Deep Sixer

Wow, Sammy and Evans go from 8 pts/12 boards vs. the Kings, to 20 pts/33 boards vs. the Cav's...33 BOARDS! Get these guys consistent, and we have something. Need another big man to contribute. Yep, seems like J Smith is hitting a wall.

Miller was very productive on offense tonight, and to all the Korver-haters out there, his 3 three-pointers in the first half (might have been all in the 2nd quarter) simply kept them in the game when the Cav's were threatening to open things up. Nice five assists by Sweet Lou. Our starting two guard has to do better than 4 for 13 from the floor.

Sammy won that game tonight.

If only Dalembert had a Brain,he would play like this,every night.Did anyone notice Iggy and Thaddeus Young,talking to each other eye to eye.Thaddeus is at least an inch and a half taller than Iggy.And that was a nice block by Thaddeus on the Carrot top Brazilian,Anderson Varejao.

Good Game team played great D! After Mo Cheeks worst coaching game he came back and made good adjustments on d'ing up Lebron.

Sammy is a good center he has developed a decent jump shot, he is also a great shot blocker.He has lately reverted back to some really bad goaltends however, but he has been more consistent this year than ever before and still has the chance to become a very very good center. I would love to see Josh Smith with him next year the shot blocking would be absolutely the most intimidating duo in the league. Than the Sixers could continue to use J Smith off the bench for extra size, since Josh Smith is only 6-9.

Good game I still want Thad to get more mins or when he is in have some plays run for him.

I've seen him up close multiple times, and Josh Smith is 6'8", maybe 6'7 1/2". But he would be nice next to Sammy. Smith has a lot of turnovers, and makes some bad decisions in crunch time, but man is he an athlete. He's tough and agressive. Would be a nice addition to the roster.

I am a big fan of the Sixers and will always watch them regardless of the problems they currently have but even right now the worst problem they have is there horrible looking (especially road) uniforms. I love the throwback days to the class look. Please change them!

Loved Sam's effort tonight, he really came to ball. A big time double-double against an all-star center. Nice job Sammy.

Evans was getting killed by Gooden on D, and shooting 1-8 was not a good thing, but he did what he does on the boards.

LouWill had a nice floor game, 5 assists with no TOs.

Thad had a nice defensive game, he handled LeBron quite well in the moments he was matched up with him.

Andre Iguodala fought through some horrid calls and kept his head in the game. His fourth quarter was big, scoring 8 of his 20.

Mo was outcoached last night, but he bounced back with a good effort tonight. The Sixers emphasis on the running game got them 35 fastbreak points and their schemes on LeBron were great as well.

Great win

The 76ers, scored 18 fastbreak points in the second quarter and 35 for the game. This was the key to victory. It starts with us getting stops, When we get stops, we usually do a good job getting out on the break, just about everyoe on the team can handle the Rock. 10-14 we'er getting there and yes Josh Smith and Sam on the same squad would a terrorist act!

Why is that when the Sixers play bad we have more than enough comments? Today nothing. They play well last night as a team. That is just it, they win as a team and lose as a team. If they could be so lucky to have fans that stick with them win or lose.

Maybe we as Philly fans know that the more the Sixers rack up meaningless wins,means the more we have a chance at repeating the mistake of getting a low lottery pick,just like last year,and who wants to go through that again.

While it would be utterly myopic and naive to wish for a first round playoff loss in the Eastern Conference over a top ten pick in the draft, I think I'd rather have the former. Funner.

That is, if Ed Stefanski's going to significantly improve this team this next offseason. Which sucks because I really like almost all the players on the team. And big changes mean big changes.

I hope we can just add players. Josh Smith? The guy's a beast defending the lanes and throwing down alley oops, but eight rebounds a game isn't good for me. I think his scoring would be good enough though, so if you're willing to throw down max money, Ed, go for it.

No, that would be a bad signing. This is going to be hard, shaping this team into a contender. In Stefanski We Trust.

And step one, in my opinion, would be to keep Mo.

