Liberty Ballers

Rockets at Sixers 01/06/09

2009-01-06T21:40:54Z

21-14		13-20
	@
Enemy: The Dream Shake
Prediction: 101-97 Sixers!
7:05 PM est
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Previous meetings: none
Probable starters:
Rafer Alston	PG	Andre Miller
Von Wafer	SG	Willie Green
Tracy McGrady	SF	Andre Iguodala
Luis Scola	PF	Thaddeus Young
Yao Ming	C	Samuel Dalembert

I'm struggling for time right now, but I should be home just in time for tip-off. I'm predicting a Sixers win! With the way they played against the Spurs, I think they have an excellent chance at home tonight against the banged-up Rockets. 7 eastern time. Be here.

Power Rankings: Still suck

2009-01-06T00:35:23Z

Marc Stein! 26th?! How could you?! We haven't been very good, but are the Grizzles and Bobcats really better than us?

NBA.com-22

Since Elton Brand went down with a dislocated shoulder, Andre Iguodala is averaging 22.3 points on 51 percent shooting. That's probably not a coincidence, and neither is the Sixers' 1-6 record in that time.

John Hollinger-19

Marc Stein, ESPN-26

It's still too soon to tell you where the Sixers are with their new coach after an undeniably favorable start schedule-wise to DiLeo's interim tenure, followed by the 1-5 misery of an unforgiving six-game road trip.

While Ed Stefanski wouldn't mention any names, it's clear that the Sixers desperately need a...

2009-01-05T14:26:04Z

While Ed Stefanski wouldn't mention any names, it's clear that the Sixers desperately need a shooter. They are last in the NBA in 3-point shooting accuracy at 29.1 percent this season. That's even worse than last season, when they were last at 31.7 percent.

Stefanski wouldn't say if he's shopping Andre Miller, or Samuel Dalembert, who might be less attractive because he has two years and $23.6 million left on his deal, in addition to a 15 percent trade kicker. But Stefanski did say he has been talking with teams about possible trades.

"We're on the phones a lot, learning what other teams are looking for and seeing if there's anything out there that makes sense for us," Stefanski said. -- The News Journal

This makes me feel better about Iguodala. If LeBron does things like that, I'll give Iggy a...

2009-01-05T14:22:05Z

This makes me feel better about Iguodala. If LeBron does things like that, I'll give Iggy a pass...sometimes.

Sixers top play(s) of the week

2009-01-04T18:56:14Z

Thaddeus alley-oop

Thaddeus fake-behind-the-back dunk @ the 1:03 mark

Sixers lose on Tony Parker game-winner

2009-01-04T04:51:59Z

Box Score

Pounding the Rock

If you didn't watch the game, the Sixers we're down 40-19 after the first quarter. San Antonio hit 15 threes. The Sixers battled back to tie it only to have their hearts broken by an offensive rebound followed by a game winner at the hands of Tony Parker. The shot was a difficult rainbow-fadeaway at the buzzer and it was absolutely devastating.

I'm in no condition to write a coherent recap, so I'll go with the good old, scrambled observations approach.

-Games like these from Andre Iguodala make me want to take back every negative thing I've ever said about him. He played one of the most complete games I've ever seen from him. It would've been awesome if he could've topped it off with a game-winner, but never got the chance. He was 10-15 from the field, 5-5 from the line, had 25 points, 8 boards and 8 assists. Not to mention a few monster dunks. MONSTER.

-Say what you want about Andre Miller. He made a questionable pass, thus committing a bad turnover at the end of the game and "allowed" Tony Parker to get the offensive rebound and hit the game-winner, but it was because of Andre Miller that the Sixers were even in the game. He committed only one turnover and was 12-14 from the field. He looked like an all-star tonight.

-Theo Ratliff played great defense down the stretch.

-Speights played 18 minutes, but none in the second half. He's nowhere near as good defensively as Ratliff or Dalembert and that's why he didn't play in the second half. Once he improves his defense the sky's the limit.

-Lou had another solid game off the bench. It wasn't spectacular, just solid.

-It cannot be said enough. Willie Green is absolute garbage. I dislike him a lot.

-Thad Young continues to show flashes and that jump hook is starting to look less like luck and more like skill. I'm confused on why he didn't play in crunch time and why Royal Ivey, of all people, took his minutes. He should've been out there.

