Princeton offense only as good as the players

TWO YEARS AGO, the man who popularized it summed up the dilemma over breakfast at the Princeton Diner.

"If you don't have real good players, the Princeton offense isn't going to help at all," Pete Carril said.

So, do the Sixers have real good players? Well, they have some really good athletes. Are those athletes skilled enough to play the Princeton offense? And if they aren't, can their skills be improved enough to make it work? And, if they can't, can president/general manager Ed Stefanski get new coach Eddie Jordan the players to make it work?

There were more than a few questions on the first day of Princeton in South Philly. Do these Sixers have enough players who can pass, dribble and shoot? When they get in a triple-threat position with the ball, will a defense respect that threat enough to make the offense work correctly?

"It's an accent on development of skills," Carril, the legendary Princeton coach, said 2 days after he watched Georgetown win a place for his offense in the 2007 Final Four.

Can NBA players, some of whom have played a certain way for years, still develop those skills and play a way they have never played before? Stefanski believes it, which is why he hired Jordan. And Jordan believes it because: a) he has seen it happen before, and b) he has to believe it.

The Sixers will learn the Princeton offense. Then, everybody will see if they can make it work.

So, what is it?

"It's one-third Boston Celtics during the good old days when they were passing and cutting, one-third the Knick offense [from the early 1970s] and one-third was what I developed over the course of the years trying to do those things," Carril said.

Jordan learned it from Carril when they were together in Sacramento. Jordan helped implement it in New Jersey and the Nets promptly hit the NBA Finals in consecutive years. (Was it the offense, the arrival of Jason Kidd or some of each?) He taught it as the head coach of the Wizards. Washington's offense immediately scored 10 more points per game. The Wizards were regularly in the playoffs.

"I believe in unselfish basketball," Jordan said.

The new coach, however, is under no illusions.

"What wins in this league is talent," he said.

When Gilbert Arenas was hurt last season and the Wizards couldn't win, Jordan was fired. Talent wins. Lack of talent loses.