The Sixers ran up against a buzzsaw tonight, falling to the Heat as Miami ran its winning streak to 17. Philadelphia sits eight games out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and even if the team was somehow able to climb into that position, it would likely have to overcome the Heat in the first round. Either way, it looks like the Sixers will soon be turning their attention to the offseason, and there are already a few rumblings about the summer, as we detail here along with other news from Philly:
Hawes isn't bothered by trade talk, as he tells Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida, bringing up the Hawks rumor as well as one that had involved the Wolves (Sulia link). The center believes he'll be back in Philadelphia for the final season of his deal next year, but it appears he wouldn't be too surprised if he's traded.
Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News tries to answer six key questions about the Sixers as they near an offseason he believes could be the team's biggest in more than a decade.
Aside from Jrue Holiday and probably Thaddeus Young, no player on the Sixers roster is untouchable, Cooney writes, calling Evan Turner "the most intriguing movable piece they have."
Doug Collins would like to coach Team USA, but as an assistant instead of the head man, Tomasson reports. Collins is lobbying instead for Doc Rivers or Gregg Popovich to be selected as head coach.
February 28th, 2013 at 10:16pm CST by Ryan Raroque
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge made his weekly appearance on WEEI radio in Boston to talk about what transpired during the trade deadline as well as his thoughts on the team moving forward. Greg Payne of ESPN Boston has the highlights, including Ainge's thoughts on why Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce weren't dealt, the CBA having a significant impact on the trade deadline, the long-standing interest in Jordan Crawford, and whether or not he would have been able to convince Garnett to waive his no-trade clause. Here's more out of the Atlantic Division tonight:
Guard/forward Terrence Williams received a vote of confidence from his former coach at Louisville Rick Pitino, who tells Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald that Williams may have possibly found the perfect situation in joining the Celtics.
Roderick Boone of Newsday notes that Deron Williams and Joe Johnson are still trying to figure out how to mesh with one another in the Nets backcourt. Seth Walder of the New York Daily News believes that Williams' recent emergence with strong performances will be key in carrying the team for the remainder of the season, especially with Johnson recovering from injury.
With the team's recent struggles, Matt Moore of CBS Sports wonders if Doug Collins' days as the 76ers head coach are numbered. Tom Haberstroh of ESPN (Insiders only) discusses why Philadelphia has been disappointing this season, pointing to the team's shot selection, lack of playing time for Arnett Moultrie, and the offseason departure of two key veterans.
Marc Berman of the New York Post writes that Rasheed Wallace's decision to have surgery on his left foot instead of letting it heal on its own indicates that the 6'11 veteran plans on making a possible return during the postseason for the Knicks.
Today has already been a pretty busy day in the Atlantic division. With the Knicks and Raptors underway, let's continue to monitor all news coming out of the division here:
Toronto head coach Dwane Casey says that Rudy Gayis the exactly the weapon that the Raptors were lacking in crunch time of tight games, writes Sam Amico of Fox Sports. Through 11 games in Toronto, Gay is averaging 20.1 points per game, many of which, Casey says, are coming when it matters most. Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld tweets that Gay has been a "great fit" since coming over in the deal from Memphis.
In a separate report, Amico adds that the Raptors will trade Andrea Bargnani in the offseason unless they absolutely cannot find a taker for the two years and $23MM remaining on his deal. Amico hears that the Sixers are very interested, and lists the Mavericks, Rockets, Spurs, Bucks, Jazz, Hawks, Suns and Blazers as other potential destinations.
Following Doug Collins' rant last night, sources tell Ric Bucher that should Collins resign or be let go, Sixers assistant Michael Curry will not only take over, but be considered a legitimate candidate to coach the team for the long term. Curry was last a head coach in Detroit, where he was fired in June of 2009 after a one-year 39-43 stint with the Pistons.
The 76ers dropped their sixth straight game last night, an embarrassing 14-point home loss to the 16-41 Magic, and Philadelphia's latest defeat was a breaking point for head coach Doug Collins. As John Schuhmann of NBA.com details, Collins' post-game performance was one for the ages, as the Sixers coach questioned whether his players came back from the All-Star break ready to play and stressed that there's nothing wrong with the team's off-court preparation.
