Bob Cooney: Sixerville: Gulp, a review of Sixers' woeful first half of season

The regular season for the 76ers reached the halfway point Wednesday when the team traveled the familiar first-half road, losing yet another close game.

The record is a dreadful 13-28. The coach is under fire, as is the general manager. Previous signings are being questioned, as are some recent trades and draft picks. Quite frankly, there is no area of the organization that isn't being scrutinized, and rightly so.

Tonight, when the Dallas Mavericks visit the Wachovia Center, the second half of the season will begin. Here's a look at what we saw in the first half.

Starters Lou Williams and Allen Iverson have those roles because coach Eddie Jordan wanted his team to start the game with a fast lineup, and you are not going to get many duos as quick as these two. Iverson has been the ultimate team player since joining the Sixers in early December. He is averaging just 11.1 shots a game but can still be a force on the offensive end, even if it's just as a decoy. He has lost speed and playing time due to an arthritic left knee, but his presence on the floor and in the locker room has helped the team immensely.

Williams, in his first year as a starter, was hitting his stride offensively before breaking his jaw on Nov. 24, which caused him to miss 12 games. The problem with Iverson and Williams is that they are an awfully small backcourt. Bigger guards have their way and smaller, quicker guards can exploit Iverson on the defensive end.

Rookie Jrue Holiday is rounding into a nice player at both ends of the floor. He is just 19 but exhibits a game, especially in practice, that is years ahead of that number. He will be a very solid NBA player. Vet Willie Green has filled in at either guard spot admirably, as he has done his whole career.

Andre Iguodala is put in a tough position on this team. He is considered, and thinks of himself, as the team leader. He puts up terrific numbers (18 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists) each and every night during his 40-plus minutes of playing time. In baseball terms, I equate him to being a very good No. 2 pitcher or a great No. 3 pitcher being thrust into the ace's spot. His game would thrive more, although his numbers might not differ all that much, if the team had a dominant big man.

Thaddeus Young is a tweener who is struggling to find out if he is a small forward or a power forward. There are problems at both positions. When he plays the three, smaller, quicker forwards really seem to give him trouble at the defensive end. When Young plays the four, bigger forwards get the better of him down low. At either position, defenses are playing off the third-year player because he is struggling so much with his outside shot. His confidence level has seemed to dip considerably lately. That should rise when his shot starts to fall.

Elton Brand has probably had the most difficult half of a season that he's ever encountered during his 11 seasons. He was a starter, almost got yanked from that spot, then got hurt, then came back but has been relegated to the bench. The ultimate professional, Brand professes that as long as the team is winning, he's OK with his minutes. He has also stated that his minutes should be in the 30-plus range. Is he the player fans expected him to be after GM Ed Stefanski signed him to a megacontract in the summer of 2008? No. But if he is given 35 minutes a game, I wonder how far off he'd be in posting 20 points and 10 rebounds. Those are just numbers, but they are the numbers everyone pinned on him when he was signed.

Rodney Carney has given the team good energy off the bench plenty of times this season, if not for a lot of time. Jordan seems to struggle at times with when to use him in the rotation. Jason Kapono, whom the team acquired to shore up their outside shooting, has been AWOL for quite some time, not playing in eight of the last nine games.

Funny how the e-mailers have changed their tune about Sam Dalembert. Early in the season, the call was to get rid of him and that big contract that will expire at the end of next season. To say there is a lovefest between Sam and fans would be stretching it, but there has been an overall change in tone. If the money weren't an issue, having Dalembert's defense and rebounding every night in the middle would be more than satisfactory. Sure, there are still a lot of offensive limitations, but Sam wasn't really brought here to be a scorer.

Marreese Speights is a wonderfully gifted offensive player, not so gifted at the other end. There is still plenty of time for him to learn defense, if he wants to. His playing time has also dipped as Jordan recently has become more comfortable with a defensive team on the floor at the end of games. Like Kapono, Jason Smith's time has disappeared, as he hasn't played in the last seven games.

Guard Royal Ivey and center Primoz Brezec have been inactive for the most part.

Eddie Jordan brought with him a Princeton offense and a desire to teach a defensive philosophy that would negate the need for that offense. He knew this team's strength would be to create havoc on defense, get steals and rebounds and get out and run.

The defense hasn't allowed that, as opponents are shooting 47.3 percent from the floor, including a league-worst 41.2 percent from three-point range. It's hard to get out and run when you're throwing the ball inbounds. The Princeton offense, as colleague Phil Jasner likes to say, was stuck somewhere around Trenton. It has been scaled back considerably, the coach says, since the addition of Iverson.

As stated numerous times, Jordan's rotations have been head-scratching. The team's inability to cover the pick-and-roll, a subject the coach has talked about endlessly, is still of concern. There have been key offensive possessions throughout the year that seemed to have no direction.

If Jordan is putting together a grand plan, it's hard to see any of that blueprint right now. The team seemed to be dangerously lost before the return of Iverson. The players still seem confused at times with Jordan's substituting pattern. With 28 losses in 41 games, it's easy to blame the coach.

Maybe that's where the blame belongs.

By the numbers

20-94-4.7: That would be 20 of the Sixers' losses this season have come by a combined 94 points, an average of 4.7 a game.

13.9: That's how many rebounds center Sam Dalembert has averaged over his last eight games. He has also had a double-double in six of the last eight games and has now played in 313 straight games.

vs. Dallas

Tonight, 7 o'clock

TV: Comcast SportsNet

Radio: WIP (610-AM)

Forward Dirk Nowitzki once again leads the Mavs, averaging 25.5 points a game. They beat the Washington Wizards by 94-93 Wednesday night, their ninth straight victory in one-point games, the second-longest streak in NBA history.

Tomorrow, 7 p.m.

TV: Comcast SportsNet

Radio: WIP (610-AM)

Monday, 7 p.m.

TV: Comcast SportsNet

Radio: WIP (610-AM)

An away-and-home series with the lowly Pacers, who just completed a two-game stint in Florida against the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic. They lost those two games by a combined 41 points.

Wednesday, 8 p.m.

TV: Comcast SportsNet

Radio: WIP (610-AM)

Rookie of the Year candidate Brandon Jennings and his speed and quickness will no doubt cause trouble for the Sixers. The Bucks have lost five of seven and are just 3-9 in games that have been decided by three points or fewer.