Jim O'Brien Fired!

G_M

G_M

Starter
#1
#1
ESPN-News Service
Associated Press



PHILADELPHIA -- Jim O'Brien was fired Monday after only one season as coach of the Philadelphia 76ers and replaced by former star Maurice Cheeks.

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O'Brien, a Philadelphia native who played for Saint Joseph's, went 43-39 in his only season and the Sixers were elminated in the first round of the playoffs in five games by Detroit.

He was in the first year of a four-year contract that paid him about $4 million a year. O'Brien, though, was not very popular with his players, who often complained about their roles, most notably former All-Star Chris Webber.

Cheeks was one of the most popular 76ers from 1978-89 and played on Philadelphia's last championship team, in 1983. Cheeks was fired March 2 after nearly four seasons as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. He had a 162-139 in Portland, the fourth-highest win total in Blazers history.

Cheeks will be Philadelphia's fourth coach since Larry Brown resigned and left for Detroit following the 2002-03 season. Randy Ayers was fired 52 games into the 2003-04 season and replaced by Chris Ford.
 
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Variant

Variant

Starter
#3
#3
Interesting. Cheeks is a likeable guy, especially after the national anthem thing, but he certainly had his problems with all the egos in Portland. Now he'll have to deal with AI/Webber and the horrible Philly fans. :) Should be interesting!
 
Purple Reign

Purple Reign

Starter
#4
#4
Variant said:
Interesting. Cheeks is a likeable guy, especially after the national anthem thing, but he certainly had his problems with all the egos in Portland. Now he'll have to deal with AI/Webber and the horrible Philly fans. :) Should be interesting!
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I think this is a great hire!! Cheeks played with Philly most of his career. So he knows the fans. They ain't changed!!! Plus he is young enough to relate to those guys. He is not to far removed to to know what they are all about.
 
VF21

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#5
#5
Wow. Good riddance to O'Brien. I think Mo Cheeks will do a fantastic job. GREAT CHOICE by the Sixers.

GOOD LUCK, MO!!!!!
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#6
#6
Variant said:
Interesting. Cheeks is a likeable guy, especially after the national anthem thing, but he certainly had his problems with all the egos in Portland. Now he'll have to deal with AI/Webber and the horrible Philly fans. :) Should be interesting!
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Mo knows the fans, and he's a very popular figure in Philly -- he'll be given a lot of leeway there. Probably won't boo him for at least the first two weeks of training camp. ;)

And he should get along well with Webb. A.I. will be interesting and a clash of cultures, but I believe Mo was on the Sixers staff as an assistant with A.I. there and they already know each other.
 
Grobar

Grobar

G-League
#11
#11
i'm glad for mo, he's a very good coach, portland is a black hole full of jail time and smoke. some of those players are a waste of god given talent. i don't know about the job though. what can he really do different with the players he has? the only option is run a different system, but if that fails, he's gonna get booed like obrien was. philly is a tough town to coach in :(
 
Just_Lurkin

Just_Lurkin

Bench
#12
#12
Heard about this on ESPN. Sounds like a good hire. i think they fired o'brian for more than one thing/person. they said hardly any of the players liked him(and they have a couple FA on the market they're probably like to keep), he gotten criticism for not fully integrated webb into the system.....and mo is who the sixers had always wanted for the job, but at the time the blazers wouldn't even let the sixers talk to him.

ah well, hope everything works out for them.
 
tbear03

tbear03

Bench
#14
#14
I don't know why but I was thinking that they should do this some time last night... good job by the Sixers in reading my mind ;). Hopefully all will be well. :)
 
loopymitch

loopymitch

All-Star
#17
#17
It's not a big surprise they fired him. Philly fans will be happy, from what I read they've wanted Mo for a while and I'm sure Webb not crying about it either. I hope it works out for all of them.
 
VF21

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#19
#19
stevetaebo said:
The only thing I really remember that Mo did was help that girl sing the national anthem.

Other then that, Blazers really sucked.
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The Blazers sucked for a lot of reasons. None of those reasons were named Mo Cheeks. He is truly one of the good ones.
 
6th

6th

Homer Fan Since 1985
#20
#20
First the title says O'Brien was fired. My reaction was one of "thank you and good riddance." Then, I read that Mo Cheeks got the job. Now my reaction is one of jubilation. Mo is a classy guy and deserves another chance after putting up with the misfits in Portland. Philly fans already love him, so he will be given a legitimate chance to coach some real talent. Good luck to ya, MO!!
 
LPKingsFan

LPKingsFan

All-Star
#22
#22
Did anyone else see this coming EXACTLY like this?

Maybe I'm back to my Miller premoniton stage. Stay tuned, I'll be predicting Petrie's moves by mid June.
 
stevetaebo

stevetaebo

Bench
#24
#24
VF21 said:
The Blazers sucked for a lot of reasons. None of those reasons were named Mo Cheeks. He is truly one of the good ones.
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hmm dunno about that. I think it was just a matter of him not fitting in with that group of players in Portland. They needed more of a disciplanarian in Portland. Cheeks is a players coach who'd might have a better fit with established veterans ih Phile.

In any case, I hope you're right, I do like Mo cheeks myself.
 
J

JayBird

Bench
#26
#26
So O'brien is on the market? And the Kings MAY be looking for a new coach? Hmmm...

I was on the verge of calling for Petrie's head after he traded away our franchise, even THINKING about getting this clown would put me over the edge.
 
T

thesanityannex

Guest
#28
#28
PixelPusher said:
O'Brien is on the market. NOW Adelman should be worried.:D
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In all seriousness, this will never happen. I so, I will bury my own grave and crawl in quietly.
 
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