RSS
Pushing the opponents
The 76ers put their 10- and 20-game packages on sale Tuesday, pushing the fact that you can get weekend heavy plans or weekday heavy plans. That's fine, they're a business and they've got to sell tickets.
What isn't so fine, at least how I see it, is that each plan will contain tickets to Detroit, Miami, Boston and Western Conference teams.
Pushing Detroit and Miami is one thing. They've been Eastern teams to watch for a few years now. But the Celtics? Ugh.
Does anyone else cringe at the way the Celtics have gone from the lottery to contention? It is, after all, a team that tanked in an effort to get one of the top two picks in the draft. And there is no doubt in my mind that it did just that. The Sixers second game in Boston made that clear. Early in the game, Boston was up by about 20, the Sixers were without key players like Andre Iguodala and the next thing you knew it was a romp for the Sixers.
Now, because the Celts didn't get Oden or Durant, because Paul Pierce was apparently grumbling, Danny Ainge did a 180, trading for Ray Allen on draft night, then giving away the rest of the young talent for Kevin Garnett. Instant contender. Reports say ticket sales in Boston are up 50 percent. Good for them.
But for the Sixers, who have done nothing this offseason to improve but preach patience and the fact that they'll have cap room next summer, to use the Celts as a selling point is just flat-out gross.
Patience isn't necessarily a bad thing. They've tried the quick fix route, trying to surround Iverson with pieces, and it culminated in Chris Webber. How'd that work?
Still, I'm not convinced that what they've got is good enough, or will get good enough, to carry them to contention two or three years down the road. Where's the power foward who can really bang the boards? Where's the shooting guard, with an emphasis on shooting not slashing to the basket?
So while Ainge has rebuilt the Celtics into a possible contender in a little more than a month, the Sixers have yet to fill any of their holes.
Does pointing that out to the fans by hawking the Celtics games make any sense?
What isn't so fine, at least how I see it, is that each plan will contain tickets to Detroit, Miami, Boston and Western Conference teams.
Pushing Detroit and Miami is one thing. They've been Eastern teams to watch for a few years now. But the Celtics? Ugh.
Does anyone else cringe at the way the Celtics have gone from the lottery to contention? It is, after all, a team that tanked in an effort to get one of the top two picks in the draft. And there is no doubt in my mind that it did just that. The Sixers second game in Boston made that clear. Early in the game, Boston was up by about 20, the Sixers were without key players like Andre Iguodala and the next thing you knew it was a romp for the Sixers.
Now, because the Celts didn't get Oden or Durant, because Paul Pierce was apparently grumbling, Danny Ainge did a 180, trading for Ray Allen on draft night, then giving away the rest of the young talent for Kevin Garnett. Instant contender. Reports say ticket sales in Boston are up 50 percent. Good for them.
But for the Sixers, who have done nothing this offseason to improve but preach patience and the fact that they'll have cap room next summer, to use the Celts as a selling point is just flat-out gross.
Patience isn't necessarily a bad thing. They've tried the quick fix route, trying to surround Iverson with pieces, and it culminated in Chris Webber. How'd that work?
Still, I'm not convinced that what they've got is good enough, or will get good enough, to carry them to contention two or three years down the road. Where's the power foward who can really bang the boards? Where's the shooting guard, with an emphasis on shooting not slashing to the basket?
So while Ainge has rebuilt the Celtics into a possible contender in a little more than a month, the Sixers have yet to fill any of their holes.
Does pointing that out to the fans by hawking the Celtics games make any sense?
Labels: first post
posted by Sixers Blog at
10:13 AM
7 Comments:
Are you that afraid of the new-look Celtics?
Sounds like you're expecting a blowout, and object to the Sixers marketing those games because you know people will be coming to see the Celtics play well rather than the home team beating them.
Philadelphia could have made the same kinds of bold moves Boston did this offseason, but didn't.
Just when we thought the NBA season was over. Really, I could use an NBA vacation to get refreshed. Can't we get a few weeks without hoops?
Boston, though, was in a different position than Philly. I am happy that the Sixers are going with youth and not worrying about having a superstar. Teams that have superstars, like KG, don't always win titles. Everybody like AI, and he played hard, but didn't win a title. Sixers are better off sticking with what they've got, for now.
The Celtics have three superstars - Allen, Pierce and Garnett. And they are so thrilled to finally have a chance at winning, the chemistry is going to be much better than it was with Webber and Iverson.
The point isn't whether the Celtics are going to be good or not. It's how galling it is that the Sixers have done nothing this summer but will try to sell tickets by touting the changes their most traditional Eastern rival has made.
As for the Sixers having had the ability to make the same moves as the Celtics, they didn't really. The Celts had Paul Pierce to build around. Who do the Sixers have like that?
We also need to keep in mind besides Garnett, Allen and Pierce the Celtics have nothing. They traded everyone to get Allen and Garnett. Who are they going to use as a point guard?
I live in Lawrence Township, NJ. I am not a basketball expert. Frankly, I am not an expert on anything. I often giggle at the fact that I still even have a job.
Expert or not, I think the Sixers, if they had really wanted to make the KG deal, had enough decent young players to make it work.
I went to one Sixers game last year when the Cavs were in town, hoping to see LeBron play. As luck would have it, he was injured, and the highlight of the game ended up being "Rubber Boy" performing at halftime. Between that, the horrible, horrible Sixers dancers and the other gaudy showiness, it was pitiful. I'd take good basketball any day over all that crap. It's clear they are grasping at anything and everything to sell some tickets.
Post a Comment
<< Home