Deep Sixer

As if the 76ers’ job this year wasn’t tough enough, Boston has now made the plight of the Sixers and every other Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference team that much more difficult.
With the addition of Ray Allen and now Kevin Garnett, Boston has added two players with a combined 17 all-star appearances. That is in addition to the five all-star appearances by Paul Pierce.
The Celtics will now be a trendy pick to win not only the Atlantic Division but to surface as Eastern Conference champ.
Here’s a little advice – not so fast.
Boston’s Big 3 can match anybody in the league, but the last time we checked, they played 5-on-5 in the NBA.
This is still a team whose starting center is Kendrick Perkins. And point guard Rajon Rondo is still an unproven commodity.
That said, whose team would you rather have today – the Sixers or Celtics?
It’s no comparison.
Then again, the Sixers won’t match up in talent with just about any team on their schedule, but that doesn’t mean the they can’t have a competitive team (although one that faces a serious uphill battle concerning the postseason).
Since the Sixers have many players at a similar skill level, it’s become obvious that for them to succeed this season, they will have to go deep to the bench.
The Sixers should attempt to run teams into the ground.
Andre Iguodala is the only player who should approach the 40-minute mark. Andre Miller could be in the vicinity of 35 and after that, the Sixers should run players in and out.
They can’t go toe-to-toe with teams such as Boston by playing their starters as many minutes.
Some may question why could the Celtics do what they did and the Sixers stood pat? Good question. One thing is that Boston had the No. 5 pick in the draft, which was the main enticement in getting Allen.
And Boston had to give up a quality young player in Al Jefferson among others to get Garnett.
Plus, Garnett wouldn’t have come to a Sixers team that even with him would have struggled to be the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference. That’s because to get Garnett, the Sixers would have surely had to part with Iguodala, along with draft picks and probably Miller and Korver, just to name a few.
And Garnett wouldn’t have come to Boston without the chance to play with two fellow all-pros.
So the Boston deals just shows how much work the Sixers have to do just to get back to being respectable.
As stated before, president and general manager Billy King is doing the right thing by not trying to sign a stop-gap free agent, who will add more to the future cap.
It’s hard now for the Sixers’ fans to show patience when every other team in the Atlantic Division has made additions, with Boston at the top of the list.
For now, the Sixers have to bank on the improvement of the players they have and hope that they can develop enough depth to have the type of bench that could wear teams down.
It doesn’t provide a lot of immediate hope, but for now that’s the best that the current Sixers roster can offer.

The best thing for Samuel Dalembert would be to be able to play for the Canadian National Team this summer. Dalembert still hasn’t received official word about his participation, although Canadian National Team coach Leo Rautins said by e-mail that he is confident that the 76ers center will be part of the team.
Dalembert is not a Canadian citizen, but is considered a landed immigrant and that is the holdup about him being eligible.
Canada will compete in the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament from Aug. 22 to Sept. 2 in Las Vegas.
The experience that Dalembert would get from competing in this tournament, especially against the talented U.S. team, would be invaluable.
While the Sixers haven’t made many changes since the end of last season, the team is banking on the improvement of several young players.
The 26-year-old Dalembert is one of those players. On paper, he has a solid season, starting all 82 games and averaging 10.7 points and 8.9 rebounds, but he has been prone to foul trouble and periods of inconsistency.
There are many hoping that this will be the season that he will take that next step and by all accounts, he has been putting extra time on his game.
And what better way to improve than to play against top-notch international competition.
Many feel this is a critical season for Dalembert. It will be his sixth season with the Sixers (not counting 2002-2003 which he missed due to knee surgery).
Many times centers take longer to develop and during his time Dalembert has shown glimpses of brilliance.
In his only playoff during the 2004-05 season, Dalembert averaged 12.8 points and 11.6 rebounds when the Sixers lost in five games to the Detroit Pistons. Most felt that he would take off after that year, but the next season he missed the first 13 games with a right quad strain and never hit stride.
Last season was a bounce-back year, but there is the feeling that he is capable of more.
And his game will only be helped if he is able to compete this summer, which would be a nice springboard leading into training camp on Oct. 2.

