Preview: Doug Collins nearly set the internet on fire Tuesday night after losing to the Orlando Magic at home by double digits. The Philadelphia 76ers’ (22-34) head coach entertained the masses with a 10-minute rant in which he essentially absolved himself of all the blame for a bad season and placed it all on the shoulders of his players.
As a result of Collins’ tirade, there have been numerous articles written specifically about what went wrong with the 76ers this year.
One of the most obvious reasons for the team’s underwhelming play can be traced directly to the knees of one Andrew Bynum. His inability to suit up this season has made it incredibly difficult for a Philadelphia team built around the big man’s talents to compete against mediocre teams.
Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com did a great job of looking at the Sixers’ scheme (Insider) as a whole and the issues that come along with it. In addition, he questioned the wisdom in cutting Elton Brand loose and allowing Lou Williams to walk last summer.
Also, Grantland’s Zach Lowe provided basketball fans this week with an in-depth look at the Philadelphia 76ers. Indeed, he looked at Collins’ strategies as well as the roster decisions from last season and how the sum of it all has affected the team’s direction.
Instead of going with the normal preview format, I strongly suggest you get familiar with these terrific pieces of writing to get an idea of what to expect from Philly today when they square off against the Golden State Warriors (33-26).
This will be the Dubs’ final game of their five-game road trip and they will be trying to put an end to their current three-game losing streak.
Questions or comments? Feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can contact me by email at [email protected].
In ESPN.com’s most recent installment of NBA 5-on-5, five panelists were asked to determine which player under the age of 25 was better between Stephen Curry and Jrue Holiday.
Four of the five members of the panel picked Curry, while Michael Wallace selected Jrue Holiday. His answer:
Jrue Holiday. Curry’s durability is a major concern. That said, his upside offensively makes him well worth the risk. But Jrue has shown this season he’s capable of getting a triple-double any given night. He’s required to do more for Philly, but he’s answered the challenge. Nothing about his game is flashy. He just seems to do a little of everything well on both ends.
It’s quite difficult to argue with Wallace’s answer, considering that Holiday has in fact been a stud point guard this season and in addition he’s playing the best basketball of his young NBA career.
With Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams gone, the UCLA product has been asked to assume more ball handling responsibilities this year and also display more playmaking skills for a team that is incredibly reliant on their jump shooting ability. To his credit, Jrue has answered the bell and steered the 76ers to an impressive record despite Andrew Bynum’s absence from the lineup so far for the entire season.
Not only has Holiday produced on offense, he’s also made big plays late in ball games to lead Philadelphia to victories. In truth, he may be the best point guard in the league that no one talks about. Indeed, Jrue Holiday has a superior PER figure (19.3) than Rajon Rondo (18.3), Greivis Vasquez (16.7), Damian Lillard (16.5), Mike Conley (16.5), Ray Felton (15.3) and Ty Lawson (14.6) to name a few.
The 76ers guard’s achieves such great statistical achievements thanks in large part to his ability to breakdown defenders off the dribble to create scoring opportunities for both himself and his teammates. Thus, he is scoring 19.2 points and dishing out 8.9 assists on average so far this season.
But there’s something about Holiday that just seems off when watching the Philadelphia 76ers.
Normally, one would think that when watching a stud player, he would leave you with the impression that his team is at least partly lost without him. Maybe they can stay afloat for a few but ultimately his absence from the court for any prolonged stretch is quite fatal.
And when watching the Sixers, rarely does that feeling come about, at least from my end. It’s not that he’s invisible, but rather that his game-changing plays almost look as if they happened by accident as opposed to being predetermined.
Watch him long enough, and the talent is obviously there, but it doesn’t always manifest itself. Thus, my eye test tells me that Philadelphia is fine with him on the court but won’t self-destruct either when he rides the pine. And in actuality, the numbers back up what my eyes see.
According to NBA.com’s advanced stats tool, when Jrue is on the floor, the 76ers score 93 points per 48 minutes on 44.3 percent shooting, whereas when he is on the bench, Philly scores 90.3 points per 48 minutes on 44 percent field goal shooting.
Philadelphia is obviously better with him on the court, but their gap in performance isn’t that great. But to be fair to the former Bruin, the lack of great finishers and shooters on the team obviously hurts his production, and that may be part of the reason that he is so restricted in the half-court and thus sees his impact limited throughout games.
Stephen Curry on the other hand has just been amazing this season.
