Bring Back Croce

Leadership matters. Croce has it. The 76ers don't.

by E. James Beale

Two weeks ago, moments after the 76ers entered the All-Star break with a 104-93 loss at the hands of Chris Bosh and the Toronto Raptors, the last strands of Sixer unity broke. First Elton Brand, just benched again by Eddie Jordan, let loose on the 76ers' head coach: "We weren't down enough to switch what we've been doing in a five-game-win streak," Brand said emphatically.

What they had been doing, of course, was playing him. "I didn't think [the first-half deficit] was my fault," he continued, not too subtly reminding us just whose fault it was. "Maybe [the team] is getting prepared for something else," he said, alluding to a trade-deadline deal that never went through. Hours later, guard Lou Williams entered a Twitter battle with two fans who wanted him traded.

"I dont like yall no more then yall like me ... lets be clear about that [sic]," Williams tweeted. With that, the 76ers left for an All-Star weekend that none of them were part of.

Those two moments — a public in-fight and a player's open criticism of a fan — sum up the 76ers nicely. The players, the fans and the coaches — three necessary components of any good franchise — don't see eye to eye.

So why can't we all just get along? It starts at the top. Through all of the drama, management has tried to explain that nothing is wrong. First, this off-season, the 76ers insisted that, despite having made no significant additions, they were on the verge of breaking through to the elite. ("I'm sure one of our guys, or two of our guys, or maybe three of our guys, will become All-Stars while we're here," Jordan declared at his introductory press conference.) Then the team told us that Allen Iverson would be able to put the 76ers on his 5-foot-10-inch frame (that 6-foot listing is about as accurate as Donovan McNabb) and rally the fans. Now, they are telling us the team as constructed has the pieces to build on. No one buys it, because the story doesn't make sense: Jordan didn't turn any 76ers into stars, Iverson hasn't brought fans to the Wachovia Center and trade-deadline-acquisition Jodie Meeks isn't exactly slab-on grade. But, more importantly, with no natural leader on the current team, in the front office or on the coaching staff, no one is conveying any positive unified message.

Which brings us to the point: The 76ers didn't make a mistake when they decided to bring back a cornerstone of the 2001 championship run. They made a mistake in choosing Iverson, who recently left the team to care for his ailing daughter, instead of the natural fit — former president Pat Croce.

Iverson and Larry Brown rightly get credit for the 76ers brief rise to prominence in the early 2000s, but it was Croce who inspired the town. In 1996 Croce took over as the 76ers president, told us we were winners, and bungee jumped off bridges, planted kisses on David Stern and repelled from rafters until we believed him. The man loved the spotlight, and because his story was so good — team trainer turned team president — and his charisma so evident, the spotlight loved him. Soon every car in the city had a 76ers flag sticking out its back window. Then, after that 2001 season, Croce asked for his boss's job, was turned down, and left. Almost immediately the team sold less merchandise, bickered more publicly and lost more games.

Leadership matters. Croce has it. The 76ers do not. He can form a message. If Pasquale could be convinced to drop his day job inspiring executives at corporate retreats and come back home, we'd hear fewer bad stories — if only because he'd be pumping the good ones. He'd go on every talk radio show to tell us that Andre Iguodala was an All-Star snub (he wasn't), remind us that Allen Iverson has been a model of professionalism (he has been) and chide us for not paying enough attention to Jrue Holiday's defense (we aren't).

Bringing back Croce isn't a panacea. He can't defend the three ball, probably can't persuade another team to take on Elton Brand's Philly max contract and can't rig the NBA lottery (don't tell him that, though: He still credits his father's medallion for bringing the 76ers their last No. 1 pick).

But he can help. Would it make the team a winner? Probably not. But it might convince a few of us out there that they were headed in the right direction, and it could change the discourse — enough for all of us to get along, anyway.

E. James Beale reminds you that there are no winners in Twitter fights. E-mail him at e.james.beale@citypaper.net.