FanHouse Maurice Cheeks

The 76ers fired Mo Cheeks over the weekend, but he was as gracious and classy as ever while saying goodbye in today's press conference, even going as far as saying he'd be open to returning to the team in another role. And really, should we have expected any less?

He may have coached for only three years and change, but he spent 11 years with the team as a player. That's his legacy in Philadelphia, not the fact that his team got off to a poor start in the first 23 games. From Kate Fagan of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

"Anytime you get let go it hurts, not being able to finish ... finish what we started. I really thought we had an opportunity to win."

"It does come down to having certain players who can do certain things. But it also comes down to the coach getting the certain players to do certain things."

When Ed Stefanski moved into Philly's front office last December, a lot of people figured it was just a matter of time before Mo Cheeks was handed his walking papers. After all, Cheeks was in the midst of the final year of his contract, and in this day and age of the salary cap and guaranteed contracts, the easiest way for a new GM to put his stamp on an organization is hand-picking a new coaching staff.

But instead of giving Cheeks the axe, Stefanski gave him a one-year extension in February. And after watching Cheeks orchestrate a surprising second-half run, in which the Sixers went from being 12 games under .500 to not only securing the seventh seed but also pushing the favored Pistons to six games, Stefanski rewarded Cheeks with another extension today. (How many years? Stay tuned -- exact details should come out after this afternoon's press conference.)

After Philly made a big splash earlier this summer by giving truckloads of money to Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala, I'm guessing today's news will barely register on the radar of most NBA fans. But in my opinion, locking Cheeks up should prove to be just as (if not more) instrumental to Philly's re-emergence as one of the top teams in the East.

He's enjoys teaching the game as much as he does coaching it, which is absolutely vital considering Philly will be relying on the development of high-ceiling youngsters like Louis Williams, Thaddeus Young and Marreese Speights as much as the veteran leadership of Brand, Iguodala and Andre Miller.

Notes from a trip to the NBA Playoffs.

Continuing with the "youth is served" meme that keeps popping up this postseason, let's take a look at the 76ers. The last time this team was in the playoffs, they were riding the backs of aging superstars Allen Iverson and Chris Webber. This time around, they have but one player (32-year-old Andre Miller) in the rotation older than 27.

While listening to Mo Cheeks talk to the press before last night's Game 5 match with the Pistons, I couldn't help but notice how much he seems to enjoy the responsibility of teaching as well as coaching.

"I enjoy coaching. I can't play anymore, so this is the closest thing I can do to play. I enjoy all of the things that come with it -- I don't enjoy you guys too much [laughter] -- but I enjoy all the things that go with coaching, and that is what I tell my players. ... I particularly enjoy when I see Lou Williams and [reminding] him about being up the floor and [how he'll have] a chance to get a steal up the court -- and I'll look up and he's up the floor and he's getting a steal. Those are some of the rewards of coaching.

"I'm pretty fortunate in that I have players that listen, they try to go out and do all these things right. And I'm very fortunate in that area that I have these guys that go out there and try and do things right and listen, and they don't always do them right [laughs] but they're out there trying to do them. And that's a very fortunate thing for me as a coach, and I think that's rewarding for our coaches is that you have these guys, you're trying to teach them, you're trying to show them different things about the game and then they go out and try to do it."

In an already spectacular opening weekend, the Sixers decided to up the ante a little bit. After being down as many as 15 in the third quarter, the Sixers stormed back and upset the Pistons 90-86 to take a 1-0 series lead in Detroit.

If someone told you that Andre Iguodala was going to have only 16 points off of 4 of 15 shooting, and Rasheed Wallace would have 24 points and nine rebounds, you'd probably think the Pistons won. Likewise, if I told you that the Sixers only shot 42% from the field, and only 33% in the first half, you'd think the Pistons won. And in fact, Detroit was shooting 48% at the half. They ended up at 39% for the game. The Pistons failed to score more than 20 points in either of the two final quarters.