The 76ers feel that Andre Iguodala is a player to build the franchise around. Entering his fourth season, the 23-year-old Iguodala is also beginning to assert himself as a leader on the team. That was demonstrated when he took time to be with the Sixers rookies in Las Vegas, offering guidance and encouragement.
Iguodala is being groomed as the face of the franchise and seems to understand the responsibility. He has provided class on and off the court.
The Sixers would no doubt like to extend Iguodala’s contract and he certainly wouldn’t be adverse to an extension.
Now comes the more difficult part – agreeing to terms.
This year, Iguodala’s fourth-year NBA salary of $2.8 million is set. The Sixers could hold his rights for next year by making a $3.8 million qualifying offer. If this happened, Iguodala would be an unrestricted free agent after the fifth year.
Under NBA rules, he is eligible to sign a five-year extension that would take place beginning in 2008-2009. The Sixers can negotiate an extension until Oct. 31 and if no deal is reached, they wouldn’t be able to re-open talks until July.
From a public relations standpoint, it makes sense to have your top player locked up. And Iguodala’s basketball stock keeps growing, evidenced by the fact that he was among a group of young players that USA Basketball invited to scrimmage against the National Team for a week prior to the competing in the FIBA Americas Championship from Aug. 22 to Sept. 2 in Las Vegas.
Young players such as Iguodala are looked on as potential candidates for the 2012 Olympic team.
This is a player who the Sixers would be proud to have identified as their leader, especially after averaging 18.2 points, 5.7 assists and 5.7 rebounds last year.
While we’ll let Sixers president and general manager Billy King and Iguodala’s agent Rob Pelinka do the negotiating, there are a few basic points to make.
If Iguodala is the best player, there is no doubt his agent will want him to be the highest paid on the team.
In 2008-2009, the Sixers’ top paid player will be Samuel Dalembert, who will be earning approximately $11 million.
A maximum contract for a player of Iguodala’s experience would be between $13 and $14 million annually.
One would think the starting point for negotiating would be somewhere above $11 million a year.
The Sixers want to make sure that they have enough salary cap money to attract a free agent next year. . They also have to make sure not to alienate Iguodala with contentious negotiations.
It’s a delicate line that King must walk.
Besides Dalembert’s salary, another factor that should help Iguodala in negotiations is the recent contract given Rashard Lewis following a sign and trade deal from Seattle to the Orlando Magic.
Lewis, according to a source will receive $112.7 million over six years, an average of $18.8 million per year. Soon to be 28, Lewis is entering his 10th NBA season and is no doubt a talented player. Yet is his upside better than that of the 23-year-old Iguodala, who is also known as an accomplished defender?
It’s easy for others to give away the Sixers money, but it is also important that if Iguodala is the face of the franchise, that he should be locked up now.
The Sixers have said negotiations are ongoing. All sides would benefit if a deal is made before the start of the regular season.

NBA commissioner David Stern is usually lively and animated at press conferences. When talking about the Tim Donaghy situation, he was visibly shaken.
That’s what happens when an alleged betting scandal involving a referee happens to a league, the worst possible nightmare.
Stern said to his knowledge, Donaghy is the only official being accused of placing bets on NBA games. The NBA and its fans can only hope he is correct.
What is amazing is that the NBA has an extensive security system in place as a way of upholding the integrity of the game. It also shows that the determined effort of one person can foil even the best security plans.
"This is the most serious situation and worst situation that I have ever experienced either as a fan of the NBA, a lawyer for the NBA or commissioner of the NBA," Stern said.
He wasn’t overstating the case.
The NBA will survive this scandal, but not without serious consequences. There will no doubt be public mistrust whenever a call in the NBA is deemed questionable. And anybody who watches enough NBA games realizes that the nature of the sport lends itself to close, questionable calls.
It will be unfair the added scrutiny that NBA referees will face as a result of this situation. Now there will be distrusting fans due to the actions of one member. That isn’t fair, but unfortunately it comes with the territory.
So the NBA will continue to dig itself out of this huge hole that has been created by an official who is accused of placing bets on NBA games.
Locally, the 76ers had no comment on the situation. There will be plenty of other people who will be voicing their opinion on this matter. It’s a situation that likely will have lasting scars.
And unfortunately, future betting patterns and results from Las Vegas will be scrutinized as closely as any achievements the players accomplish on the court.

