Deep Sixer

Start hanging around 76ers president and GM Billy King and coach Maurice Cheeks and you’ll begin believing this team can do the unbelievable – win more games than it looses.
King and Cheeks were in rare form in a media sit-down, each accenting the positive about the Sixers.
Both suggested that last season’s 17-9 record in the final 26 games was no aberration. Cheeks and King feel there is no reason why the momentum can’t continue this season.
They were very persuasive. Still, it will take more than positive thinking and talking to totally convince others that the Sixers will be a competitive team.
The first instinct is to think how in the world will the Sixers even match last year’s total of 35 wins?
Everybody else in the Atlantic Division has made much higher profile moves. The Sixers’ big move was acquiring rebounding machine Reggie Evans.
That won’t scare teams as much as Boston adding Ray Allen, KG, and the underrated James Posey.
Or seeing Toronto add to its perimeter game by signing Jason Kapono and strengthen its depth by trading for Carlos Delfino
Or even the Nets bringing in Jamaal Magloire, not to mention Zach Randolph coming to the New York Knicks.
King emphasize that old-phrase that “games aren’t played on paper.” Both King and Cheeks seemed genuinely optimistic.
It’s easy to see that this type of positive attitude could rub off on the players. There is no doubt that the Sixers not only don’t believe the low preseason forecasts that they are reading and hearing. The team seems interested in proving others wrong.
It’s such a positive environment that it may get the fans fired up. Yet it’s too early to waver. This is still a team that talent-wise, doesn’t measure up with most teams in the Eastern Conference.
King talked about traits such as teamwork, playing together, displaying an undying work ethic.
There is not doubt that all three could make a big difference. Still, it’s difficult to get past that the alleged talent gap between the Sixers and many Eastern Conference teams
Right now, we’ll stick with our original assessment that the Sixers will be hard-pressed to improve last year’s record. We reserve the right to change our mind and it may happen after a few more conversations with King and Cheeks.

When it was first disclosed that Sixers center Samuel Dalembert has a stress fracture in his left foot, the team expressed optimism that Dalembert would be ready for the beginning of training camp.
The team begins camp Oct. 2 at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Well, Dalembert will be at camp, but not ready to go full tilt, at least at the beginning.
This is not surprising. In fact it would have been a shock if he were ready. Dalembert said in a phone interview the other day that he is feeling good, but is taking a cautious approach to training camp. No longer in a cast, he is now walking around in a walking boot.
He suffered the injury while competing for the Canadian National Team during this summer’s FIBA’s Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Las Vegas.. Dalembert complained of the pain after Canada’s final game on Aug. 30.
“I am fine, but I have to ease into things,” Dalembert said.
That means don’t expect him to be going hard in early drills.
“I’m in good shape from playing this summer,” he said. “I have to use my head and not try to rush things.”
Dalembert feels he will be fine soon enough. For the Sixers sake, they better hope he’s right.
He enjoyed a solid performance for Canada, averaging 25.6 minutes, 10.6 points,9.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots.
Still, the fact that Canada had to play eight games in nine days obviously took its toll.
There are many who feel that this could be the season in which the 26-year-old Dalembert could blossom.
Sure, any injury is a setback, but the worst thing would be for it to linger. Even if it means sitting out substantial time, he shouldn’t return until he is 100 percent.
And if that means leaving him out of the layup line in Durham for an extended period, so be it.
The Sixers have a lot of interchangeable parts at most positions, but center isn’t one of them. Dalembert will be needed to have his best season if the Sixers have designs on simply being competitive.
And that is why caution is the best approach in training camp.

