Since this blog is quite highbrow, I'm going to start this off by using a philosophical quote: "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." In 2019, coming off a disappointing 2018 season, the Eagles mired in mediocrity for 3/4ths of the season. Their offense was bland, ineffective, and predictable. Carson Wentz, still nursing himself back to 100% from injury, regressed. Several other skill position players who were vital to winning a Super Bowl the season prior also regressed. There was very little, if any, developmental progression of anyone on the roster. Even on the defensive side of the ball, we saw a widespread lack of fundamentals, execution, and production. Routinely giving up 3rd and longs, and even 4th and longs all season. However, and to their credit, the team rebounded with Nick Foles at the helm in December, finishing the season strong, making the playoffs, and coming one fluky dropped pass away from potentially having another NFC Championship Game appearance.
In the Spring of 2019, Howie Roseman and the front office approached the offseason like the prior 3 months of football before December never happened. They allowed recency bias to cloud their view of the shortcomings of the roster, and they spent almost the entire offseason making minimal upgrades, and amassing compensatory picks. Several quality players were available in free agency and on the trade market(even into the regular season) that Howie Roseman flat-out passed on. Guys like Jadeveon Clowney, who played a significant role(dirty or not) in ending the Eagles' season on Sunday, and Devante Parker, who was available at the trade deadline and went on to have an incredibly strong finish to the season. They are just two names of many. They allowed one hot December month in 2018 and built-in injury excuses to influence them into ignoring the many deficiencies that were so clearly apparent. Not just personnel deficiencies, but on the coaching staff as well.
Now, enter 2019 and once again, for 3/4ths of the season, the same problems we all saw in 2018 were once again front and center. A poor, unimaginative, bland offense. Poor execution and preparation on both sides of the ball. Widespread player regression and lack of development across most of the roster. And just like in 2018, the team finished with a strong month of December to once again get the team into the playoffs. The narratives had already started.
"This proves Wentz doesn't need great players around him to succeed."
"See? Groh proved he can really coach, people gave up on him too quickly."
"The Eagles have a lot more talent on this team than we thought, we just didn't give it a chance."
Keep in mind, this winning streak was against the basement dwellers of the NFL. And the Eagles didn't exactly dominate these opponents either. In two of the games, the Eagles needed to fight tooth and nail to storm comebacks against the lowly Redskins and Giants. Credit them for making the playoffs, but doing so in a horrendous division is not exactly a premium accomplishment. Even with the injuries.
So, sitting here in 2020, we find ourselves in a very similar position as we were in 2019. A flawed team that was mediocre for 75% of the season, finished with a hot month and made the playoffs under dire circumstances. In 2019, Howie and co. decided that all was right in the world, and minor tweaks would suffice in getting the Eagles back to the promised land. And as we saw for the majority of this season, that assessment was very wrong. Let's all hope that Howie doesn't make the same mistake this year that he did last year. He needs to evaluate the season as a whole and not fixate on one hot December month, which is an incredibly small sample. He needs to look at two full seasons of regression, poor execution, lack of player development, and stagnant offenses. He needs to look at a medical and training staff that has a laundry list of severe injuries every season. He needs to evaluate it all, because it's obvious that the mystique of the Super Bowl team has worn off and this organization needs a serious overhaul in personnel and coaching. And if he doesn't, it's time for him to be re-evaluated by Jeffrey Lurie. This is the most important offseason in recent memory, and it's not one the Eagles can afford to mess up.
Monday, January 6, 2020
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
If The Process fails to deliver a championship to Philadelphia, the summer of 2019 may be the main culprit
Game 7. Sixers vs Raptors. Two titans trading blows and playing their best basketball of the season going toe to toe in what could be argued as the most compelling playoff series of those playoffs. The Sixers took the NBA champs to literally after the final buzzer, as Kawhi Leonard's shot took what felt like about 20 minutes to complete its 4 bounces around the rim before dropping and sending the Sixers home in excruciating fashion. No one played the future NBA champions tougher that season. Not even the 3 time champion Warriors. Sure, the Warriors suffered injuries, but even still, they have a proven championship pedigree and elite level coaching.