With the uncertainty surrounding Chinese power forward Yi Jianlian and his situation with the Milwaukee Bucks, there have been plenty of e-mails coming in asking if the 76ers can get back into the picture.
To review, the Sixers tried very hard on draft night to trade up for Milwaukee’s No. 6 pick in the draft, with the express purpose of selecting Yi.
Yi and his handlers have balked at going to Milwaukee, creating the feeling that teams such as the Sixers could get back into the picture.
Anything is possible, but as we wrote more than a week ago, don’t count on it. It appears as if Milwaukee holds all the cards.
The only way Yi can re-enter the drat next season is if he doesn’t play this year. And that is very unlikely considering that the Olympics are going to be in China next summer. Other than Yao Ming, Yi is the second best player on the team, and it’s doubtful that the Chinese Basketball Association will want Yi sitting out the season leading up to the Olympics.
And from talking to Bucks officials, they appear adamant about not trading Yi. The Sixers and other teams no doubt are keeping up with the proceedings, but if Milwaukee would begin to negotiate with another NBA team, then it would truly show a sign of raising the white flag.
And the Bucks appear to be in this for the long haul.
Another factor in allowing the Bucks to hold their ground is that they are a potential playoff team with or without Yi.
And then there is the factor that the NBA officials don’t want an unproven player such as Yi to dictate where he will play, undermining the purpose of the draft. It will be interesting if commissioner David Stern, who is following the developments closely, decides to flex his muscles in this situation.
The final factor is that Yi is far from a finished product. While he looked great in his first game playing for the Chinese National Team in the Las Vegas Summer League, his other four appearances were below standard.
Still, it says here that he has the makings of being an excellent NBA player, but it won’t happen by Nov. 1.
There will be growing pains and he will have to get used to playing against top-notch competition every day in practice and every game in the NBA.
His development would be helped immeasurably by playing for the Bucks and he wouldn’t have to be the savior. That would take a lot of the pressure off somebody who by his account is only 19-years-old (although there continue to be suspicions that he is older).
The Bucks realize all this and continue to hold their ground. That is why Sixers fans shouldn’t hold their breath that something could break their way concerning Yi.

During the spring, Louis Amundson got a late-season audition from the 76ers with nobody paying much attention to him even though he was the D-League Rookie of the year.
Then again it is hard to notice somebody who averaged just 8,7 minutes in the 10 games he played with the Sixers, with 10 other DNP – coaches decisions thrown in as well.
Amundson must have grown an inch since the season ended because he’s now listed at 6-foot-9 and 225 pounds.
Whether he’s 6-9 or 6-8 what is unmistakable is the work ethic he has brought to the team.
Coach Maurice Cheeks talks about the energy that Amundson has provided. And nobody has worked harder in the offseason. Amundson missed very few days at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
And he has been impressive in both the Las Vegas and Utah summer leagues. We all know it’s only summer league, but Amundson has shown the type of heart that is needed on a young team that won’t go into many games with more talent than the opposition.
He also had scouts talking about him in Las Vegas in a positive way. There is little question that he will be on the team this season, barring some unexpected trade or other moves.
And on a team that lacks a true standout at power forward, he actually may earn some meaningful minutes.
While it still may be risky to give him somewhere near 20 minutes a night, he also shouldn’t be a candidate for too many DNP- coaches decisions either.
Nobody will outwork him on the court and that type of non-stop effort can become contagious, especially on a young team.
No, the Sixers haven’t gotten the power forward they have wanted this off season, and there aren't a lot of great immediate options out there. Yet if Amundson has to play important minutes for limited stretches, it won’t be a disaster.
In fact one can hope that his teammates can adopt his all-out attitude of never giving up and always thinking that he is as good as his opponent.

