AI Trade Talk House Conspiracy Theory: Was Jim O’Brien’s Firing the Set Up For Iverson’s Trade?

Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News found a diamond in the rough. Amidst all the Allen Iverson negative press Cooney provides us with a small portion of an article found on ESPN.com. Moreover the article’s author is a forgotten player in the AI Philly timeline – ex-Sixer head coach Jim O’Brien.

Of all the 76 coaches of the Iverson era, O’Brien’s one-year tenure is the most intriguing and perhaps the one that illuminates the Sixer management’s position concerning AI. O’Brien, in 2004-05 coached basically the same Philly squad that we see on the floor now (with Iverson) 43-39 record. Do you understand the importance of that record, folks? I picked a random game from November, 2004 to check out who was on the floor for the Sixers at that time. The players looked like this: Kyle Korver (35 minutes); Andre 3000 Iguodala (42 minutes); AI (41 minutes); Marc Jackson (26 minutes); Samuel Dalembert (22 minutes); Corliss Williamson (20 minutes), and; Josh Davis (25 minutes). Then I checked out a random game from March 2006, after the Sixers acquired Chris Webber. The players getting the most burn in the late-season playoff push were: Iguodala (38 minutes); Webber (44 minutes); Dalembert (22 minutes); AI (45 minutes); Steven Hunter (20 minutes); Kyle Korver (20 minutes); John Salmons (23 minutes, and Kevin Ollie (10 minutes). That team looks a lot like the one that began the 2005-06 and the present 2006-07 season under Mo cheeks.

So why was O’Brien let go? According to a May 24, 2005 article by Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, O’Brien’s main problems were with Chris Webber (who didn’t want to practice) and Samuel Dalembert, who O’Brien constantly pushed Dalembert to play more like a monster than a house mouse. There’s no mention of Iverson in the article relative to O’Brien. None:

Jim O’Brien’s firing Monday was a move less about O’Brien’s ability as a head coach and more a reaction to his rocky relationship with some of his players. While Chris Webber was the focus of some of the more high-profile disagreements, ultimately it came down to whether O’Brien could coexist with center Samuel Dalembert.

If AI were asked about O’Brien being fired mainly because of Dalembert, Iverson would say something like this:

“I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we’re in here talking about Dalembert. I mean listen, we’re talking about Samuel Dalembert. Not AI. Not an Iverson. We’re talkin’ Dal-em-bert. Not AI. We’re talking about Dalembert, man. I mean, how silly is that? We’re talking about Dalembert. I know he’s important . . . I honestly do. But we’re talking about Dal-em-bert, man. What are we talking about? Dalembert? We’re not even talking about AI, an actual player who matters. We’re talking about Dalembert.

The Philadelphia 76er management, led by Chairman Ed Snider, fired Jim O’Brien, who coaxed, cajoled, and coerced a mediocre team to 43 wins and the playoffs got fired because he had a problem with Samuel Dalembert. And in O’Brien’s stead the Sixer management hired Philly homeboy Mo Cheeks. The same Mo Cheeks who was fired mid-2004 season by Portland after coaching them to an underachieving 22-33 record. Cheeks, by the time of his firing, had lost his Blazer team and was being roundly blasted by Portland players, fans, and management.

So the Sixers fired a winner who was getting along with the team’s superstar (and getting him to play the best defense of his career) , who just reached the playoffs, because he asked a was-a-star player to practice and had a problem with a player who refused to attempt to actualize his vast potential as a player. Then the Sixers turned around and hired a guy who lost his team and refused to put his foot down to deal with malcontents?

Before you read what I’m about to write, strike up the X-Files theme music: did the 76er brass fire Jim O’Brien because he was too successful and got along too well with Allen Iverson? Was O’Brien fired because the plan all along was to get rid of AI before he turned 30, before the perception of age and wear-and-tear lowered his trade value?

Don’t believe the conspiracy hype? Check out this question and answer snippet from the ESPN.com interview with O’Brien:

What was his reaction when, in a team huddle, you called him the worst defensive point guard in the history of the game?

After that, he told me it was the first time he’d ever been called the worst in anything.

But he’s not hypersensitive.

Not at all. The best part about Allen is that he had no problem being criticized in front of his teammates. You don’t find that to be the case with superstars.

In fact, he encouraged you not to sit on any criticisms.

Yes. Another example was at halftime I got on him pretty hard about defense. Before we got back on court he said, “Listen, tell me to right then, don’t wait till halftime.”