Early on in the 2012-13 campaign, he struggled with the added scoring responsibility coupled with the extra defensive attention, which in turn led to him forcing shots and having several clunkers. He eventually figured things out and although he is only hitting 43.7 percent of his shots, his field goal percentage has improved with each passing month. Have a look at the graphic below:
Month
Games
FG%
3PT FG%
October
1
.143
.000
November
14
.430
.425
December
16
.442
.482
January
7
.475
.537
Total
38
.437
.464
As the season has gone on, Curry has become a better shooter and consequently a better scorer. In addition, he is still a wizard with the ball in his hands, baiting defenders to jump into him or to commit early defensively so that he can dish off to teammates.
When looking at the Davidson product’s play, his presence is always felt. The added attention coupled with the way defenses swarm to him allows his teammates to get a multitude of open looks. Thus, the offense looks crisper and fluid with him on the court, whereas when he heads to the bench, things look a little congested occasionally. And keep mind, the man backing up Curry is none other than Sixth Man of the Year candidate Jarrett Jack, who has been phenomenal off the bench for the Warriors this season.
And yet, when watching Golden State play, it always feels like they need their starting point guard to be on the floor to thrive. NBA.com’s advanced stats tool tells us that the Dubs score 102.3 points per 48 minutes on 46.5 percent field goal shooting when he is on the court and are a decent plus-three in scoring differential; but when he is off the court, the numbers plummet to 91.6 points per 48 minutes on 43.6 percent field goal shooting and a minus-4.1 scoring differential.
In other words, the Warriors are much better with him in the lineup given how his talent meshes almost seamlessly with that of his teammates.
It’s also worth noting that Curry has shut the door against opponents with some terrific fourth quarter performances, with his most recent one coming last night against the Los Angeles Clippers. His 3-point shooting as well as his free throw shooting make him a scary proposition for teams to deal with, which explains why Mark Jackson loves to play him off the ball late in games where he gets an opportunity to catch and shoot.
The one knock on Curry so far this season has to be his unflappable willingness to go for the jugular by firing away from 3-point range late in games regardless of the quality of his look or the time left on the shot clock. It’s hurt the Dubs at times but it’s also bailed them out as well. Curry has a bit of Kobe in him, but the Warriors and their fans have no complaints about it for the time being.
All in all, the best young player under age 25 is Steph Curry when matched up head-to-head with Jrue Holliday in my humble opinion, but Michael Wallace is absolutely right in stating that the Warriors point guard’s durability concern him going forward. Curry has been relatively healthy so far this season and if he continues to exhibit this same level of consistency in terms of his health, he might just end up in the top tier of elite NBA point guards.
Statistical support provided by NBA.com.
Questions or comments? Feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can contact me by email at [email protected].
Preview: After being traded during the summer to Philadelphia, Dorell Wright will be making his return to Oracle Arena for the first time as a visitor, after playing a terrific game in Memphis on Wednesday night where he scored 28 points and drilled 5-of-8 shots from 3-point range.
In upsetting the Grizzlies on Wednesday night, the 76ers highlighted just exactly who it is that they are: a jump shooting team that protects the ball at all costs.
In Memphis, Philadelphia turned the ball over 16 times, but that can actually be somewhat considered a victory given that the Grizzlies typically force a multitude of them and then get out in transition for easy baskets. But in the case of Philadelphia, the miscues weren’t egregious to the point of leading directly to scores as evidenced by the mere two fast break points allowed in that game.
For the most part, Philly does a great job of protecting the ball, turning it over only 12.4 times per game (second best in the NBA). This allows them to stay in games against opponents because they maximize their possessions.
It’s especially important because the Sixers aren’t exactly the biggest team in the league. They have athletes at all positions, but several of them are undersized. On the season, they’ve done a good job of protecting their backboards, but when faced with Memphis on Wednesday night they allowed 15 offensive rebounds. This is particularly pertinent heading into tonight’s contest because the Warriors have been known to hit the offensive glass with the likes of Lee, Ezeli and Landry.
The Dubs have the ability to hurt the 76ers in the rebounding area, which would surely serve as the great equalizer to Philly’s ball security.
It’s worth noting that Doug Collins’ group will heavily rely on ball movement and drive and kicks to set up perimeter shots while Holiday and Young will be more than comfortable putting the ball on the floor to try and get to the rim. If the Dubs can defend the 76ers dribble penetration, close out on shooters and own the boards, they should in fact make Dorell Wright a fairly unhappy player by night’s end.