So the 76ers’ new strategy of using restraint in the free agent market is being met with skepticism.
If judging the complaints from e-mailers, the disgruntled fans want us to hammer the team for its previous spending habits and wondering why all of a sudden discretion is being used.
To review, the Sixers offered Joe Smith a three-year $10 million deal and lost out to Chicago which will sign him to a two-year $10 million contract.
Fans want us to bury the Sixers for overpaying in the past. Everybody knows the biggest fault of the Sixers is that they have paid way too much for their own players. They shelled out $35 million for Aaron McKie and then ended up eating the final three years and $19 million to avoid luxury tax penalties.
Samuel Dalembert was given a six-year deal for approximately $64 million, which even at the time was probably at least $20 million more than should have been offered. Or at the least, they should have let Dalembert, who was a restricted free agent at the time to get an offer and then the Sixers would have had the chance to match.
Other players such as Kenny Thomas and Eric Snow were given contracts well above their ability. And taking on Chris Webber’s huge salary turned out to be another huge mistake, but to be fair, this reporter and many others praised the move when it was made.
OK, so we now have that out of the way.
It’s possible that the Sixers could have learned from these mistakes.
They will be better off having cap room next year and the estimates are that they could be between $9 and 10 million under the cap.
Had they been in that position this year, they might have been able to sign Darko Milicic, who went to Memphis for three years and $21 million.
While some may not be sold on Milicic, he would have been an upgrade in the frontcourt, is still young and has enough potential to deserve the contract that he signed.
Just because the Sixers overpaid their own players and free agents in the past, doesn’t mean that it has to continue.
Sure, the Sixers could have used Smith, but it’s also important to be as much under the cap next year to attract a higher-level player.
Whether people like what Sixers president and general manager Billy King has done or not, he does have a plan and instead of quick fixes, he is looking toward the future. He could have drafted Al Thornton, who might have been a better immediate fix, but felt that the long-range potential of Thaddeus Young is better for the franchise. And to repeat, we’re on board saying that Young will eventually become a quality NBA players.
Nobody knows if this plan for the future will work any better than the previous plans, but it can’t be any worse. Building for the future, saving cap space and watching young players develop looks like a solid game plan.
When Allen Iverson was here, the only plan was to keep trying to find players who could mesh with him. That plan, especially in the final years, didn’t work out so well.
And remember, King is on the final year of his contract so it would be easy for him to look for more quick fixes, but he’s looking at the long-range view of the franchise when making decisions.
It’s counter productive to continue to rip King. He can’t undo the mistakes, but he can learn from them. And for now, we’ll given him and the organization the benefit of the doubt because the team seems to have a clear future direction something that always wasn’t present in the past.

The 76ers have now lost out on their No. 1 off-season priority, re-signing Joe Smith. As The Inquirer’s David Aldridge reported, Smith opted for a two-year deal with Chicago, totaling $10 million. According to Aldridge, the Sixers best offer was three years for $10 million. This has been confirmed by NBA sources.
Smith was a great locker room presence and effective on the court, averaging 9.2 points and 6.7 rebounds in 54 games with the Sixers after being acquired in the Allen Iverson deal.
He would have helped the Sixers immeasurably, but with the team being well under the cap after this year, the Sixers didn’t want to tie too much money up to a player who wouldn’t have been in their long-range plans.
Smith turns 32 this month and has a lot of mileage on his NBA odometer. This will be his 13th season.
So even though he was the Sixers’ top priority, we’re not talking about Kevin Garnett here.
Last week Sixers president and general manager Billy King talked about signing a free agent, but the class, which was weak to begin with, is slowly drying up. Smith and Darko Milicic, who has signed with Memphis were the top two targets. Even fallback players such as the Nets Mikki Moore have also gone elsewhere (with Sacramento). And Jamaal Magloire, whose production has declined steeply over the last few years, seems ready to sign with New Jersey.
Former Shawnee High and Villanova product Malik Allen, a free agent from Chicago, is out there, but the bank shouldn’t be broken for anybody left on the market. Although if Allen could come in at a reasonable price, he wouldn’t be a bad addition.
It’s not the worst thing in the world that the Sixers didn’t sign a free agent. There will be young players vying for playing time and even though they have a weakness at power forward, it could hasten the development of 7-footer Jason Smith. And the Sixers have also been impressed by the improvement and grit of Lous Amundson.
Although let’s be honest, Eastern Conference teams aren’t going to be staying up at night worrying about countering a group of power forwards that could include Amundson, Smith along with Steven Hunter and Shavlik Randolph.
And with a wealth of small-forward/big-guard types, the Sixers may take a page from Golden State’s book and play with a smaller lineup. There is only one problem with this strategy – rebounds. The Sixers were 25th in the NBA last year in rebounding, averaging 39.66 per game.
And of course, King will also work on making a trade, although sources from other teams say that the two most requested players – Andre Iguodala and Kyle Korver – are off limits.
Smith would have obviously helped the Sixers in the short term, but by saving money and opening playing time for others it might not be a disaster even though it would have made life – and winning – easier with Smith on board.

