Sixers Week 21 Power Rankings + Rookie Rankings

by Jordan Sams on Mar 22, 2011 11:08 AM PDT in Philadelphia 76ers Links

John Hollinger, ESPN - 13th (5th in East)

Gonna be very, very interesting if the Sixers indeed wind up facing Miami in Round 1. They need to play small and run to win -- two truths that theoretically help Miami -- but they defend much better than the Knicks.

Hollinger Playoff Odds - 100% (projected 43-39)

Tom Ziller, SB Nation - 14th (5th in East)

Louis Williams has perked up in March, and Philadelphia needs a strident gunner like him given the team's inherent offensive struggles

Kurt Helin, PBT - 12th (5th in East)

They are 2-3 on their recent five-game road trip and that brought them back down to earth. That and the banged up Andre Iguodala. Good news is they are home for all but four games the rest of the season.

HoopsWorld - 12th (5th in East)

The Sixers have caught the Knicks but are a full four games behind the Hawks for the fifth seed.

John Schuhmann, NBA.com - 12th (5th in East)

The good news is that the Sixers play eight of their last 12 games at home. The bad news is that Andre Iguodala is really banged up. Without him in Portland on Saturday, they had one of their worst defensive games of the season. They've allowed just 100.2 points per 100 possessions with Iguodala on the floor.

Composite: 13 (5.2 in East)

Bonus: According to Basketball Reference's Wins Pythagorean the Sixers should be 39-31 instead of 36-34.

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Rookie Rankings: Evan Turner moves up to 13th in David Thorpe Rookie Rankings (ESPN).

Turner showed Golden State what the Sixers have been expecting him to do all season: 20 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. The game marked one of his best overall efforts of the season, and importantly, was another game in which he made shots. He's made almost half of his shots since Feb. 4, a big step for someone who's not a 3-point shooter yet.

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Barfed when I read the Louis Williams thing.

Liberty Ballers / Ridiculous Upside / SBN Philly / Twitter

The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Michael Bourn

by Michael Levin on Mar 22, 2011 1:30 PM PDT reply actions

Don’t like perking up?

by Ben16 on Mar 22, 2011 1:59 PM PDT up reply actions

Don’t like any of those words.

Liberty Ballers / Ridiculous Upside / SBN Philly / Twitter

The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Michael Bourn

by Michael Levin on Mar 22, 2011 2:25 PM PDT up reply actions

I never thought I’d hate a player as much as I hated Willie Green.

"I make love to pressure." - Stephen Jackson
"My passion is more passionate than ever." - Greg Paulus

by joe_digiacomo on Mar 22, 2011 2:26 PM PDT up reply actions

I hate Tha BOSS way more than I ever hated Bill G. Bill G. just sucked, and the coaches played him for too many minutes because there was no other competent shooting guard (this is not to say that Bill G. was a competent shooting guard, he was just slightly better than the alternatives, I guess, at least in the coaches’ minds). He was, and is, a mediocre bench player who was asked to be more than he was. That’s not entirely, or even mostly his fault. He at least tried to do what he was told. I don’t think he ever thought he was a star. He’s a really nice guy off the court, by all reports.

Tha BOSS is a whole different story. And while I do blame Collins for not smacking him down and forcing him to play team ball, you know that whole “I am the new Allen Iverson, so I’m going to ISO on every play” thing is all BOSS. He chooses to take the team out of its offensive flow. He chooses to play matador defense. He chooses to ignore wide-open teammates to force up an ill-advised jump shot. He also seems like kind of a douche.

He thinks he is more than he is. It is that one statement that is the basis for everything I hate about Tha BOSS. As I said, I do partially blame Collins for enabling his BOSSness, but his attitude and ego is what makes him Tha BOSS. He’s not an untalented player, by any means. It’s 100% arrogance that makes him as irritating as he is.

by dweebowitz on Mar 22, 2011 3:51 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs