Caw! Caw!

Perusing the Daily News this morning, I remembered an article I read a few days ago:

A South African anthropologist said Thursday his research into the death nearly 2 million years ago of an ape-man shows human ancestors were hunted by birds. "These types of discoveries give us real insight into the past lives of these human ancestors, the world they lived in and the things they feared," Lee Berger, a paleo-anthropologist, said.

Five months ago, Berger read an Ohio State University study of the hunting abilities of modern eagles in West Africa believed similar to predatory birds of the Taung child's era. The Ohio State study determined that eagles would swoop down, pierce monkey skulls with their thumb-like back talons, then hover while their prey died before returning to tear at the skull. Examination of thousands of monkey remains produced a pattern of damage done by birds, including holes and ragged cuts in the shallow bones behind the eye sockets.

Berger went back to the Taung skull, and found traces of the ragged cuts behind the eye sockets. He said none of the researchers who had for decades been debating how the child died had noticed the eye socket damage before. Berger concluded man's ancestors had to survive not just being hunted from the ground, but from the air. Such discoveries are "key to understanding why we humans today view the world they way we do," he said.

It is hard to imagine that kind of horror- right? Danger swooping down at you- at any time or place- and you are singularly able to do anything about despite the terrible consequences. But you can recreate it. Most definitely. Just take a look at Mo Cheeks lately.

Last year, I thought it was acceptable to fire Jim O’Brien. I would not have done it. It would be hard to argue he did not get every win out of that roster- kicking their .500 butts into the play-offs. Once there, the team showed some grit- coming within a missed free throw of drawing even with the Pistons two games each. But it wasn’t like they over-achieved either. And the guy the organization had openly coveted forever, Mo Cheeks, a true favorite son, was available. They owned O’Brien nothing- except what was due on his contract. This is the NBA- it isn’t fair.

Look, like all 76ers fans, I am partial to Mo. He is a total class act. But I have never been on this Mo is a top coach bender. There was good talent in Portland- and for four years the Blazers spiraled ever out of control, were stuck on a treadmill & never got better, and couldn’t win in the play-offs. The Sixers, looking to keep a pair of mercurial stars and enigmatic young players into some sort of system, get off their 44 win treadmill and win a play-off series post-Larry Brown, went to the one guy in the NBA who just categorically proved he could not do any of those three things.

The Sixers are not a disaster. They could still make the play-offs. But, if canning Cheeks did not mean the GM would be gone to, I bet Cheeks would be in some trouble. The Sixers aren’t better- seem to have no inclination of how to get better. Worse, some of the bad Blazer habits are cropping up: guys sniping in the press, unhappy star players, increasing ill-discipline (watch the Sixers play defense), and no sense the team is improving.

The performance of the young players, Iguodala and Korver, is particularly disheartening. These two guys are not positive NBA players. Neither can defend well- Korver is terrible and Igoudala doesn’t give as much as advertised. Both are on the floor to score- but both can be stopped (particularly worrisome since the Sixers do have two legit NBA point producers on the floor most times) and both disappear. If the Sixers are right, and these guys can provide good offense in the NBA, why can’t Cheeks bring it forth? Or at least put them in roles where you can say “four nights in five this how they’ll help you”?

When you look at Hitchcock across the street- a guy who is outstanding at easing young guys into roles- then broadening their responsibilites as they acclimate- you see what pro-coaching is all about.

I think Cheeks and Hunter are in more trouble than either realizes.