LAS VEGAS - The 76ers left Las Vegas with three wins, three overtime games and a number of positive developments. Sure, this is just summer league, but anybody wants to see progression and that is what happened with the four of the franchise’s key players.
Guard Lou Williams averaged 25.2 points and even though he had 32 turnovers and 25 assists, he was still arguably one of the five best players in the tournament.
Williams said his performance boosted his confidence, which was pretty high to begin with.
After two subpar games, Rodney Carney finished strong with three successive impressive outings.
“I just had to relax,” he said.
Carney was among the best athletes in the tourney and coach Maurice Cheeks calls him one of the top athletes in the NBA.
What was impressive the final three games was how Carney was hitting deep jumpers.
There is no question that Carney and Williams should be an important part of the rotation.
In addition, both first-round picks, Thaddeus Young and Jason Smith, also showed tremendous progress over the five games.
Smith admitted to being tentative the first game, but after that he continued to improve. Young saved his best for last with 20 points, on 8 for 16 shooting from the field in Wednesday’s 104-101 OT win over Phoenix.
While Young still has a long way to go in areas such as ballhandling and decision-making, at 19-years-old, he doesn’t seem one bit intimated.
Smith looked intimidated the first game and admitted he was pretty nervous. After that, he settled down and was a solid contributor.
Young averaged 12 points and 6.2 rebounds and Smith averaged 8.4 points and 6.8 rebounds. While they aren’t off-the-chart statistics, one could see each game that both had a better idea of what they were doing, gained confidence and didn’t back down.
Whether Young and Smith can sneak into the rotation this year will only be known after training camp, but what was positive was that neither took a step back in Las Vegas.
And that’s not easy because the Sixers have either been practicing or playing for 11 straight days.
The players, especially Smith and Young, admitted that it was tiring, but they also realize that the NBA schedule will be unforgiving so this was a good training ground.
And it was a decent way for the two rookies to begin their careers and a positive sign for two veterans such as Williams and Carney who are looking to establish themselves as major contributors this year.