Josh Smith, while a beast, may not be a good fit in Philly - too much like Sammy. We need more rebounding and post scoring from the 4-spot. UNLESS, we trade Sammy while he's hot.
And speaking of Sammy, just took a look at other TRUE centers in the East and these are the "best" I could come up with: Kendrick Perkins, Curry, Ben Wallace, Z, Bogut, Horford, Dwight Howard, Shaq, Brendan Haywood, a bunch of garbage, and Sam D. Okafur is a power forward, and, really so is Horford. But guess what folks, we got ourselves one of the top centers in the Eastern Conference.

"...repeating the mistake of getting a low lottery pick,just like last year,and who wants to go through that again."

Last year, it was a mistake, because a lot of the Sixers wins came against tanking teams. This year, all this winning isn't a mistake, we're beating teams that are genuinely trying to win and make the playoffs. No one's tanking yet. The wins we've had recently have been good quality wins.

I honestly don't know what to make of what's happening, though. Why did Sammy start playing like an all-star? Why is Willie all of a sudden very effective? Marc called Willie streaky, but he's played several games in a row now where he doesn't go into a shooting funk in games. I used to think he was the worst shooting guard in the league, but during the Houston game, I actually started hoping Mo would put him back in during Houston's comeback! I never imagined I'd be doing that at any point this season. He's a bargain now at $3 mil a year, and so is Sammy. (knocking on wood, knocking on wood, knocking on wood...)

This season I feel like they should put on those clownish uniforms from the 90's from the Shackleford/Barkley32 for Perry,Hornacek,Lang/Derrick Alston era. But not last night. Nice job Sixers!

Bring back the classic uniform!

Yeah... BRING BACK THE CLASSIC SIXERS UNIFORM!

I still have nightmares about those uniforms from the Shackleford era. Neon red and gigantic 3D stars and man... they were the worst thing ever.

I want the Sixers to improve next year, but I think that something needs to be done about the NBA. We can sign a free agent, sure, but we'll still just be an average team. The only way for us to contend for a championship again is for us to get crazily lucky in the draft. In fact, that's the only way for most teams to content in the NBA today.

Something needs to be done about the NBA and the salary cap. This league is way too stratified. Who, for instance, can win this year? The Spurs, Suns, and Celtics. The same two teams as last year, with the addition of the Celtics, who can win now because the T-Wolves were trapped into a ridiculously bad trade.

Think about it. The salary cap makes it impossible for teams to improve even if they want to. You have to get lucky to improve... like the Celtics landing Garrnet for the pu-pu platter trade. Like the Hawks inexplicably giving away Wallace to the Pistons. Like the Spurs losing Robinson for a year and magically drafting Duncan.

So much of the NBA seems based on randomness now. I mean, look at the Knicks. Yeah, Isiah is a terrible GM (although he's good at drafting). But they've basically destroyed their team for a decade and earned the ridicule of all their fans. And why? Because they made some bad trades and signed some bad free agents. But give the Knicks this; at least they gambled and tried to improve. In fact, they did what was normal in any other league. Sign some players; make some trades, hope that it all somehow works out. It backfired horribly, but they shouldn't be punished by the cap and by guaranteed contracts for six or seven years the way that they have been.

The NBA needs to make the cap less restrictive and get rid of guaranteed contracts. Otherwise, it will be the same two or three teams playing for a title every year... the way that it has been.

In baseball and in football, surprising teams can come out of nowhere. When was the last time this happened in the NBA? We had the Heat, and now the Celtics. And the only reason that they suddenly improved was that other teams were finally forced into making terrible trades (Shaq, Garrnet) after holding on to the their superstars for years.

Basketball is the most exciting, fastest-paced sport on earth. But the NBA is the most static, glacial league on earth. This needs to be changed.

Okay. That's the end of my long rant.

I want one of two power forwards for Christmas. Chris Wilcox (youtube this guy) or Emeka Okafor. Both can score, bang, and rebound. Very good win in the second game of two in a row.

Great job Sixers. King James, looks more and more ordinary. I've been saying this for years, about his game. He snoozes in and out of games. He's a physical speciman with great athletic skills. The biggest problem with his game is he tries to impress everyone with all his skills, inside and outside. Whats wrong with that ? He hasn't mastered one of those skills. So now your left with a grest athlete, with just above average basketball skills. With his size he should be down on the blocks, mastering the inside game. His game and Igoudala's are very similar. They each have to define their games. Once they takes over with their inside games, then is the time to build your arsonal..

