Maybe it was all of those little quips with Larry Brown.  Or maybe it was the now infamous “Practice? We talking about practice?” rant.  Maybe it was even his obvious unwillingness to take a back seat on the rebuilding bus that was the Memphis Grizzlies.  Perhaps it was the reports that surfaced last year which said that Iverson is battling alcohol and gambling problems. 

Some combination of these past career missteps has to account for the lack of consideration that NBA clubs have granted Allen Iverson this offseason. 

The fact that NBA teams are not lining up to elicit the services of the thirty-five year old former superstar does not come as a surprise; he has lost a step, cannot single-handedly dominate games in the manner in which he used to, and has done nothing to diminish the rumors of his displeasure with anything but a starting spot.  So no, one wouldn’t expect the market for the eleven time all-star to be too elevated.  The fact that not a single franchise felt that they could fit Allen anywhere on their roster, however, does come as a surprise.  In fact, in a league where Kwame Brown can dupe teams into a decade’s worth of employment, Iverson’s inability to find work, despite several statements on his part suggesting he’s ready to play, is slightly more than surprising.

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ESPN.com’s Chad Forde is reporting that the 76ers continue to shop Elton Brand’s contract as part of any trade involving the #2 pick.  He also recants his earlier prediction that the Sixers will draft Derrick Favors at #2.

With all the attention on the Draft and new head coach Doug Collins, JSams at Libertyballers.com takes a moment to look over the potential free agent moves the Sixers could make this summer.  Could Kyle Korver be headed back to Philly?  

SI.com’s Frank Hughes writes that while John Wall is the best player in the Draft, Evan Turner is the best fit for the Wizards.  If Washington selects Turner, that sure would put the 76ers in a curious spot on Draft night.

Brian over at depressedfan.com wants the Sixers to target sharp shooter JJ Redick with their MLE.

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To start us off, here’s a bunch of links from the Larry Brown saga:

Yesterday at the Quail Hollow Championship (PGA Tournament) in Charlotte Michael Jordan was paired with veteran golf star Fred Couples during the Pro-Am.

On the ninth tee Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown went inside the ropes, hugged everybody in the group and then hung with MJ and Freddy for the rest of the round.  To us that seems like pretty unusual behavior if LB is about to pack up shop and come home to Philly.

Dei Lynam at csnphilly.com wonders if LB could be headed to LA instead of Philly?

Phil Sheridan at the Inqy writes that the 76ers should simply walk away from this whole Larry Brown idea.  Which is something we agree with 100% (more on that later).

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Haven’t we been down this road before?  The answer is yes and it was not a pretty ending the last time. 

Seven years after Larry Brown last caused a whole bunch of drama on the Philadelphia hoops scene, LB is at it again.  Think back to May 26th of 2003 and you should recall that Larry Brown resigned as the 76ers head coach because of “personal” reasons, which many at the time said were health related.  Those health problems may or may not have been caused by Brown’s tumultuous relationship with then 76ers star Allen Iverson, but one thing seemed clear back in 2003, Brown was going to be out of coaching for a time.

Or so we all thought…

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There are some who say we here at Philadunkia have been too critical of the 76ers on the court, the sidelines and in the front office this season.  Hell, Louis Williams went as far as to block us from his Twitter account feed apparently because our comments on the Sixers combo-guard and the team offended him.  We disagree with Louis and the rest of  Phialdunkia’s critics and offer that we’ve been more then fair in analyzing all elements of the 76ers during this absolute train wreck of a season. 

So we have to admit that a a smile crept across our collective mugs when we found the following NBA insider gem in this week’s Sports Illustrated which supports many of the things we have been saying  about the Sixers efforts over the last couple of weeks.

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There’s really not much to say about the embarrassment the 76ers (22-37) suffered through on the court last night against the Orlando Magic.  Willie Green summed it up best when he said post-game that last night was, “an old fashion butt whoopin.” 

The depleted Sixers looked tired and disinterested vs. the Magic and the result was a debacle of a loss.  Their defense was horrible last night.  In fact it was so bad that somehow defensive standout Jrue Holiday contracted the “ole’ virus” that has plagued the Sixers locker room this season.  The offense went completely off the rails as well, as the Sixers unwisely tried to match Orlando 3-ball for 3-ball.  The coaching, well it was at its usual suspect level.  In short all of the ills that have destroyed this Sixers season had key roles in the blowout loss to the Magic last night.

But what happened on the court Monday evening is not the real story that came out of the Wachovia Center last night.  No the real story is the drama that unfolded when Eddie Jordan decided he was going to throw his players under the proverbial bus and then grab the keys to that bus and run his team over a few times for good measure.  It was a desperate move by a head coach that is desperate to hold onto his job or at least save face.  In the end, we are willing to bet that the only thing Jordan’s tirade did last night was move up the date of his eventual dismissal. 

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This snow anticipating, Wednesday edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” — Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews upcoming 76ers opponents — features tonight’s opponent, the fun to watch Phoenix Suns.