LAS VEGAS - Lou Williams, the 76ers third-year point guard, came to Las Vegas to make a statement and he has done that in an emphatic manner.
It could be argued that Williams has been the best point guard at the Las Vegas summer league.
A second-round pick in 2005, Williams has been blowing by first rounders and any other defenders in his way. In Tuesday’s 98-95 OT win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Williams won the battle with Jordan Farmar, the Lakers first-round pick in 2006. Williams had 29 points and as he has done all tournament, he got to the free throw line frequently, hitting 16 of 22 foul shots.
Williams is still turning the ball over too much, six times against the Lakers, but he said he is experimenting in the summer and his turnovers will be high.
He had a better than 2-to-1 assist to turnover ratio for the Sixers last year with 110 assists and 46 turnovers.
Farmar didn’t exactly have a bad game either, scoring 18 points, dishing 11 assists and shooting 7 for 10 from the field.
And that brings up something that Williams has to pay more attention to – defense.
Still, he is using so much energy running the team and in the summer he has to do so much more than he would with the Sixers. And in the summer he has been resting at times on defense.
On offense, there has been no resting. Against the Detroit Pistons, he had 32 points in a 91-89 overtime loss. It was a game in which the Pistons tried multiple defenders on Williiams. In fact at different times, Detroit used its first round picks on Williams, Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo.
What Williams is doing is demonstrating a quick first step and also the ability to draw contact, which is why he had attempted 56 foul shots in the first four games.
While summer league is a far cry from true NBA games, players who dominate in this venue usually have a chance to make some sort of impact when the varsity games begin. Those who disappear in the summer are frequently MIA in the NBA.
Williams played well at the end of the year for the Sixers and he has carried that into this year. He has approached the off-season in a serious manner.
“Something like this will give me even more confidence,” Williams said.
And it wasn’t like he was lacking confidence to begin with.
The Sixers said when they drafted him that Williams was a project who would need time to develop.
Considering that he won’t turn 21 until October, Williams is younger than many of the rookies who are competing here. He’s also at the age where he realizes steady playing time behind Andre Miller is a realistic goal.
And in Las Vegas, he’s showing that he feels he deserves consistent minutes when the real games begin

LAS VEGAS -- There might be some teams kicking themselves for passing on 6-foot-5 Italian combination guard Marco Belinelli in the NBA draft if his early showing at the Las Vegas summer league is an indication of his ability.
Bellinelli was sensational by scoring 37 points in his opening game and then added 23 in the Warriors 94-87 win over the Sixers.
Golden State selected the 21-year-old Belinelli as the 18th pick in the first round. He has a Kyle Korver-type release on his shot and deep range. Bellinelli shot 5 for 8 from beyond the arc against the Sixers. He was only 9 for 23 overall from the field, but even many of his misses looked good.
When he scored 37 in a 110-102 win over the Detroit Belinelli hit 14 of 20 fro the field, including 5 of 7 from three point range.
Said one scout: “He’s played against great competition at a high level and I think he is the type of player who can help Golden State immediately.”
The Sixers had the 12th and 21st picks and it says here that they made a solid picks with Thaddeus Young at No. 12. The only way they could have gotten Belinelli is if they traded up higher than they did. (The Sixers did move from 21 to 20 in a trade with Miami that landed them Jason Smith.)
Now again, we have to give the usual disclaimer – this is only summer leagues, and just two games, so let’s not get too hasty with our judgment.
Still, Belinelli is playing for a Warriors team whose fast-paced offense is suited to his needs. The Warriors offense gets players open shots and Belinelli will surely benefit from that. At the least here’s one prediction – Belinelli will one day win the NBA three-point shooting contest during all-star weekend. We’re not ready yet to put him in the actual all-star game, but will be watching closely.
Belinelli also showed an ability to get to the basket during one impressive driving layup against the Sixers. And in the first few days, he has been one of the most impressive players in Las Vegas.
Who knows what type of career he will have, but there are likely some teams that are reassessing what they did in draft night to allow him to fall past the middle of the first round.

LAS VEGAS -- While the 76ers two first round draft choices Thaddeus Young and Jason Smith have received an interesting introduction, both are also displaying some positives out on the court.
In fact after three games, the two have shown progress each time. For the first time, the two rookies had double-doubles in the same game in the Sixers 94-87 loss to Golden State on Monday in the Las Vegas summer league
Young had 15 points and 11 rebounds and missed several easy shots on a 7 for 20 night. Smith had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
While Young never seemed awed by the situation, Smith looked a little overwhelmed when the Sixers opened with a 65-61 win over San Antonio. In that game smith had two points (1 for 6 from the field), 5 rebounds and one tongue-lashing from coach Maurice Cheeks.
“I told him the first game he was a spectator,” Cheeks said. “He didn’t do anything and was out there standing around.”
Since then things have changed and Smith appears more and more comfortable. The 19-year-old Young on the other hand, plays with a confidence of an NBA veteran.
What the first three games have shown is that he will need to put in extra hours on his ball-handling. A lefthander, defenders are already trying to take away the left side and force him right.
Those shots that Young knocked down from the perimeter in college, aren’t dropping yet, but that will come.
The fact that he can get them off and is limiting his forces to a minimum is a good sign.
As for Smith, he has become a little more aggressive each game.
Sure there will be plenty of setbacks for both players, but the fact that they have learned and improved each game is a positive sign, especially since the players have been going hard with either practices or games for eight straight days

