[This is the fourth edition in Where Is Ben Rivera's series on Forgotten Philadelphia 76ers. These are fun reads filled with nostalgia and humor, and they provide a great change of pace to the site. Keep up the good work WiBR! Check out his previous pieces on Ron Anderson, Mark Hendrickson, Jerald Honeycutt. -ed.]

My mom broke the news to me.

I was in my room, sitting, surrounded by three ring binders and a Beckett’s pricing guide. I was holding a ’91 Skybox Hersey Hawkins. The edges were sharp, the picture, slightly off-center.

It was summer.

"Dave, can you empty the dishwasher?"

"But mom…"

"The Sixers signed someone…a forward…Williams."

I perked up. "Buck? Walt? Was it Walt, mom?"

via mynbacards.files.wordpress.com

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Link to Thursday blog:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/sixers/iguodala-not-counting-on-all-star-spot/article_b52028a7-4d6e-5e1d-96e7-df9b4559127e.html

Here is a portion of the blog:

"It'd be good, said Iguodala after Wednesday's 100-90 home loss to the Spurs. "We'll see. I didn't put too much into it Guys are going to get snubbed. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't."

The fans selected the Heat's LeBron James and the Knicks' Carmelo Anthony as the East's starting forwards. The East coaches picked two more forwards, in addition to two guards, one center and two wild cards to round out the 12-man roster.

For me this game taught me way more about the Spurs than the Sixers. With so much young talent in the NBA I kind of assumed the Spurs would be pushed out of the top tier by now. This game showed me why they haven't been.

-Duncan might no longer be fantasy b-ball relevant but hes far from done contributing in real life.
-Tony Parker's always been underrated. Hes never been a big numbers guy but to see him play he has a huge impact on every game.
-Poppovich is the best coach in the NBA and somehow turns undrafted, low-1st round, 2nd round guys into key players. Every time the Sixers tried to help on the pick and roll Gary Neal or Matt Bonner made them pay.
-The 76ers gave themselves too much of an uphill battle tonight. They played a good 4th quarter but to put themselves down 8 was tough. Usually the 76ers can blanket a team with their defense and go on a run when they need to, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan didn't let that happen tonight.

-The Sixers missed Spencer Hawes a lot. Vucevic and Lavoy Allen couldn't get the free throw jumper going tonight, and the Spurs seemed content on leaving them open. Vucevic had probably his worst game offensively. He finished 0 for 4 with 4 Turnovers. That being said I thought he looked good on the boards...Tiago Splitter's 15 points in 17 minutes were a big reason the Spurs kept the Sixers at arms length for the 1st 3 quarters. I gotta think a vet like Hawes could've helped that a little bit.

-The worst error of the night was made by whoever decided to give Gary Neal all day to shoot an open 3 and drain his 4th of the night. I forget if it was Jrue or Turner. That shot deflated the Sixers run in a major way.

Overall I saw the same 76ers team Ive seen every night. I don't really fault Holiday and Brand on the pick and roll. Both are good defenders and were batting, especially in the 4th quarter. Anyone who knows basketball knows good offense beats good defense. This is particularly true with a properly run pick and roll, and the Spurs executed to perfection tonight.

On offense the 76ers (particularly Thad and Lou) hit a lot of shots in the 4th quarter, but each time we got it to around 5 the Spurs had an answer.

Overall Im not fretting too much about this loss, except for Hawes injury

Link to Sixers story (with Holiday, Collins video interviews) :

http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/sixers/sound-decisions-paying-off/article_2d0933b7-7ea6-528c-9df8-66534a05a329.html

Here is a portion of the story:

The Sixers' 27 assists and floor-record four turnovers were a big reason they defeated the Lakers 95-90 on Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Sixers' 42 turnovers in the past six games is the lowest six-game turnover total since the NBA began tracking them in 1970-71. They are 5-1 during that span.

Perhaps most impressive is that the Sixers have four primary ball-handlers.