One could argue that had Embiid not gotten sick before game 4, the Sixers would have bested Toronto, being that Embiid played his worst game of the playoffs that night, and the Sixers still hung in there and almost beat the Raptors to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Instead, it went down to the final buzzer of game 7. This is the closest the Sixers had been to a parade down Broad St. in over 35 years. Yes, even closer than 2001, being that as amazing of a story as those Iverson's Sixers were, everyone knew there was no way they were taking down the dynastic powerhouse Lakers in those Finals. But in the 2018-19 Playoffs? The Sixers truly had a legitimate shot to go all the way for the first time in over 3 decades.
Kawhi was probably going to leave Toronto to bolt to the Western Conference and all the Sixers needed to do was run it back and use their resources to bolster their bench and they could have taken another stab at it in the '19-20 season with the Warriors decimated with injuries and Durant leaving for Brooklyn. They showed last season the formula worked. They could score with anyone given their shot creation and go-to scorer with Butler, they had floor spacing with Redick, they had their two young stars in Embiid and Simmons, and had a very good 3rd or 4th piece in Harris to carry the load on nights when the other guys don't have it. It worked so well in the playoffs that they played the NBA champions tougher than anybody.
Yet, the Sixers' front office inexplicably decided to course correct and head in a different direction. They decided to sacrifice shot creation and elite perimeter shooting in the modern NBA in favor of an aging and declining big man in Al Horford. The sell? "Al Horford will give the Sixers the best backup center in the league on nights where Joel can't play! And when Embiid has to come out of the game, you simply slide Horford to the 5 and you don't miss a beat!" In other words, the Sixers' front office decided that a glorified backup center was a more promising path to a parade than shot creation and shooting in a modern NBA.
Elton Brand, the general manager of the Sixers was hired with no NBA general managing experience. He worked for the Delaware Blue Coats, and was hired as the Sixers' GM following a many weeks-long sham of a search that involved owner Joshua Harris mandating that any candidates retain this incredible personnel department structure that the great Bryan Colangelo constructed. I'll give Brand credit. He traded for Jimmy Butler when he was available and got him at a very good price, sacrificing only Dario Saric and Robert Covington in the deal. But since? He traded a significant haul for Tobias Harris, emptying their "war chest" of assets on a good player, but not a great player. He was unable to land bench pieces in the summer to bolster his playoff roster. He sold 2nd round picks in the draft and telegraphed his love for Matisse Thybulle allowing Danny Ainge to select him and snooker the Sixers into giving them another draft pick. And he decided to reroute a ship headed toward a Larry O'Brien trophy to bring in Al Horford and Josh Richardson.
The Sixers on January 1st, 2020 are currently the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference. Sure, there is a lot of time left in the season, but their offense has mightily struggled and other teams in the conference are better than expected. Who could have seen this coming when you allow such a massive chunk of last season's offense that took Toronto to game 7 go to other teams? How did they expect an offense without shot creation and perimeter shooting to score? If the Sixers brass decided that Jimmy Butler's future in Philly was absolutely untenable, and Redick's defense was too much to try and cover up, that's fine, but you have to replace that offense. They didn't. They added no shot creation and no elite perimeter shooting, and constructed a 90's style roster expected to compete in 2019-20.
Being the 6th seed should be a bit of a surprise. Their record and the way they're playing? That shouldn't be. The Sixers were always destined to be a good team, not a great team with their obvious flaws. The scary part is that they now may have one of the most undesirable contracts in all the NBA and are tied to Al Horford's number to another 3 years after this one. They no longer have a war chest of assets, and they have no young and attractive trade chips to pry disgruntled or available stars away from other rosters. Barring Elton Brand morphing into Elton Blaine overnight and working some black magic, when he's shown none of that savvy or foresightedness to this point, this is the roster the Sixers are going to be stuck with for the foreseeable future, give or take. A roster that has shown likely not good enough to give Philadelphia and Sixers fans their first parade in over 35 years. If "The Process" ends without a title, we'll all look back in the summer of 2019 where the plan sprung a leak and doomed their championship hopes going forward.
