Posts Tagged ‘Brett Brown’

Who should the Sixers take with the third pick?

June 26th, 2015 by Sam Shipley | Comments Off on Who should the Sixers take with the third pick? | Filed in General, NBA, Sixers

With the NBA Draft just three hours away there is a lot of anxiousness in the city of Philadelphia. The Sixers, as everyone knows, are in the midst of the craziest rebuild in NBA history.

It all started by trading away a point guard in Jrue Holiday, who was coming off of his first All Star appearance, for Nerlens Noel and a future first round pick. In that same night the Sixers drafted Michael Carter-Williams.

In last years NBA Draft the Sixers selected Joel Embiid, who some believe has the chance to be the best player in that draft class when all is said and done. They also selected Dario Saric, who we may not see for another two years.

As we all know, Carter-Williams would go on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year award, and was traded in February of this year for a future first round pick. The move shocked many around the NBA for obvious reasons, “Why would the Sixers trade away the Rookie of the Year, especially when they are rebuilding?”.

The answer is simple: Sam Hinkie does not think like the rest of the world.

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Sixers at the Halfway Point: Better Than Expected, But Still a Long Way to Go

January 23rd, 2014 by Jim Chesko | Comments Off on Sixers at the Halfway Point: Better Than Expected, But Still a Long Way to Go | Filed in Basketball, General, Sixers

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The 76ers open the second half of their 2013-14 season Wednesday night, and it will be very interesting to see what happens over the next three months, both on and off the court.

They’ve dropped seven of their last eight games, and several recent losses have been a bit ugly, but otherwise, the Sixers have exceeded almost everyone’s expectations over the first half of the season. The won-lost record at the midpoint stands at 13-28. While that’s not great, a lot of the team’s fans and several of us in the media wondered if they’d win that many games over the entire first season of the Brett Brown era.

For fans hoping to see the Sixers get two lottery picks in the June draft, the season is working out just the way they’d want. At this writing, the 76ers own the NBA’s third-worst record (behind only Milwaukee and Orlando), while the New Orleans Pelicans are seventh-worst. As you may recall, the 2013 draft-day deal that sent Jrue Holiday to the Big Easy landed Philadelphia another first-round pick, as long as the Pelicans don’t make the playoffs and the pick isn’t among the top five. So, if the Sixers and Pelicans continue on their current course – and the ping-pong balls cooperate – your hometown team would have two high picks in what’s supposed to be a pretty deep draft, even if Duke’s Jabari Parker decides to stay put for another year of seasoning.

Bright spots over the first half: Obviously, the major positive has been the speedy development of rookie point guard Michael Carter-Williams. MCW is averaging 17.5 points and 6.7 assists through the first half of the campaign, and already has the poise of a veteran. He’s 22 years old, and should only get better over the next decade. Carter-Williams’ backup, Tony Wroten, has also been a pleasant surprise, averaging 13.0 points and 3.3 assists off the bench. Wroten, who suffered a right-ankle sprain last weekend in a loss to the Bulls, is still a kid at age 20.

The Sixers have also been getting career years out of both Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes, who are averaging 18.3 and 14.1 points, respectively. The 7-foot Hawes has even become a solid three-point shooter, at 41.3%. Still, it remains a good bet that Turner or Hawes (or both) will be sent packing before the NBA’s Feb. 20 trade deadline.

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6 or 7 Reasons to Watch the 76ers This Season

October 31st, 2013 by Jim Chesko | Comments Off on 6 or 7 Reasons to Watch the 76ers This Season | Filed in Basketball, General, Sixers
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To Watch the Sixers

Your town, your team, your 76ers – but why bother to pay even a little bit of attention to a team that may approach losing that number of games (76) in an 82-game season?  Wait, they’re young, they’re inexperienced, but they can’t possibly be that bad, can they?  Who are these guys who open their 2013-14 season tonight against the two-time defending champion Miami Heat, and why should we care about what happens over the next six months?

Here are six or seven reasons to invest your time in this season’s 76ers:

1. Michael Carter-Williams. The development of the 6-6 rookie point guard out of Syracuse will be the main reason to monitor the Sixers this year, since his growth is crucial to the team’s long-term progress.  We already know MCW, the 11th pick in the draft last June, can play, but the key things to watch will be whether he can improve his shooting and how he handles playing the toughest position in the NBA on a largely inexperienced team.

2. The “old” veterans, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes. To casual fans, these two guys and Evan Turner will be the only familiar faces on a 76ers team that has been nearly completely turned over in recent years.  Hard to believe that Young is entering his seventh season, all with the Sixers; this is Hawes’ seventh year as well, his fourth since leaving Sacramento to join the Sixers.  The 6-8 Young and the 7-1 Hawes will both play big roles on this year’s team, and will need to show some leadership with an otherwise inexperienced group.

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