ill Take: Palmer's Ultimatum

It's never a good situation, when players want to bail on your organization. It's even worse when we're talking about the quarterback of an NFL team. And it gets even worse than that, when the team we're talking about is the Cincinnati Bengals. Oy vey.

The Bengals have been a down on its luck franchise since the late 80's-early 90's, and it's been through every single low you could imagine from the Akili Smith pick to the Dick LeBeau years as the head coach. It's been a forgettable 12 or so years until they hired Marvin Lewis and then things began to look up, sorta.

Lewis went .500 for the first time in six years and then drafted Carson Palmer with the first overall pick and they went 8-8 again while Palmer got acclaimed with the system and then the team improved drastically and made it to the playoffs and then Palmer went down and everything changed.

The Bengals went 8-8 the following season, but all people could wonder is what if Palmer didn't get hurt and it was a question that plagued the Bengals for most of the season and the next couple years after that were miserable and also included another Palmer injury in 2008.

The injury in '08 tainted his numbers during a resurgent 2009 season for the Bengals which still ended with a wild card loss and we all know and remember just how terrible the Bengals were this year and that was probably the final straw for Palmer with this team and organization.

You have to wonder about the inner workings of a organization when both player and coach have to evaluate a team's front office.

Marvin Lewis, before resigning with Cincinnati had reservations about returning because he thought the team had to perform better in regards to personnel moves like the Baltimore Ravens.

And now Carson Palmer has the same concerns as Lewis and isn't as easily encouraged about the future of the Bengals as he now views them as "hopeless" and it's not a secret that the Bengals are not the picture of stability by any means, but Palmer is doing more to hurt their image this way than anything Chad Ochocinco has done the past five years.

It's understandable where Palmer is coming from in terms of wanting to win and hating the uncertainty of not knowing whether your bosses are going to do what's needed, but have some tact in the matter. There's nothing wrong with wanting to leave a city, but understand that there are ways to go about doing it.

You don't bash an organization on the way out, because it devalues your character and even though Carmelo forced his way out of Denver in the guise of "wanting to win a championship", I can't remember a single comment that was either said to the media or leaked to the media that resembled him bashing the Nuggets.

Frustration is one thing, but remember Carson, even though this team hasn't won a single playoff game during your tenure and have shot themselves in the foot more times than many people can remember, don't forget that in both of those games you were the starting QB under center. So yeah, the Bengals are now hopeless and that's partly because you lost hope.

Photo Courtesy of the Associated Press

Sixers Try to Build Following Tough Loss

Last night's defeat to the Dallas Mavericks at the Wells Fargo Center wasn't an easy one for the Sixers to swallow because it was a game that could have easily gone the other way, not just because of plays here and there but because of the way the team responded down the stretch.

There's no other way to say it, but calling it like it was, the Sixers flinched, bad. When the Sixers pulled to within a point of the red-hot Mavs, a combination of bad decisions and missed free throws made Philadelphia look unprepared for such a situation.

Now we all know that the Sixers have made serious strides this season and even at 30-30 on the season are progressing greatly every night, but I didn't like what I saw in the final two minutes of play and neither did the boisterous crowd that saw free throw after free throw clang loudly off every part of the rim.

Winning games late in the NBA is hard to do and it's been hard for the Sixers to do this year as they are among the bottom in the league in regards to their record in close games.

Teams like the Celtics and the Lakers and even the Suns as of late have been able to make the most of those clutch moments and as we've seen this season, finishes like those can make your season easier and propel you into a stretch of play that lifts the team in the standings and the mood in the locker room.

So if there is one thing that needs to improve with this Sixers team, it's definitely the late game nervousness of some guys on this team because the later we get into the season the tougher these games are going to get and even though the Miami Heat are also with the Sixers in relation to having an equally terrible record in close games, they have the advantage of having two top five players on their roster.

I've loved the development of guys like Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner, but we saw last night that they were not ready on a couple of occasions to make a big play and I feel that with Jrue, that big shot feel will come because he definitely has it and has displayed it at different points this season.

While with Turner, I would seriously think about limiting his late game minutes if the game is in doubt because he's still a raw offensive talent and in closing moments you need guys on the floor that can get you easy points and it's been an all season struggle for Turner to get on track, I'm not knocking him, but he's not far along enough in his development to be on the floor late in the fourth quarter.

I've been as positive as anybody regarding the Sixers this year and this right now is the most pressing concern to this roster, to become more comfortable in a late game environment when the game is in doubt.

The sane thing almost occurred in Cleveland when the Sixers almost blew a double-digit lead late in the forth quarter, finishing games is an acquired skill in the NBA and it'll take time but if the Sixers expect to be a threat going into the playoffs, then adjustments have to be made or else playoff time will come and no one will be looking at the positives anymore.