<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">SALT LAKE CITY - Jim O'Brien intently watches practice. He meticulously reviews game tapes. He pores over statistics and trends and tendencies, which he refers to as "volumes of data." In doing all of this, the coach of the 76ers seeks to come up with the best five-player group he can put on the court. And in his team's 30 games thus far, that has meant going with a different starter at the shooting-guard spot from time to time. O'Brien went with third-year man John Salmons at that position on Monday night in the Sixers' 112-104 victory over the Golden State Warriors. Salmons is the fourth player to earn the starting nod at what coaches call the 2. Willie Green (14 games), Andre Iguodala (12) and Aaron McKie (3) also have started at shooting guard this season. Salmons will get his second start tonight when the Sixers meet the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center in Game 6 of their western swing. The decision-making process sounds painstaking.</div> <div align="center">Full Story</div> Yet another change in the starting lineup? I once though O'Brien found his definite starting like up with Iverson, Green, Iguodala, Thomas and Dalembert, but I guess I was wrong. Well now he makes yet another change and moves Salmons to the 2 spot. However, I doubt this will last very long and eventually we will see McKie, Korver or Green back in the lineup. Well my reaction towards this is pretty mixed. Salmons is in the lower echelon in terms of our young talent, but I can?t bare the fact that he's been outperforming the other potential 2 spot players. So I say give him shot, why not? Iverson, Korver, Jackson and Thomas will all be the primary sources on offense anyways. So maybe Salmons could take on the role of being the "defensive specialist" and help backup Iguodala. Who knows? I'm interested to see how things will play out tonight.
I actually like this move I saw it coming that Green would be replaced in the starting lineup he did not show us anything he performed average on the offensive end and average at best on the defensive end. I think having Salmons starting will give the team more versitility you can not do much when you back court is a average height of 6'1" even then it is because the NBA gave AI a inch or two. Anyway back on topic when we got Salmons in the draft night deal he was prejected to be the next Scottie Pippen like Igoudala is being seen as, but we had such a deep bench at his position in the past he has not gotten any playing time at all. I actually like him better then Korver because he gives the team more he can shoot well from the line, mid range, three point range at times, and perform well inside while KK is just a perimeter shooter. I hope he stays in the starting lineup for a while if he continues to perform decent. Now there is anegative to this another lineup change when the 76ers are 4-2 in there last six games and so far this road trip could this possibly mess up the chemistry going into tonight we beat Golden State, but come on its Golden State, the Jazz will be tougher especially if AK is back. I think this lineup change is also good in a way because it will catch the Jazz off guard they probably had there scouting reports all set on Green at this point. Maybe they could get some video on Salmons last minutes, but chances are they will not find any recent info on him considering he was out a while with bronchities and has not played many minutes this season.
Interesting move by Obie, I just don't get the timing of this move. We are on a roll on this road trip, possibly even going .500 but again Obie knows more about the team then you and me so I hope that this is the right move. Salmon's numbers haven't been that great this year but he is a 6'6" guard that can handle the ball pretty well and is a well rounded player. Iverson at point, Salmons at the 2, Iggy at the 3, Kenny playing the 4, and Dalembert at 5 for now...
I guess O'briens going to be giving just about everyone a chance. Salmons lacked the minutes that he needed to develop in his last few seasons, so maybe he'll improve in the starting lineup and explode? Its pretty big stretch though. Salmons is a pretty nice hustle player that can play the defensive game and knows what his job on offense is- and that is to chip in some points and dish out one or two assists. Plus, Mckie and Green were both playing mediocre at the position so it won't do much harm to start Salmons over them. Korver would probably thrive off the bench since he can add energy when our starters aren't on the court with the exception of Iverson.
Damn....AK's going to be back? Another tough night for the sixers I'm predicting. Salmons can score if he's given the chance....I don't know his numbers from the Warriors game, but I thought he did a nice job offensively. Willlie's been in a slump, this is probably a good move to bring him off the bench.
well i've always liked salmons so we will see how he performs on the big stage tonight. And i remeber a game earlier this year where green came off the bench and brought a whol lot of energy to the squad which pushed them to their victory as i recall. So green might do well coming off the bench, maybe he'll be our energy man like Jerome Williams is for the Knickerbockers.
