6 Reasons the Philadelphia 76ers will have a shot in the East next year
July 20th, 2008 – Dr. Browntorious
There have been a lot of teams that have already significantly improved their rosters in the off-season, and for some roster changes won’t be necessary as they just need some time to grow and gel as a team. But regardless of how and why some teams have gotten better in the off-season, there is probably no ball club looking forward to the 2008-09 season more than the Philadelphia 76ers. After over-achieving last year by sneaking into the playoffs in 7th spot and giving the 2nd seeded Detroit Pistons an unexpected run for their money with a 7 6 game series, the Sixers have made some moves that should vault them into the top cut of the Eastern Conference. Here are some reasons why the 76ers should have a shot to go deep in the Eastern Conference playoffs next year:
Dre squared is proving to be better than AI squared in Philly
When the Philadelphia 76ers parted with their disgruntled superstar and future hall of fame player in Allen Iverson a lot of the fans in Philadelphia lost their minds. No fan wants to go through a lengthy rebuilding process. But the Sixers have quickly turned their fortunes around by overachieving with a strong team unity and thriving with the “underdog” status all season long in 2007-08. Led by the high flying athletic franchise player that many critics felt was not quite good enough to be the face of a franchise, Andre Iguodala is proving everyone wrong who doubted him. Instead of trying to carry the team like Allen Iverson did, his ‘team first’ philosophy is having a positive impact on all of his young teammates. Andre Miller is one of the best lob passers in the league, and Andre Iguodala is one of the best lob finishers in the league. This is why I’m thinking that Dre squared is turning out to be much more lethal than AI squared.
There is a new Brand of basketball in Philadelphia
Elton Brand shunned offers from both Golden State and his old team the LA Clippers to sign a 5 year $80 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. Brand alone makes the 76ers an immediate contender, and if he is back to 100% health the rest of the East will have to face a pretty intimidating front line of defenders in Brand, Dalembert, and Iguodala. Each contribute something very different defensively, but each has a function equally as damaging to their opponents offense. Should make for a low-scoring slugfest when they face off against the defending champion Celtics.
The Atlantic quickly went from the doghouse to the class of the East Two years ago when the Toronto Raptors won the Atlantic division I was as surprised as everyone else. The Raptors played well that year winning consistently, but no one would argue that they clearly overachieved as they were a young team still trying to come into their own after their rebuilding project was set into motion when they traded their superstar Vince Carter and hired General Manager Bryan Colangelo. The Atlantic was considered by most as the doghouse of the East. With the 76ers acquiring All-star power forward Elton Brand, and the Raptors making their big move this summer to acquire the 6-time All-star Jermaine O’Neal to fill their gap at the Center position, the Atlantic division is now clearly the powerhouse of the Eastern Conference potentially housing three of the top 5 teams.
Louis Williams is coming into his own Although Lou Williams is a restricted free agent that has been getting some attention as of late due to his lightning quick speed and his unparalleled work ethic, no team will likely be able to snag this cat as the Philadelphia 76ers have sunk way too much time, money, and energy into guiding Williams steady improvements to just let him walk and let another team reap the rewards. In the second half of last season Lou really started to show his value and potential by scoring consistently, playing good defense, and showcasing his above average court vision and passing abilities. With a never say die attitude and being a player that has played the “underdog” since he has been drafted in 2005, Williams will come into his own this year to finally step out into the spotlight. Williams is my early candidate for the 2009 sixth man of the year award.
Once again Lebron will get no help After watching Lebron James reach closer to perfection each year, I always seem to be waiting for the inevitable big move by Danny Ferry to finally shake up the Cavaliers roster and give Lebron James the very little help he likely needs to win it all and cement his legacy as one of the greatest players to ever lace ‘em up. Yet each offseason I am kept waiting, and so far this summer has been no exception. The Cavaliers have done very little aside from resigning Daniel Gibson to another contract. Once again they will be near the top of the East for one reason, Lebron. And once again they will likely be eliminated early if the Cavaliers organization does not get him some scoring help to extend the opposing defenses. With Lebron getting no help, the Detroit Pistons aging fast, and no team in the Southeast division being a real threat, the Eastern Conference may be a three horse race between the defending champion Boston Celtics, newly powerful frontline of the Toronto Raptors, and Philly’s own 76ers.