The vacation days for this reporter have finally been taken (stop booing in the Sixers offices) and it will soon to be 24/7 of basketball.
Not just for writers, but for the coaches, and players. Most of the players have been working out at PCOM in anticipation of camp, which begins Oct. 2 at Duke University.
Sixers president and general manager Billy King likes to have the team train at his college alma mater for a week. At the end of camp, the Sixers will face the New York Knicks during their first preseason game in South Carolina on Oct. 8 before coming home.
Which leads us to one simple question – wouldn’t it have been great if King had attended the University of Hawaii?
Now that is a trip that would have been worth taking.
Enough about the locale of training camp. The idea of camp is to have it in a place where there will be few distractions, and in that regard, Durham, North Carolina is an ideal setting.
What is important is that this should be a very interesting preseason. We can only hope when they play the real games that the interest level is also high.
The reason this should be an interesting training camp and preseason is because it appears as if minutes will be up for grabs.
As stated before, there is no reason why anybody other than Andre Iguodala should be playing as many as 40 minutes a night.
The Sixers have a lot of interchangeable parts and many players of near or equal ability.
So while training camp is just a tuneup for many veteran teams, it will be audition time for a majority of the Sixers.
Can Willie Green earn major minutes as the shooting guard? Are rookies Thaddeus Young and Jason Smith ready to contribute? Will Rodney Carney rebound from his rookie season funk? Have Lou Williams and Louis Admundson earned minutes based on their impressive summer showings?
Can Iguodala take the next step? Will Samuel Dalembert be able to take any steps, or will he be bothered by his stress fracture in his left foot?
Will Reggie Evans provide the physical rebounding presence the Sixers need? Can Calvin Booth be a factor off the bench?
Will Andre Miller benefit even more from being with the team from the beginning of the season. Will Miller be here all year or will continue to be an annual visitor to the rumor trading mill?
Other questions will also surface, but there will be plenty to sort out in the next month, which promises that the usual meaningless preseason will have plenty of meaning from the Sixers standpoint.

The last time we checked, NBA games weren’t won at the podium, but it was hard not to be impressed when meeting the newest two 76ers, Reggie Evans and Calvin Booth.
In their opening press conference, both talked about winning, rebounding and playing defense.
Since Evans has a career scoring average of 4.3 points per game and Booth has a career 3.5 average, it was understandable that they didn’t dwell too much on offense.
Still, they seemed to say all the right things.
Evans is 27 and Booth is 31 and they bring a veteran presence to a young team. And who won’t like playing with two players who don’t care how many points they score?
Evans figures to start and Booth will be the backup to Samuel Dalembert.
If anybody has noticed, the Sixers have been bringing in a completely different type of player since dealing Allen Iverson.
Andre Miller may be one of the most unselfish talented players in the NBA. And he can score when needed.
Now Evans will bring his lunch-pail mentality to the rebounding and that can be a great influence on young players.
And as we mentioned the other day, Booth’s character, according to several people in the know, is off the charts.
Sure, KG probably isn’t shaking in his boots over these acquisitions and the Raptors and Nets along with Boston are still considered well ahead of the Sixers in the Atlantic Division.
Yet this is now a much more mature team, one that has players who have set a good example throughout their NBA careers.
Couple that with emerging Andre Iguodala, who could be an all-star this year, and at least the Sixers appear as if they can be competitive.
That doesn’t mean they will make the playoffs, but it also isn’t guaranteed that their season will end in mid-April.
One has to admit, the Sixers appear to be a very likable team, one that is going to play hard each night.
Whether that is enough to make up for gap in natural talent remains to be seen. At least for now, president and general manager Billy King is accumulating several character individuals. Talent still wins in the NBA, but character also goes a long way.
The Sixers will be a good test case in how much a team that is built more on character than talent can achieve during the upcoming season.

It may not send fear throughout the Atlantic Division, but the 76ers are a better team today after acquiring Reggie Evans in the four-team trade with Denver and signing center Calvin Booth as a free agent (which will happen Tuesday).
The Sixers had to give up Steven Hunter, who might have been the power forward starter by default had he stayed and Bobby Jones, who really didn’t figure in the team's plans.
The 27-year-old Evans has never been much of a scorer, but he can rebound with the best of them. He led the NBA in rebounds per 48 minutes (19.7) last season. Evans averaged 7.0 rebounds in 17.1 minutes.
There’s a chance that he could be a 30-minute a night player, which would be something new for Evans.
During his first five seasons he never averaged as many as 24 minutes. This could make one wonder if he would wear down with an extended workload.
That shouldn’t be a problem for the 6-foot-8, 245-pound Evans.
The Sixers needed more toughness inside and he will provide that. Samuel Dalembert, despite his ability to block shots, is more of a finesse player, Evans will now ensure that the Sixers won’t be pushed around in the frontcourt.
And Evans also should relish the chance to return to the starting lineup after starting just 11 of 66 games last year for Denver..
While Sixers president and general manager Billy King said that Dalembert, point guard Andre Miller and swingman Andre Iguodala are the only ones who likely have cemented starting roles, pencil in Evans as the fourth definite starter.
And while he should be a starter, Evans may not be a finisher because he is a poor free throw shooter. Late in games, the Sixers likely won’t want to have a career 52.8 percent foul shooter in the game when the opponent is looking for somebody to send to the free throw line.
Yet that will all be sorted out.
The signing of the 6-11 Booth should also improve the Sixers. Booth has never averaged more than eight points or five rebounds in a season, but he also brings a veteran presence. And he is known as a great locker room presence, which for a young team is sorely needed.
Both Booth and Evans don’t care about statistics, only winning. They give the Sixers two veterans who set a good example, sort of like the departed Joe Smith.
The acquisitions of Evans and Booth don’t mean the Sixers will be a playoff team, but it gives them a better chance of competing for a postseason spot.
And being able to improve as a team in the second week of September is an unexpected bonus after what had been a truly quiet offseason for the Sxiers.