David Thorpe and John Carroll of ESPN Insider published their top 25 players under 25 years old. They used three main factors in making their selection including how the player has played in the past (including college), how they are playing now, and how they may play in the future (partially using WARP from Basketball Prospectus). Not surprisingly, a couple of Sixers showed up on the list:

"22. Thaddeus Young, PF, 23 years old

Despite not having a truly defined position, Young makes the most of his playing time coming off the bench, enabling his team to enjoy a huge advantage with their second unit. He's a terrific finisher, attacks the rim and plays within his talent level, rather than launching too many shots or making drives that would likely end poorly. He's only 23, but Young us in the midst of his 5th NBA season. And even though the totals have dipped a bit (in part due to a stronger lineup around him) there's still some upside. Similar to: Antawn Jamison

24. Jrue Holiday, PG, 21 years old

Holiday has not made any big jumps forward, but he's a key starter on a very likely playoff team. His team is far worse when he's not in the game. He has the talent to be a much better defender and finisher at the rim, but he's already a dynamite perimeter shooter and a willing ball mover. Another UCLA player that is showing more in the NBA than he did in college, but also that he came into the league having learned how to play defense. Similar to: Danny Ainge"

(Note: I'm not really sure how much of ESPN Insider I'm actually allowed to quote, so if I need to change something it would be great if someone let me know so I can edit accordingly.)

I think that the placement of Thad is about right. He is obviously undersized for the PF position, but in an up-tempo offense can be a major asset, especially when there aren't many teams with two skilled big men to create a major mismatch.

Holiday seems a little low, even though he hasn't quite advanced this season as many have expected. Jrue ranks as the 11th Point Guard on this list behind the likes Mike Conley, Ty Lawson and Tyreke Evans. Obviously Conley and Lawson are more experienced and probably better right now, but I think there is an argument Holiday's potential to be a factor at both ends of the floor with his size would make him a more valuable player. Though I do understand if one would need to see it first, and I must admit I'm a little unfamiliar with Lawson or Conley's defensive abilities. Evans probably more potential than Holiday, but he has been inconsistent and I'm really not sure he is going to be able to put it all together in Sacramento. Ultimately, I can understand why Holiday is ranked where he is but think there is a case for him moving up. And at the very least I would think he would be above Thad.

I think you could also make a case that Turner should make this list, especially considering his stat-stuffing play at Ohio State. I would imagine he needs to keep up his play this year and continue to improve on his Rookie campaign before he grabs a spot on this list.

So … can we take the Sixers seriously yet?

Philly feasted on a soft early schedule, but the Sixers' current stretch of games against elite teams (one that continues Monday against the Lakers) provided further proof of their legitimacy. The Sixers pounded the Bulls and embarrassed the Magic despite missing both their starting and backup centers -- one would think this might be problematic against the league's best offensive rebounding team and its most dominant center, but it was no problem. They followed that over the weekend with a setback against the Heat before pounding the Hawks into submission in Atlanta on Saturday.

With a third of the season in the books, Philly is third in the Power Rankings and leads the NBA in margin of victory. The schedule has undoubtedly helped -- it is both the second easiest by opponent strength and one of the most home-heavy (15 in Philly, just nine away) -- but it's not like the Sixers have been skating by.

If anything they've been unfortunate, actually. Only six of their games were decided by seven points or fewer, and Philly lost five of them. Their only win in that group was the Orlando game, when they were humiliating the Magic with their suffocating D before a late burst of cosmetic scoring made it seem a game. Orlando had 49 points in the first 44 minutes and trailed by 18 with less than three minutes to go.

For the season, two stats stand out. First is their defense. The Sixers lead the NBA in defensive efficiency by a wide margin, despite playing a big chunk of the season without both centers. The second is their low-turnover offense: Philly has by far the lowest turnover rating in the NBA at just 10.7 percent of possessions.

