When Eddie Jordan got canned from the Wizards, primarily because he mishandled his roster after his starting All-Star point guard missed two years due to injury followed by his starting center going down before the start of this season, most people said the same thing.
Thaddeus Young deserves all plaudits for this brave, clutch bucket that gave Philadelphia a two-point lead in the closing seconds of a Game 3 win over Orlando. Young never hesitated to attack, a real credit to his growing confidence as a 20-year-old weapon. But if not for fumbling the ball in the lane, Thad would be a goat instead of hero.
Five Things takes a look at five things to watch out for in marquee games with playoff implications.
We've got a trifecta of Game 3's on Friday. We've got an Eastern Powerhouse trying to prolong its relevance, and the new Eastern Order trying to showcase how dominant it really is. We have a scrappy underdog showing you that to overlook them leads to your own peril. And we have a physically and emotionally wounded star-crossed titan battling the basketball equivalent of a populist movement.
So what should you be paying attention to this evening? 5 Things has you covered. Let's talk about Cleveland-Detroit, Orlando-Philadelphia, and Portland-Houston.
It's sort of a critical time for Philly, with the playoffs well within reach but not guaranteed. According to PlayoffStatus.com, the Sixers have a magic number of three with nine games to go. But the loss really shows up when you at the race for the No. 5 seed.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Everyone knows that Flip Murray exists only in flashes. Everyone talks about "streak shooters," but Flip is actually a "streak human." He'll go a good 10, 12 days not even in existence. And then poof! he's the leading scorer for a playoff team for a week.
Flip's alive right now, y'all, racking up 30 points and five assists in a romp over Minnesota Monday night. He's averaging 24 points over his last three games. The three games before that? 23 points ... total.
Have you looked at the 76ers stats recently? Thaddeus Young is leading the team after 10 games with 16.3 points a night. To say that's a surprise is an understatement, especially after the Sixers invested nearly $160 million in Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala this summer.
To be fair, Brand isn't far behind with 15.5 points, and he's averaging a double-double with 10.3 boards, to boot. But Iguodala? He's been the team's fourth-leading scorer, chipping in a mere 12.4 points. Sure, some of the blame lies with a career-low (and likely flukish) 37.8% shooting percentage, but he's also fourth on the team in field-goals attempted, proof of how far he's slipped in the team's plans. I'm not worried, though; he's the team's leader and a savvy veteran -- he'll figure things out eventually.
But let's get back to Young, who's essentially doubled his rookie scoring average (8.3 points). Is this just a hot start that will eventually fade? Maybe to a degree, but I'm convinced the progress is for real. He spent much of last year playing out of position at the four, but since moving back to small forward his versatility, especially on the perimeter, is starting to shine.
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.
We interrupt this coverage of Ben Gordon asking for more money than he's worth to bring you news of Andre Iguodala wanting more than he thinks he's worth.
A report in the Phoenixville News (which references an unspecified report from Comcast Sports Net) states that sources inside Iguodala's camp say he is seeking a 6 year, $75 million deal that puts his deal above such free agent signings as Emeka Okafor, Monta Ellis, and Luol Deng if you don't factor in Deng's incentive bonuses. Let's simplify that. Andre Iguodala wants 6 years, $75 million.
As my father-in-law would say, "People in hell want ice water."
See, two months, ago, this might not have been a big deal. Sure, Iguodala was a huge disappointment in the playoffs, shooting 33% and averaging over 4 turnovers per game. And yeah, his assists and rebounds were down this season. But he was also brilliant in stretches for the scrappy Sixers club, and a large part of why that team made the playoffs. He could have probably demanded that kind of money reasonably as the best player on the team.
One of beautiful oddities of summer league is the lack of a cap on personal fouls. Games seem to be called slightly less stringently than normal NBA games (and infinitely less stringent than games involving Dwyane Wade). These games are meant for teaching and evaluation, so there's no reason to saddle a 19-year-old with foul trouble and mess everything up.
Sometimes, this results in awesome. Like today, in the Las Vegas opener between Philadelphia and Golden State, in which sophomore Sixer forward Jason Smith tallied up 11 fouls in 29 minutes of play. If I'm Maurice Cheeks, I'm not even mad. That's just impressive.
Smith, unfortunately, might not get headlines outside of the blogdome. Anthony Randolph, however, will. The fella tossed in 30 points in his professional (sorta) debut, with 8 rebounds and efficient shooting. Lest we get too excited, forget not the Marco Belinelli Experience last summer, especially the part where the Italian's performance in Vegas caused Don Nelson to publicly name Belinelli as the frontrunner to what would become Monta Ellis' starting job.
Actually, it was Al Horford, who finished with 29 first-place votes. Durant finished with 28. It's too bad the ballots aren't open -- I'd love to see which NBA coach actually thought Durant was no better than the sixth-best rookie this year. (Remember, coaches can't vote for their own players but aren't limited by position.) Luis Scola (26 first place votes), Al Thornton (20) and Jeff Green (15) rounded out the first team.
When Eddie Jordan got canned from the Wizards, primarily because he mishandled his roster after his starting All-Star point guard missed two years due to injury followed by his starting center going down before the start of this season, most people said the same thing. 
Five Things takes a look at five things to watch out for in marquee games with playoff implications.
This isn't an April Fool's Joke, Philadelphia. Sixers stud Thaddeus Young will miss 2-3 weeks due to a ankle sprain and bone bruise, according to the Associated Press.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Have you looked at the 76ers stats recently? Thaddeus Young is leading the team after 10 games with 16.3 points a night. To say that's a surprise is an understatement, especially after the Sixers invested nearly $160 million in Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala this summer. 
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.
We interrupt this coverage of Ben Gordon asking for more money than he's worth to bring you news of Andre Iguodala wanting more than he thinks he's worth. 
One of beautiful oddities of summer league is the lack of a cap on personal fouls. Games seem to be called slightly less stringently than normal NBA games (and infinitely less stringent than games involving Dwyane Wade). These games are meant for teaching and evaluation, so there's no reason to saddle a 19-year-old with foul trouble and mess everything up.
The NBA revealed it's All-Rookie Teams today, and by and large there weren't any huge surprises. But can you guess who the only unanimous choice to the first team was? If you guessed Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant ... you'd be wrong. 