The 76ers are expressing optimism over the recent foot injury to center Samuel Dalembert and feel that he will be ready for the start of training camp Oct. 2.
Dalembert suffered a stress fracture in his left foot and has been fitted for a hard cast.
He complained of soreness following his eighth and final game while competing for the Canadian National Team in the FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament last month in Las Vegas.
Dalembert averaged 25.6 minutes, 10.6 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots. Canada had to play eight games in nine days, which isn’t the best for anybody’s feet or the rest of the body either.
His performance looked like a good springboard for the upcoming season. Now there has to be at least a question about his health, except it isn’t coming from the Sixers.
President and general manager Billy King said the team anticipates that Dalembert will be ready to return for the start of training camp.
The Sixers begin camp on Oct. 2 at Duke University.
While the Sixers know much more about this injury than anybody else, including this writer, it seems difficult to be totally confident when it comes to a stress fracture in the foot, especially for a basketball player, where the pounding is constant.
The Sixers, no doubt will be cautious, but one thing that everybody is in agreement with is that it couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Remember during this time nearly two years ago when Dalembert suffered a right quadriceps strain while preparing for training camp.
Dalembert missed the first 13 games of the regular season and never developed consistency that season.
Last year, one in which he was able to start all 82 games, he played much better, averaging 10.7 points and 8.9 rebounds.
Dalembert had his ups and downs in last month’s tournament, but the ups won out by a good margin. His worst game came against the champion U.S. , where he had five points and two rebounds in 22 minutes, shooting 2 for 7. It didn’t help that his team was overmatched, losing 113-63.
Still, there was the 13-point, 18-rebound effort in Canada’s final game, a 72-66 loss to Puerto Rico on Aug. 30. Dalembert also had 18 points and 8 rebounds in an 80-73 win over Venezuela.
“Everybody looks at him as a shot blocker and rebounder, but I found him to be a tremendous passer, who really runs the floor and a capable scorer,” Canadian National Team coach Leo Rautins said. “I think you see a player who is really ready to excel.”
Dalembert has shown glimpses of brilliance before, but more often he he has displayed a lack of sustained consistency.
It often takes big men longer to develop, especially ones who didn’t become serious about the game until they were teenagers.
This could be the season that Dalembert puts everything together, but he must without pain.
And while there is no outward concern by the organization at this point, a lot of people will be breathing easier when they actually see Dalembert running on the court pain-free.

Jason Smith couldn't shoot or dribble well, but 76ers fans shouldn't despair. He is quite a site on skates.
Confused?
The 76ers and Flyers had some fun because they have two players with the same name - Jason Smith.
The Flyers Jason Smith was acquired this offseason from Edmonton. The Sixers Jason Smith was their second first-round choice from Colorado State.
The hockey player took a few shots at the basket and the best thing that could be said is that he doesn' t have to make free throws in his sport of choice.
The basketball player knew better than to lace up a pair of skates.
Anyway, it was a light-hearted moment before both begin their tenures in Philadelphia.
As for the Sixers' Smith, he said the sprained ankle that he suffered during the summer league in Utah has healed.
He has settled into loving quarters and is ready to take on the challenge of his first training camp, which begins Oct. 2 at Duke University.
"I'm very excited about camp," the basketball Smith said. "It's just like freshman year in college, but there is so much added to that."
Smith said that the situation isn't overwhelming, but we'll get back to him once he begins two-a-days.
Many of the current Sixers have said that when they were rookies, they were taken back by the speed of the game in training camp.
A key this year is whether Smith and fellow first-rounder Thaddeus Young can become an immediate part of the rotation. It won’t be easy.
Smith showed a nice medium range shot, but he has to have a more aggressive mindset on the court. Even in the summer league, he deferred too much to teammates.
Smith is a very good athlete for a 7-footer and one could see his development as he got more comfortable in the summer league.
He hopes to make similar gains during training camp. For now, he will be working out at the Sixers practice facility, getting ready for training camp.
This was a rare moment, where the heat wasn’t on either athlete and they could both proudly display the other’s uniform while not only sharing a name but a few laughs together