<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">As a self-proclaimed "nice guy", I have more than just a rooting interest in the success of the Philadelphia 76ers Maurice Cheeks era. I don't know the man personally, but from everything I've read and seen, Coach Cheeks seems like the quintessential "nice guy" but being nice doesn't mean you always have to be on your best behavior and to be honest Coach Cheeks' courtside behavior has been a bit of a disappointment to me. Unlike many, I didn't have the unrealistic expectation that Coach Cheeks would come in here and transform this team into the 2000-2001 Sixers that could also score. I'd seen enough of his work in Portland to know that though Coach Cheeks talks a lot about defensive basketball, his Portland Trailblazers were never known for being defensive-minded teams. I also didn't expect the Chicago born and bred coach to be a master strategist and tactician. Again nothing in Portland indicated that he would be. However, what I did expect was Coach Cheeks to be a players' coach who had a firm grasp of the pratfalls and pitfalls that happen with every team over an 82 game season. Coach Cheeks has delivered on that expectation. So why the disappointment? For starters, Coach Cheeks promised to reduce Allen Iverson's minutes. That hasn't happened and even worse Chris Webber is averaging more minutes than anyone that watches Sixers basketball expected. This hurts the team because it doesn't give the younger starters like Andre Iguodala, Kyle Korver and Samuel Dalembert an opportunity to grow on the court by being forced to take shots and play out of their comfort zones for long stretches. Nor does it give bench players like Lee Nailon, Steven Hunter, Shavlik Randolph and Kevin Ollie an opportunity to get into a good rhythm game after game. My other bigger disappointment is this: Coach Cheeks just isn't demonstrative enough. One of the problems with being tagged with the "nice guy" label is that folks tend to think you lack passion and resolve. Don't get me wrong, as a fan of the "nice guy" philosophy I don't mean that the coach needs to be a whirling dervish or a hell-raiser, but I do believe he needs to pick times to voice his annoyances and frustrations on the court. He needs to study the sideline behavior of successful "nice guy" coaches in different sports. Phil Jackson comes immediately to mind. Granted Jackson isn't your conventional "nice guy" but the Zen Master is somebody that keeps his composure 95% of the time on the sidelines and seldom raises his voice, but both the refs and his players know his boundaries. Jackson would be an excellent role model for Coach Cheeks. </div> link:http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_15522.shtml again, this brings up the subject of is cheeks really the right man, posted by avery. i know i defended him before, but now, i just dont see anything that he has to really push this team forward. as a coach, you have to have to be able to get into your players heads and motivate them and yell so they will be able to perform better on the court. players have to be "scared" of the coach so they will follow the plays and play better, in our case, this isnt happening. no one is scared of mo because he is too nice. if they miss a couple of shots and what not, i see AI yelling at them or some other player, not mo. and that has got to change.
Phila I am really happy to see you posting again I don’t know where you find all these articles, but thank you for doing so really helps keep the forum active. Anyway, as far as the article goes I have to say it is a bit premature. We are only about a quarter into the season thus far, and doing pretty well, but struggling with consistency. Once we find that consistency we will be a team to be recon with. You have to be lenient on Cheeks, and give him the benefit of the doubt he can turn this team into what everyone thought they would be in the preseason. I still think these guys, despite the cohesive play of Webber and AI, are trying to get use to each other. We have four players on this team playing key roles, who are in there first season with the 76ers, or in the case of Barnes the first season in which he is actually dressing for games. So you have to give these guys a bit of time.
hey, thanks. i found it hard for awhile to post, but yeah, im back. anyways, i just pretty much google most of the articles. i see you guys needed some help here. lol.
