like few others and covets the big moment. However, he has only been an All-Star level performer at the three spot and was actually been a huge disappointment when playing the two in a conventional half-court offense. Collins has asked Iguodala to stop relying so much on the jumper and become more of a slasher that can get to the free throw line when things are bogging down.
"I think that Andre is going to come back [from the World Championships] a totally different guy," Collins said. "He needs to be a slasher and defender and not depend so much on jump shots. He can get to the foul line and do those things so he doesn't have to live and die with the jump shot. If we can get in the open court and run, that's where he'll be at his best. That has to be our identity. And I want him to be more of a leader. It's a great time for him to come back after that experience."
The Sixers think Holiday is a future star. The book on Holiday before the 2009 draft was the cliched "raw with the huge upside." Normally, I shrug off talk like that since it's become commonplace among NBA personnel people. But one longtime scout who I respect assured me Holiday would be the best point guard
from that '09 draft in five years, a bold statement considering Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn, Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson and Darren Collison also went in Holiday's class. When the Sixers turned the keys over to Holiday late last season, you could see exactly what all the fuss was
about. A true quarterback that thinks pass first, Holiday is already one of the top 10 defensive point guards in the league. Experience should turn the former UCLA guard into an All-NBA defender and a more consistent jumper could turn him into an All-Star.
"He is the total package," Collins said of Holiday. "He is such a good kid and such a hard worker and he is pure. I honestly believe that next year you will talk about him being one of the top five point guards in the league. I think you will speak about him with Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook
and Derrick Rose."
BENCH: The Sixers would love Turner to break into the starting lineup so they can give Iguodala more minutes at the three but the rookie has struggled learning to play without the ball in his hands. At Ohio State everything ran through Turner but in the NBA, he will need to learn to play off the ball like a Reggie Miller or Rip Hamilton. That said, Turner is a basketball player with a tremendous feel for the game that will eventually become an extremely efficient offensive player in the mold of Portland's Brandon Roy. His mid-range jumper is something rarely seen these days and he can handle the ball with either hand. Right now, Collins thinks his rookie is more comfortable as a facilitator and playing with Lou Williams but he will team with Holiday to
give the Sixers a top-tier backcourt for the next decade or so.
"Evan got knocked back this summer, and I think it is the thing that happened to him," Collins explained. "I think it gave him an idea of how hard it is and how tough it is in this game and how nightly he is going to have a bull's-eye, and that guys are going to go at him. He is learning that you have to earn your stripes in this league."
Williams is an extremely talented offensive player that is back in the role he should be in, instant offense off the bench.
Nocioni is a hard-nosed defender that competes on both ends and often gets under the skin of opponents. He will bring much-needed toughness to a team that has lacked it in the past.
Jason Kapono, who was acquired from Toronto for fan favorite Reggie Evans before last season, may be the best pure shooter in basketball, a desperate need for a Sixers team that has trouble stretching the floor. Kapono, however, is as one-dimensional as it gets and will get exposed with major minutes.
The Sixers may be a little too excited over third year power forward Marreese Speights because of his offensive skills. Unlike most young players, Speights arrived with an NBA-ready offensive game but struggles mightily on the boards and at the defensive end.
Center Tony Battie gives the Sixers veteran leadership along with a big body that can block shots and crash the boards in limited minutes. The versatile Darius Songalia, meanwhile, is another heady veteran that can give Collins good situational minutes at three positions.
Collins' deep bench also features a rookie big with an upside in Craig Brackins, sharp-shooting guard Jodie Meeks and veteran guard Chris Quinn, an excellent shooter and capable ball-handler that doesn't have the athleticism to beat people off the dribble.
COACHING: Philadelphia's new coach is as engaging as it gets and his basketball knowledge is without peer. To me, great coaches in any sport have always added talent that fits into what they want to accomplish (the system), while maximizing the strengths of their current players and masking as many of the deficiencies as possible. Coaches like Collins, a disciplinarian who is a stickler for execution in the half-court set.
"This is my fourth different spot and I haven't used the same offense yet," Collins said.
Defensively, Collins is all about accountability.
"Last year I think they were sort of random on what they wanted to do," Collins said. "We're not going to do that. We're going to have a defensive system in. It's not complicated, but if you're not in the right spot when I
stop the tape all I have to say is, 'Are you in the right spot?'"
A possible hiccup developed earlier this week when it was announced that Collins couldn't coach the team during a preseason game due to a concussion he suffered back on Memorial Day. The franchise is hoping that doesn't become a consistent issue down the line. The lead assistant is former Pistons coach Michael Curry.
STEVE SCHWARZ'S FANTASY FOCUS: Iguodala (ADP 23) is a "stat-filler" while Holiday and rookie Turner should have solid fantasy value. After that, it's a big question mark. Brand isn't what he once was, Young is up and down and newly acquired center Hawes has never been much of a fantasy contributor.
OUTLOOK: The Sixers are an interesting team. They don't have a go-to-guy on the offensive end but could probably go 11 or 12 deep with solid rotational type players. Even the end of the roster features players like Brackins, Meeks and Quinn, who are legit NBA players.
"I said the other day, we could be a team that our leading scorer is averaging 15 or 16 a game and we could have seven guys averaging double figures. That's the kind of team we could be," Collins said.
Collins has averaged an 18-game improvement when taking over teams in the past and you can expect a similar spike for the Sixers this season, meaning the club will be in the hunt for one of the final few playoff spots in the much improved Eastern Conference.
"We haven't hit any home runs [this offseason], but I feel like we've quietly improved our team," Collins said.
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