I am loving all the optimism about the Sixers now and really enjoyed the game last night but come on.. at 3 million a season Willie Green is still giving us an awful return for our money. Even in last nights great win he put in almost 30 minutes and came out with 9 points to show for it. And Okafor turned down more than enough money for what he deserves and I can't help thinking that if the Sixers even attempted to go near that amount for him that it would be a terrible mistake.

But bring back the Classic Uniforms!!!

"Basketball is the most exciting, fastest-paced sport on earth."

Wholeheartedly agree! YES!YES!YES!

But in this town, you turn on SR950 or 610WIP. And all you hear is all Eagles all the time. I mean, how many times does the McNabb or Kevin Kolb argument have to be discussed? They get one caller after another, saying basically the same thing, one will say "Andy's gotta go!", and then the next frickin' caller says "I think this team needs a new coach..." What the heck is up with that? I'll give them this though, with the Billy King regime, they weren't given much to talk about, and the NBA has its share of problems, like mentioned above. But even if they do get a call about the Sixers, those on-air guys don't ever say anything insightful or have really good arguments about what the Sixers should do, or know which players are on the trading block, or are able to talk about certain plays in the game, or the state of affairs in the NBA.

I know, I know, there are many more people who follow the Eagles closely than people who follow the Sixers closely. It's just something super-frustrating for me as a huge Sixers fans. And I'm thankful for Phil Jasner, Marc and his blog, David Aldridge, but I'd like just a little more.

Also, it would be great for the media to be covering basketball to be more critical, like Marc can be in his blog. Like with last night's win, as a fan, I can't stand how Cleveland is wasting LeBron's talent, they run the crappiest plays, Mike Brown is a terrible coach. There are ways to combat a superstar being double-teamed - I mean, does he not study game film? Every time he was double-teamed, the best counterattack they could come up with was pass it to Gooden or Z and have him chuck up a shot. Lame.

Marc, could you give us an update on the status of Shavlike Randolph and Herbert Hill?

I believe you mentioned recently that Mo said Hill could do some full court scrimmaging this week. What is the latest with that as well as Shav?

Is Shavlik going to be healthy to play this year at all?

Willy, I just think with Sammy and Josh, teams would be so intimidated by their presence that the Sixers would become highly agressive on both ends of the floor. We still would need another consistant outside scorer. But if we did this we would not lose any of our current players but get better by addition.

Has anyone with NBA League Pass noticed that when other teams announcers talk about the Sixers when we are beating thier team they say something like "Not to disrespect the Sixers, but this is a game they should win" or "we are losing to one of the worst teams in the league" - one of the Knicks announcers said that. That bothers me because the Sixers actually have a better record than those teams they were playing. Everyone looks at the lack of talent on the ball club and say they are one of the worst teams. They are in 9th or 10th place right now in the East. Since when does the roster determine who the best and worst teams are. Wins and Losses son!!! When teams like the Cavs or Knicks have worse records they say "they will bounce back", but for the Sixers, they say it's a matter of time before the wheels fall off. It stinks being a Sixer's fan in another state. I get beat up over here in NY all of the time... Mark, I know you said to slow down about the playoffs, but dude - that's all us out of state Sixer's fans have, hope for postseason play!!

I LOVE when the Sixers wear the classic uniforms...They are so much cooler than the current incarnation. True, they are not as bad as the Shackelford era "pajamas" but I don't think the team can dump the ugly current uniforms as they are probably part of their sales & marketing plan.

That said, I would never buy one of those modern jerseys.....

And what's up with Carney? Is he getting traded? Because he's certainly not getting any minutes.

Trade em while they're hot.
Dalembert and Korver for Marion and Diaw
Miller for Camby
We pick up Josh SMith with cap money and viola our 08 starting lineup looks like...

PG-Diaw
SG-Iguodala
SF-Marion
PF-Smith
C-Camby

Leaping Lizards. That is one long freaky team that runs and plays D. Don't like Diaw at point? trade the #1 pick and fill in the blank