Mo Walks Away With His Head Held High

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The Sixers held a press conference this morning at which Mo Cheeks talked about being fired as head basketball coach of the team he once led to a championship as a player. We haven't chimed in much here about the decision mostly because we're torn. Cheeks is a class act and the kind of individual you want representing your organization. He was my favorite player growing up even playing alongside the Doc. That said, this team was not clicking and they certainly weren't winning.

Kate Fagan of the Inquirer summarizes Mo's press conference this morning quite well.

Cheeks started by thanking the organization, Ed Stefanski, and the
city for the opportunity to be the head coach in the city in which he
started his playing career. Many times throughout the morning he said
this was his city, he loved this city, and he would be open to working
with the Sixers in a different capacity. Although he said no one has
approached him yet on the topic. Stefanski did say on Saturday that he
would talk to Mo about this after the Holidays.

Cheeks said, "This is a tough situation for me, but it's part of the
business. If you're not winning games, things happen. I can't express
my appreciation as much as I'd like. No one understands the feelings
inside when you get fired." (In such a public forum.)

"I used to say when we had a bad game, 'It's a moment, and it will
pass.' Well this is a moment. I take solace in the fact I did the best
I could. This is not about pointing fingers. I'm not even going to go
into the X's and O's part of it. I'm not going to go into the blame
game. No one that gets fired can come up here and say, 'Look' no one
feels good about it. I would assume the Sixer organization doesn't feel
good about it."

Cheeks will always be remembered more as a player who brought a Championship Parade to this city. Unfortunately, his time as a coach never really had any milestone memories.

I hope Cheeks bounces back and get a job he loves. If that job is a role within the Sixers organization, all the better. The man is a class act in a sports world full of egos.

>>Parting Words [Inquirer]

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