GM Billy King axed as the Sixers flirt with Knicks-level basketball

by Jeremy Rosenberg

On November 18, the New York Knicks were beaten at home by Golden State. Ordinarily, a very bad NBA team losing to a somewhat less bad NBA team wouldn’t be much of a story. But the Knicks happen to be the Knicks, and happen to play in New York in that incredibly famous building they have. They are coached by the generally controversial and reviled Isaiah Thomas. Thomas was booed mercilessly at that game by the world’s last remaining Knick fans (a hardcore group of dudes indeed), who also called for his firing. Nine days later, just when it seemed like the Knicks might be getting their act (such as it is) together, they went to Boston and were crushed into a thin paste by the resurgent Celtics.

What does this have to do with our Sixers? Beyond that innate, uncontrollable glee we all feel whenever a New York team has a bad season, it’s simple. The Knicks may be terrible – and seriously, make no mistake, they aren’t good – but they have one thing over us: at least people seem to be paying attention.

We’re seventeen games into the season. The Sixers have managed to win less than a third of them – and so far, this isn’t a basketball team. It’s an existential dilemma. And that explains why GM and president Billy King was fired Tuesday. Forget wins – the Sixers need an identity – a very reason for existing, if you will. If every season has a theme, the Sixers’ theme so far seems to be “does anyone care?” The stadium is nearly empty for a Sixers game.

As themes go, it’s pretty depressing. Just about any other theme would be preferable, such as “will they trade Andre Miller?” or “offense: ever heard of it?” or “what ridiculous giveaway will the PR department come up with next?” (I still have my Iverson coin bank, but I never did get that Iverson rubber duckie, to my tremendous disappointment and detriment). But the numbers don’t lie: right now the Sixers rank at 29th in attendance, with an average of 12,022 fans per game – which means that the other 1,436,372 people in Philadelphia are apparently not in that much of a hurry to find out how many minutes Thaddeus Young is going to get this year.

Everyone has probably resigned themselves to the Sixers’ wretchedness – quite the opposite of how people refuse to accept that the Eagles aren’t good anymore, and are currently spending their time having desperate, deranged debates like “can Kevin Kolb get us to the playoffs?” But the Sixers? Even Ed Snider acknowledged back in training camp that this team was going nowhere, and that their main selling point was that they play hard. To be fair, they do. They’ve been in most of their games. They gutted out a one-point win over the Wizards last week; the following night they held off a furious New Jersey rally for as long as they could before losing in overtime. But close losses are still losses, and the Sixers’ record is getting uglier by the day. So where are the angry crowds and panicky, hand-wringing articles that the Knicks get?

The only guy who seems genuinely surprised and disappointed by the team’s performance is Mo Cheeks, who watches every game with a scowl that clearly says “I used to dish passes to Dr. J – now you want me to spend the next five months of my life trying to find minutes for Louis Amundson? What the hell, Billy King?” It’s pretty sad. Mo says all the right things, but he knows this team is in trouble.

But maybe we’ve got it right, and the Sixers don’t need that New York-style outrage. Maybe playing hard is enough, and maybe the Sixers can turn Andre Miller into the next piece of the contending puzzle, and just lay low while Boston spends the next year or two making mincemeat of the Eastern Conference. If that’s really the plan – and it really ends up working – than I guess we can put up with nonstop horribleness for now. I just ask one favor, Sixers, while you make me wait through this grim-looking season: just beat up on the Knicks whenever you can. It’s a minor thing, but it means a lot to me.