Is Cheeks Next?
With Billy King’s firing yesterday (two years too late, mind you, but what’re you gonna do?), quicker than you could say Larry Brown, the obvious question became: How long will the Philadelphia Sixers continue to gainfully employ head coach Maurice Cheeks?
Cheeks himself has no idea:
Cheeks, who is in the final season of his contract, told reporters that while he had talked to Stefanski only briefly, he received no assurance that his job was safe.
“I don’t have an answer to why it happened. That’s not my position,” Cheeks said, when asked about King’s firing.
While Cheeks is an extremely nice guy, and is certainly well-liked by his players and around the League, he hasn’t done anything during his coaching tenure to make one think he won’t get the axe in the near future.
Ed Stefanski, the new GM, says he’s not afraid to make changes; his first opportunity to make a splash may have just presented itself.
10 Responses to “Is Cheeks Next?”
Dec.5 at 5:06 pm
Ron says:
Cheeks has his guys playing at their best. Honestly, who thought the Sixers were going to have 5 wins at this point? Who thought they would have won as many games as they did last season? Mo has overachieved with the lack of talent he’s had to work with.
Dec.5 at 5:16 pm
Tenorca says:
Poor Mo Cheeks, man. Seemed like he caught a raw deal in Portland and it seems likely to happen again. I agree totally with Ron: The Sixers are playing pretty much as well as they can with the guys they’ve got. They aren’t even a year removed from the AI firesale. Hope they keep him on.
Dec.5 at 5:26 pm
Rob Paxon says:
It seems to me and the guys commenting above me that Cheeks is the right guy for this mix of talent. If he’s fired it’s simply so the GM can put his own stamp on things which isn’t necessarily a terrible thing but nonetheless unnecessary. Stefanski needs to focus on improving the talent so he can see what Cheeks and the players can do with it.
Dec.5 at 5:33 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Mo money Mo problems.
Dec.5 at 8:01 pm
Jukai says:
I have no problem with his coaching or the way he treats his players. I do think he looks like one of the vampires from 30 Days of Nights though.
Dec.5 at 8:06 pm
Eric says:
Cheeks has been waaay over his head trying to be a head coach. Good assistant, I think, with his ability to get along with players. Bad X’s and O’s guy, tho. Has been since his days with Portland. But I agree that he hasn’t exactly had stellar rosters/personalities in his two coaching jobs.
Dec.5 at 11:47 pm
Hubert says:
ed stefanski seem like a great celebrity name.
Dec.6 at 12:20 am
Sally says:
I beg to differ with all of you Cheeks lovers. He actually treats his players like crap. I happen to know because I personally know someone on the team and he talks to them like they are 2 year old children, he belittles them and is not a very nice person. The talent pool may not be the best, but the coach really sucks. He seems nice on camera but he is very mean and half the teams wishes he was gone.
Dec.6 at 2:04 am
J says:
I know it’s not basketball, but RIP Pimp C.
And I hope Cheeks stays. Same goes for Donovan.
Dec.6 at 7:43 pm
Fred says:
Cheeks needs to be fired because he’s played the same starting lineup ALL season even though the team is in last place. At what point do you make a change? Plus he doesn’t even play this years lottery pick (Thaddeus) nor last years (Carney). And did I mention we were in last place. Do we have the luxury of not playing lottery picks when we are in the Atlantic cellar. A coach with commonsense would have shook things up by now. Cheeks keeps putting square pegs in round holes and wondering why we lose. DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT CHEEKS!!! That’s basic commonsense.