Sports Figures We Can Do Without . . . .
What better time, during this respite from any real intrigue by our local sports teams, to do a little spring housecleaning? Wouldn’t we all be better off if we saw the following Philadelphia sports figures headed for the airport with a one-way ticket out of town??
Nick Sirianni
I have covered this issue in previous blog posts, but it bears repeating. The Eagles currently employ a coach who oversaw the biggest collapse in team history, who was a bust as a play-caller, who has no apparent authority over any aspect of the team and who is seen as nothing more than a yes man for his bosses.
If you’re looking for a sign that he is more than ever a puppet for owner Jeff Lurie and GM Howie Roseman, watch carefully how he deploys his starters in the preseason. Desperate for a good start after that crushing end to last season, Sirianni knows (I assume) his best players need game action prior to the opener in Brazil. After all, his coaching career depends on it.
My guess is, the first snap Jalen Hurts takes in a game will be in Brazil, as will most of the other top starters. This is a dumb strategy the timid bosses prefer. It will be the final mistake in Sirianni’s tenure here in Philadelphia.
James Bradberry
Other than the clueless coaches, no one was more responsible for the collapse of the 2023 Eagles than this over-the-hill, one-step-too-slow cornerback. On the defining drive of the Eagles’ freefall, a 92-yard cakewalk down the field by Seattle backup quarterback Drew Lock in the final seconds, Bradberry’s targets were responsible for 86 of those yards.
The fact that he remained on the field after that debacle is proof of how lost his coaches were. By that point, even inexperienced backups like Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks were a better option than the former Giant. Until proven otherwise, I have to believe Bradberry is still on the roster only until his release is most advantageous to the salary cap.
If he takes one more meaningful snap as an Eagle, there should be an investigation.
Avonte Maddox
Maybe this will be the season the Eagles safety plays more then three straight games before coming up with another injury. Yeah, right. And maybe this is the year I will be hired as a Chippendales dancer.
Look, Maddox is a solid player when healthy. It’s just that he is never healthy. Last season, for example, he played four of 18 games, they year before it was nine. In his six-year career, he has had one 16-game season. And yet GM Howie Roseman keeps bringing him back. Why?
Because Howie hates to admit mistakes, that’s why. It’s the actual definition of insanity. Doing the same thing, year after year, and expecting a different result. Maddox won’t make it through five games this season. Bet on it.
Tobias Harris
We have all been witnesses to a $180-million theft, but no charges have ever been filed. Right before our eyes, Harris pocketed a five-year deal for that amount in 2019, and then proceeded to turn invisible whenever the team needed a high-priced star to step up in big moments.
The good news here is that the contract has finally run out, and the chances of the Sixers bringing him back are about the same as them re-signing Derrick Coleman. But who couldn’t see that Harris was a player unworthy of that kind of money. Let me think. . . .
Daryl Morey
Wrong. It wasn’t Morey, who signed as the Sixer GM one year after that horrible contract was signed. It was during that lull between Bryan Colangelo’s abrupt departure and Morey’s inevitable arrival. That stroke of genius was the handiwork of Elton Brand and Brett Brown, who had the keys to the vault just long enough to screw up the cap for the next five years.
We can’t blame Morey for that dumb move, but what about his stupid obsession with James Harden? What about his trade-deadline busts like Kyle Lowry and Buddy Hield? And what about all of the mistakes in between, as Joel Embiid gets further and further away from an NBA championship.
Colangelo was awful, but Morey hasn’t been much better. He may be the most overrated GM in Philly sports history.
Nick Castellanos
This overpaid outfielder is the best example I can offer of the less demanding media and fan base than what I experienced in my time at WIP. A player in the second year of a five-year, $100-million contract simply could not hit .199 and expect no backlash in my day doing sports commentary. We need to remember he hit .309 the season before he signed that mega-deal with the Phillies? Where is that hitter now?
Beyond that – and maybe this is just me – but Castellanos has an arrogant air about him that fits neither the team nor his current circumstance. Watch him during most interviews. He acts as if he is offering an audience with the pope.
Maybe we need to give him a standing ovation the way the fans did last year to wake up Trea Turner.
Carter Hart
Didn’t think I would go there, did you? I have no choice. Hart is still the most valuable name on the Flyers roster, and at 25, he is still a building block to a championship. He is the best goaltender on the roster. You can look it up.
But no thanks. The sexual-assault case that ended his 2023-24 season and will probably also cost him the next season is more than anything a team trying to rebuild should have to endure. For all we know, Hart may not be able to play for years because he will be serving time. Only a long and ugly trial can determine his fate.
When they can, the Flyers need to remove this dark cloud hovering over the team. They need to let him go, as painful as that may be given his talent. If Carter Hart gets a second chance, it should be somewhere else.
Underachievers who just missed the cut:
Nakobe Dean
Kenny Gainwell
Taiwan Walker
Seranthony Dominguez
Sean Couturier
Travis Sanheim