The Official Philadelphia 76ers Season Thread!

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Well guys I'm going to kick this off, despite it going to be a lllooooonnnngggg season for these guys! haha

Here is what I posted in a blog on the 1/10/07 to kick things off :)


Well guys the season is less than 1 month away and rosters while not finalised, are getting close! Teams have some injury concerns and everyone wonders who is going to step up for your team? Some teams have the tried and trusted performers, but being a 76ers man in the post AI era, that is not an option and it still remains to be seen (in my eyes) who will be the one to step up.

Here is where some of my sleeper predictions come in. Would like to hear thoughts on these, but these are things to watch IMO.

Big Improver/step up: Willie Green
Everyone is jumping on Iggy (AI2 I don;t like that nickname) to be the main man in Philly, and main man he will be, but sources have always doubted Iggy's ability to score and score enough points to lead a team. I am of the opinion that instead the scorer and big mover/improver will actually be the now 5 year guard (same year as Kyle), Willie Green.
Green has shown he can score. He was very solid in behind AI a couple of seasons ago and then missed the entire 05/06 season due to a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). Last season he was back, and in the final month, getting decent starters minutes, was actually averaging 16.5ppg 3rpg and 3apg. I see him winning that starting 2 guard role and averaging that or more all season, with his minutes getting more consistant throughout the season and therefore higher numbers as the season progresses.


Big Man stakes, suprise packet: Herbert Hill
The big man situation at Philly is Dalembert Incumbant C with the PF possie up for grabs between Reggie Evans (front runner IMO), Shavlick Randolph, Jason Smith and Herbert Hill. Now I don;t see anyone displacing Dalembert and the rookies will steal progressively more time from Reggie as the season progresses, but the perhaps unforeseen/hidden gem is Herbert Hill.
This guy was drafted at #55 and traded to us for some other dude and cash considerations but has got a contract and reportedly impressed alot of people and was touted to take time off #20 pick, Jason Smith. Since then Reggie Evans has arrived and easily holds that starter role, but adding to this intruige is that Hill is nominally listed as a F/C compared to Smith's SF/PF status and Dalembert is reportedly only getting out of a cast/boot on his foot at the start of training camp from a stress fracture. Now I'm hoping Dalembert can get a solid injury free season and the reports of him being fine for training camp are true, but I had him as a C in a fantasy league a couple of seasons ago, as he was coming into a season as a starter when he suddenly had the same issue, a stress fracture in his foot. They said he'd be fine, but as he's a slow healer, he instead was used sparingly throughout the season rather than being the monster starter he was expected to be. Should this happen again and his minutes are limited, both Calvin booth and Herbert Hill stand to gain time and opportunity. Booth we know what he brings to the table, which is not much, but Hill being a high energy young recruit, in a season where the results could look rather bleak, stands to earn alot more time than expected.

Alot of Hype, but likely bust: Louis Williams
All the hype for up and comers in Philly is Louis Williams. However in an overcrowded swingman team and a mainstay PG in Andre Miller, opportunity I believe will be extremely sparse for Williams. At best I see him as a back-up to Andre Miller, but with Kevin Ollie on the team (good defensive PG) and Willie Green's ability to slide over to the point, I don;t think they'll be enough minutes amongst Miller, Ollie, Green, Korver, Carney, Byars (RC) and Iggy (able to play the 2) and Williams at the 2 positions (and this leaving out Thad Young as he's a 3).

Money: Andre Miller and Reggie Evans
Finally my predictions for the best value on the team. These would have to be Andre Miller and Reggie Evans.
Miller while slipping into a new team last season and not knowing the plays and such still managed 14ppg, 7.5apg, 4.4rpg and 1.5spg. Cast your mind back to when he played for the Cavs and they had little going for them. Miller was a consistant double/double man and tiple/double threat averaging 16.5ppg and 10.9apg. With little or no challenge at the point, an athletic bunch of runners and a 3pt gunner around him, surely it wouldn;t be too much of a step up for him again to those sorts of numbers
As for Reggie Evans, the guy was a beast on the boards last season and prior seasons while never getting more than 23 minutes a game!!! Surely in a depleted front line at Philly he'll get 25+ minutes despite rookies needing time and the rebounds should flow even greater.
 
Re: The Official 76ers Season Thread!

I'm having to re-think the Williams comments though...he's been going well! Hope he does step up! Happy to be wrong as always.
 
Re: The Official 76ers Season Thread!

