Le Basketbawl

Its The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year! Its Christmas when it is time for Peace On Earth And Good Will For Our Fellow Man, right? Well that does not seem to be the case in the city of Philadelphia; specifically with their NBA team. The losses are piling up and now some of the team’s top players are airing the team’s dirty laundry for the entire planet to inspect!

Be careful what you wish for; for wishes can come true! When you were younger did you ever want to go out bad with a girl so badly it drove you crazy; and then when she finally said yes and you took her out you realized she was not all that special? Or have you ever wanted a job; your “Dream Job” and once you land it you find out you Frickin despise it? New York Vinnie learned long ago that what you think some thing is; is not always in reality what you expect.

New York Vinnie suspects that is what is going on right now in Philadelphia for a certain big man that plays for the Sixers. In the summer of 2008 forward Elton Brand signed a multi-year big bucks deal with Philadelphia which at the time most NBA fans thought would make the Sixers an elite team in the Eastern Conference. Now in the midst of the second year of the deal Philadelphia is in the Frickin sewer and Brand seems to change moods on a daily basis.

Earlier this season Brand was in the starting line-up for Philadelphia but was not productive. Although he was on the court when the game started the worse he played the less minutes he was getting under the new Sixers head coach Eddie Jordan. There were rumors that Brand was going to be taken out of the starting line-up but suddenly his numbers improved and the rumors went away.

Earlier this month Jordan did make the move and Brand was coming into games off the bench. At first Brand seemed very happy with the role; his production was good he was getting plenty of minutes and more often than not he would play center and face the opponents back-up in the pivot. It seemed to make sense for player and team.

Well Thursday “The Intelligencer” reported that Brand is once again unhappy with the team; specifically the amount of mistakes that certain players are allowed to get away with. Brand told reporters that one of the main reasons that the Sixers season has been so bad this year is because the team starts games out with their heads still in the locker room. Brand said “It’s happening every night. We have to fight and claw back to get a lead. It’s tough playing like that. Certain guys got a longer leash than others, so they played longer and the mistakes were shown. No one should be on a long leash if you don’t box out, don’t rebound or play ‘D’. You shouldn’t be out there.”

It is speculated that one of those “certain guys” that Brand was referring to is forward Marreese Speights a player that is starting to get the reputation of being a “black hole.” That is a player that once you pass them the ball you never see it again until they attempt to put it in the bucket. Brand last week told reporters “Speights got the ball you knew he wasn’t going to pass. He doesn’t pass.”

New York Vinnie sees the hand writing on the Frickin wall. This NBA Marriage is headed for Divorce Court and it may not even last out the season. First of all NBA teams do not take kindly to players who air the teams dirty laundry out in public. These players develop the label of being a malcontent or a trouble-maker and are usually sent else where as soon as possible.

It goes to a whole different level if a player calls out a teammate; or teammates in public. You want to complain about the way a teammate plays you do it with the teammate or the coach. You don’t tell the press you are upset; how does that solve the Frickin problem? Does Brand even for an instant think to himself that if it becomes public knowledge that Marreese Speights does not pass it will make him starting passing during games? Brand has been in the NBA far too long for him to think that public pressure will make a player less selfish.

The Sixers are a team in a World Of Hurt so far this season and the last thing they need is one of their players airing Crapola out in the media. That is not the way you build a strong relationship with your employer; it usually finds you playing for another team before long. Perhaps that is what Brand wants or perhaps he is just so caught up in the Frickin heat of the situation he is not thinking clearly. Either way it does not bode well for things turning out happily ever after in the “City Of Brotherly Love.”