-The Sixers showed a ton of heart tonight and hung in there with the Spurs. I'm proud of the team tonight and even though they lost they did a lot of good things. No one likes to lose like that, but they could've easily laid down and gotten blown out after the 40-19 first quarter, but they didn't and played one heck of a game.

Sixers At Spurs open thread 01/03/09

2009-01-03T20:10:02Z

13-19		21-11
	@
Enemy: Pounding the Rock
Prediction: 97-84 Spurs
8:30 PM est
TV: NBA TV
Previous meetings: none
Probable starters:
Andre Miller	PG	Tony Parker
Willie Green	SG	Roger Mason
Andre Iguodala	SF	Michael Finely
Thaddeus Young	PF	Tim Duncan
Sam Dalembert	C	Matthew Bonner

It's not quite ESPN or TNT, but tonight the Sixers will be ballin' on NBA TV. They play their second consecutive game against a Texas Powerhouse and I expect things to be similar to they were last night. The Sixers might hang around for a while, look like they might possibly steal a game, but allow the better team to prevail in the end. That's why they play the games though. Less than a year ago, the streaking Sixers, in the midst of their playoff run, squeezed out a win against this same Spurs team and did it in impressive fashion. It was an awesome win, ranking number eight on my top 10 games of 2006-2007. Here's the quick recap:

8. San Antonio Spurs vs. Philadelphia 76ers (March 15, 2008)

[Ed.]

This game was during a month where the Sixers went 11-4. Of those 11 wins, five were against legit playoff teams, including Boston, Detroit, Phoenix and San Antonio. This game might have been higher on the list, but at the time it just seemed like another day at the office. The win brought the Sixers to within one game of .500 and made their playoff chances seem very realistic. My thoughts during this game were, "Are we really going to beat the Spurs in a grind it out game in March, when the Spurs are in their playoff gear?", "Can Sammy really shut down Tim Duncan at the end of the game?" and "Does this mean Philly really has a shot at the playoffs?" The answer to all those questions was yes. The Sixers held a small lead throughout the game, until the fourth when the Spurs made their push. Andre Miller had an absolutely ridiculous game, finishing with 32 points (11-14 shooting) , 7 assists, 5 rebounds and ZERO turnovers. They tried defending him with everyone. Mike Finely couldn't stop him, Tony Parker couldn't stop him, Manu Ginobli couldn't stop him, Jacque Vaughn couldn't stop him and even the oh so wonderful Bruce Bowen couldn't stop him. Everybody on the Sixers played near perfect basketball, only turning the ball over a whopping four times. FOUR TIMES! Besides Miller, if I had to single one player out, it would be Samuel Dalembert. Dalembert owned Tim Duncan defensively in crunch time. Cheeks allowed him play one-on-one for the most part and Sammy made it pay off, either blocking or bothering all of Duncan's shots in the last few minutes. This was one of the most balanced, team effort victories of the season and it came against the defending champs.

That game was magical to watch. I find it hard to believe that history would repeat itself though. The Sixers were playing out of their minds. Not so much nowadays. This year I can't imagine the Sixers only committing four turnovers in a half, let alone an entire game. And I don't see Sammy D shutting down Tim Duncan again any time soon.

A loss tonight and the Sixers would finish with a 1-5 record on their brutal six-game road trip. That's not all that bad, considering the fact that losing all six was very plausible. After this game, the Sixers have another tough one against the Rockets at home, then they have two "easy" ones against Milwaukee and Charlotte, who by the way, NBA League Pass aired a game between those two instead of the Sixers/Mavericks. I know the Sixers have been bad lately, but the Bucks and Bobcats?! Then after their "easy" games they have yet another tough stretch of games, playing the Hawks, Blazers, Spurs, Dallas, New Orleans, Houston and Boston in 7 of their next 11. None of us is really sure when Elton is coming back, but he better hurry, because with that schedule the Sixers could have a pretty horrible record when he returns. Then again, playoffs are always a possibility in the East.

To tonight's game.

Will Marreese Speights log 0 minutes again? I hope not.

Will Lou-Will and Thad continue to grow? Yes.

Can Iggy follow up his solid game against Bruce Bowen? Ummm.

Will the Sixers lose as expected, or pull off the upset? That's why I'll be watching the game.

8:30 eastern time. Be here.