Those two items are intertwined if you look more closely. The Sixers are defined by one characteristic: They never screw up. Philly doesn't turn the ball over on offense, and the Sixers have shot surprisingly well from the perimeter (fifth in the league at 38.5 percent on 3s, up from 15th a year ago with the same players). That's provided them with a decent offense overall, despite the amazing fact they're last in two of Dean Oliver's "four factors." Unbelievably, the Sixers are 30th in both offensive rebound rate and in free throw attempts per field goal attempt.

Defensively, it's a similar story. The Sixers don't foul (fourth in opponent free throw rate), don't give up second shots (ninth in defensive rebound rate) and don't surrender 3s (fourth in 3-point defense). Commentators still talk about their ball-hawking defense, but Philly is right at the league average in forcing turnovers; it's been so wildly successful largely by forcing opponents to shoot long 2s.

And for this, we should applaud Doug Collins and his team, because they're clearly playing at or near their ceiling. Philly doesn't bowl you over with great individual talents, but it has a lot of good players who play as a team and never beat themselves. All indications are that they will be a top-four seed in the East and win at least a round in the playoffs; while I doubt the Heat fear them after beating them twice by 20, they might be able to give the Bulls quite a tussle.

And yet there's an irony behind all this, which is that this season makes Philadelphia's future much harder to divine.

The sneaking suspicion around the league is that the Sixers are the primary beneficiary of the league's lockout, and the low-error path to success only reinforces that belief. Bringing back the same players and the same system into a league with virtually no training camp, Philly was halfway down the track while everybody else was still back in the starting blocks. If that's the case, the league is going to catch up to the Sixers as the season goes on, and their advantage may be considerably smaller by May.

On the other hand, Philly appears to have built quite a solid foundation of good young talent. Jrue Holiday, Thaddeus Young, Spencer Hawes, Jodie Meeks, Lou Williams and Evan Turner all are 25 or younger; Andre Iguodala, who turned 28 last week, isn't exactly a fossil, either. They may be overachieving, in other words, but they're also still improving.

That seven-man core appears to have been expanded by two over the summer with rookies Nikola Vucevic and Lavoy "Mr. 500" Allen, who look like two of the better selections in this year's draft. Vucevic has opened eyes with his variety of offensive skills, flashing both a low-post and long-range shooting game while shooting 54.9 percent; the 7-footer also has a strong rebound rate and ranks third among rookies in PER.

Allen, meanwhile, has impressed with his strength and midrange game after landing 500th out of 500 in our offseason poll ranking the league's players. Clearly, we had him a few spots too low. Atlanta tried posting Josh Smith on Allen early in the game Saturday and got absolutely nowhere; he's proven extremely difficult to move on the block and capable of taking minutes at the center position. Offensively, meanwhile, he's shooting 58.0 percent after an unremarkable four-year career at Temple.

(Unfortunately for the Sixers, however, somebody was asleep at the wheel when they did Allen's contract. The Sixers gave a straight one-year deal with no team option, allowing him to become a restricted free agent next summer. This is virtually unprecedented for a late second-round draft pick; nearly all have contracts with multiple team options for three or even four years, allowing the team to keep the player at an extremely low price if he turns out to be any good. Houston's Chandler Parsons, for example, was taken 12 spots ahead of Allen and has team options for the next three seasons. Thus, while Allen looks like a keeper, he may not be as cheap a keeper as he could have been.)

That's nine good players 25 or under, plus Iguodala. And that's where we get to the real story of this season's success: the tantalizing possibility that it may allow even more success a year from now.

Philadelphia has not generally been considered a hot market for free agents. If the Sixers win 45 games and a playoff round and can make Chicago or Miami break a sweat in Round 2, that picture may change dramatically. There isn't the lure of beaches and nightlife, but the lure of winning is pretty powerful, too. Philly will have that to lure veterans with its midlevel exception, at worst.

Or perhaps they could aim higher. The Sixers may lose Lou Williams to free agency (he can opt out and almost certainly will), and Hawes, Meeks and Allen will be free agents, too. So there's plenty of work to be done. But the Sixers also are looking at $15 million in cap pace if Williams walks and they use their amnesty clause on Elton Brand, even after locking up Hawes, Meeks and Allen.

