I want the Sixers to lose

I'm a draft junkie, and my affiliation with DraftExpress has only fueled that addiction. As such, the draft excites me possibly more than any other time of the year (outside of playoffs, but we haven't been legitimate participants in that for quite some time). I've recently pointed out that the draft is the best way to build a team. Getting a high draft pick is certainly provides no guarantees, butany rebuilding strategy, whether through trades, free agency, internal development, or the draft, requires good decision making at its back bone. Give out your cap space to the wrong guy? You'll be set back for years. Same thing goes for the missed opportunity of a top 5 pick. While a high draft pick provides no guarantees, a top 3 pick provides significantly more opportunity for getting a superstar than the mid-teens picks we've been drafting at recently.

For years, I've said in order for this team to become a legitimate contender, it's going to have to take a step backwards before it can take two steps forward. During off days I've acknowledged that losing might actually help our development, but during the games I've never been able to actively root for the Sixers to lose. I'm a season ticket holder, and have invested quite heavily in the Sixers the past few years, financially, emotionally and in terms of time spent. Watching exciting, winning basketball is obviously more enjoyable than watching a team lose 60 games.

Tuesday night was a new low for me. While the Wizards were making their comeback, and I'm sitting there watching Jordan throw out an all-bench lineup including Jason Smith, Willie Green and Jason Kapono, I actually started hoping the Wizards would come all the way back from 18 points down. It's not even because of the draft pick.

Sure, if the Sixers end this season winning 37 games and sneaking into the playoffs, drafting 16th rather than 4th is going to put the Sixers behind the 8-ball. While Tony DiLeo has done a marvelous job at that position in recent years, it becomes increasingly hard to find complete basketball players. More importantly, the Sixers need to be epically bad to force the organizations hand to find a coach who has a clue on the defensive side of the ball. Allowing Ed Stefanski to rebuild this team in Jordan's image would set this franchise back more than any of us can imagine.

I'm at the point where I can't even evaluate our players until we get a decent coach in here. As such, I'd like to avoid trading pieces such as Young or Speights, both defensive liabilities at the moment. I want to see Young play at his natural position. I want to see a coach ride Speights and govern his playing time based on defensive effort. I want to see someone there to teach and stress defensive fundamentals.

At this point, the draft pick is an afterthought. A fringe benefit from Eddie Jordan's ineptitude.

If you have any doubt that Jordan was the catalyst on why the Sixers went from a mid-pack team defensively the past two seasons to one of the worst in the league, this quote below illustrates it perfectly.

When Jordan was questioned yesterday at practice whether he should have gone with better defenders down the stretch, his response was:

"And then not score the ball efficiently?"..."Your best players should be good defenders and that’s what we’re trying to get to. Trying to get our best players to defend as a unit, defend indiviudually, so you can have balance. There’s no such thing as unbalanced. Good teams don’t just put five defenders on the floor. Your better players are your defenders."

This explains every move Jordan has made this year. This explains Brand to the bench. It explains Iverson and Williams in the backcourt. It explains Willie Green coming in ahead of Jrue on the depth chart. It explains Samuel Dalembert's inconsistent minutes. It explains his baffling refusal to make defensive substitutions down the stretch.

It explains our precipitous drop in defensive performance.

Allen Iverson and Louis Williams will be your best defenders. Because they're your best players. It has to be that way.

The next time Jordan tells you that he doesn't have the players to be a good defensive team, what he really means is he doesn't have the players who he wants to play to be a good defensive team. Make no mistake, Jrue Holiday, Andre Igduoala, Thaddeus Young, Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert could form a strong defensive team. 4 out of 5 of those players are plus defenders at their position.

But, whereas for most coaches defensive stops and defensive rebounds ignite your offense, Jordan doesn't care. As long as we operate efficiently offensively.

The fact that we're a bottom of the league team defensively is virtually by design at this point. In order for that to change, one of two things needs to happen:
1) Allen Iverson and Louis Williams need to grow 4" overnight and magically become good defenders, something they've never been in their NBA careers.
or
2) Eddie Jordan needs to be fired and replaced by a coach with a clue.

I'm going to put my faith in #2. For that to happen 1 year into a 3 year financial commitment, we need to lose, epically. Colossal break downs like Tuesday night are the start. Bring on more of them.