When Monday morning came and the big story on page two of the sports section was titled “Iverson needs more than a prayer”, the question everyone was asking became: Who knew Stephen A. Smith was back writing with the Philadelphia Inquirer?

Assuredly few. The dwindling number of newspaper subscribers affirms that, and Smith’s two-year-long absence from the sports section’s hallowed perch over contract issues was unbeknownst to most. People were indeed asking questions about his departure and subsequent drop from the face of media Earth.

For instance: “What happened to that loud fellow with the middle initial who used to write for the Inquirer?”

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In explaining his postgame remarks following Monday night’s blowout loss to Orlando, Sixers coach Eddie Jordan said he experienced a moment of “temporary insanity”. These were indeed strange words for any professional coach, but not out of character for the stupefying Jordan. For once, though, his diagnosis of the affliction may be spot on. Perhaps he is insane—anyone who’s tried to follow his substitution patterns would agree—but the condition surely is not limited to the temporary.

The Sixers traveled to Hotlanta Wednesday in hopes of avenging their pride and proving the coach wrong. Instead, they lost by 19, 112-93. Atlanta lead by 10 at halftime and 19 after the third quarter before the Sixers put an end to the Hawks’ domination and managed an even fourth quarter. Whoop-de-do.

Lou Williams scored a game-high 30 points, nearly a third of the Sixers total, but no other starter managed more than 11. Willie Green was the second-highest scorer with 17. Obviously, it was not enough.

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Monday night the Sixers hosted the Orlando Magic and put up an impressive 105 points—only to lose by 21.

In a season full of last-straws and repeated embarrassment to the history of the Philadelphia 76ers franchise, the loss to the Orlando Magic is the worst of them all.

It’s been mentioned the Sixers play down to bad teams and play up to good ones, but against the Magic and in the loss last week to the Los Angeles Lakers, both teams appeared to toy with the Sixers for the majority of the game, allowing them to keep it close only to turn it up at the end and win comfortably. Knowing this cast of players, they don’t realize this, and think they indeed are a team capable of rising to the occasion.

The news today is that Allen Iverson will not be back with the team this season. Amidst all the talk of his sick daughter, Iverson has been spotted partying up and down the East Coast, and (surprise) has become a distraction to the team. Unlike before, however, his talent does not far outweigh his negatives. This second divorce was inevitable.

Which divorce will come next is unknown, but all signs point to coach Eddie Jordan. A man no one wanted here in the first place outside of GM Ed Stefanski, Jordan has been a disaster with the Sixers, but is an ironically perfect coach for a team that doesn’t know how to play to its strengths.

Jordan called out the Sixers last night for lacking leadership. No, he wasn’t kidding. From Kate Fagan of the Inquirer:

“We just didn’t respond in a passionate way,” Jordan said. “We lost the passion to compete. We saw some poor body language, and there was a couple of time-outs [when] we addressed it. And I wasn’t going to have it. I addressed it a couple of times; I addressed it right now. It’s leadership or lack thereof. . . . One guy’s miserable, and it’s contagious throughout the team, and we just can’t have it.”

By default, Iguodala is the leader on this team, and like Jordan is the “perfect” coach, Iguodala is the “perfect” leader. He’s a good player on a talented team who insists on tailoring his game around his weaknesses rather than his strengths. Andre, please stop shooting threes. Bricklayers are having a hard enough time finding work as is.

Right now, the player with the most value on this team is Jrue Holiday. Give the Sixers GM credit for drafting Holiday; however, if Stefanski, Jordan and Co. are given long enough, they will be sure to drag Holiday into the abyss currently known as Philadelphia 76ers basketball.

Who thought we would miss Billy King and Maurice Cheeks this much?

Holla at your new-look Philadelphia 76ers.

No, they did not trade Andre Iguodala. No, not Samuel Dalembert.

Elton Brand is still with the team, Lou Williams is still the point guard, and Thad Young and Marreese Speights are still up-and-coming players on a mediocre-at-best team.

And, unfortunately, Ed Stefanski is still the GM and Eddie Jordan the coach.

But, hey, they got Jodie Meeks.

Forgive me for being cynical, but the post-trade deadline Sixers look too much like the pre-deadline team

It’s an organization in confrontation, with the message “Win Now” but the personnel unable to do so. Stefanski said he would only make a basketball move at the deadline, and that’s what he did in trading for Meeks. If reports are to be believed, the team had an offer on the table of Andre Iguodala and Samuel Dalembert for Tracy McGrady’s expiring contract and Chase Budinger, but refused to have their sins forgiven in order to be lifted out of salary-cap hell.