LAS VEGAS -- Gerry McNamara can’t catch a break. The former Syracuse star was one of the standouts of the 76ers summer league mini camp before spraining his right ankle with less than a minute left in a practice.
When McNamara went down, it looked much worse than it turned out to be, but the injury still sidelined him for the first two games of the Las Vegas summer league. On Sunday, the one day off the Sixers had from playing games, McNamara returned to practice.
Things began well, but midway through he sprained his left ankle. So instead of shooting free throws with the team, he sat with his feet in a bucket of ice by the end of practice.
Last season McNamara had a brief stint with Olympiacos BC in Greece. He then returned to the U.lS. and played with the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA D-League.
McNamara felt he played well enough to warrant a call-up to the NBA, but it never came.
So now he was intent on proving that he could run the point for an NBA team.
“It’s unfortunate when a guy gets hurt in practice,” Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said. “You can see he can play, but as I told the guys, there are 29 teams looking here and he’s not getting the opportunity to show what he is capable of doing.”
That’s a good point. Players in summer leagues not only try to impress their teams, but the other scouts as well.
Would McNamara ever have been a factor in the Sixers’ long-range plans? It’s not likely, but one never knows for sure until seeing in live action.
McNamara has worked hard to get to this point and now has suffered two ankle injuries. For a summer league hopeful, the timing couldn’t be any worse.

LAS VEGAS -- Lou Williams has played well the 76ers first two games in the Las Vegas summer league. He has scored a total of 51 points and has shown an ability to drive to the basket. Williams has also been deadly from the foul line, hitting 22 of 23 free throws.
That said, he still has to work on taking care of the ball.
Prior to the beginning of the summer league, Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said that he wanted to see Williams cut down on his turnovers while running the team at point guard.
If the season started today and it’s a good thing it isn’t beginning just yet, Williams would likely be the backup point guard to Andre Miller.
Williams has the ability to score and is working at running a team, but the turnovers have continued to come in bunches. The first two games he has committed 13 turnovers.
What will happen when he’s going against varsity players on a nightly basis?
That is not to suggest that Williams, who turns 21, hasn’t made great progress. He impressed the Sixers when he got a chance to play late last season, scoring 12 or more points in five of the last six games.
Yet for Williams to play a prominent role, he has to cut the turnovers because the Sixers won’t go into a majority of their games with more talent then their opponent. They have to execute well, play fundamentally sound basketball – the kind that Miller demonstates.
Williams will continue to score plenty of points this summer. He is playing with a lot of confidence, but as with most young players, he gets caught trying to do too much.
A little less in the turnover department will lead to a lot more in the minutes played column.

LAS VEGAS – Now we see why the 76ers tried so hard to trade for 6-foot-11 Chinese power forward Yi Jianlian on draft night. And why the Sixers are still keeping Yi on their radar just in case things don’t work out with Milwaukee, where he didn’t want to get drafted.
The Bucks have met with him and nobody knows for sure what will happen, but it’s safe to say that if Yi goes on the market, there will be plenty of shoppers.
Again, never make a full-fledged judgment on one summer league game, but it doesn’t take a life-long NBA scout to see that he can play.
“He’s pretty good,” said a 76ers official in the understatement of the day. Competing for the Chinese National Team, Yi scored 23 points and had four rebounds in an 86-77 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies during Friday’s opening of the Las Vegas summer league.
Now one could also point out that the had seven personal fouls (there is a no foul-out rule) and seven turnovers. All that proves is that he has plenty of work to do on his game, especially defensively.
And a bigger cynic would suggest that his team couldn’t even beat the Grizzlies rookies, so how much impact could he have?
Say what you want, but Yi has the offensive game already that wouldn’t have him out of place in many NBA starting lineups – including the Sixers.
And remember, he is only 19 (so he says), can run the floor, post up and shoot near three-point range.
No wonder some NBA teams had him rated as the third player in the draft behind Greg Oden and Kevin Durant.
No, we’re not ready to put him in the Hall of Fame with one summer league game, but it’s obvious he has the skill to prosper in the NBA. Whether he has the fire to compete for 82 games a year remains to be seen, but there are plenty of teams that would give almost anything to find out first-hand.

