Sixers 15 games below .500=John Wall Fantasies, Trade Talk Galore, Locker Room Unrest

Eddie Jordan’s starters and rotations are killing me.  He is so insistent on playing small, even while we all witness us getting dominated on the boards and physically beat up inside.  Brand is a tough defender and a good rebounder, but he is no center.  The fact that he isn’t starting is logic defying.  The fact that Willie Green is starting is an outright crime. Seriously, I’m thinking Danny Ocean is in charge here.

In a completely contrary move, lately there have been lineups that have had Brand, Marreese Speights, and Jason Smith in at the same time. Maybe Eddie thinks leading the league in “combined height on  the floor” would be a positive thing to lead in.

A highly effective method of coaching known as: "wishing really hard."

Jrue Holiday’s extended minutes during Lou’s injury showed us that kid clearly has talent and playmaking ability.  He’s the only point guard on this team.  EJ himself has even said that nobody runs his offense better.  He has clearly shown to be a much better defender than Lou Will.  We aren’t winning any championships anytime soon.  We aren’t winning any games either.  If he really is the future at point guard, why not begin the future today?  Give the kid some tic.  He’ll make rookie mistakes, but he has already shown poise and a high basketball IQ.  It doesn’t seem that his psyche is as fragile as Jordan thinks it is.

Brand needs to be reinserted into the starting five which should be Jrue, Lou or AI (pretty much interchangeable, -insert undersized scorer who can’t defend here-), Iggy, Brand, Dalembert.  I love you Thad, but either Lou or Iverson needs to start, which makes you odd man out.  We could really use your scoring abilities off the bench anyway.

Brand has been making his displeasure public.  Trade demands coming?

Ed Stefanski will surely open the floor up for anything as the trade deadline looms.  No player will be untouchable.  Ideally, we would like to keep Jrue, Thad, and Speights.  Lou and Iguodala should be expendable, having exhausted their upside.   Obviously, Dalembert has been being shopped like the ShamWow for a while now, but his remaining hefty 2 years and 15% trade kicker is a massive deterrent.  It might be best to just wait until next season when he will have a big expiring contract, and we can finally bid adieu to this stone-handed albatross.

The re-signing of Iverson has proven to do absolutely nothing as there has been no resultant wins, and AI has missed the past few games with arthritis in his knee.  Who knows how much more we will even see of him.  This may end up being nothing more than a quick smash-n-grab by the front office, but all they can really claim is a profitable week in a 7 month schedule. As for the rest of us, we’ll just have to get by watching highlights from the 2001 season.

At least until we get John Wall.

(please John, we’ll be your best friend)

-DNA