In 59 games, DiLeo guided the team to a 32-27 record, which resulted in the franchise's first non-losing season since 2004-05.

DiLeo regrouped a team that lost the services of free-agent signee Elton Brand, then made the Eastern Conference playoffs, and pushed the heavily favored Orlando Magic to six games before falling in the first round.

All in all, DiLeo did a slightly better job than Cheeks did during the 2007-08 season, and that earned him a contract extension.

But here is the dilemma facing Sixers president/general manager Ed Stefanski as he decides DiLeo's fate:

The question for Stefanski is not whether DiLeo has earned the opportunity. The question is whether he believes DiLeo is the coach who can lead the Sixers to an NBA championship.

That's the mind-set this franchise has to have in moving forward. Everything it does has to be directed toward bringing a championship to Philadelphia within 3 to 5 years.

That's what Stefanski was brought here to do. That's why he committed nearly $200 million in salary to Brand, Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams. That's why he's going to pour a ton of cash at the fabulous potential of forward Thaddeus Young, why he'll make a run to keep point guard Andre Miller, and negotiate the waters of the salary cap to acquire more talent through creative trades and free-agent signings.

This is Stefanski's organization. He has a vision for what he thinks it is capable of and how he can get it there.

That's why the decision on DiLeo has to be looked at in a much colder view.

It's not about what DiLeo has done. It's about what you think he can do.

Stefanski already went through this when he inherited Cheeks as coach after taking over for Billy King on Dec. 3, 2007. To his credit, Stefanski felt obligated to give Cheeks a fair evaluation period.

But Cheeks was never Stefanski's coach.

Things got more complicated when Cheeks surprisingly took the Sixers to the playoffs.

Stefanski couldn't fire a popular figure from Sixers' lore who had done what was asked of him. He gave Cheeks a 1-year extension, then fired Cheeks after the Sixers started 9-14 to began this season.

Enter DiLeo.

First, let's be honest about this, interim hires don't get any more interim than Stefanski bringing in DiLeo, the senior vice president/assistant general manger, who had last coached professional Basketball 2 decades earlier in Germany.

Nothing against DiLeo, but I cannot believe that he would have been Stefanski's choice if a coaching change had been made during the offseason.

This is where Stefanski is, and this time he needs to finally hire "his guy" to coach the Sixers .

I have no idea who that is right now. It might end up being DiLeo, and I'd have no problem with that as long as it is done for the correct reasons.

The next coach has to be the one who can best implement the vision Stefanski has for the Sixers .

All of the other criteria measures short in comparison.

This isn't a Johnny Davis, Randy Ayers or Jim O'Brien moment for the Sixers . This is a time like when the Sixers hired Larry Brown to properly guide the Allen Iverson era.

It didn't work out, but this is the same as when the Sixers first hired Cheeks to provide stable growth.

This cannot be a transition hire for the Sixers . Stefanski has to believe the next coach is the guy.

The Sixers are going to have to commit 3 to 5 years and several million dollars to this hire. That is the only way the incoming coach is going to have the clout to shake up a team that underachieved down the stretch and take it to the next level.

Stefanski needs a coach who can get in the face of the suddenly talkative Iguodala and explain to him that a major issue from the start was that he did not put in the offseason work that would have made his transition to two guard work, thus increasing the versatility of the team by allowing Brand and Young to play their natural positions.

How about hiring a shooting coach like Young did and taking 1,000 midrange jumpers a day, 'Dre? That's not too much to ask for $86 million.

The Sixers need a coach who can get across the point that losing six of seven games going into the playoffs is unacceptable, and that getting blown out at home in Game 6 when Orlando is without Dwight Howard and Courtney Lee is beyond pathetic.

It's time for this franchise to make a serious move toward the next level.

If Stefanski believes DiLeo is the coach who can do that, fine.

But if DiLeo isn't that coach, his reward for a job well done should come in the form of a nice bonus check on his way back upstairs into the front office.

Stefanski can no longer worry about rewarding the past. This coaching hire has to be about the Sixers' future. *

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