Stephen A. Smith: Sixers finish with fan depreciation day

On Fan Appreciation Night at the Wachovia Center, 76ers fans displayed their appreciation in the only appropriate way imaginable as this season winds down:

They barely bothered to show up at all.

Parking was relatively easy to come by. Traffic jams existed for those heading out as they departed from the Phillies' game, not the few who decided to show up to watch the Sixers. The upper deck was practically empty. The lower deck - draped with fans of Miami's Dwyane Wade - might as well have been empty. And the same can be said for a bevy of courtside seats, a once-prized possession now reduced to flea-market status, eroding before this team's very eyes.

"If there was hope, it would be different," said Kenny Kind, 57, a Sixers season-ticket holder since 1977, debating whether he had ever seen times this bad. "If there was something resembling hope, I guess it would be different. This is one season. Of course, in reality, you know eventually things will get better. But if there was ever a time you scratched your head, wondering when on earth that time would come, it would be now. This season. Today.

"You never, ever, want to say something is hopeless. But the truth is, it's reasonable to assume that's how most of us, I would think, feel right now."

Correction: That's how most fans have been feeling for months.

The last home game couldn't arrive soon enough for many of the Sixers' fans who showed up last night, and all it takes is one look at this squad to understand why.

It's not that Eddie Jordan can't coach. Or that Andre Iguodala isn't a star. Or that Elton Brand just appears too hurt to produce, or that Samuel Dalembert doesn't appear interested. The fact is, the parts that make up these Sixers (27-54) never had a chance of meshing or resembling a unit. And everyone seemed to know it but the Sixers themselves.

They walked, when fans wanted them to run. They jogged, when general manager Ed Stefanski built them to sprint. And when they finally tried to run, they couldn't, because Jordan didn't have a true point guard for most of the season. He had a stellar No. 3 option in Iguodala, who was marketed as a No. 1 guy instead. And the parts around Iguodala not only were ill-equipped for Jordan's vaunted Princeton offense, but they were deemed too boring, too stale, for a fan base promised a little something extra after last season's playoff appearance.

"It's disappointing," said Bryan Abrams, 57, a season-ticket holder for 34 years. "Very disappointing. About the only thing that you can say is that this team is not as bad as the 1996 team was. That team, with GM Brad Greenberg and coach Johnny Davis, was just awful. The thing is, they were also very lucky.

"Back in 1996[-97], you didn't have a Phillies team that was going to the World Series all the time. You didn't have an Eagles team that was going to the playoffs. So all the teams were basically in the same situation, and the Sixers didn't stand out like a sore thumb.

"The Sixers also had a superstar in Allen Iverson, so they were willing to watch him set scoring records, still lose games, and get in a better position to win in the future. You don't have that right now. Actually, we're all questioning what [the Sixers] really have right now. That's what leaves you disappointed more than anything else, feeling like something has to be done."

Fans who were interviewed unanimously supported getting rid of Jordan. It was about 50-50 on getting rid of Stefanski. The same unanimity existed when it came to unloading Dalembert's expiring contract next season, virtually giving Brand away, trading Iguodala for some equitable compensation - but keeping Jrue Holiday.

"That kid [Holiday] has a very bright future," Kind said. "The fact that both he and Jason Kapono weren't playing earlier this season makes me look at the coach even more."

Perhaps the most depressing emotion involves this summer's free-agent class, considering that Wade, LeBron James, Amar'e Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, and a host of others are players that "we have no shot at," Abrams said. "You're hoping you'll get better, but all you can do is wait."

The operative question: For what, and for how long? The answer likely will not arrive in the form of players, but in a new coach, a new system, instead.

"I'm an eternal optimist," Abrams said. "I don't think things are hopeless. There just need to be changes."

He said it loud enough for Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider, sitting just a few feet away, to hear him.