PhillyArena

One thing I've noticed anecdotally -- and something we touched upon in last night's SixersBeat -- is that the shot distribution since Iverson's been out seems to have been pushed further out towards the perimeter, with less going towards the rim. Having attempted 18 and 19 three point attempts the past two games, nearly three attempts per game above their season average, made me curious enough to look it up and try to get a little more detail.

After looking looking up some shot distribution data provided by HoopData, the results are somewhat interesting, even if there's not a large enough sample size to really establish a trend.

Below is a chart, which breaks down shot distribution based on different locations from the rim (at the rim, less than 10 feet, between 10 feet and 15 feet, between 16 feet and 23 feet, and three point attempts).



Thoughts after the jump.

Just a quick update on the Iverson story from the other day. Ed Stefanski has denied the Yahoo! Sports report that said the Sixers are leaning towards letting Iverson go.

I do hope the Yahoo! Sports rumor turns out to be false.

Yahoo! Sports is reporting two tidbits of information on the Iverson situation:
1) Allen Iverson will miss the upcoming three game Western Conference road trip to continue to be with his daughter. He had previously missed five games to be by her side earlier this month.
2) The Sixers are leaning towards breaking ties with Iverson due to his being in-and-out of the lineup affecting team chemistry.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated has confirmed this rumor with NBA sources.

Update: The Sixers have issued a press release concerning the matter, stating that Iverson is out indefinitely.

My thoughts after the jump.

I have to thank the Sixers for so definitively clearing up any potential confusion on their basketball aptitude. If anybody was left wondering whether the team was "going uptown" by winning 6 of their previous 8, especially after a particularly impressive win over San Antonio the night before, that question has been answered.

In fairness, it has been answered repeatedly before, including the game immediately preceeding the spurs game, a 105-78 drubbing at the hands of the Heat. This is simply the latest reaffirmation.

Winning 6 of 8 hasn't changed who this team is, what their problems are, and what the future holds for this team. All it did was put a mask over the teams problems while hurting their chances for a top 5 pick.

Typically, this part of the post is reserved for "those crazy lineups Eddie Jordan through out", and "how badly the Sixers played defensively when Jrue and Dalembert got the short hook from Jordan". Last night that wasn't really the case. The game was lost in the second quarter, beginning while both Holiday and Dalembert were on the court. Did it get worse when Young was brought in for Dalembert? Yeah, but it was already snowballing at that point, and scoring 1 point over the final 4+ minutes of the second quarter is going to lose more ballgames than not. Also, in the world of crazy lineups, Holiday, Iverson, Iguodala, Young and Brand are one of Jordan's tamer ones.

To be honest, my desire to write lengthy game recaps is dwindling. How often can you nitpick at the same mistakes repeated over and over? As tedious as it probably gets for you to read, it's equally tedious for me to write. As such, expect post-game posts to be more of the bullet-point, quick thought variety than full recaps.

Thoughts:

With the Sixers more or less standing pat at the trade deadline -- a trade of former and future second round picks notwithstanding -- the most depressing part about this trade deadline is the finality. More or less, this same team is the one you'll have to endure for another 29 games, and I'm not sure how that can be looked at as anything other than depressing.

In the two weeks leading up to the trade deadline I had a very real fear that Ed Stefanski would panic, making a move as much for fear of public persecution as he would to improve the Sixers future. The rumors of Andre Iguodala being floated about to get rid of one year of Samuel Dalembert's contract particularly concerned me. In this capacity, standing pat isn't exactly the worst outcome in the world.

Even so, the finality of the predicament the Sixers have found themselves in has set in, and it's a dark time to be a Sixers fan.

The Sixers and Bucks have agreed on a trade, with the Sixers sending out Primoz Brezec and Royal Ivey for Jodie Meeks (11th pick in the second round of last years draft) and Francisco Elson. There are conflicting reports of a 2nd round pick, with Chad Ford saying the Sixers will receive the Bucks second round pick and John Hollinger saying the Bucks will receive the Sixers.

Not a whole lot to analyze. If you were looking for a trade to reshape the Sixers future, this one isn't it. Ivey, Brezec and Elson are all expiring, minimum salary contracts and Meeks is a second round salary for this year and next.

Meeks showed some potential as a role player/shooter coming out of Kentucky last year, but he has failed to extend that to three point range this year, shooting only 28.1% from three point distance. He's solid coming off screens, but doesn't show much ability to create, either for himself or for others.

Regardless, any return for two D-League caliber players is decent, and Meeks has a chance to be a 4th guard off the bench.

You know it's hard to be a Sixers fan when who receives a 2nd round pick determines the winner of the trade.

*Update*
Chad Ford has just clarified and stated that the second round pick is Phillies going to Milwaukee, and that he had it backwards before. Makes sense to me, as getting Meeks and a future second pick for the flotsam of Ivey and Brezec didn't seem to make sense. Overall, Meeks is about the quality of a prospect you would expect for a second rounder. Not that the Sixers need another shooting guard, but if he can regain some of the touch he showed his last year at Kentucky, it's not bad value.