Dr. Dre had a hit with ‘first round knock out’, for the Sixers Dre it’s played out Everyone always talks about the first round knock out nightmare that has followed Tracy McGrady throughout his career. But the Sixers have their own player that is tired of hearing the rumblings of ‘choker’ due to his inability to get his team past the first round of an NBA playoff series. Andre Miller or as some of his teammates refer to him, ‘Dre’, will be working hard this year shake the reputation of a ‘first round knock out’ with one more offensive weapon to feed in Elton Brand, with his smooth passing ability that has led him to the 13th highest career assist average in NBA history.
Likely line-up next season for the Sixers:
PG – Andre Miller
SG – Willie Green
SF – Andre Iguodala
PF – Elton Brand
C – Samuel Dalembert
** Louis Williams, Thaddeus Young, Reggie Evans, and Marreese Speights to round out the rotation off the pine.
Elton Brand scares me. the guy is a 30-15 candidate every night and that was without much talent in LA. With Miller running the point, Iggy taking up much of the offence and Sammy D shutting down the opposing teams big men, the 76ers will push for 3rd in the East.
Im not sold on their bench right now. Reggie Evans can rebound and play D, but is a terrible offensive player. Williams and Young should continue to play well, but there will be more pressure on them to produce. Speights and Jason Smith could give them some serious depth at the PF position.
they still have some room on their roster to add another scoring guard or defensive swingman. Bonzi Wells would be a good fit, maybe Flip Murray?
I agree with you Juddi that they should look to sign Wells. Bonzi could be a solid player who is versatile and can play multiple positions.
I gotta say though that even though Reggie Evans can’t score much on offense it doesn’t really matter because they don’t need him too. Good teams have role players like him to rebound the hell out of the ball on both ends and get them extra possessions. He can also defend good so he’s a key guy to have off the bench.
Players taht don’t care about scoring are undervalued. I think Evans will be a key to their strategy next year.
Great Pine. Best in a decade.
Won’t the Sixers be tempted to start Dre at SG and
Young at SF?
That gives you Green and Williams off the bench in the backcourt, and Evans, Sreights, and Smilth in the forecourt?
5 starters – 5 bench this team will be fun to watch.
The strength in the backcourt could lead to trading Miller.
SirAlden
Miller is what makes this ship sail man. No way they trade miller they need his leadership and experience to make this work. The only thing I think they might do to the starters is shift louis williams to the starting shooting guard and have willie green be a scoring punch off the bench
[...] – The Hoop Doctors [...]
i absolutely agree with the atlantic being the eastern conference powerhouse. they could potentially send 4 teams to the playoffs next season if the knicks or nets can get it together. they both the skill/talent to fight for that 8th spot.
reggie evans was a huge pickup for philly last season. he is a tough player who gets grimey in the paint, you need cats like that willing to do the dirty work. the raptors haven’t had guys like that since oakley and jerome williams were on the squad.
great article.
@SirAlden — You got it. Philly press and bloggers all project a starting five of Miller, Iggy, Thad Young, Brand, and Dalembert. Means no lights-out shooter at the SG or PG spots, but it’s not like Willie Green is the second coming of Reggie Miller and Iggy’s a far superior defender. Look for a shooter to be signed to the vet’s minimum and for LouWill to provide offense off the bench at both guard spots.
Philly lost to Detroit in 6, not 7.
But good insight for real. Sixers should be fine when they get Iggy inked and they must not let Lou Will go.
My bad Joe B you’re right about 6 game series, total slippage on the 7 game series thing. Maybe I wrote it because of a freudian slip or something as the series seemed to go the distance considering most predicted a sweep for the Pistons!
Good eye, i’ll get that corrected.
Latz
@mansionhouse I don’t think they will put Iggy at the SG spot. He has improved his outside shot a lot but they have too much depth in the backcourt and Iggy plays better at SF. Why put him out of position in his comfort zone and clog up the back court rotation. Thad Young is not a starter yet.
@Boyscout — Thad started 22 games last season at PF. Since SF is his natural position, I don’t see why Cheeks wouldn’t start him ahead of Willie Green, a decent backup SG but nobody’s idea of an NBA starter on an improved team.