Having now seen a few pre-season games my predictions for starters are:

PG: Miller
SG: Willie Green (still, despite no game time last game)
SF: Iggy
PF: Reggie Evans
C: Dalembert (but a recent set-back to his foot, as predicted above, = Booth/Hill splitting time if he can't get up for the season opener)

Positive so far:
Louis Williams has to top this list! 16p and then 33p in the first 2, and just rounded up another 13p performance has him flying. It's now stated that the guy has played himself into a back-up role behind Andre Miller, and perhaps some time at SG. However as stated above, there is some serious log-jam issues at the SG/SF possie, so I'm not sure how he'll figure there.
Herbert Hill has been limited in time in the pre-season, but has been solid for his minutes. 3p, 4r 1s in 9mins...2p, 4r, 1a, 1s in 12mins and today 6p, 6r, 1b in 12mins. Hill and Booth are the only other 'Centers' on the roster, despite Jason Smith being a 7footer and with Dalembert's foot setback, could see alot more time.
Jason Smith has been allowed some time, but has been mostly inconsistant. 7p, 7r 4fouls in 20mins...11p, 4r, 3a, 1s, 4b in 39mins and today 4p, 1r, 1a, 1s, 1b 0/7FG in 22mins. He has a long way to go before getting regular time IMO. One good point though is his lack of turnovers. This was a point of conjecture when drafted yet this hasn't been an issue with only 1tpg in the pre-season.

There isn't too much else to talk about yet, except Iggy not really doing much in the way of scoring in the pre-season, but in limited minutes we'll see how this changes in the regular.
 
you think Louis Williams will be a bust? If he cant get mins philly should trade him, coz i can see him doing what Monta Ellis did last year, they are very similar players
 
Louis Williams is one of the high school sensations, they usually take time to get noticed.. also they need to get opportunities to shine..

I really like his athleticism.. I think he will have more minutes this season...

nice read Ben...
 
you think Louis Williams will be a bust? If he cant get mins philly should trade him, coz i can see him doing what Monta Ellis did last year, they are very similar players

That was pre pre-season Matty ;) Hence me dating it and then updating in next posts
 
Louis Williams reminds me a tiny bit of Iverson, except thats what the Sixers never really liked. If Williams plays SG it will leave their backcourt small. It'll be good if he works on other areas and can back-up Miller.
 
Yeah carnt wait for the 76ers to get rollin really amped up for the seasons
massive year for iggy and also when dalembert is fit i think he will have a good year saw highlights not long ago when dalembert was playing for senegal(i think it was ) and he was looking the goods on the boards
love the 76ers always have always will
go u 76ers
cheers
 
Well another game and another loss, but some interesting developments.

Willie Green started again, which is what I expect, and hit 15 points in 23 minutes on 6/11 shooting...goose eggs all round though in other stats except for 2 turnovers and 2 fouls, but I did say I anticipate him scoring ;)

Dalembert didn;t play, which is not unexpected given his setback, and Cheeks said 2 days ago that if he's 'still hurting in 10 days, we'll get worried' so I expect he'll be lucky to be there start of the season. Jason Smith started in his place and got 7p, 3r, 2s, 1s, 1turnover in 25 mins on 1/5 shooting...good on the lack of turnovers which is his issue apparently, but not great otherwise.

Louis Williams was very good again, this time filling the stat sheet well with 13p, 3r, 6a in 26mins off the bench. I am now thinking he's firming to see this type of action most nights, especially when Ollie doesn't play. I have to admit right now to settle all those first comments, I was wrong about Louis. Happy to admit I'm wrong :)

Herbert Hill played limited minutes again, 10, but very good production IMO. 0 points, but only 1 FG attempt. 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. This guy is looking some goods I reckon, especially if he gets a few more minutes. He's only had ~11 per game.

Ollie and Byars didn;t play for whatever reason, while Dalembert, Amundson and Randolph didn;'t play due to injury based reasons.

I'm tipping with the roster at 16, Amundson or possibly the aging Ollie or the young Byars will be the last cut...However I think they should keep Byars and given potential front court issues, Amundson will likely be held onto also.
 
like u said, Green is doing really well, he may be MIP of the team next season....

Louis is doing well.. at least, he's shooting FT% pretty well.. well, i got confused with Williams surname issue too... there are not less than 40 Williams in NBA and it's all confusing LOL...
 
Yesterday saw the first Pre-season win by the 76ers over what was basically the Boston 2nd Unit. KG, Pierce and Perkins, 3 starters, weren't playing for Boston. Apparently we were challenged, but then pulled back away from them for the win.

