Ugh

I just returned from the Sixers defeat to the Cavs and, before I start spilling frustrations, I will acknowledge that the Cavs are 19-3 and light years ahead of the Sixers. But that's exactly what frustrates me, I thought this Sixers team was capable of getting to the same level as the Clevelands and Orlandos of the league. For some reason, they are nowhere near that level. They are plagued with inconsistency, poor shooting, and bad luck. Yes, bad luck. Bad luck follows around teams that do not perform well because things just don't go their way. The Phillies had good luck because they were a good team and things seemed to bounce their way. The Sixers do not resemble anything that looks like a potential playoff team. It's truly a shame I cannot sit here and focus on a quality win that occurred last Friday in Detroit without Elton Brand, and that should have been followed up by a nice home win against the Nets. It's true I expected the Cavs game to be a difficult one for the Sixers, but it's frustrating to be playing difficult games and thinking you need to win so you don't fall further out. Brand was awful tonight (even receiving his first Philly boos). Dalembert has been awful for 2 weeks. That front court is not scaring anyone. The Sixers cannot operate in the half court set because they do not devise plays that allow Brand to create in the low post. They are trying to force a shooting offense with a team full of non-shooters. Their shooting guard can get to the rim and can't finish. They are creating too many turnovers, thus limiting any potential to gamble in passing lanes and jump start the fastbreak offense. When you are playing from behind, due to turnovers and poor transition defense, you limit the amount of things that you can do on the defensive end. Yes, defense is full of schemes just like offense.

Tonight Jimmy Rollins was in attendance, as was Brian Westbrook, DeSean Jackson, Mike Richards, Braydon Coburn, and Bernard Hopkins. Funny because I have not seen this list of Philadelphia stars show up for many other games this year (save for Rollins at the Lakers game but that feeds into my point). This is because they are not coming to see the Sixers. They are coming to see LeBron (and Kobe). Yes, it's nice to applaud the other Philadelphia athletes, especially the one who brought a championship to the city, but wouldn't it be nicer to count them as regular fans? This team will not gain any new fans with how they are playing. They vaulted a couple spots in average attendance over the past week. Wasn't it just a coincidence that they played the Lakers and Cavs in that stretch?

Yes, I am frustrated. I'm frustrated because I expected so much more at this point in the season. I honestly thought the Sixers would be 14-8, 15-7, or something like that at this point. Stefanski said last week that no one ever said this team would get it right overnight. I've been to 8 games so far this season and the Sixers have won 2. Frustration.