Management Set Doug Moe Up For Failure In Philly

While collecting 602 coaching victories in 14 previous seasons, Doug Moe had demonstrated a knack for calling the successes, or failures, of his teams. So when he said last fall that his Philadelphia 76ers had a shot at winning 50 games, a lot of people believed him.

Unfortunately for Moe, 76er owner Harold Katz and General Manager Jimmy Lynam were among the believers.

After Moe lost to his former protege, George Karl, by 56 points last Saturday in Seattle, it was obvious the Sixers were going to fall woefully short of 50 victories. In fact, at 19-37, they were going to be lucky to win 30 games. Moe paid with his job for being so convincing back in October.

"I thought we were going to make a pretty good team," Moe said before that game against the Sonics, in what amounted to his last prolonged interview as Sixer coach. "I envisioned a lot of different things. I envisioned being a running team. I envisioned people moving. I envisioned us pressuring on defense.

"I knew a few guys were going to have to play at a higher level than they'd ever played, but I believed that, if we played to the max, it was possible to get to 50 wins. But it was unrealistic. That probably hurt us. The expectations were too high. We underachieved."

What's troubling about this particular firing, besides the fact that sports needs Doug Moe's candor, is that so much of the blame was mislaid.

For starters, Katz and Lynam vastly underestimated the worth of Charles Barkley and how much he was propping up the franchise, a la his Air-ness in Chicago. Also, practically running a guy out of town for what he said and did off the court isn't the best way to get return value in a trade.

The best of the take from Phoenix was Jeff Hornacek, a reliable, All-Star caliber guard. But Lynam didn't squeeze any more out of the Suns than Andrew Lang, an extremely mediocre center, and Tim Perry, who embarrassed the Sixers and the NBA and showed his true stripes by dogging it in the Slam Dunk Championship in Salt Lake City.

Let's face it, if Perry were still in Phoenix, he'd be sitting behind both Richard Dumas and Cedric Ceballos at small forward.

That trade, more than anything, shackled Moe with a club ill-suited for his pressure defense and an offense based on running and passing.

"He was stuck," Hornacek said.

"Veterans are used to playing a certain way," guard Hersey Hawkins said. "Then you put them out there, they can't adjust, and they have to freelance."

Hornacek and Hawkins were redundant in the backcourt, two shooting guards playing together without a point guard. Johnny Dawkins, having suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his right knee a few years back, is not suited to a running game.

Moe lacked a center (like Dan Issel or even Blair Rasmussen) who could trail on the break and stick the foul-line jumper. His front line was almost totally bereft of ballhandling skills (there goes the passing game). And his bench was virtually useless.

"I can't blame them," Moe said of his players. "Our chemistry isn't very good. We've got some players that, unless they're playing selfishly and looking for their own shots, they don't know how to play."

Moe admits he erred by backing off his usual tactics of running on offense and pressuring on defense. Still, he was catering to his personnel.

At least his reaction to losing was realistic.

"You don't beat your head against the wall and cry," Moe said. "You make it through the season and then you make changes. This is good from the standpoint that you learn what you need, if you can get it."

For the second straight year, the Sixers may learn that what they needed, they already had.