Jordan remains as the coach for a team pushing for a first-round playoff exit, another curious contradiction in the focus on winning. The Sixers coach has been painfully inept in just about every aspect of the game, and has mutilated the Princeton Offense to the point Pete Carril is rolling in his grave. More than halfway through the season, he has been unable to figure out a proper rotation for this team, either a telling sign of his or the players’ lack of skill—or both.

Currently seeded 10th, the team is 6.5 games out of the eighth playoff spot. 29 games remain in the season, so if the winning percentages remain true, the Sixers will have to go 21-8 over the rest of the season, a .724 winning percentage, just to get to .500. Anyone see that happening?

The only two games in the NBA last night featured four of the league’s premier teams: Celtics-Lakers and Nuggets-Cavaliers. Both were tight contests decided by a combined three points, and displayed the kind of basketball the Sixers are light years from playing and the quality of players the Sixers will never get in their current place.

Get a look at your post-deadline Sixers tonight at the Wachovia Center against Tim Duncan and the Spurs. Or, more likely, watch a few minutes while you’re flipping through channels. You won’t be witnessing anything changed.

In their last game before Thursday’s trade deadline, the 76ers were blown out by Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat at the Wachovia Center, 105-78. Shooting just 37.9% from the field, the Sixers were down as much as 32 points to the Heat. The game was so lopsided that Wade scored 24 points in just 28 minutes.

A loss is one thing with the trade deadline a day away. This loss, however, could be the best thing that happened to the Sixers—if Ed Stefanski is smart.

There are no untouchables on this team; no player would be so sorely missed as to hinder the long-term development of the franchise. Despite the meager sum of their parts, talent does exist that contending teams are obviously interested in. Let’s take a look at who the Sixers could potentially ship off:

Andre Iguodala

Iggy has been the primary target of trade talk surrounding the Sixers for most of the last month. With rumored destinations including Phoenix, Cleveland and Houston, we’re all but offering to drive Iguodala straight through to any NBA city.

It’s not that Iguodala is a bad player; it’s that the Sixers are damned to NBA purgatory so long as he is their best player. Iguodala is a poor man’s LeBron James, except he cannot shoot. One requirement for being the go-to guy on a successful basketball team is to be able to score points consistently, and while Iguodala can drive to the basket and slam the ball, his jumper is ugly and far too inconsistent to carry a team beyond the .500 mark.

Iguodala has been mentioned in trades involving Tracy McGrady and Amar’e Stoudemire, mainly to get rid of his long-term, cap-killing contract, but if the team could get decent value in addition, one would hope the Sixers jump at the chance. (more…)

What will become of Allen Iverson?

The former Sixers’ star and current M.I.A. role player has missed the Sixers’ last six games. Their record in those games? 5-1.

Iverson said all the right things when he came back to the Sixers, but in reality it was his only choice. He has always been one to pull at the heartstrings of those who have followed him throughout his career, and his apparent “last chance” in the NBA hinged on his ability to do that one final time, in that dramatic return press conference and the sold-out event the next night at the Wachovia Center.

Now, after 22 games, no one knows if we will see Iverson on the court again this season. His most recent absence is attributed to the illness of one of his children. While the man in us says not to suspect a father with a sick child, the cynic remembers that this indeed is Iverson, and we’ve heard these excuses before.

The shame of it all is it appeared we were getting an older, wiser A.I., one who was about the team and working to make his teammates better. It seemed he was fine with being a footnote instead of the lead guy—a sign of his long-time-coming maturation, and perhaps a development that would prolong his NBA career.

If we had seen that guy earlier, it is very likely he would be playing on one of the best team’s in the NBA instead of the middling Sixers. It is no secret that Iverson could be a key player on the Cavaliers or the Lakers if he focused on working within the system and ceding the offense’s focal point to Kobe or LeBron. A.I. has never been willing to do that, though, and his fate is his own.

In a way, Iverson has been the most stand-up athlete we’ve ever seen around here. There are the incidents of selfishness and A.I.-first mentality, but the man has never presented himself as someone he is not. Whether is was the rapping, practice, the rival jerseys or the player on the court, all of that was Iverson, no matter how aggravating it was.

We complain when Donovan McNabb attempts to act tough, or cool, or stylish, because we know it is all an act. Iverson at times may have been a freak show, but he was never an act. What we saw is what we got, and if we are witnessing the end of A.I., it will be on his own terms, as always.

For now, we wait. The NBA All-Star Game is Sunday night in Dallas, and while Iverson opted out as the Sixers’ lone representative, we wait to see if—or when—he will be back in a Sixers uniform.