With another sub-.500 season in the works, a perpetually half-empty Wachovia Center and a rejuvenated Allen Iverson now snapping nets with the Denver Nuggets, the first month of the 2007-08 season revealed a fundamental truth to the Philadelphia 76ers and their fans: it was a franchise in need of a facelift.
Paging Dr. Stefanski.
1976 Penn graduate and former Quakers basketball player Ed Stefanski was hired on Dec. 4 to replace the long-tenured (and much-maligned) Billy King as the team's president and general manager.
Stefanski certainly had the resume - nine years in the New Jersey Nets' front office and a well-earned reputation for spotting young talent.
The Daily Pennsylvanian caught up with the alumnus to discuss Ivy League hoops, cheesesteaks and the art of constructing an NBA contender.
Daily Pennsylvanian: What's your all-time favorite Palestra memory?
Ed Stefanski: When we beat La Salle in my sophomore year against the Jim O'Brien team. Both teams were good teams. I had one of my better games, so that would be probably my fondest memory as a player.
But there are so many numerous memories on the court and even sitting on the bench watching. That was a special time for me at the Palestra.
DP: Describe Ed Stefanski, the point guard. What would you say your game was like?
ES: Strictly a point guard. What they call that 'old Philadelphia Catholic League'-type of point guard. Get the other people set up, be the coach on the floor, play some defense and try to knock foul shots down at the end of the game. I wasn't a scoring guard at all.
DP: What was it like to play under coach Chuck Daly at the college level?
ES: Oh, it was great. The mentorship that I got growing up was just invaluable. What I really learned from Chuck was how well-rounded you need to be as a head coach; how you handle not just the X's and O's - which obviously he does a great job with - but how you handle players, how you handle the alumni, how you handle the [news] press. Chuck has the total package and he proved it. He's won on any level he's been on and he's won the biggest prizes.
DP: You were picked in the 10th round of the draft in 1976.
ES: [laughs] Back then they had 10 rounds, now they only have two, so that was more because I was a local kid than anything else.
DP: So you never considered a serious attempt at an NBA career?
ES: No, no, not at all.
DP: What were the primary contributors to your decision to come to Philadelphia last month?
ES: One was the organization. To work for a team that's owned by Comcast and the Roberts family and Ed Snyder, that's pretty special.
Ed Snyder is one of the best entrepreneurs ever. When I get to talk to him, we talk about the 76ers, but I always try to bring it into what he's done. I just find him amazing. Also, people say "coming home." I really never left, but the chance of coming back home and being a big part of the Sixers organization, that was exciting.
DP: How have the fans received you since your arrival?
ES: I would say [well]. I mean, the fans are looking for change and they got change, and we'll move forward. It's real early - it's only been five or six weeks - so you'd have to ask the fans. But so far, my reception has been nice. I understand what the fans are looking for, and we've got to improve the product.
DP: As a GM, especially in a city like this, how do you address the need for long-term planning on a team whose fans are so thirsty for immediate on-the-court success?
ES: Everyone would like it to be immediate, but that's unrealistic at this point. The goal of the franchise is to win an NBA championship. That, to me, has to be your goal going into every season. I don't care who you are, that has to be your goal. If that's not your goal, there are going to be problems.
You want to win an NBA championship, but how do you get there? What steps do you have to take to get there? You obviously need a plan. The hardest thing about the plan for me is that you've got to execute the plan. Once you execute the plan, then you just sit back and wait and see what the results are.
I'm not saying every plan works; it doesn't. And there are variations of plans. But that's what we do on a daily basis. We brainstorm every day here as a group and try to come up with different plans, different variations, and once you execute them, then you see what the results are.
DP: Can you elaborate on your daily routine as a general manager?
ES: Not taking the president's duties at all into account, as a general manager I am a hands-on type of guy with the players in the sense that I'm always available to them, [an] open-door policy. I go to pretty much all the practices. I'm a gym rat myself. I like to be in the gym. I like to hear the bounce of the ball.
Every day, I shake the players' hands, look them in the eyes, talk to them. It doesn't have to be just about basketball, but I just say hello to everybody every day. I'm there if they want to come over and see me, and we talk.
And again, it's only been five weeks, but I have to build a relationship with these guys so they know I'm coming from a point that I'm obviously trying to make them better basketball players and trying to make this a better basketball team. So that's a big thing. And also the staff. The head coach, Maurice Cheeks, and I talk on a daily basis about where we think we're going, what the personnel is like and what we can do to make this better. So it's a process, and it's not an easy one and it does take some time.
DP: How difficult was it to walk away from the New Jersey Nets organization?
ES: It was hard, really hard. The ownership in New Jersey treated me first-class. Rod Thorn, as I said, became a very close friend. I had a relationship with the people there, the players. When I draft a guy, I truly try to work hard with that person to mentor that person, also.
That doesn't mean I fall in love and would never trade a guy. That's not the case. But I really feel the people you have in your organization, you try your best to mentor them. What a lot of people forget is these are young kids. I know they make a lot of money, and you tend to forget that these are still young men, and they need that guidance.
DP: In your career as a talent evaluator, are there any players you're particularly proud of having picked out promising prospects?
ES: Well, I guess the one player that you have to say would be the Nenad Krstic pick for the Nets. We were able to keep him overseas for two more years in Serbia, and then when we brought him over, he was able to contribute right away. He's a real nice basketball player. It's unfortunate that he got an ACL injury, but I think once he gets healthy, he'll be a real factor for the Nets.
DP: As a working GM, how do you manage to keep an eye on the college game with so many other duties requiring your attention?
ES: It's been very difficult. I usually am out on the road myself, but we have a very good scouting staff here.
I've been watching a lot of film and a lot of games on television now, which is not horrible for me because most of these guys I've already seen in the summer time or I've seen somewhere before, so I do have a good feel mentally of their bodies.
But this year, right now with the time constraints, I'm not able to get out there. Hopefully in February and March, I'll be able to get out there a little bit more.
DP: Just one final question. As a lifelong Philadelphia man, what would you say is the best cheesesteak in town?
ES: [long pause, sighs] I've eaten them all. [Laughs.]
DP: All of them?
ES: [laughs] I've had 'em all. I'll have to go with Dellasandro's, in Roxborough. You can put a footnote, though. I've eaten them all.
