Liberty Links: A daily post with links to all things pertaining to the Philadelphia Sixers

Chad Ford from ESPN "makes sense of the combine stats"

In theory, the numbers have very little value. This sort of testing is really used to confirm what we already know. When the testing points in the opposite direction of conventional wisdom, teams tend to favor a player's body of work over a number from a 45-minute testing session.

He goes on to break down the shooting drill numbers, and theories on why some players performed the way they did.

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Kate Fagan of Deep Sixer provides a little background on the Sixers international scouting scene

When president Rod Thorn was hired last summer, he hired Marin Sedlacek, who currently serves as the team's overseas scout, talent evaluator, etc. Sedlacek is a native of Serbia and Montenegro and has ties to the Nike Hoops Summit, played each year in Portland, Oregon. Sedlacek mainly focuses on Europe and Africa, while the team uses a handful of contacts within South America to keep them on top of what's going on over there. In addition, director of player personnel, Courtney Witte, made two extended trips overseas this season and general manager Ed Stefanski made one. By all accounts, the Sixers feel very comfortable with the knowledge they have entering this year's draft.

She also discusses the extreme lack of success the Sixers have had with drafting international players.

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Kate Fagan also had a chat on Philly.com yesterday. I highly recommend skimming through. There were a decent amount of good questions asked and she gave informative answers. She covers the draft, Iguodala trades, Greg Oden, etc. The most surprising/disappointing tidbit from the chat (and there were a couple) was when Fagan said Evan Turner may NOT work with shooting coach Herb Magee this summer. 

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TrueHoop goes 'LeBron is the next Jordan' on us.

James has been just about this good for a while. Use your highlights, your numbers or simply a pair of open eyes. Whatever the tool, so long as it's not gummed up with preconception, it'll see that LeBron James is the best "next Michael Jordan" we've ever had.

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