Nearly every NBA “expert” picked Philadelphia as their sleeper in the Eastern Conference during the pre-season. It appeared to be a logical choice. Take a team that finished well, add an almost superstar in Elton Brand and the team should win 7-10 more games, right?

I disagreed.

For Brand, I thought it was a terrible move professionally.

For the 76ers, they created mis-matched personnel.

I’m constantly amazed at organizations who do not understand these things.

The 76ers were dangerous last year when they were running. They played a small line-up and put a lot of pressure on opponents. Their weakness was their interior post play, but they turned the lack of a post player into a strength by playing an aggressive, fast-breaking style.

Brand is the low post presence they felt they needed. And, maybe to win in the play-offs, the 76ers do need a low post scorer. However, the 76ers lack the personnel around Brand to help him excel. In an interview in the preseason on a radio show, I said that he would not improve the 76ers because teams would double and take the ball out of his hands and the 76ers had no shooters to punish the double-team.

Andre Miller and Andre Igoudala as the backcourt has to be one of the most suspect three-point shooting back courts in the NBA. I can’t think of another one of the top of my head.

Now, Mo Cheeks is the scapegoat because he has personnel which doesn’t fit. His two best (most expensive) players excel in different systems. Igoudala needs to go; Brand needs a slower game where he can work on the block.

If there is a General Manager who has not read Dean Oliver’s Basketball on Paper, he should be fired.

Today.

Right now.

No further explanation necessary.

The 76ers, like Dallas, Phoenix and Golden State before them, created a competitive advantage by going small and running. This negated their personnel disadvantage. However, when they added Brand, they made a move toward the middle, becoming a little more like everyone else. However, Brand alone is not enough to overcome their personnel disadvantage.

And, by becoming more like everyone else, they lost their competitive advantage.

The 76ers moved from a very good team that played a very different style to a very average team playing a very basic style.

I don’t know if Cheeks was the problem. However, I believe he suffered the same fate as Eddie Jordan and Sam Mitchell: inflated, unrealistic expectations.

Washington decided it could win a championship with Arenas-Butler-Jamison and not much else. Then, it went out and drafted one of the biggest projects in the first Round. With Arenas hurt, the Wizards struggled. How many teams could survive the loss of their #1 player? Where would Cleveland be without James or New Orleans without Paul?

As for Toronto, they have no wings. I keep wondering if George Karl will ever get frustrated enough to trade J.R. Smith to Toronto, but I don’t know what Denver would want in return beyond salary relief. Portland’s Martell Webster or Travis Outlaw would fit perfectly, but, again, what would Portland want from Toronto, assuming Calderon and Bosh are off the table? Maybe Minnesota would part with Mike Miller for an expiring contract and a draft pick. Philadelphia and Toronto each could use Miller to improve their wing performance.

In Philadelphia, Cheeks may or may not be a great coach. But, his personnel does not fit together. To maximize Brand, he needs some shooters. To maximize Igoudala, Thaddeus Young, Andre Miller, Louis Williams and others, he needs to push, push, push.

In the end, however, Cheeks, like Mitchell and Jordan, suffered from inflated opinions of their teams based on poor analysis of the way players will affect a team. Building a successful team is not just about plugging in a piece that appears to be missing, but supplementing the system’s strengths.

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