Cheeks Fired As Coach

This is a sad event that I dreaded facing the day Mo Cheeks was brought in to coach the Sixers. He is a legend in this town, yet it's an awkward situation when he is fired as coach of the very team he won a title with in 1983. He was fired because the Sixers simply are horribly disappointing so far this year and he is the obvious scapegoat. It is difficult to say whether or not he deserved the firing, but nonetheless that is the reality. It's quite apparent that the Sixers are underachieving and that Elton Brand is not playing up to the potential we had planned for upon his signing. The Sixers, with all their high hopes, are in last place in the Atlantic Division. Ed Stefanski does not want to sit around any longer and watch this team allow the entire season to slip away. I can't blame him! I sit there every game with little faith that the Sixers will win a quality matchup.

The interesting element here is the decision to have Assistant GM Tony DiLeo assume coaching duties for the remainder of the season. I have always admired the job that DiLeo has performed in regards to Director of Player Personnel and it was obvious his next step was to Assistant GM. I just wonder about the ability he has to coach. Is he going to be a puppet for Stefanski? Recall last year that it was Stefanski who implored Cheeks to give more minutes to the younger players in order to more fully evaluate their abilities. Now I don't know about you, and I've already stated my level of respect for DiLeo and wish him all the success on earth (obviously), but something seems fishy here. I can't say there is a certain other coach I would rather have here right now, but I sure want one with a true game plan, a proven track record of success, and the ability to at least somewhat convince me that the Sixers will make a turnaround soon. The next 3 games, and throw in the last game for good measure, are a pretty easy stretch for the Sixers. They SHOULD win all 4 in total. That will get them back to 13-14 before embarking on their annual late-December-West-Coast-road-trip-thanks-to-Disney-on-ice. Hopefully they have some sort of semblance of a game plan in place to at least make that trip NOT detrimental. I do not want this 4 game stretch to look like more than fool's gold because most people could coach them to wins here. They have just come off a stretch where they had to play 2 of the best 3 teams in the NBA 3 times in 10 nights. It's time for a little relief.

All in all, very sad to see Cheeks go. I wanted him to be successful here and so did every single last Sixers fan. He deserved better and I hope all goes well for him. I'm sorry the players couldn't save him.