One could argue that had Embiid not gotten sick before game 4, the Sixers would have bested Toronto, being that Embiid played his worst game of the playoffs that night, and the Sixers still hung in there and almost beat the Raptors to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Instead, it went down to the final buzzer of game 7. This is the closest the Sixers had been to a parade down Broad St. in over 35 years. Yes, even closer than 2001, being that as amazing of a story as those Iverson's Sixers were, everyone knew there was no way they were taking down the dynastic powerhouse Lakers in those Finals. But in the 2018-19 Playoffs? The Sixers truly had a legitimate shot to go all the way for the first time in over 3 decades.
Kawhi was probably going to leave Toronto to bolt to the Western Conference and all the Sixers needed to do was run it back and use their resources to bolster their bench and they could have taken another stab at it in the '19-20 season with the Warriors decimated with injuries and Durant leaving for Brooklyn. They showed last season the formula worked. They could score with anyone given their shot creation and go-to scorer with Butler, they had floor spacing with Redick, they had their two young stars in Embiid and Simmons, and had a very good 3rd or 4th piece in Harris to carry the load on nights when the other guys don't have it. It worked so well in the playoffs that they played the NBA champions tougher than anybody.
Yet, the Sixers' front office inexplicably decided to course correct and head in a different direction. They decided to sacrifice shot creation and elite perimeter shooting in the modern NBA in favor of an aging and declining big man in Al Horford. The sell? "Al Horford will give the Sixers the best backup center in the league on nights where Joel can't play! And when Embiid has to come out of the game, you simply slide Horford to the 5 and you don't miss a beat!" In other words, the Sixers' front office decided that a glorified backup center was a more promising path to a parade than shot creation and shooting in a modern NBA.
Elton Brand, the general manager of the Sixers was hired with no NBA general managing experience. He worked for the Delaware Blue Coats, and was hired as the Sixers' GM following a many weeks-long sham of a search that involved owner Joshua Harris mandating that any candidates retain this incredible personnel department structure that the great Bryan Colangelo constructed. I'll give Brand credit. He traded for Jimmy Butler when he was available and got him at a very good price, sacrificing only Dario Saric and Robert Covington in the deal. But since? He traded a significant haul for Tobias Harris, emptying their "war chest" of assets on a good player, but not a great player. He was unable to land bench pieces in the summer to bolster his playoff roster. He sold 2nd round picks in the draft and telegraphed his love for Matisse Thybulle allowing Danny Ainge to select him and snooker the Sixers into giving them another draft pick. And he decided to reroute a ship headed toward a Larry O'Brien trophy to bring in Al Horford and Josh Richardson.
The Sixers on January 1st, 2020 are currently the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference. Sure, there is a lot of time left in the season, but their offense has mightily struggled and other teams in the conference are better than expected. Who could have seen this coming when you allow such a massive chunk of last season's offense that took Toronto to game 7 go to other teams? How did they expect an offense without shot creation and perimeter shooting to score? If the Sixers brass decided that Jimmy Butler's future in Philly was absolutely untenable, and Redick's defense was too much to try and cover up, that's fine, but you have to replace that offense. They didn't. They added no shot creation and no elite perimeter shooting, and constructed a 90's style roster expected to compete in 2019-20.
Being the 6th seed should be a bit of a surprise. Their record and the way they're playing? That shouldn't be. The Sixers were always destined to be a good team, not a great team with their obvious flaws. The scary part is that they now may have one of the most undesirable contracts in all the NBA and are tied to Al Horford's number to another 3 years after this one. They no longer have a war chest of assets, and they have no young and attractive trade chips to pry disgruntled or available stars away from other rosters. Barring Elton Brand morphing into Elton Blaine overnight and working some black magic, when he's shown none of that savvy or foresightedness to this point, this is the roster the Sixers are going to be stuck with for the foreseeable future, give or take. A roster that has shown likely not good enough to give Philadelphia and Sixers fans their first parade in over 35 years. If "The Process" ends without a title, we'll all look back in the summer of 2019 where the plan sprung a leak and doomed their championship hopes going forward.
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