LAS VEGAS -- It’s only one game but this is also the only time to get a first impression on the 76ers two first round draft choices, Thaddeus Young and Jason Smith. In a deep draft the expectation are high that these two first-rounders will be able to come in and contribute.
Here’s some advice – be patient.
It says here that Young will eventually be a rotation player. Whether it’s in the beginning of November, remains to be seen. Smith may need more time to get used to the rigors of the NBA.
Young and Smith made their debuts in a 65-61 win over San Antonio during Las Vegas Summer League action on Friday.
Neither lit up the box score.
Young had five points, shooting 2 for 6 from the field and grabbing two rebounds in just over 25 minutes. Smith had two points and five rebounds in nearly 25 minutes.
Young was the much more aggressive player of the two, and he showed a willingness to take it to the basket. He made a nice cross-over move that gave him room to hit a baseline jumper, his first as a professional.
Young seems like a player who has an idea of where he wants to go, but doesn’t always know how to get there.
He needs lots of work on his handle, but that will come. His outside shot is no sure thing, but that will come.
What one has to like about him is his aggressive attitude. In short, he didn’t look like a wide-eyed 19-year-old.
Smith on the other hand, seems to be having a more difficult time. Even in workouts prior to coming to Las Vegas, he seemed tentative.
Now this doesn’t mean Smith won’t become the solid player the Sixers think he will. It’s just that it likely will take time.
What’s good about this summer is that the Sixers will be able to give their rookies a steady diet of action. In a two-week span, the Sixers will play 11 games in two different summer leagues.
Even though this is essentially a rookie league with some veterans, it’s still difficult for a first-year player not named LeBron James to put his stamp on things immediately.
It’s just a huge adjustment.
The fact that Young and Smith will struggle should be no cause for immediate alarm. On the other hand, it also shows that anybody who pencils them as immediate rotation players, better have a big eraser.

Even though the media doesn’t get to see much of the workouts, the little we saw was enough to notice that the 76ers rookies already understand the step up in competition they are facing.
They are not overwhelmed, but realize that this is a much different game and remember, they are only seeing second or third-year players.
The team is practicing this week in preparation for two summer leagues, first in Las Vegas beginning on Friday and then in Utah.
This will be a great experience for the players, especially the rookies. Even somebody as confident as 19-year-old first round pick Thaddeus Young, have been humbled in the early going.
“It has been very different,” Young said. “High school and college is such a lower level.”
Remember, Young played at Georgia Tech, in the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the toughest leagues in the college. And still, he is impressed at the step up in competition. And wait until the true veterans such as Andre Iguodala and Andre Miller step on the court.
“Everything is more physical and guys are much bigger at this level,” Young said.
Like Young, the Sixers other first round pick, 7-foot Jason Smith of Colorado State, marveled at the speed of the game.
The speed will only increase when training camp begins in October.
And it’s amazing that Rodney Carney, who might have had the same deer-in-the-headlights look of a rookie last year, seems so much more confident now.
Carney explained that last season’s experience was invaluable. He has seen the things that Young, Smith and other rookies only have heard about.
The summer leagues will be great experience for the rookies, because things will move even quicker in those games than in the Sixers practices at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
For these first few days, the rookies are surely feeling like first-year players, trying to quickly get accumulated to life in the NBA. And for now, it seems like it might take quite some time for the Youngs and Smiths of the world, to exhibit the calm, much more confident demeanor of a Carney now that he has shed the rookie label.