Stephen A. Smith: 76ers' plans are no laughing matter

Warning: This is not a joke.

While the Flyers were trying to save their season, the Sixers' brass was planning a clandestine trip to Dallas and Phoenix by the end of this weekend to interview coaching candidates. The team evidently believes a neutral site, away from followers who just can't get enough of them, would ensure tranquillity and comfort.

Evidently, the Sixers haven't noticed the increase in fan apathy, fueled by the team's flagrant ineptitude. Or the diminished faith in a basketball franchise being run by a hockey buff in chairman Ed Snider.

But maybe, just maybe, general manager Ed Stefanski is onto something with his apparent rededication to dotting I's and crossing T's in a quest to pick the right coach for the Sixers.

Call Stefanski a wise man. Particularly since his job, and the future of the franchise, are riding on his next choice.

Stefanski has been missing in action for days now, but his reasons are obvious. He knows the Sixers need a stern face as much as they need a new one. He knows that former coach Eddie Jordan was seen as entirely too passive, too timid, and jeopardized everyone's job because of it.

Most of all, Stefanski knows the choice of his next coach has to speak louder than his words because no one is interested in hearing what he has to say.

"Jordan's coaching wasn't the most disappointing thing," one Sixers source revealed Friday. "It was the fact that he let the players push him around. A few players essentially did what they wanted to do. Eddie spent a lot of the season failing to hold guys accountable.

"That's why Stefanski knows the next coach can't be just an X's and O's guy this time. He's got to find a guy who knows what he's doing and won't hesitate to get in someone's face and call them on the carpet. [The Sixers] need a lot of things right now. But nothing more than that."

No wonder Stefanski's list of candidates has widened in the past few days.

As of Saturday morning, Stefanski was scheduled to fly to Dallas to meet with former Raptors coach Sam Mitchell on Sunday. Former Pistons center Bill Laimbeer, who established his coaching credentials by winning a few titles with the Detroit Shock of the WNBA, is new on the list. He'll meet with the team a few hours later.

Both are accomplished, no-nonsense coaches who won't hesitate to tell Andre Iguodala that he can't have his own personal shooting or strength-and-conditioning coach any longer, that he has to use team personnel like the rest of the players. And neither will have any problem telling Samuel Dalembert to go kick rocks if he mentions one more time how much he doesn't want to be in Philadelphia.

"Mitchell was the coach of the year [in 2007] for a reason, and Laimbeer knew something with winning those titles coaching the Shock," one Eastern Conference executive told me. "It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Sixers' job came down to those two."

It wouldn't surprise me, either.

The Sixers are scheduled to fly to Phoenix to meet with Blazers assistant Monty Williams and Suns assistant Dan Majerle. But common sense tells us those are courtesy interviews, because Stefanski wants someone with head-coaching experience. Jeff Van Gundy apparently isn't interested because he's not ready to travel again with his daughter still in high school.

Since the Sixers already interviewed both Mavericks assistant Dwane Casey and Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau last year, they feel no need to do so again. They know Avery Johnson would rather coach in New Orleans or Atlanta. And Mark Jackson pulled himself out of contention.

Still, Stefanski's hands are full.

He has made it this way because, despite his precarious status as GM, he has gotten himself and other Sixers personnel on the phone with agents and individuals who are working out his players in whatever cities they reside. According to several agents, Stefanski has set new ground rules. He's showing who's boss, finally.

"Stefanski wanted to make sure we knew the workout plan the Sixers want to put in place," one agent said. "What he wants guys working on during the off-season. What the expectations are, etc. He didn't do this last summer, but he's on his game now. He's not playing around."

That's good to know.

When the Sixers give us a reason to care, we'll know that, too. Primarily in the coach they elect to hire.