It’s unofficially, official that the new head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers is Eddie Jordan which is ironic since Jordan was the first candidate that Sixers GM Ed Stefanski interviewed during the long strange trip that was his search for a new head coach.  Word is that the Sixers will hold a press conference on Monday to officially introduce Jordan their new leader.

We have no issues with Jordan being selected as the new head coach in Philadunkia nation. By all accounts of the NBA types we have talked with, he is a solid coach.

However, we do believe it was the safe move by Stefanski.
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Let’s for a moment just put aside the fact that as of this posting the 76ers search to fill their vacant head coaching position has gone on for two weeks, that there are still no less then four known candidates remaining for the job and that with the 2009 NBA Draft less then 30 days away, the Sixers list of potential candidates seems to be expanding rather then contracting. Even the most casual of NBA fans can identify that combination of facts as odd.

Instead as 76ers aficionados let’s focus on the unusual series events that have comprised the candidate search conducted by Ed Stefanski.

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It is now being widely reported that former Laker playing legend and current Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis is no longer a candidate for the 76ers head coaching position.

According to the Daily News and the Inquire as well as ESPN.com, sources have said that last night,

“the Sixers have informed the longtime Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach that they are going in another direction in their search…”

Rambis was one of the potential candidates Sixers GM Ed Stefanski met with in Cali last week.

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Over the last week to ten days, 76ers General manager Ed Stefanski has interviewed a hoist of candidates for the Sixers vacant head coaching position: Eddie Jordan, Dwane Casey, Kurt Rambis, Tom Thibodeau, Chris Ford and Villanova coach Jay Wright have all discussed the opening with Stefanski. As we all know, Wright decided to stay at Nova and politely withdrew his name from consideration. That leaves Ed with a minimum of five candidates to choose from at this point.  Now word on the street is that Stefanski will also meet with / interview a couple of former NBA head coaches such as Avery Johnson, Jeff Van Gundy and Doug Collins. That bumps Ed’s candidate list up to eight. So Ed has a heavy work load in front of him as he has lot of resumes to review, stats to compile and references to check. Which could explain the below statement we received from Stefanski and the Sixers over the holiday weekend.
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The Philadelphia 76ers just confirmed reports that the team met with Boston Celtics Associate Head Coach Tom Thibodeau today in regards to their vacant head coaching position.  Per team policy, the team had no further comment on the interview with Thibodeau. Below is the profile of Thibodeau we posted this morning…

He’s the least quoted and arguably the least famous candidate involved in the 76ers head coaching search, but basketball heads that follow the NBA closely certainly know about the man’s work — the great defense that is linked to the Boston Celtics organization for the past two years. The Celtics were third in the NBA in points allowed per game this season, while in 2007-08 they ranked second in the NBA. What many don’t know is the man behind Boston’s defensive success. Well, please meet Tom Thibodeau.

 
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Ed Stefanski continues to conduct his search for the 76ers next head coach and we have to say that Ed may have a career as secret agent if this front office NBA thing doesn’t work out, because he has the cloak and dagger / top secret routine down. However despite Ed and the Sixers best efforts to keep this process on the down low, the word is now out all over the web that 76ers President Ed Stefanski flew to Los Angeles and on Monday conducted “secret” job interviews with Kurt Rambis (asst. coach LA Lakers) and Dwane Casey (asst. coach Dallas Mavericks). 

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We continue our series titled “School’s Out for Summer” where we hand out final grades to the players on the 2008-09 Philadelphia 76ers based on their regular season and post season production this year, as well as a few other factors. Receiving his grade today is the 76ers rising young student Louis Williams.

Offense: B

There’s no doubt that Williams was key for the Sixers as an offensive weapon off the bench this season. Basically he took on the role of legendary Detroit Pistons 6^thman Vinny “The Microwave” Johnson for the 2008-09 Sixers and he filled the role nicely (12.8 ppg.). He frequently presented match up issues for opponents as his quickness is absolutely lethal and allows him to blow past 90% of the defenders he faces. Williams really grew offensively this season and showed the ability to get buckets and get them in a hurry whenever the Sixers needed it. With his great ability to get to this tin and his decent jump shot, he truly became a legitimate threat for Philly that other teams had to account for on a nightly basis as you can see by his 23.3 ppg. average when projected over 48 minutes of play. Williams also showed signs this year that he could be a half-decent point guard if he is given the time to grow into that job. We’re not as convinced as many within the Sixers organization that he can be an everyday point man in the League, but he did show flashes of the skills it takes to be a lead guard.  However one thing that plagued Williams this year was his shot selection.
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We continue our series titled “School’s Out for Summer” where we hand out final grades to the players on the 2008-09 Philadelphia 76ers based on their regular season and post season production this year, as well as a few other factors. Receiving his grade today is the 76ers star pupil Andre Miller.

Offense: A

It’s hard to find issues with Andre Miller on offense. As the Sixers point guard he was good for 16 points, 6.5 dimes and4.5 rips per game. Those are smooth numbers for a pure point man in the NBA. He was even better in the post season at 21 ppg., 5.3 apg. and 6.3 rpg. But stats would not accurately measure Miller’s importance to the Sixers offensive scheme in 2008-09. Miller was the catalyst for Philly’s fast break attack and his solid decision making on the fly is the main reason the Sixers pushed the rock so successfully. On those occasions when he is not leading the run-n-gun, he is fast enough and owns enough finishing skills to effectively fill the lanes on the break. In the half-court Miller did an excellent job directing the Sixers sets and delivering the ball to the best available option. Additionally, Miller’s ability to execute the pick and roll and his sweet “back-down” game posed serious match up problems for many opposing point guards this season. As a bonus, Miller got to the line frequently this season (His 409 attempts were 2^nd best on the Sixers and 6^thamong NBA PGs) and he is practically money from the charity stripe (Miller converts at an 82% clip.). Miller was also a great caretaker of the ball for the Sixers as you can see by his 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. Despite the fact that he shot 47% from the field this past season, our one knock on Miller that kept him from getting A+ in this category was his jumper. It’s NOT a thing of beauty to watch and when he fires from deep, those in the paint may want to wear hard hats (28% from three). But we’re being really picky with that criticism and the fact is we love Miller’s o-game.
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The 76ers will bring in former Washington Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan on Friday to interview with Ed Stefanski for the Sixers vacant head coaching position. Obviously Stefanski and Jordan have a past as Jordan was an assistant coach up the NJTPK while Stefanski worked in various positions in the Nets front office, including general manager. The Nets had a pretty successful run during the Jordan-Stefanski era, as they played in two straight NBA Finals. How much either of them had to do with that success is debatable, but we thought it was worth noting. As you may have read, Jordan is also being mentioned as the lead candidate for the Sacramento Kings head coaching position

Via a phone interview, Jordan gave ESPN a few quotes on his upcoming Sixers interview and among the comments he made, was the statement that he “prefers” to work for the Sixers over the Kings.

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Here at Philadunkia we continue our series titled “School’s Out for Summer” where we hand out final grades to the players on the 2008-09 Philadelphia 76ers based on their regular season and post season production this year, as well as a few other factors. Receiving his grade today is the enigma wrapped in a mystery named Kareem Rush.

Kareem Rush’s 2008-09 season with the Sixers can be summed up in one word: benched.

The man played in 25 games logging in eight minutes per contest. That’s barely above one-quarter of a NBA season in games played! It was one of the biggest mysteries all season to myself and I’m sure a lot of Sixers fans as to why the Sixers even bothered signing Rush in the off-season if he was never going to unsnap his warm-up pants and check in at the scores table.
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