So who was the hero of the day for the Sixers? Thaddeus Young? Nope. Louis Williams? Nuh-uh. Andre Miller? Well, he did have 20 points to lead the Sixers, but no. It was Reggie Evans. Yeah. That guy. Evans scored 11 points and 14 rebounds, including a game clinching put-back to secure the win.

Billy King was fired on Tuesday; will Maurice Cheeks make it to the end of the week? We'll have to wait and see, because on his first day on the job, new Sixers president Ed Stefanski gave no indication what other changes might be in store aside from telling reporters he's "evaluating top to bottom. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Cheeks, who is in the final season of his contract, told reporters that while he had talked to Stefanski only briefly, he received no assurance that his job was safe.

"I don't have an answer to why it happened. That's not my position," Cheeks said, when asked about King's firing.

"It happened, and now we have to move on. The only thing I can do is try to go out there every day and control what I can control, and that's trying to get our team better. That's basically all I can do."

The fact that Cheeks is in the last year of his contract makes me think he's probably not long for the Sixers. The Sixers have absolutely no chance of doing anything this year, so the coaching staff's primary obligation should be to prepare the team for the future.

But as an impending free agent, Cheeks knows there's a good chance he'll be looking for work next summer, whether he stays on board with the Sixers for the rest of the season or not. Will his emphasis be winning a few extra games now or developing the roster for the next guy to take over? Unless he gets an enthusiastic vote of confidence in the form of an extension, I think it's only natural and probably unavoidable that his priorities will be slightly different, which might prompt Stefanski to make a change.

Billy King's reign of terror as 76ers team president will end in Philadelphia later today, according to the Inquirer's David Aldridge. He'll be replaced by current Nets GM Ed Stefanski, who is expected to sign a mulityear deal today.

I can't remember the last time a team poached a front office executive from a division rival in-season, but I'm guessing Nets president Rod Thorn allowed the move because it's probably Stefanski's dream job: not only is it a promotion, but it's also a homecoming as he grew up near Philly and played college ball at Penn. Plus, and it'd be naive to think this wasn't also a factor, it should be years before the Sixers are even close to being a factor in the Atlantic.

I don't think many fans will regret seeing King leave, although they may resent it didn't happen sooner. From Enrico at The 700 Level:

My problem with all of this: you trust the guy enough to trade away Allen Iverson, a move that will undoubtedly shape your franchise for the foreseeable future, then you fire him less than a year later.

Not only that, it would have been nice to have a competent basketball mind running the draft, which the Sixers absolutely botched despite having four picks. Another question that still needs to be addressed is Maurice Cheeks' job security, as well as what role (if any) Larry Brown, one of King's confidants, will retain with the team. I'm guessing Stefanski will hold off on making any drastic changes for the time being, but once he gets his bearings anything could happen.

Chris Webber's tenure ended badly in Philadelphia, and many 76ers fans aren't too happy with him now that he's moved on to the Pistons, where he's helped spur a 22-7 record (including a 21-point win over the Sixers last night) since moving into the starting lineup. But, according to C-Webb, perhaps it's not his fault. From the Philadelphia Daily News:

How, Chris Webber was asked, was he able to go from having a foot injury, being listed as inactive and being generally unhappy with the 76ers to all but reinventing himself with the Detroit Pistons?

People, he was told, would like to know.

"They should ask the coach, the coach that was in charge of me, that didn't allow me to play," Webber said before facing the 76ers last night.

In the next sentence, Webber directly identified Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks, saying, "Like I told you before, Mo came to me and said 'We're going to cut half your minutes, half your time.' I said, 'I just came off a 20 [points] and 10 [rebounds] season.' I don't have an answer for that."

Of course, Webber was also nursing a legitimate injury when he came over, a sore left foot that limited his mobility. But the Pistons also have a secret weapon in long-time trainer Arnie Kander, whom Flip Saunders credited for quickly getting Webber back to full strength:

"We've got the 'Magic Man,' Arnie Kander," Saunders said, referring to strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander. "Arnie's done an amazing thing with a lot of players. We thought Arnie would actually be able to help him a lot, and he has. After 3 days, [Webber's] soreness in his feet was gone."