"I don’t want you to feel like I’m up here blaming. I don’t want you to think I’m making excuses," Collins finally said about 10 minutes into the press conference, but the comments that preceded that certainly suggested a significant amount of frustration with his players.
Chris Mannix of SI.com wrote a month ago that Collins was "apopletic" after one particularly bad loss, and that many executives around the league were wondering if the coach was approaching his breaking point, so Collins' post-game speech wasn't entirely unexpected. Mannix added at the time that the Sixers job appears to be Collins' as long as he wants it, but as Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News points out (via Twitter), coaches often don't last long after that sort of performance, meaning it could just be a matter of time until Collins and the Sixers "part ways."
The Sixers exercised their 2013/14 option on Collins prior to this season, so the coach will still have a year remaining on his contract at season's end. But as Grantland's Bill Simmons and SBNation's Tom Ziller noted last night (Twitterlinks), in three previous head coaching stints, Collins has never lasted longer than three years. He's currently in his third season in Philadelphia, and I'd imagine Sixers management will want to talk to Collins about the future after last night's performance.
So what do you think? Will this "rock-bottom" moment for the Sixers lead to Collins and the team parting ways, or will the two sides push through a disappointing stretch and continue their relationship beyond this season?
The Nets pulled a little closer in the standings to the Atlantic-leading Knicks last night, cruising to a comfortable win over the Magic. The two New York teams each have 27 wins so far, though Brooklyn's busier schedule has resulted in three more losses (18) than the Knicks have (15). Here's the latest out of the Atlantic Division:
Despite Monday's report on the Raptors' trade discussions involving Rudy Gay, Doug Smith of the Toronto Star still views a deal as unlikely to get done. According to Smith, the Grizzlies' asking price continues to be too high for Toronto. Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld agrees that Memphis is in no rush to move Gay and says there's a good chance the club stands pat.
With Rajon Rondo lost for the season, the Celtics don't figure to rush into adding another guard to their roster. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets that Boston is content with the four guards currently on the team — Avery Bradley, Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, and Leandro Barbosa. Barbosa will likely see increased minutes with Rondo out.
After a recent loss to the Bucks, Doug Collins was "apopletic," according to Chris Mannix of SI.com, who says some league executives are wondering if the 76ers coach is reaching his breaking point. Mannix points out that in his three previous coaching positions, Collins never lasted longer than three seasons. The Philadelphia job seems to be Collins' as long as he wants it, but it will hard to be succeed without Andrew Bynum, whose return date remains up in the air.
With Kevin Love's uncertain health status for the rest of the season, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN says that the Timberwolves have made it a "pressing priority" to add another big man to their roster, and that there is a strong likelihood that Minnesota makes a move by the trade deadline. Also, Wolfson writes that the team has not been engaged by the Grizzlies in exploratory trade talks involving Rudy Gay. Here's more of tonight's miscellaneous notes from around the NBA:
Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com wonders if it may be time for the 76ers to make a drastic move the way Brooklyn did in order to right their ship. Although firing Doug Collins may not be the answer, dealing Thaddeus Young might be a painful-but-necessary move worth considering.
Several months removed from telling the Hornets that he wanted to be in Phoenix, Eric Gordon is ready and willing to take on the leadership role expected from him in New Orleans (Steve Kyler of USA Today reports).
Ronald Murray has signed with Azovmash Mariupol of the Ukraine, according to Basket-Planet.com (credit goes to HoopsHype for the translation). The 6'3 guard's resume includes an eight-year stint in the NBA from 2002 to 2010, last playing for the Bulls and subsequently the Bobcats during the 2009-10 season.
Zach Lowe of Grantland explains why Scott Skiles was not the Bucks' main problem and looks into the bigger decisions ahead with regards to the futures of Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings. Lowe mentions that if Ellis decides to opt-out this summer, Milwaukee could have max-level cap room to work with at that point.
Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside examines Demetris Nichols and Sean Evans, two former standouts from New York colleges who have started to make some waves in the D-League. Schlosser thinks that both have shown some characteristics of being possible contributors in the NBA.