Multiple sources are reporting that the Mavericks are close to obtaining Caron Butler (among others) for Josh Howard. How does this pertain to the Sixers?

The Mavericks were one of the teams interested in Andre Iguodala, and acquiring Butler would take them out of the running. Perhaps more importantly, the Mavericks were the only team reportedly entertaining the thought of taking Elton Brand back with him. The rumored deal with the Mavericks taking back both Iguodala and Brand was one of the few of the rumored deals that I had any interest in.

With the NBA off for the All-star break (and with no involvement from anybody on the Sixers), news is destined to be slow. A calm before the trade deadline storm. As such, it gives me some time to discuss hypothetical situations, in this case the rumor from Yahoo! Sports that Larry Brown could be interested in returning to the Sixers.

(It also gives me a break from dissecting the myriad of mistakes Eddie Jordan makes on a game-to-game basis, which I've grown tired of. A Holiday, Ivey, Green, Iguodala and Dalembert lineup to start the second half? Really?)

Essentially, this is a two part question:
1) Would you want Larry Brown back as the coach?
2) How much power would you give to Brown in player/personnel decisions.

For the moment I'm going to ignore any potential rifts developed between Brown and Ed Snider during the previous divorce. This is asking what I would do if I was in charge.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! sports that could very well be the case.

Michael Jordan has until the end of February to match the bid by a Houston businessman trying to purchase the Charlotte Bobcats, and sources say he has some important meetings with potential investors in Dallas during All-Star weekend. Several sources believe Bobcats coach Larry Brown views the potential ownership and front-office shakeup as a chance to free himself for a return to the Philadelphia 76ers, where he sees a vulnerable GM (Ed Stefanski) and coach (Eddie Jordan).

Personally, I've always been a Larry Brown aficionado, even with his warts. I would absolutely love to see how this team could defend with Brown at the helm, and think he would be good for Holiday's development.

And, frankly, anyone other than Eddie Jordan would be welcomed with open arms at this point.

Allen Iverson will miss the remaining two games before the all-star break due to personal reasons. Iverson has missed the previous 3 games due to a family illness, with Eddie Jordan starting a Jrue Holiday/Willie Green backcourt. His status for Sunday's All-Star game is uncertain.

The Arizona Republic has brought up the possibility of a three team deal, with the Pistons jumping in on the Iguodala/Stoudemire trade discussions. Such a deal would send sixth year guard Ben Gordon to Philadelphia.

I suppose if the goal is to play absolutely no defense, getting both Gordon and Stoudemire would be a good way to go.

Actually, I had some interest in Gordon. He would be a good fit next to Jrue, Iguodala and Young, and his skillset would be a much better fit than any of the three other combo guards who are currently comprising the bulk of our guard rotation.

Two things have completely soured me on him:
- His contract. If that starting 5 doesn't work out, and we're left with Brand and Gordon's contracts, we've made a sizable commitment to building around those two. Gordon's contract runs up to $13 million per year and runs through the 2013-2014 season.
- Defense. I want Gordon playing alongside Iguodala, not instead of Iguodala. A Gordon/Young wing lineup, while having offensive potential, would be dreadful defensively, particularly without Samuel Dalembert back there erasing mistakes.

In my opinion, this would be a rare trade that neither improves our salary situation in the future or improves us on the court in the short term. I would not have significant interest in this deal, and hope this is writer's speculation.

Many more Sixers rumors coming out in the past few days, mainly revolving around Andre Iguodala and whatever bad contract the other team is willing to take back with him.

I'll quickly summarize, and then provide my thoughts on the various scenarios:

• Phoenix is reportedly very interested in Iguodala, and is willing to take back Dalembert, and may be willing to include Barbosa along with Stoudemire. The hang-up, the Sixers are reportedly the ones holding back, and Stoudemire's apparent newfound willingness not pick up his $17.7 million option for next year may in fact be a method to scare the Sixers from making a trade.
  
• The , and here's the kicker, may be willing to take back Elton Brand as well. The article makes it seem like Dallas is unwilling to include Rodrigue Beaubois, but that seemed largely the authors opinion.
  
• And, of course, there's the continued rumors of Cleveland being a possible destination
  

So, what's this all mean?

Thoughts after the jump.

Allen Iverson will miss tonight's game against the Bulls due to a sickness in the family. He is expected to be back Friday against New Orleans. Louis Williams will start in his place along with Jrue Holiday in the backcourt.

My spin
Williams and Holiday will start, Green will play 2x as many minutes as Holiday, and we'll still see a lot of small backcourt.

Nothing earth shattering, but as the trade deadline gets closer and closer, you'll start seeing much more of this.

According to the Sacramento Bee, the Sixers and Knicks are the most active in trade talks. Perhaps more relevant, the rumor that can't keep going away has popped up again, and they're claiming the Kings still have some interest in center Samuel Dalembert.

League sources polled this week said Philadelphia and New York are the most active. The 76ers are shopping the likes of small forward Andre Iguodala (four seasons and combined $56.5 million beyond this season) and center Samuel Dalembert ($12.9 million next season), with the Kings having shown some interest in Dalembert.

Link