You fix it

Now that the season is, for all intents and purposes, over for the 76ers, it is time for that Philadelphia tradition: bitter recriminations. So, looking honestly at the Sixers....

Heck, you do it. You fix them if you’re so smart.

I must admit I want to throw up my hands. Not in disgust- but in a "what happened?" sort of languor. The Sixers aren’t bad exactly. I picked them to be a few games over .500- and they’ll probably finish a handful of game under. They’d have probably made the play-offs and reached .500 had Dalembert not missed a couple of dozen games. And please- the East? The Wiz are, what, two games ahead of the Sixers? Is anyone sure Milwaukee, Indiana or Chicago would handle the boys four times? Yes, Orlando is probably better than all five of the squads listed- but only for the last month or so.

They aren't horrid- but what can you do? Candidly, I don’t think they ought to move Webber until the end of next season. Right now, he's a banged up big man and owed big money. They probably would have to "pay" to move him- take another contract mess back. But next year, Webber becomes valuable. The fact that Chris can still play pretty good, coupled with his then single remaining big money year, becomes valuable to the right team. You could rid yourself of AI- but then the Sixers really be bad and boring in a hurry. I don’t think any sane person wants to give up on Dalembert.

I simply don't buy the problems being any amalgamation of Webber and Iverson and offense. Any good offensive team, which (yo people!) the Sixers probably are, faces questions of the optimal ball/shot distribution. These are problems of largesse- and are fixable/adjustable.

Instead, the Sixers problems are the pretty darn obvious. First and foremost, they just can't defend anyone inside- or a perimeter player who can get inside. If Dalembert is not on the court, they have zero effective size or mobility down low. No one outside of Dalembert is big enough to defend the ball or quick enough to help out. And Dalembert is a problematic consistent contributor- because he can’t stop fouling people. Its amazing, you feel he starts the game in foul trouble.

Iggy is only plus defender on the whole roster who plays. AI is sort of average. Yes, yes, we all know he is a below average on the ball defender. But he does sort of compensate. AI creates a lot of boundary turnovers, loose balls, and steals- places on the court where they turn into easy transition points. He is a good open court player who simply kills you for offensive mistakes, long boards off missed shots, etc. The other guards and forwards are a problem though. In a way, you can live with Webber because his board totals are darn good- and a guy with ten plus rebounds is simply not killing you on defense most nights. But the rest...

The 76ers also get absolutely nothing from the bench. Unlike O'Brien last year, Mo Cheeks has singularly failed to develop any sort of tactical help for himself. There is no role playing here- no instant offense, no defense help, no size, no rebounding, no ball handling. And I’m oh-so-tired of Kyle Korver. He can’t play defense- and you know what, he isn’t that great an offensive force. Every time I hear other NBA people talk about his potential, I want to throw something at the television and scream “Then trade us someone who can come off the bench and do something semi-good every night.”

No one listens.

It is not an easy fix- and I’m tempted to say the best thing is to sit on these cards for another year. Try and find another real NBA player or two- and get a lottery player who can defend tomorrow for 25 minutes. Hope Iggy (probably) and Dalembert (maybe) and Korver (dear Heaven) get better- and Webber and AI stay healthy. Not likely perhaps- but not totally ridiculous- and better than any option I can think of.