Poll

2009-01-03T20:27:22Z

Sixers at Mavericks open thread 01/02/09

2009-01-02T23:41:22Z

13-18		19-12
	@
Enemy: Mavs Moneyball
Prediction: 103-87 Mavs
8:30 PM est
TV: CW-57
Previous meetings: none
Probable starters:
Andre Miller	PG	Jason Kidd
Willie Green	SG	Antoine Wright
Andre Iguodala	SF	Josh Howard
Thaddeus Young	PF	Dirk Nowitzki
Sam Dalembert	C	Erick Dampier

The Sixers looked somewhat decent in the 2nd half of the Clippers game, but this is a classic good team vs. bad team game. And the good team is at home. I'm searching, but I don't see any reason why the Sixers win this game. For the first time in what seems like a while, the Sixers are playing a healthy opponent.

As always, when you expect your team to lose, you try to focus the positives. I'm going to enjoy the game, win or lose and hopefully witness a couple nasty dunks. I'll also keep a close eye on "the future" in Lou, Thad and Marreese.

All that being said, it would be magical if the Sixers pulled the upset. Let's go Sixers!

Dalembert 2nd in All-Star Voting

2009-01-02T18:15:58Z

Dalembert 2nd in All-Star Voting

Guys, go vote for someone else. Please.

Straight from a Clippers fan's mouth. "Thad Young had another excellent game against the Clips and...

2009-01-01T11:54:57Z

Straight from a Clippers fan's mouth.

"Thad Young had another excellent game against the Clips and he's really impressed me in both games this season. I'd trade Thornton for Young in a heartbeat right now."

Sixers move to 13-18

2009-01-01T11:51:52Z

One win at a time. This was a nice way to end 2008.

via assets.espn.go.com

Wednesday GM

2009-01-01T00:29:48Z

Here's a little experiment of mine. Each Wednesday "Wednesday GM" will appear on Liberty Ballers and it will be a weekly platform for me, and you to weigh in on some options the Sixers have in regards to tweaking the team. Every Wednesday I'll conjure up a transaction I'd the like to see the Sixers make and explain why it would work. Some trades may be more realistic than others, so bare with me. With that said, let Wednesday GM begin...

Philadelphia 76ers

Incoming Players
	Luke Walton Salary: $4,420,000 Years Remaining: 5 PTS: 3.5 REB: 1.8 AST: 1.8 PER: 9.84
	Sun Yue Salary: $442,114 Years Remaining: 2 PTS: 3.0 REB: 0.0 AST: 0.0 PER: -1.86

Outgoing Players: Reggie Evans

Los Angeles Lakers

Incoming Players
	Reggie Evans Salary: $4,640,000 Years Remaining: 3 PTS: 2.1 REB: 4.0 AST: 0.4 PER: 9.44

Outgoing Players: Luke Walton, Sun Yue

Why the Lakers do it: The Lakers lack a tough post player, a player that comes off the bench and battles. All great teams have one and the Lakers had one last year in Ronny Turiaf. This year they don't and it doesn't help that their two stud big men are a little softer than you would like. Don't get me wrong, Pau Gasol is a fantastic player, but he just doesn't have that Reggie Evans, Ronny Turiaf, Dennis Rodman, Leon Powe-type toughness to him. As for Andrew Bynum, he's also a talented player, but I think he's gone from an underrated player with huge upside to an overrated player. The jury is still out on whether he can handle the hectic atmosphere in the post during an intense playoff game and the Lakers are going to be in quite a few of those in the coming months.

Enter Reggie Evans. He sucks on offense. He couldn't hit a jumper to save his life, unless it's a clutch free throw line fadeaway against the Pistons in the playoffs. He's a horrible free throw shooter. But the Lakers don't need any of that, especially with such a deep bench. They need a player who's willing to come in and battle in the post and energize the crowd. That's Reggie Evans. Trevor Ariza often fills the energizer role for them, but Reggie wouldn't hurt. He'd probably play sparingly for the Lakers, but he fills more of a need than Luke Walton does at this point and when you have such a deep team, minor moves like this might not seem meaningful, but often are. How important were Leon Powe and P.J. Brown to the Celtics run last season?

Why the Sixers do it: We are all aware of the Sixers shooting problems. Luke Walton shoots 33.5% from behind the arc for his career which would put him behind Kareem Rush and Donyell Marshall as best career percentages on the Sixers. Luke can shoot and can contribute to the team in more ways than Rush and Donyell. Along with Luke's shooting ability, he's also an above average passer and has a high basketball IQ. Combine that with a good contract and the Sixers have themselves a player. His passing ability would be extremely on important as a Sixer because he could help "run the show" on the second unit, while Miller takes a rest, since no one else seems to be able to.

