HATFIELD SPORTS Daily Diaries:  

BY MATTHEW HATFIELD
Tuesday, May 24th, 2005

Sixers say bye to O'Brien and hi to Cheeks


On Monday, the Philadelphia 76ers fired Head Coach Jim O’Brien
and named former Sixers guard and Portland Trail Blazers Head
Coach Maurice Cheeks the new man in charge.  

My fondest memory of Cheeks as a player or coach is a rather
recent one.  During his team’s playoff appearance with Portland vs.
Dallas, Cheeks helped a young lady get through an on-court singing
performance in front of thousands.  It was a kind gesture and in my
opinion the sign of a genuinely nice guy.  From everything I hear,
Philly’s players did not welcome O’Brien not listening to them,
especially Chris Webber when he came over from a trade with
Sacramento.  

Cheeks will be more lenient with the players.  Yes, O’Brien has a
strict defensive mentality and is a Philly guy.  That being said, he
did come from a somewhat winning situation with the Boston Celtics
where Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker helped the team reach the
Conference Finals in 2000-01.  It wasn’t a really good fit for O’
Brien from the get go.  

The Sixers have a bright future and an opportunity to get better via
free agency and in the draft.  In last year’s draft, the team took
athletic wing player Andre Iguodala out of Arizona at pick #9
overall.  Iguodala was a 1st Team All-Rookie selection who brought
a different intensity on both ends of the floor.  He definitely can
play above the rim and just flat out fly.  Look for him in the dunk
contest next year.  

Of course, Philly goes where Allen Iverson goes.  The former Bethel
High and Georgetown star has been a magnificent player for the
franchise since the day he was drafted in 1996.  Albeit a small
guard, Iverson is among the best year in and year out in points and
rebounds.  Not to mention, AI’s heart is awfully big as we’ve seen
through the year in the regular season as well as the postseason.  
May not win any citizen of the year awards, but he’s unquestionably
a talent you can build a team around.  

Then you get to the front-line where Sam Dalembert, Marc Jackson
and former All-Star Chris Webber make up the interior game.  
Webber’s passing and overall unselfish play has been good.  Webber
still has to be more aggressive from an offensive standpoint,
particularly in the fourth quarter where he shies away from
shooting big shots.  Kyle Korver lights it up from the outside so the
Sixers may look for another shooter to complement him, or a point
guard would help tremendously.  An inside player is also a strong
possibility come draft day.      


*** Since Larry Brown’s departure to Detroit, the Sixers have had
three different coaches in O’Brien, Randy Ayers, and Chris Ford.  
Cheeks will become the fourth.  



Football Stuff:  
Miami signs Keith Traylor at DT.  Solid move for Nick Saban and
company.  Will help a run defense that was not all that great get
better and help free up Jason Taylor on downs to get more sack
chances.  

In New England, Troy Brown, who split time at receiver and
defensive back last season, is coming back to the team for less
dollar signs.  Always good to see a player in sports take less money
to be with a team in contention to win.  If you ask me, it’s better to
see someone take less money to play for a contender than opting to
stay with a losing organization while making millions of dollars.  

What's up with all the punters and kickers changing teams?  First
we saw the Jets draft Mike Nugent, the outstanding field goal
kicker out of Ohio State.  That began the spiraling effect and the
release of Doug Brien, who was a good kicker for the Jets during
the regular season, but did not get the job done in the playoffs.  
Brien goes to Chicago where the Bears cut Paul Edinger, a guy that
may very well go to Washington to compete for the duties with John
Hall (just a rumor - probably not true).  We also do not want to
forget the trade between Carolina and Denver, sending Pro Bowler
Todd Sauerbrun to the Broncos in exchange for a different punter.  
And while we're on the subject of kickers, where do the Vikings
stand at the position?

If you remember a few years ago in the NFC Conference
Championship game, Gary Andersen was perfect during the regular
season kicking field goals.  In the title game vs. Atlanta he missed
a big kick that could've sent them to the Super Bowl.  Since then,
the Vikings have been looking for one and may have one in Ole
Miss rookie Jonathan Nichols.  We know how important a kicker
can be to a team... just go ask the Patriots