The Sixers Keep Running In Place With The Hiring Of Jordan

Now that the Sixers have hired Eddie Jordan as the team's new head coach, the question is "Now What?" Well Sixer fans, I wouldn't get my hopes up too high for anything spectacular.

Eddie Jordan is a decent coach. He guided the Wizards to the playoffs in four out of the five full seasons as the head coach there, but they also loss in the first round three straight years to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yes he and GM Ed Stefanski go back to their New Jersey Net days when Jordan was an assistant coach on back to back Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference Championship teams (2002 and 2003), but the Nets lost both title game appearances.

The Sixers are a team stuck in neutral. The last two years they have made the playoffs only to bow out in the first round each time after providing minor scares to the Pistons and Magic respectively. The Sixers needed to bring in a coach who can take them to the next level. Hello Avery Johnson!!

As I mentioned before Eddie Jordan is a decent coach, but the Sixers are a team in the same position where he maxed out with the Wizards. Go to the playoffs and get beat in the first round.

For all of that, they could've kept Mo Cheeks. Am I supposed to really believe that Jordan is a better coach than Cheeks is? What about Eddie Jordan makes him a better fit for the Sixers than Cheeks?

Usually when a team decides to go in a different direction at head coach in any sport, its because they want a different message to be sent to the players. They also want a different personality than the one that was there previously.

Jordan, Cheeks and Tony DiLeo all are more reserved and soft spoken to a large degree. That's not to say that that form of coaching cannot be successful. Phil Jackson is not a big rah-rah, spit fire and brimstone type of coach and he's four victories away from becoming the winningest coach in NBA Finals history.

However, the Sixers have had calm coaches for the last four seasons and have not been able to make significant strides. With the list of available candidates for head coach, no one out there is farther from laid back than Avery Johnson.

Avery Johnson would have been perfect for the Sixers. He's energetic, a leader and a great defensive coach. The Sixers could use all three. More specifically, they could definitely become a better defensive team. 

There were some rumblings that Johnson wanted too much control, but why not give it to him? He's lead a team to the Finals as a head coach. He knows what it takes and he has some young talented players on the roster to build around. Something also tells me that he would be the kick in the you know what that the Sixers need.

Sigh... I guess its no point to continue on with all of the reasons why the Sixers should have hired Avery Johnson since we now have a new coach who is "going" to take the team to the next level.   

All I can say to Sixer fans is to prepare yourselves for another season of hovering around .500, making the playoffs as a seventh or eighth seed and losing in six games. There's nothing like being just good enough to make the playoffs, but not bad enough to really improve through the lottery. The Sixers have perfected that strategy.