As for Sun Yue, my question is why not? Why wouldn't the Sixers take a chance on the young shooting guard/point guard? And why wouldn't the Lakers be willing to part with him? They're the deepest team in the league and their extremely young too. Sun will probably never get a chance to contribute as a Laker. I haven't seen much of the dude, but it wouldn't hurt to take a flier. Here's 47 seconds of Sun.

Sixers at Clippers open thread 12/31/08

2008-12-31T23:23:54Z

12-18		8-22
	@
Enemy: Clips Nation
Prediction: 91-85 Sixers
9:30 PM est
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Previous meetings: 89-88 W
Probable starters:
Andre Miller	PG	Baron Davis
Willie Green	SG	Eric Gordon
Andre Iguodala	SF	Al Thornton
Thaddeus Young	PF	Paul Davis
Sam Dalembert	C	Marcus Camby

Happy New Year's! I just woke up. I hate having my sleeping schedule all messed up during a week off of work. Anyway, tonight the Sixers travel to Los Angeles to face Elton Brand's old team. It sucks that he's not going to be there for it. He would've had Paul Davis guarding him.

"Yeah, definitely, I'm sad," Brand said about 10 days ago. "I know all those fans wanted to wish me a happy New Year, so I'm not going to be out there for that."

This is definitely the Sixers most winnable game of the road trip, but let's not forget how poorly the Sixers have been playing. Plus they beat this same Clippers team by a measly one point in Philadelphia. And that was with Elton Brand. It looks like the Clippers will sill be without arguably their best player, and my best fantasy player, Zach Randolph tonight. They'll also be without Ricky Davis. Yet again, the Sixers catch a huge break (Nuggets minus Carmelo, Pacers minus their whole team and the Jazz minus Boozer and Milsap), but thus far they haven't been able to capitalize on any of them.

Thad Young and Andre Iguodala seem to think they should win this game. Are they being realistic or is it just a false sense of confidence?

"We're looking at it as a game we should get, we should win," forward Thaddeus Young said.

"We need to win the rest of the games on this trip," swingman Andre Iguodala said. "We have to finish it off strong and be a better road team."

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the Sixers turn it around and start playing quality basketball, but I won't believe it until I see it. As you can see I'm still practicing Sixer-homerism by predicting a win, but I'm far from confident.

So, can we end 2008 on a high note and move to 13-18? One thing to watch for tonight is Eric Gordon. It's completely unrealistic that it would ever happen, but the Sixers would be a much better team in my opinion if our lineup read Miller, Gordon, Iggy, Brand and Sam. Gordon's the type of player Ed needs to try and acquire in the off-season.

9:30 pm est. Be here.

Brand update Power forward Elton Brand remained in Philadelphia to rehabilitate after suffering a...

2008-12-30T22:23:59Z

Brand update

Power forward Elton Brand remained in Philadelphia to rehabilitate after suffering a dislocated right shoulder. Brand is doing well, interim coach Tony DiLeo said.
"He's coming along great," DiLeo said. "He's been shooting the ball, and his range of motion is great."

Kate Fagan

How sorry are the Sixers?

2008-12-30T22:21:22Z

Power Rankings as of 12/30/08

Ball Don't Lie-20

The Sixers are 7-1 when scoring 100-plus points this season, as well as 7-3 when shooting the same percentage or better than their opponent. Too bad their "Effective FG%" is one of the worst in the L.

Marc Stein, ESPN-23

When the Sixers stumbled out of the gate, their fans could still lose themselves in Phillies Euphoria. Perhaps the Eagles' unlikely rally into the NFL playoffs will further extend the Elton-less Sixers' grace period.

John Hollinger-21

NBA.com-19

After winning their first three under Tony DiLeo, the Sixers have lost three straight, but they were up 12 in the fourth quarter in Denver Friday night before losing to the Nuggets. Rookie Marreese Speights is making some noise, averaging 13.8 points on 56 percent shooting in the last five games.

A mire two months ago I thought this was a 50 win team, so I can't say I saw this coming. This is nothing new though. It's just taking some people longer to realize that this isn't a good team. It is what it is.

Speights moves into David Thorpe's top 10 rookies.

2008-12-30T22:01:13Z

Speights moves into David Thorpe's top 10 rookies.

David Thorpe's Analysis
December 30, 2008

Speights is playing great on offense. No surprise there. But to be a better defensive force, he needs to learn to try to deny his opponents good post-up position. It's not possible to deny them the ball totally, but forcing them to catch the ball a step or three beyond where they want it is the first line of defense.