After last night’s roller coaster win over the horrific Golden State Warriors, we have two angles on tonight’s game against PHX (35-23), one of the hottest teams in the League and the Western Conference’s current 5^th seed for the NBA Playoffs.  Here’s our breakdown for tonight…

1)      If the Sixers hit the court tonight and play the way they did on both ends of the floor in the first half against GSW on Tuesday night, the Sixers can pull off an upset of PHX.  That means on offense the Sixers must go into the post, specifically to Elton Brand and look to capitalize on either easy interior buckets or when the ball comes back out wide open looks for their guards.  Eddie Jordan’s team must be smart with their up-tempo game and run-n-gun only when they have clear opportunities.  Additionally,  the Sixers will have to play tight D and rebound well as they did in the 1^st half vs. GSW.

2)      If tonight the Sixers play — on both ends — the way they did during the late 3^rd and all of the 4^thquarter against GSW on Tuesday night, the Suns will run them off the floor.  The Sixers can not settle for long jumpers and 3PAs tonight.  They simply don’t make enough of them to rely on those types of shots to sustain their offense, plus the Suns will use those rebounds to feed their lethal fast break offense.  They also can not display the ole’ defense that reared its ugly head again during the 4^th Q vs. GSW.  The 76ers survived their second half collapse Tuesday night because the Warriors are awful on defense and they had an off night shooting.  Thus GSW could not capitalize on the Sixers poor play in the late stages of the second half.  Make no mistake, the Suns are significantly better then the GSW on offense and despite their reputation, PHX actually plays solid defense.  They will take advantage of long stretches of poor play by the Sixers tonight and bury Philadunkia’s home team.     

For a little more insight into the Suns team the Sixers face tonight, we turn to our man Michael Schwartz from valleyofthesuns.com to answer two questions on PHX from us here at Philadunkia as well as provide us with two points of analysis on this Suns squad from an insider’s perspective.   

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Thursday afternoon just before the NBA trading deadline was set to pass, 76ers power forward Elton Brand took to the airwaves on 950 ESPN Radio’s  Tony Bruno and Harry Mayes Show. 

First, we have to give Brand credit for actually coming on the show.  In the wake of Tuesday’s simply embarrassing, 30-point loss to the Miami Heat many NBA players would have cancelled on an interview for local sports talk radio.  So hats off to #42 for having the guts to face the hot seat that sports talk radio can be in this town when your team is stinking up the joint.

To say that Bruno and Mayes tossed Brand several softballs at the start of the interview is an understatement.  In our opinion there is no room for softball questions when a player’s team is 20-33 and was just scorched at home by 30-points.  But hey, that’s just us.  Eventually Bruno and Mayes actually got around to asking questions that Sixer fans want the answers to and in the end it turned out to be a decent interview. 

As for Brand, well he played it safe and avoided throwing anyone under the bus.  That’s always been his way since he entered the League.  No matter how bad the situation, he always plays the role of the good teammate and rarely utters a harsh word to the media.  Brand did hint that  he has been frustrated with the number of minutes he has received and Eddie Jordan’s tendency not to play him in key situations, but we’ve heard those insinuations before.  However, Brand did have a couple of interesting things to say about this Sixers team and Brand actually talks of making the 2010 NBA Playoffs.

After the jump are some of the better clips from Brand’s interview yesterday on 950 ESPN Radio… 

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Obviously there are numerous trade rumors floating around the NBA involving just about everyone on the Sixers roster.  That’s how it goes in the NBA when you are a seriously underachieving team.  Now Ed Stefanski has publicly stated there are, “no untouchables” on the Sixers roster.

Dei Lynam at csnphilly.com writes that so many changes — trades, coaching move, a new GM — could hapeen with the Sixers in the next couple of weeks, that it’s hard to see what the future holds for the 76ers.

Kate Fagan of the Inqy, the only mainstream writer who has been critical of Eddie Jordan and the 76ers this season notes that based on the body actions and facial expressions she observed in the latest Sixers loss, that the team mentally “checked out” during the Milwaukee game.

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Today’s edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” — Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews upcoming 76ers opponents — features tonight’s opponent, the team the 76ers just defeated on Saturday night, the three-point shooting, defensively challenged Indiana Pacers. 

The 76ers and their new first-five should handle the Indiana Pacers again tonight and thus establish their first 3-game winning streak of the season.  However, even if the Sixers win tonight, we’re still not going to become believers in this team. 

The W over the Mavs on Friday night at first glance was impressive, but if you look deeper at that win, you’ll see that Dallas was road weary (4th game of a 5 game road trip), shot horribly — 39% on FGA and 20% on 3PA and got nothing from all-world forward Dirk Diggler (4-13 from the field).  So the Sixers caught a very good Mavs team on a completely off night.  In Saturday’s  win at Indiana, the Sixers played well, but defeated a horrible team in the Pacers that had an especially bad night (21 TOs that led to 27 points), even by the Pacers low standards.  So it’s going to take more then a second consecutive W over the lowly Pacers to convince us that the Sixers have righted the ship for the 2009-10 season.

For a little more insight into the Pacers team the Sixers face tonight, we turn to our man Jared Wade from  EightPointsNineSeconds.com to answer two questions on the Pacers from us here at Philadunkia as well as provide us with two points of analysis on this Indiana squad from an insider’s perspective. 

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