I’m not saying we didn’t have issues over 82 games, but generally the idea is to go behind closed doors and not to the media. He told me he wanted to be straightforward and when he thought I wasn’t, he called me on it.

This doesn’t at all sound like the Allen Iverson being portrayed in the media. But wait, there’s more not to understand:

You coached Iverson when he was coming off a tough time with then-coach Chris Ford. You sat down with Iverson after a season in which his team had struggled. And you had traveled to Turkey to get to know him before the 2004 Olympics.

He said he didn’t want me to manage him through the media — that wasn’t a problem because that’s not how I coach. I told him that I wanted him to be a leader, that he would have to be a person who was going to be on time and be ready to lace ’em up.

And I told him I would never have him leave his legs on the practice floor. He had to stretch with the team and start practice with us, but leave it to me to take him out. I never had a problem with him about practicing.

His famous “practice” comments came in 2002. Can we talk about practice?

It’s true he doesn’t need practice to be a great player. But back then what he sometimes did not recognize is that for the team to play its best he needs to practice — the group needs reps to gel defensively and offensively.

Makes sense. So, what’s he like?

He’s very, very likable to be around, fun to be around. His teammates really like him, although they’re not always comfortable playing with him.

All I can say is ———- Wow! Iverson simply asked not to be coached through the media (I know the 76er press must have privately hated O’Brien for that). O’Brien, recognizing exactly how hard Iverson played each night, allowed AI to chill and not practice as hard as other players in order to save his legs. And most surprising, Allen Iverson is not a locker room cancer, not a coach-killer, he’s likeable?!

Did Jim O’Brien, through his respect for Iverson and his failing to bow down to a Philadelphia press notorious for taking the side of management over player, throw a monkey-wrench in Ed Snider’s master plan?

You know how sometimes you hear or read about something and it just doesn’t add up? You feel you have a good grip of what’s supposed to be, but then there are these nagging pieces of information that don’t fit anywhere in the picture painted for you, or the picture you painted for yourself. Deep inside you realize something is very, very wrong with everything you thought you knew about a situation – suddenly you’re through the “looking glass,” and the world is very different from that safe place you just left behind.

That’s how I feel right now.

AI Trade Talk House Conspiracy Theory: Was Jim O’Brien’s Firing the Set Up For Iverson’s Trade?

Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News found a diamond in the rough. Amidst all the Allen Iverson negative press Cooney provides us with a small portion of an article found on ESPN.com. Moreover the article’s author is a forgotten player in the AI Philly timeline – ex-Sixer head coach Jim O’Brien.

Of all the 76ers coaches of the Iverson era, O’Brien’s one-year tenure is the most intriguing and perhaps the one that illuminates the Sixer management’s position concerning AI. O’Brien, in 2004-05 coached basically the same Philly squad that we see on the floor now (with Iverson) 43-39 record. Do you understand the importance of that record, folks? I picked a random game from November, 2004 to check out who was on the floor for the Sixers at that time. The players looked like this: Kyle Korver (35 minutes); Andre 3000 Iguodala (42 minutes); AI (41 minutes); Marc Jackson (26 minutes); Samuel Dalembert (22 minutes); Corliss Williamson (20 minutes), and; Josh Davis (25 minutes). Then I checked out a random game from March 2006, after the Sixers acquired Chris Webber. The players getting the most burn in the late-season playoff push were: Iguodala (38 minutes); Webber (44 minutes); Dalembert (22 minutes); AI (45 minutes); Steven Hunter (20 minutes); Kyle Korver (20 minutes); John Salmons (23 minutes, and Kevin Ollie (10 minutes). That team looks a lot like the one that began the 2005-06 and the present 2006-07 season under Mo cheeks.

So why was O’Brien let go? According to a May 24, 2005 article by Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, O’Brien’s main problems were with Chris Webber (who didn’t want to practice) and Samuel Dalembert, who O’Brien constantly pushed Dalembert to play more like a monster than a house mouse. There’s no mention of Iverson in the article relative to O’Brien. None:

Jim O’Brien’s firing Monday was a move less about O’Brien’s ability as a head coach and more a reaction to his rocky relationship with some of his players. While Chris Webber was the focus of some of the more high-profile disagreements, ultimately it came down to whether O’Brien could coexist with center Samuel Dalembert.