My notes on the game:

Willie Green
Started again for 26mins and scored 14points, 12 in the first half. I still see him winning this role, as his main competition is Carney.

Jason Smith
Started at Center in Dalemberts absense and played 42mins. Scored 16 and pulled down 9 rebounds and had 1 blocked shot. Shooting was good too, however he was only playing against Scalbrine at Center I think so not sure how much you can take from this performance.

Iggy
Tell me if I'm expecting too much, but surely if you're the new "Guy" in a team you're going to look to come out of the blocks and lead and take control in the pre-season yes? Another fairly lack luster performance here considering he's the main man and what's expected. Filled the stat sheet, but with 14points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and fouling out in 35mins...hardly team leading IMO.

Korver
Came off the bench for 35mins and provided offence, 3/3 treys, 11 points, 8 rebounds, hopefully playing himself into some better fitness after having a groin strain.

Louis Williams
Cooled off a little, 8 points, 4 assists in 17mins, and these are the type of mins I see him playing most of the season behind Andre Miller. Decent stats for that amount of time though :)

Overall it was a solid performance with 6 players scoring in double figures. Calvin Booth didn't play either, leaving the only guy on the roster 7' + to be Smith. Since Boston had no big men either, only Smith and Evans were used as big men with Hill and Sanchez not being given time and all other big men out for what ever reason be it injury or not with the team. The more opponants that don't go big, the better for us given our swingman log jam and lack of depth in the front court due to injury. The line-up looks rather more set to me now, except for the Center obviously which will rotate, particularly with Dalembert out.
 
Well guys now our roster stands at 15. Derrick Byars was cut, as I predicted, yesterday to give us a final roster...or will it be final? While we have a swingman logjam, I probably would have liked to keep this young guy instead of 1 of the bigger guys. But oh well.

Derrick played in only 1 pre-season game with this statline:
13mins 2points 1/4FG 1assist and 2 rebounds.




Just-waived Byars to Germany?
Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007 11:15 am EDT
Indications were that the just-waived Derrick Byars could land with a team in Cologne, Germany, where Stefan Beck, a long-ago Philadelphia 76ers free-agent guard candidate, is the general manager. Former Villanova star Curtis Sumpter was listed on the Cologne roster earlier, but has since left the team.
 
1 game down, and that puts us at 0 and 1.

Looks to me like we simply couldn't match their big men, or the quickness of their big men. Bargnani able to get outside for the trey and Bosh in limited minutes scoring 16. TJ Ford doubled up against us and killed us!

But to our team.

Good news that Dalembert played/started. Bad news that we are VERY thin on up front as he's not 100% and I found out yesterday Herbert Hill is out for 6 weeks.

From this game, good points.

Iggy
Did it all, and scored well, mostly in the 2nd half too. 7 turnovers though has got to be fixed. Still not yet persuaded.

Reggie
As predicted he started and rebounded the lights out.

Willie
Also as I predicted, started and played 36mins. Consequently Louis Williams played very sparingly also as I predicted. Look for Willie to do this type of statline night in night out.

Korver
Quality off the bench. 20 points and 4 treys. That's my boy!
 
I've always had a high opinion on Willie Green. Whenever Iverson used to be out injured he'd nearly always come in and score his 20 points without any problems at all. He's another player you can think about adding to the class of 03-04.
 
I've always had a high opinion on Willie Green. Whenever Iverson used to be out injured he'd nearly always come in and score his 20 points without any problems at all. He's another player you can think about adding to the class of 03-04.

I agree :)
 
And now 2 games down, and we're at 1-1!!

I believe this would have been quite highly unexpected of us to beat the Bulls. In their defence they did shoot it at 38% to our 42%, but with the roster they have they're hoping for NBA Finals.

Iguodala killed it, 22,10,6,3 and 3 with Andre Miller top scoring with 25points. Willie Green started again and scored 13 and 8 rebounds and Dalembert had a double/double. Kyle shot terribly off the bench and didn;t see much time. You get that.

For Chi town, what the F is with ben Wallace? Gees looking like the smartest thing in the world that Detroit wouldn;t max him out now! Tyrus Thomas impressed with 21, 12 and 2 steals and 3 blocks while Ben Gordon knocked down 25points on 50% shooting.

Looked to me to be a very good starters performance with all 5 of them pitching in well. The bench didn;t see much time, now did it really need to.

Well done guys!
 
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