A Tragic End For The Sixers

Well, it’s one and done again this year for the Sixers. This time, it was the Magic, minus Dwight Howard, who ended their season in 6 games. They showed promise at times, but not enough to win a series. To win in the playoffs, you need a a cohesive team, a well-executed game plan, and oh yeah, players who are good enough.

This team is young, and at times looked lost on the floor. I believe the only reason they stole the first game of this series was because the Magic didn’t think they were going to have to show up. They were already looking ahead to Boston. It became a dog fight after 4 games with the series tied, until the Magic woke up and started playing basketball. And what that says about this Sixers is, sadly, they are not ready to contend in the playoffs. After two years, we are expecting more.

Expecting more means that Brand will come back next season ready to plan, and able to dominate in the post against most teams. That means Andre Iguodala will spend every day this off season shooting free throws and working on his mid range jump shot. That means Ed Stafanski will figure out what to do about his point guard, whether that means resigning Miller or replacing him with Williams or a free agent.

This teams still lacks leadership and experience. Thaddeus Young has the right attitude, and should continue to develop. Speights looks like he has enough talent to contribute significant “big man” minutes off the bench for Brand and Dalembert. The rest of the bench is pretty awful, however. Just because you can hit a few 3’s late in a game, but not play ANY defense, doesn’t mean you should be playing professional basketball. I’m sorry, but it’s time to move on. We need young, athletic shooters to come in off the bench and be able to score without giving away the game while letting the starters rest. I don’t care where it comes from, just go find it.

I hope to see a productive off season. Ed has proved he is willing to make the moves and do what it takes to try to put a winner on the floor. Hopefully, his plans will work and pay off in the long run. For now, it’s a fun ride to watch these guys play together, but pretty soon we are going to start demanding some results.