If AI were asked about O’Brien being fired mainly because of Dalembert, Iverson would say something like this:

“I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we’re in here talking about Dalembert. I mean listen, we’re talking about Samuel Dalembert. Not AI. Not an Iverson. We’re talkin’ Dal-em-bert. Not AI. We’re talking about Dalembert, man. I mean, how silly is that? We’re talking about Dalembert. I know he’s important . . . I honestly do. But we’re talking about Dal-em-bert, man. What are we talking about? Dalembert? We’re not even talking about AI, an actual player who matters. We’re talking about Dalembert.

The Philadelphia 76er management, led by Chairman Ed Snider, fired Jim O’Brien, who coaxed, cajoled, and coerced a mediocre team to 43 wins and the playoffs got fired because he had a problem with Samuel Dalembert. And in O’Brien’s stead the Sixer management hired Philly homeboy Mo Cheeks. The same Mo Cheeks who was fired mid-2004 season by Portland after coaching them to an underachieving 22-33 record. Cheeks, by the time of his firing, had lost his Blazer team and was being roundly blasted by Portland players, fans, and management.

So the Sixers fired a winner who was getting along with the team’s superstar (and getting him to play the best defense of his career) , who just reached the playoffs, because he asked a was-a-star player to practice and had a problem with a player who refused to attempt to actualize his vast potential as a player. Then the Sixers turned around and hired a guy who lost his team and refused to put his foot down to deal with malcontents?

Before you read what I’m about to write, strike up the X-Files theme music: did the 76er brass fire Jim O’Brien because he was too successful and got along too well with Allen Iverson? Was O’Brien fired because the plan all along was to get rid of AI before he turned 30, before the perception of age and wear-and-tear lowered his trade value?

Don’t believe the conspiracy hype? Check out this question and answer snippet from the ESPN.com interview with O’Brien:

What was his reaction when, in a team huddle, you called him the worst defensive point guard in the history of the game?

After that, he told me it was the first time he’d ever been called the worst in anything.

But he’s not hypersensitive.

Not at all. The best part about Allen is that he had no problem being criticized in front of his teammates. You don’t find that to be the case with superstars.

In fact, he encouraged you not to sit on any criticisms.

Yes. Another example was at halftime I got on him pretty hard about defense. Before we got back on court he said, “Listen, tell me to right then, don’t wait till halftime.”

I’m not saying we didn’t have issues over 82 games, but generally the idea is to go behind closed doors and not to the media. He told me he wanted to be straightforward and when he thought I wasn’t, he called me on it.

This doesn’t at all sound like the Allen Iverson being portrayed in the media. But wait, there’s more not to understand:

You coached Iverson when he was coming off a tough time with then-coach Chris Ford. You sat down with Iverson after a season in which his team had struggled. And you had traveled to Turkey to get to know him before the 2004 Olympics.

He said he didn’t want me to manage him through the media — that wasn’t a problem because that’s not how I coach. I told him that I wanted him to be a leader, that he would have to be a person who was going to be on time and be ready to lace ’em up.

And I told him I would never have him leave his legs on the practice floor. He had to stretch with the team and start practice with us, but leave it to me to take him out. I never had a problem with him about practicing.

His famous “practice” comments came in 2002. Can we talk about practice?

It’s true he doesn’t need practice to be a great player. But back then what he sometimes did not recognize is that for the team to play its best he needs to practice — the group needs reps to gel defensively and offensively.

Makes sense. So, what’s he like?

He’s very, very likable to be around, fun to be around. His teammates really like him, although they’re not always comfortable playing with him.

All I can say is ———- Wow! Iverson simply asked not to be coached through the media (I know the 76er press must have privately hated O’Brien for that). O’Brien, recognizing exactly how hard Iverson played each night, allowed AI to chill and not practice as hard as other players in order to save his legs. And most surprising, Allen Iverson is not a locker room cancer, not a coach-killer, he’s likeable?!

Did Jim O’Brien, through his respect for Iverson and his failing to bow down to a Philadelphia press notorious for taking the side of management over player, throw a monkey-wrench in Ed Snider’s master plan?

You know how sometimes you hear or read about something and it just doesn’t add up? You feel you have a good grip of what’s supposed to be, but then there are these nagging pieces of information that don’t fit anywhere in the picture painted for you, or the picture you painted for yourself. Deep inside you realize something is very, very wrong with everything you thought you knew about a situation – suddenly you’re through the “looking glass,” and the world is very different from that safe place you just left behind.

That’s how I feel right now.