With the NBA champs flexing their muscles, Brooklyn having an NBA team, the New York Knicks looking like a potential conference finalist and the San Antonio Spurs looking like, well the Spurs, there’s no better time to submit a Power Rankings. First up, the Eastern Conference…
Take on the team: The Pistons have faced a rather tough schedule so far, playing five of their first six games on the road, but the fact still remains that more was expected from this group of players.
Take on the team: Washington has lost twice against the Celtics, and their late game execution has been suspect in both instances. You get the sense that if they could clean that up, they might actually be a decent team. Might.
Take on the team: The Kyle Lowry experience is not only fun, it’s the reason why the Minnesota Timberwolves currently do not have a perfect record to open up the season. With that said, all those grumblings that Raptors players had about ESPN.com’s John Hollinger picking them to win 33 games this season, well they’re actually headed for less at the moment.
Take on the team: There’s no shame in losing to the San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks and Minnesota Timberwolves, but at the Pacers could at least pull together to start comfortably beating teams with inferior talent, because that hasn’t been the case so far.
Take on the team: It’s obviously extremely early in the season, but the train wreck of a season that was expected after trading away Dwight Howard has in fact been delayed. That 39-point loss to Brooklyn though is still preposterous.
Take on the team: The Celtics are a talented team and thus should be higher, but it’s awfully tough to ignore that their lone two victories on the season have come against the winless Wizards with the contests getting decided late.
Take on the team: The Cavaliers have deficiencies but I like this young and daring nucleus. They currently have a sub .500 record, but still have a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center.
Take on the team: The Nets might be the very definition of a good mediocre team; they have victories over bad teams, and losses by a total of 41 points to the two teams they’ve faced so far with winning records (Miami and Minnesota).
Take on the team: The Atlanta Hawks have defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers in what could be classified as victories to make the franchise and its fans forget about the Joe Johnson era and embrace the new one.
Take on the team: Philadelphia’s current record might make fans temporarily forget about the absence of Andrew Bynum, but that would be fool’s gold. The 76ers have wins over teams with records of .500 or worse, while both of their losses came against the Knicks, and were by double figures. Doug Collins can keep that ship afloat only for so long without his franchise center.
Take on the team: Last month, former Bull Brian Scalabrine made an appearance on the B.S. Report (Bill Simons’ podcast) and stated that Tom Thibodeau was a franchise changer in the same mold as Jason Kidd and Kevin Garnett. While some might have thought the statement was ludicrous, the Bulls are playing without their best player and still competing and finding ways to win games. Their defense might carry them long enough for Derrick Rose to come back at some point and lead them to a potential fourth seed in the east standings.
Take on the team: One could lament the fact that all of the Bucks’ victories came at the expense of teams with losing records, but that would completely miss the point that they took care of business and won two of those three contests by double digits. Their lone loss came at the hands of a brutally physical Memphis team.
Take on the team: Two of the Heat’s five victories came by 25 points or more and they are currently plus-5.3 on the season despite a 20-point loss at the hands of the Knicks. . Needless to say, the defending champions are looking like juggernauts and may very well flex their muscles early to remind opponents that they took the crown last season. Consider the number 34: it’s the amount of minutes that Wade, LeBron and Bosh are all just about averaging early on this season, which means they could potentially be fresher than usual going into some of the tougher stretches of their schedule this season.
Take on the team: It’s extremely early, but the Knicks have won all of their games by double figures and own the only victory in this young season over the Miami Heat. Their defense has been stellar and they have been putting up points on the board, but the one thing that’s made them seemingly unstoppable so far is undeniably their red hot 3-point shooting. They are shooting a sizzling 43.6 percent from downtown and making defenses pay for giving up open looks.
Check back in about 30 minutes for the Western Conference…
Questions or comments? Feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can contact me by email at [email protected].
Bob Myers made his first big trade as general manager of the Warriors sending his former client, Dorell Wright, to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for what is likely to be Edin Bavčić – a 6’10 center out of Bosnia. Bavčić has been stashed away overseas since being drafted in the second round back in 2006. My computer almost exploded trying to put that first symbol above the “c.”
The move is purely a salary dump with Bavčić unlikely to ever play in a Warriors uniform.
Moving Wright was inevitable given his reasonable contract, the logjam at the wing position, and the fact that Mark Jackson never seemed to be a big fan of him (often opting to use other players late in games). A year removed from a breakout season in which he averaged a career best 16.4 points per game and broke the single season record for three-pointers made by a Warrior, Wright took a step back much to the chagrin of the Warriors faithful. Looking at the minutes he was given and the numbers he posted, he actually didn’t have that bad of a year and yet was still the target of a lot of Warriors fans’ anger and frustration. That’s not to say he didn’t have his struggles at all. Relying on his long-range ability and slow motion pump fake, teams quickly figured out how to defend Wright thus making him far less effective. Add in the fact that his mid-range game was almost non-existent and it’s easy to see why he had a down year.