November 29th, 2012 at 10:36pm CST by Ryan Raroque
Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao received as good a vote of confidence as one can get from head coach Byron Scott, who called the Brazilian big man "the best center in the NBA right now." Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio writes that Varejao's statistical production makes Scott's statement a difficult one to disagree with, also mentioning that some fans have wondered if Cleveland should take advantage of his value and trade him. With that being said, Amico asserts that Cavaliers brass currently has no intention of dealing their most tenured veteran. For the rest of tonight's tidbits from the Eastern Conference, you can find them below:
Bill McCandless, the agent of Mickael Pietrus, told Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com about the other teams that that had been under consideration while they had waited for the right opportunity in free agency. Whereas the Rockets and Timberwolves were potential destinations in the West, McCandless listed the Bulls and Hawks as the other Eastern Conference teams which had been in the hunt along with Toronto.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers offered a poignant comment about Rajon Rondo and the current state of his team, telling reporters: “I don’t know if I want to rally around my 6-foot guard being the enforcer. That’s nice but at the end of the day, if that’s the threat you’re sending, the other team has to feel [good]" (Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com reports). Although we heard Rivers say earlier that the team is in no rush to make any changes to the roster, Petraglia hypothetically mentioned Kenyon Martin as a possible target if Boston decided to look into free agency for help.
Mary Schmitt Boyer (also of the Plain Dealer) discusses the challenge that Danny Ferry faces in building the Hawks into a playoff contender, just as he had done in Cleveland from 2005 to 2010.
Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes that Bobcats coach Mike Dunlap has taken notice of Jeff Taylor's development as the rookie has stepped in to fill the void left by Gerald Henderson's injury. In another article, Bonnell mentions that the continued lobbying of New Orleans Hornets owners to rebrand their franchise could mean an opportunity for Charlotte to re-acquire the Hornets nickname.
Nate Taylor of The New York Times discusses Tyson Chandler's offensive efficiency as of late, noting that the 7'1 Knicks center is averaging a career best in points (12.0 PPG) and leading the league in field goal percentage at 71.8%.
76ers point guard Jrue Holiday enters his fourth season as the youngest starting floor general in the Atlantic Division, and head coach Doug Collins appears confident in giving him the reigns to Philadelphia's offense: "I want that ball in Jrue's hands…I want our wings getting down the floor, I want Jrue to be the one getting that ball and pushing it. For the most part I want our guys sprinting the floor, getting down the floor and flattening it out and let Jrue come down and make plays." Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com also points out that the team now has more capable perimeter shooters compared to having to rely on multiple playmakers last year, which implicitly benefits the spacing on the floor and allows Holiday more room to operate. Here are a few more notes out of the Eastern Conference:
Al Iannazzone of Newsday saysthat Knicks guard/forward Ronnie Brewer will go through contact work during Sunday's practice and could play as soon as Monday night if he doesn't feel any pain. The 6'7 veteran has been sidelined since undergoing knee surgery in early September.
Newsday's Al Iannazone provided an update on Rasheed Wallace, who according to Knicks head coach Mike Woodson is still doing conditioning work and will be re-evaluated on Tuesday after the team returns from its current pre-season road trip (Sulia link). Woodson hinted that the team may play Wallace next week in order to get an idea of his progression.
Knicks center Marcus Camby told Al Iannazone of Newsday that he expects to be cleared to start scrimmaging around mid-to-late next week and is targeting the team's season opener on November 1st for his return (Sulia link). The 38-year-old center has been dealing with a strained left calf over the last two weeks.
The Sixers have added one year to Doug Collins' contract, exercising the coach's option for the 2013/14 season, according to the team's director of public relations Michael Preston (Twitter link). Sixers owner Josh Harris announced the news today to media in Philadelphia, adding that he hopes Collins will stay longer than the two years he now has left on his deal (Twitter link via Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News).
Back in August, Collins expressed a desire to coach four or five more years in Philadelphia, though he hopes to eventually move to the front office, as Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com tweets. It appears as if the Sixers would be open to such a move, depending on how the next few seasons go — Collins has long been viewed as the de factor GM in Philadelphia, and has a hand in the team's basketball decisions.
Colling is entering his third season as the coach of the 76ers, having posted a 76-72 record in his first two years. He led the team to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs as a No. 8 seed in 2011/12.