As I hinted, it makes shooting a problem, but that’s something to be fixed via adding new players, not choosing betwee a bunch of bad shooters at the expense of defense. Iggy also shoots better than Willie from the field and downtown. LouWill would be a better option, but he’s no spot-up shooter and a Miller/Williams backcourt wouldn’t get the stops the Philly running game depends on.
Anyway, that line-up wasn’t my idea; it’s been the consensus starting five in most of the post-Brand reporting. See, e.g.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3480691
“Their starting lineup now looks like this: Miller and Iguodala in the backcourt; Young, Brand and Dalembert in the frontcourt. Willie Green, Louis Williams and Evans become the top reserves.”
SirAlden – You nailed it!! That’s exactly the rotation they need to run. I can see either LouWIlliams or Thad Young being in contention for 6th man of the year. Thad Young is a beast who seem to be looking like he’s more in shape, perhaps Dwight Howard shape?
I haven’t been this pumped about a sixers season in a long time!! Finally we can start talking Eastern Conference Championship!!
Of course, Brand is an immediate huge upgrade to the starting but I think the Philly second unit could be dominant in comparison to other second units in the league: Evans, Speights, Smith, Williams, Green. The second unit front line could be particularly formidable. Both Smith and Speights were among the very best shooting big men in the summer league and Evans’ defense and rebounding is a given.
@edbok — Yeah, the frontline leaves lots of reasons to be cheerful. It’s amazing what a promising draft pick + a 20/10 beast does to one of the 6ers week spots!
But for all that I’m more excited about this 6ers roster than any since Iverson’s finals run, I’m still worried about the lack of shooters. Do we have what it takes to win when teams pack the lanes and double-team Brand, following the Pistons’ ultimate strategy of daring the 6ers to beat them from outside?
I see big things from this team. I’ve been an Andre Miller fan since he sent Utah to the National Championship game in the 98′ NCAAs (both of my parents are Utah alums), and I remember in that run how he made Michael Freaking Doleac look like a top 15 pick. With Igoudala creating his own shot and Brand working the post most teams are going to have to think twice about rolling through Philadelphia.
This article is leaving a big piece out. Did you totally forget about the Orlando Magic and thier record and 3rd place finish in the Eastern Conference.
All they did this off season is make small wise signings to fill their few gaps to improve.
So I dont know how you can say no one is a threat coming out of the south east division.
Patrick,
I agree that the Magic had a great season, but after the Raptors once they were up against a quality team they tanked. All year they beat up on the weaker teams, and had some good wins
But I think they are not ready yet to beat consistently the good quality teams.
Although I never would bet against Dwight Howard cause he gets better every year. Maybe this year he will be even better and carry the magic deep?
[...] 6 reasons the Philadelphia 76ers will have a shot at the East next year [...]
For what it’s worth, Willie Green was interviewed here in Philly on radio, and he basically admitted he’ll be the 6th man (or 7th, IMO). Thad will be at the 3 and AI will be at the 2, I think.
or 9th or 10th or… The only thing Willie has going for him is that Mo Cheeks absolutely loves him. It’s pretty clear, however, that when Ed Stefanski took over for BK and started evaluating the team, he basically chalked Willie up as a guy who won’t be playing a key role in the team’s future success.
Miller and Iggy are the starting backcourt and LouWill is the first guy off the bench. Also, Royal Ivey was just acquired for the express purpose of acting as back-up point guard, so he can guard the other team’s 2-guard when Lou’s on the court. So, with this said, how’s Willie Green getting any more than, say, ten minutes a game this season? Answer: He isn’t.
This was all a good read until the very end where the projected 2008 lineup was listed….
There is no way in hell Willie “Never Seen I Shot I won’t Take” Green is in the starting lineup over Thad Young.
@SixersGuySince76
I think you might be right man. Cheeks in recent weeks has said multiple times that he’s not sure what their starting roster will be as they have so many different potential line-ups and he wants to get training camp in to decide.
But I read his comments from late last week saying that he is leaning towards starting thad young and shifting Iggy to the SG slot.
The Sixers should have a lot of options regardless of who starts. Plenty of young talent.
Willie is a little trigger happy huh? haha
the sixers have something the magic don’t. that’s team defense. defense wins rings, but of course with a little offense. the sixers will have both. the wait could be coming to a end in philly. i see a ring in the next two years. this is where you heard it first.
lol. couldnt be any wronger.