Maurice Cheeks became the NBA's fifth coaching casualty of the season Saturday when he was fired by the 76ers. Here's what they're saying out in the ether about the chop-chop ...

Depressed Fan: "The things that have killed this team, and its shooting percentage, has been horrible floor spacing, a lack of dedication to the post game, and a lack of creativity and fluidity in play calling. Elton Brand's numbers are down, and part of that is his fault, but not all of it. Mo Cheeks was given a new tool to add to his chest. He had all summer to figure out how it was going to work with the other tools, to find ways to use it to enhance the team as a whole. Instead, what we've seen so far this season is a complete departure from the strengths of the rest of the roster, a horrible integration of Brand into the offense (in the half-court, or out on the break) and a roster demoralized from not living up to the lofty expectations coming into the season."

Sixers 4 Guidos: "You can't fire players (unfortunately. I would have gladly canned a couple of them by now...). So Mo will get the blame, despite being "a gentleman throughout" and "a class act" (words by Stefanski). That's how the business goes in the NBA. Yes, he could/should have done better. Poor rotations. Lack of solutions in the half court and in crunch time. Bad execution. Many players underperforming. No patterns. But I would have waited another 8-10 games, at least the end of our New Year's eve West trip."

Liberty Ballers: "I'm not sure if I'm a huge fan of DiLeo being the coach for the rest of the season, but at this point I'll take what I can get. I assume DiLeo, being the assistant GM and all, is pretty close to Stefanski and is on the same page. And let's not forget, Stefanski was the one pushing for the young guys to play last season, which leads me to believe the coaching change will benefit the young guys like Thad, Lou and Speights. Stefanski obviously has a plan and I wouldn't be surprised if he has a coach waiting in the wings and/or roster changes on the way. Stefanski's a bright guy, he realized what we have wasn't working and is moving to plan B."

Hardwood Paroxysm: "One could certainly make the argument that Mo Cheeks had the best name of any head coach in the NBA. One could also make the argument that he was possibly the first coach fired this season with just cause. PJ? Sure he may have had it coming and he certainly wasn't 'coaching 'em up' in any sense, but it's not like the Thunder were threatening to overtake the much-coveted 1-14 spots in the West with that roster. Smitch? The Raps are woefully thin, Jermaine isn't quite the dream that some people imagined, and losing TJ Ford's scoring and penetration might have hurt a bit more than anticipated. Eddie Jordan? No Gilbert, no Haywood, no reasonablebeliefthatthisteamwon'tbeterrible. Wittman? Kinda similar to PJ. I don't think he even resembles a good coach, but I mean, what did you really expect from the Wolves?"

The Sporting Blog: "While fellow fired coaches Eddie Jordan and Sam Mitchell seem assured of another top job as soon as next year, Cheeks surprisingly figures to land closer to the Randy Wittman/P.J. Carlesimo pile. Many felt Cheeks was the victim of a regime change and not his own failure in Portland; as such, he seemed like a safe pick for the Philly job (especially considering his history in the town). But although there has been change in the Sixers' front office (current GM Ed Stefanski didn't hire Cheeks, in other words), this sacking is more tied to the team's failure. You fail 1.5 times in today's NBA, you might be done for a while. Cheeks is smooth and well-liked, so he could get a gig soon enough. But it seems more likely that he'd get back on the bench as an assistant or move to a college program."

Talking Points: "I'm going to do this quickly, since I'm not sure there's going to be as much interest generally as there was in my bizarre brain when I started this. I follow NBA firings fairly closely, as you know, and it seemed to me that this was the first one of the big list that had more to do with OFFENSIVE failings than defensive badness. Usually, it's about lack of effort, which almost always translates to giving up embarrassing FG% to opponents (Washington with Jordan, Toronto with Mitchell, OKC with Carlesimo and Minnesota with Wittman all followed that trend). But Philadelphia was ranked 17th in FG defense (at 45.53%), which isn't great but usually doesn't get you fired in December."

The Wages of Wins Journal: "... is there anything Cheeks could have done to change the shooting efficiency of Brand (as well as Young, Williams, and a few other players)?  Well, last year we saw a similar problem in Chicago. And like Philadelphia, Chicago also tried to changing coaches.  But the problem in Chicago was never solved.  It’s important to note that most aspects of performance in basketball are amazingly consistent. When it comes to rebounds, steals, turnovers, blocked shots, assists, personal fouls, and free throw percentage; what you have seen in the past (on a per-minute basis) is pretty much what you will see in the future. So although people talk about the importance of coaching, team chemistry, diminishing returns, etc..., in general, what you see in basketball is what you are going to get. The lone exception is shooting efficiency. Although shooting efficiency in basketball is more predictable than almost anything you see in football (and also what you see with respect to earned run average and batting average in baseball), it’s the least predictable basketball statistic."

"GreggyD" at Awful Announcing: "I understand that people are frustrated with this team, but can I remind everyone how there wasn't a single person that was not praising him after last season's unexpected playoff berth? He was finally going to turn this team around and now he isn't good enough. I get so tired of the coaching carousel in the league and on this team. People seem to forget that the Sixers are still rebuilding. Just signing Elton Brand does not mean things are complete. I understand it's much easier to fire one man than an entire team, but give Cheeks a break."

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