Wright looked on his way to becoming a mainstay with the Dubs as he embraced the Bay Area and its fan base with open arms from the day he signed with Golden State. Despite being from Southern California and being a staunch USC, Dallas Cowboys and Dodgers supporter, he made his presence felt within the community. He represented as if he was a Bay Area native, as proven by his charitable efforts this past Thanksgiving when he partnered with the city of Oakland to make sure that several thousand less-fortunate families and individuals were fed and clothed.
On a personal level, my first ever interview with a professional athlete was with Wright last year in Las Vegas during the Impact Basketball “Lockout League.” I’ve encountered him many times since then and he is one of the most down-to-Earth athletes I have ever met. With the amount of money these guys get paid nowadays, it’s not unusual for some players to act as if they are a notch above everyone, but not D. Wright. He was definitely one of the most genuine guys on the team and I wish him the best playing for Doug Collins and the Sixers.
This trade strongly points in the direction of the Warriors bringing back Brandon Rush and gives them a bit more money to use in free agency to aid in their search for a backup point guard and possibly a backup power forward (they continue to entertain the possibility of signing J.J Hickson as well as former Warrior, Antawn Jamison). Golden State has yet to cash in their invite to the Offseason Transaction Party but perhaps this is the first move of many that will prove to the fans that they are as serious about winning as they claim to be.
A few years ago, Evan Turner impressed fans as well as scouts with his brilliant all around play at the collegiate level while attending Ohio State university. In his junior season, Turner could seemingly do it all and play four positions. He had the ability to handle the ball, pass, anticipate what defenses would do to defend him, finish with both hands around the basket, absorb physical contact, rebound and score.
He wasn’t blessed with blazing speed or athletic ability reminiscent of leapers such as Vince Carter or Josh Smith, but he still managed to get things done with his below the rim game. At the time, the Buckeye was being compared to an NBA player with similar traits but that was obviously superior in talent and skill at that point in his career: Brandon Roy. Continue Reading…
David Lee, PF41 MIN | 8-19 FG | 8-8 FT | 15 REB | 3 AST | 24 PTS | -12
Another nice game from Lee as he and Monta were the only Warriors players playing offense tonight. Along with the nice point total, Lee was once again solid on the glass as he’s the only player on the team that makes a conscious effort to grab rebounds.
With Curry out it was important for Dorell to establish an offensive game tonight. And after Dorell made his first shot it seemed like he was on his way towards a decent game. Then, his next two shots went in and out and he wasn’t heard much from thereon out.
Andris Biedrins, C12 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | -13
McGuire is the anti-box score. He didn’t attempt a field goal tonight and once again showed why he’s invaluable to this team. The defensive numbers are impressive, but it’s the constant pressure and energy McGuire brings every night that makes him such a precious asset to this defensively challenged squad.
Monta Ellis, SG38 MIN | 10-22 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 7 AST | 20 PTS | -14
National broadcasts usually translate into big nights for Monta. He came out strong making tough shot after tough shot and increasing his trade value on a national stage. With his backcourt mate Stephen Curry out with the usual ankle injury, the game was in Monta’s hands. He did his part but in the end it failed to produce a win.
Three Things We Saw
Athletes, athletes and more athletes. The 76ers are filled with impressive young players that bring high energy on a nightly basis. Minus the pesky corpse that is Elton Brand, the 76ers are set for the future with a core of Jrue Holliday, Andre Iguodola, Thaddeus Young, Evan Turner and Lou Williams. Whether that young talent translates into playoff success is another story.
The Warriors were a combined 5-18 from beyond the arc tonight. Fans were often reminded of this during the broadcast, but it’s still worth noting that one of the best shooting teams in the league has hit a remarkable cold streak. When this team doesn’t make shots, they don’t win.
The Warriors finish up the road stand with the Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards. Two bad teams stand in front of them and both games should be wins. As I type that last sentence I wonder if the basketball gods will slap me in the face.
Yesterday we covered trade rumors that could potentially involve the Golden State Warriors as well as Monta Ellis. In short, it seems that the front office would only agree to sending out Ellis if they got anything of similar value in return. The issue at hand though is that the Dubs view their leading scorer as a borderline All-Star and thus would only accept a deal if they received a player of that magnitude in return.
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