FAST BREAKS -- Rik Smits, considered the foundation of Indiana's future, should soon sign a five-year contract extension that will earn him an average of $3 million a season. Compare that with Shawn Kemp, the Sonics' franchise player, whose contract extension will earn him an average of $3.63 million for seven years, starting in 1995-96. Compare that with Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon, who will probably sign a four-year extension this week that is expected to raise his yearly salary to more than $6 million. . . . As of Friday, Scott Brooks has played the entire fourth quarter 18 times at point guard for Houston. The Rockets are 17-1 in those games. -- Just when you thought the Chicago Bulls are poised for a hard fall next season, comes news that Toni Kukoc, the 6-9 Croatian ballhandling wizard, may be on his way over. Chicago's Jerry Krause denies speculation that Kukoc could make it by this season's playoffs. But Guiseppe DeStefano, former GM for Benetton, the Italian League team that signed Kukoc to a six-year, $25 million contract the year before last, says, "The salary Benetton is paying to Toni is really over our dimensions, and is causing trouble to the rest of the league." Translation: You take him, and we won't fight you. . . . After the Air-less Bulls blew a 21-point lead and lost to San Antonio 107-102 in overtime last Friday, hanging over Scottie Pippen's locker-room stall was a sign that read, "No comment. Peace." -- San Antonio Coach John Lucas, the hardest-working man in professional basketball, confirms that he again will coach the defending USBL champion Miami Tropics after this NBA season is over. The Tropics, owned and coached by Lucas and led by Richard Dumas and Roy Tarpley, won the USBL title last season. They may have to start this one without Lucas because the USBL season runs from mid-May to mid-July, and Lucas' current team figures to still be playing until then. Lucas probably will again have Tarpley in Miami; the NBA apparently has told Tarpley that he must have another stint with the Tropics before he is considered for reinstatement next season. -- For those Sonic fans holding their breaths in anticipation of a great, fatigue-induced collapse in Phoenix, we have this bit of bad news: Rookie center Oliver Miller has returned, and has returned at only about 90 percent. Ninety percent of his former weight, that is - down 35 pounds to 285. Miller had missed 19 games with tendinitis in his right knee, after sitting out a stretch in December with a stress reaction in his right foot. Both were weight-related injuries. To recover, the 6-foot-9 Miller went on a 1,500-calories-a-day diet monitored by Humana Hospital in Phoenix. He intends to get down to 270 pounds. If he does, watch out.

Meanwhile, Dumas, the Suns' rookie forward sensation, is out for two more weeks with a sprain in his left ankle. But Cedric Ceballos hasn't skipped a beat in his stead, averaging 25 points and 9.5 rebounds in four starts since Dumas went down. Ceballos scored a career-high 40 points, hitting 14 of 15 field-goal attempts and 12 of 12 free throws, against Sacramento on Tuesday. . . . Meanwhile, the Trail Blubberers' Clyde Drexler was eligible to come off the injured list, where he's been since March 1 with a strained left hamstring, but is a good week away from returning. -- The season is over for Auburn native Blair Rasmussen after just 21 games. Worse yet, his career might be, too. After back trouble caused numbness in both legs, Rasmussen received a Larry Bird-like diagnosis: Bone spur in his lower back and a congenital narrowing of the spinal canal. "I've been living on cortisone the past month and they say I can't take any more of the medication," Rasmussen said. "Now it's a matter of looking at different options. As far as major surgery, that's not an option. The doctors say if I have major surgery, I'll never be able to play again." . . . Last Tuesday was team picture day for the Golden State Warriors, perhaps the only day this season that Coach Don Nelson had his Big Four - Tim Hardaway, Sarunas Marciulionis, Chris Mullin and Billy Owens - in uniform at the same time. -- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Dept.: Last year, the Trail Blubberers shot 47.3 percent and their opponents shot 45.4; this year, Portland is shooting 45.4 percent (better than only Dallas) to the opposition's 47 percent. . . . In his first 34 games for Cleveland, Gerald Wilkins scored in double figures only 11 times and shot 42 percent; in his next 25, he scored in double figures 19 times and shot 49 percent. . . . Heading into the weekend, the Pacers had won seven straight at home by an average of 19.1 points, but had lost eight straight on the road by an average of 8.6. . . . What-Goes-Around-Comes-Around Dept.: Last Thursday, the Nets announced that Kenny Anderson was lost for the rest of the season with a broken wrist. That night, the Knicks' John Starks, who caused Anderson's injury with a flagrant foul, suffered a broken nose on a too-close head fake by Utah's Jeff Malone.

SPEAKS OF THE WEEK -- "Dennis has made it clear to me that he doesn't want to be here. And when we get a deal that is right for us, we'll move him. If we don't, Dennis can stay here until he rots."

- Billy McKinney, Detroit general manager, after suspending Piston forward Dennis Rodman for missing a practice Wednesday.

"I don't know if we have a plan."

- Clipper Coach Larry Brown, on the team's future.

"The only woman who is going to get any of my money is my mother."

- Orlando's Shaquille O'Neal, after being romantically linked by the National Enquirer to Robin Givens.

"You don't want to be their win for March."

- Portland's Buck Williams, after facing the Dallas Mavericks, who so far have four victories this season - one in November, one in December, one in January and one in February.