Los Angeles  - The Philadelphia 76ers fired coach Maurice Cheeks on Saturday, one day after the team continued its slide with a season-worst offensive effort.

Expected by many to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, the 76ers have opened 9-14 with eight losses in their last 10 games, including Friday's dispirited 88-72 setback at Cleveland.

Cheeks was replaced on an interim basis by assistant general manager Tony DiLeo, a long-time member of the team's front office. DiLeo will coach the Sixers in Saturday's game at Washington and is expected to remain coach for the rest of the season.

A year ago, the Sixers fired president Billy King and replaced him with Ed Stefanski, who gave Cheeks a one-year contract extension through the 2008-09 season and another one-year extension earlier this year, after Philadelphia used a second-half surge to make the playoffs for the first time since 2005.

"Decisions of this nature are never easy, and this was particularly difficult due to the great amount of respect I have for Maurice Cheeks," Stefanski said. "However, at this time I felt that it is in the best interest of this team to make a change while there is still time to accomplish the goals we set forth for ourselves at the start of the season."

In the off-season, Stefanski landed free agent forward Elton Brand and reinked young stars Andre Iguodala and Louis Williams to long- term deals. The addition of Brand was supposed to transform Philadelphia into a contender.

However, Brand and Iguodala have had difficulty getting their games to mesh. Cheeks has had disagreements with starting centre Samuel Dalembert, benching him for long stretches. The team heard boos in Wednesday's home loss to Cleveland.

A Philadelphia fixture who spent his first 11 seasons as a player with the 76ers and had his number-10 jersey retired by the club, Cheeks is 122-147 in three-plus seasons as head coach in the City of Brotherly Love.

Cheeks came to Philadelphia from Portland, where he was 162-139 with two postseason appearances in three-plus seasons.

DiLeo has never been an NBA coach. He was a scout and assistant coach before moving into management as director of player personnel in 1999. He became assistant GM in 2003.

DiLeo played and coached for 10 seasons in West Germany and was named coach of the year in 1987 in the top West German league.

"Tony DiLeo has a wealth of basketball knowledge and coaching experience - both in the NBA and on the international level - and is familiar not only with our current group of players but the style of play we are striving to attain on a consistent basis," Stefanski said.

Cheeks is the fifth coach fired this season, after PJ Carlesimo of Oklahoma City, Eddie Jordan of Washington, Sam Mitchell of Toronto and Randy Wittman of Minnesota.

There is speculation that Stefanski may reach out to Jordan, as the two worked together with the New Jersey Nets earlier this decade. (dpa)