None of Philadelphia’s professional sports teams are
particularly good at the moment. Despite
being in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC East, the Eagles have been
a huge disappointment in 2015 as they are 5-7 with four games to go in the
regular season. The Sixers are going
through yet another season in their seemingly never-ending rebuilding plan
during which they’ve been the subject of tons of negative media attention and
very little winning. They sit at 1-22 with just over a quarter of the 2015-2016
season in the books. The Flyers are
muddling through another mediocre season that could likely wind up as the third
in the last four without a playoff appearance. The Phillies went 63-99 in 2015,
which was baseball’s worst record.
Yet this week in Philadelphia sports came with plenty of
intrigue. The obvious story is the
return of LeSean McCoy to Philadelphia as the Eagles welcome in the Buffalo
Bills to Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
In January, head coach Chip Kelly became the general manager of the
Eagles after winning a power struggle against Howie Roseman. Of course the frenzy
of moves Kelly made this past spring is well known by now and with a 5-7 team
to show for it, the third-year coach has been under plenty of scrutiny this
season. Arguably the most perplexing of
all the moves Kelly made was the decision to trade McCoy to the Bills for
linebacker Kiko Alonso. While Kelly points to McCoy’s high cap figure as a
reason for the move, the Eagles have a lot of money tied up in the running back
position in 2015 anyway. DeMarco Murray
signed a five-year, 40-million dollar contract weeks after McCoy was traded. Around
the same time Murray signed, the Eagles agreed to terms on a three-year, 11-million
dollar deal with former San Diego Chargers’ running back Ryan Mathews.
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| David Maialetti/Philly.com |
Culture was the buzzword behind Kelly’s offseason and it’s obvious
when looking at the money put towards other running backs that McCoy did not
fit into Kelly’s culture. When the Eagles returned to practice this week after
an upset win in New England last Sunday, the questions about McCoy’s return
were at the forefront of Kelly’s press conferences. Often times Kelly is snarky with the media
and is hesitant to admit mistakes. But
this week was different. Kelly
acknowledged he handled the departure of McCoy poorly and said he would like to
shake McCoy’s hand on Sunday. But, the feeling wasn’t mutual as McCoy made it
known he wasn’t willing to exchange pleasantries Sunday afternoon. We’ll see whose team comes out on top Sunday,
but this certainly isn’t just another week for Kelly or for McCoy.
Murray, one the team’s current running backs, was also in
headlines this week after speaking to owner Jeffrey Lurie on the plane ride
back Sunday night about his role in the offense. The former Cowboy had just eight carries in
the Eagles victory against the Patriots Sunday and rumors began to swirl about
Murray’s future with the team.
The Sixers “process” as it’s commonly referred also
warranted attention this week. On
Monday, the organization held a press conference announcing the hiring of Jerry
Colangelo as chairman of basketball operations. Colangelo worked previously as
the general manager of the Phoenix Suns and as the director of USA
Basketball. Colangelo is a highly
regarded basketball executive and one who is respected in NBA circles
nationwide. So the speculation then
arose about the future of general manager Sam Hinkie. Hinkie was often at the
center of the aforementioned negative press regarding the Sixers in the last
two years. Is Hinkie being pushed out the
door? Or maybe this was just a move to better the public perception of the
Sixers as the “process” is accelerated and the Sixers begin seriously looking
into free agency to add to their roster. Time will tell, but Colangelo is 76
years old and still resides in Phoenix so I tend to lean towards the latter.
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Bill Streicher/USA Today Sports
From left to right, Hinkie, owner Joshua Harris and Colangelo
and Monday's introductory press conference for Colangelo. |
Today, the Sixers announced a two-year contract extension
for head coach Brett Brown. Brown was an understudy to Gregg Popovich in San
Antonio and was hired as the head coach of the Sixers in August of 2013. Brown
has endured lots of losing with very few NBA caliber players on the roster. The
Sixers rebuild has been slowed by Joel Embiid’s foot injury and waiting on
Dario Saric to come stateside. With all
that in mind, it is really hard to pass any kind of judgment regarding Brown’s
coaching ability but for most of the games during this rebuild, Brown has the
Sixers playing tough and gritty basketball. They’ve been right in the thick of
a lot of games, but at the end of the day, they just haven’t been a good enough
team.
Then there are the Phillies. This week, new general manager
Matt Klentak sent closer Ken Giles to Houston for a four-player return from the
Astros. It was another of a series of trades the Phillies have made over the
last 12 months to restock the farm system and get younger. The Phillies are
almost certain to struggle again in 2016, but the transformation of the
franchise is finally beginning to take shape after struggling through the 2012,
2013 and 2014 seasons while being unwilling to commit to a rebuild.
The Flyers season has continued without much news off the
ice, but on the ice the team is playing some of its best hockey of the season.
A 4-2 win last night in St. Louis was their fourth straight road win. The
Flyers are now 5-1-1 in their last seven and are over .500 for the season at
12-11-6. Perhaps it’s just a tease and the
team is going to revert back to being an average hockey team. But recently,
they’ve looked good. Even if this season doesn’t yield a playoff berth, the
commitment to developing players in junior hockey and the AHL from general
manager Ron Hextall is a refreshing change from Paul Holmgren’s
ultra-aggressive approach every season.
Who knows when things will turn around in Philadelphia? But
this week has certainly been filled with plenty to talk about.