No, Dwight Howard isn't coming. But this team doesn't need Dwight Howard. Eric Gordon, on the other hand -- they could really use somebody exactly like him. The Sixers lack both a reliable long-range shooter and go-to offensive option, and he'd fill both those slots rather nicely.

All this is getting ahead of ourselves, of course. The point is the Sixers can open a number of doors that previously seemed shut by continuing their recent run of success, whether via free agency or trade, because they've built a core of players good enough that other players want to join it.

The key to all of that, however, is sustaining said success in the wake of a more difficult schedule, and against better-prepared opponents. It remains unclear how well the screw-up-less-than-they-do approach will play as more teams shake out the cobwebs and lockoutball reverts to something more closely approaching real NBA basketball.

What is clear is that Philly is in much better shape than it appeared at the start of the season. They've played like legit contenders through the first third of the season; while we can retain a healthy suspicion of whether they're really this good given the circumstances, it's abundantly clear that this team's future is dramatically brighter than its past.

Link to my Sunday NBA column:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/blogs/sports_columnists/tom_moore/best-to-stay-away-from-the-heat/article_8e5c492e-7f54-597b-b167-7e724cda58c5.html

Here is a portion of my weekly column:

The Sixers’ 20-point loss to the Heat on Friday, two days after beating the conference-leading Bulls by 16, was another example of why Miami must be avoided for as long as possible.

The Sixers just don’t match up well with the Heat.

Miami has three stars in Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. That’s three more than the Sixers.

The Sixers’ two losses to Miami were by 41 points. Their other five have been by a combined 24 points.

David Thorpe had some nice things to say about our own Evan Turner in his ranking of second-year players. It's an Insider article, so I just copied the relevant part...

------------------------

6. Evan Turner, 76ers
If the NBA handed out its Most Improved Player award now, Turner would be a finalist. He has been much closer this season to what Philly expected of him in his rookie campaign; he is doing lots of little things to help his team win.

Can he score 20-plus points in a game? Yes. Can he grab 10-plus rebounds in a game? Yes. Can he control the ball for long stretches and help run the team as an off guard? Yes.

He has also shown much better shot selection this season and is now one of the two biggest bench producers for perhaps the league's best second unit. His herky-jerky style of a dribble attack is roasting defenders, and he's making more rim shots this season than he attempted last season.

--------------------

Nice :)

Ok, they only sucked for 12 minutes last night, against arguably the best team in the league. However, I hope last night served to inject some much-needed reality into people's perception of our beloved team. I'm not sure whether it's youthful inexperience on the part of some of our players, a brain-fart from our coach (who seems to have them sometimes, generally involving personnel use), Miami being in their heads, or simply lack of a 20ppg superstar who can take over the game, but I think last night showed that this team, while admittedly "fun to watch," isn't beating a top team in a 7-game series this year.

Or maybe, just maybe, they were who we thought they were. A mediocre team that got on a good run for a little while (as most teams are wont to do) due to continuity, young legs, and team chemistry (all of which are Good Things, but they aren't beating LeBron, Wade and the Boshtrich in a series), but will inevitably play to the level of their actual talent, which is still not that special, once the other teams get their legs under them.

In the end, talent tells in this league, not chemistry, youth, depth, or continuity. And this team doesn't have the raw talent to go toe-to-toe with the best, not over a 7-game series.

Now get off my lawn before I get the shotgun!!

Link to game story (with Thad Young video interview):

http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/sixers/heat-burn-sixers-in-fourth-quarter/article_3aa9c2c8-6d19-5b56-b677-7f921427b4a4.html

Here is a portion of the story:

"We've just got to tighten up the ship," said Elton Brand, who went scoreless (0-for-3) for just the fifth time in 823 career games. "We can't let teams make those runs."

The Sixers received no points in 40 minutes from starting big men Brand and Tony Battie. The Miami starters dominated the Sixers' first five, 72-34, which more than compensated for the Sixers' 45-27 edge in bench scoring.