Reggie's at it again.

2008-12-30T17:39:17Z

Reggie's at it again.

Sixers Lose Again.

2008-12-30T12:48:49Z

Box Score

Highlights

SLCDunk

I got caught up in some intense Madden earlier--nearly 6 hours worth. Due to my addiction to re-building the Detroit Lions franchise, I was forced to tape the Sixers game and began watching it at 3 o'clock in the morning. (It doesn't look like you guys missed me too much.) Thank God I have the week off.

My TV clock now 4:40 A.M. and you know what, even though the Sixers got owned yet again, I'm completely at peace with my decision to stay up until four in the morning to watch my team lose. Maybe I'm high off Madden ecstasy, maybe I've realized how bad the Sixers are, maybe it's the fact that I have missed two straight ball games, but for whatever reason I actually enjoyed watching the game tonight.

The Sixers lost to an under-manned Utah Jazz team. The reasons to the loss were very similar to the reasons this is a 12-18 basketball team. The main one being the inability to shoot. Here's the telling stat. Sixers: 1-9 from downtown, Kyle Korver:2-4. Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008-2009 Philadelphia 76ers. Oh, how I miss Kyle Korver.

Observations before I go to bed:

-Lou Williams has definitely returned to form. I love to watch him play. He reminds m of A.I. That could either be a good or a bad thing, but as of right now he's probably the Sixers best offensive option. Sure he makes stupid mistakes sometimes, but you have to take the good with the bad. Not to mention he's still only 22 years old. I'd love to see him get a chance to run the show if anything happens to Andre Miller somewhere down the road, via trade or injury.

-Marreese Speights is extremely talented offensively. He's very raw, but you can see it. He's going to be special. On the other hand, his defense and rebounding needs a lot of work.

-If a person were watching this team for the first time, I guarantee you they wouldn't guess that Andre Iguodala is the highest paid player with Brand out. His dunks are magical and he still does some spectacular things on the court, but I question his contract at least 90 times a day.

-I don't care how much better of a defender and rebounder Sam is than Speights, he needs to go. He looks completely lost out there.

-Thaddeus Young was pretty impressive tonight. He had NBA.com's 2nd top play tonight. If you didn't get a chance to see the play, click the link out and fast forward to play number two. It's well worth it.

-News-flash: Willie Green still sucks so hard.

-Deron Williams and AK47 are beasts.

-Despite the fact that the Sixers suck, they're still entertaining. The fast break is really clicking and they have at least one or two ridiculous dunks a night.

The Sixers are now 12-18 and by the time Elton Brand comes back this team could be completely out of the playoff picture. They haven't played any basketball this season that leads me to believe that they will turn the season around, barring a major trade. And now that the idea of being a lottery-bound team has sunken in, I'm fine with it. Speights is awesome. Lou-Will is awesome. Thad is awesome. Iggy's awesome, only if he's being groomed for the team's third or fourth option once we're actually ready to contend. And those four players are only going to get better. Add a lottery pick and Jason Smith to the mix and we start turning into the Portland TrailBlazers, stockpiling young talent and one day it will all click. The best thing about sports is it's never-ending. When we're all dead and gone the Sixers will still be around. Once Brand, Iggy, Lou, Speights and Thad retire, there will be a new batch of players ready to take the helm. We might not be as good as we thought we were going to be, but I see the light. There is talent on this roster and I trust Ed and company to figure out how to fix this. My advice to you is not to get too upset about these losses, because until Elton returns and probably after he returns this team will do plenty of losing. But instead of throwing an object at your television, screaming curse words or feeling sorry for yourself as a Sixers fan, enjoy the bright spots. Go buy yourself a Lou-Will jersey or a Mo Speights jersey. Enjoy the electrifying dunks and fast-breaks that the Sixers break out night after night. I know I will.

Now 4:47 A.M. on the west coast, it's time for bed. Good night Sixers fans.

Sixers at Jazz open thread 12/29/08

2008-12-29T08:56:21Z

12-17		18-14
	@
December 29th, 2008
Prediction: 101-94 Jazz
9:00 PM est
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Previous meetings: 93-80 L
Probable starters:
Andre Miller	PG	Deron Williams
Willie Green	SG	Ronnie Brewer
Andre Iguodala	SF	C.J. Miles
Thaddeus Young	PF	Andrei Kirilenko
Sam Dalembert	C	Memo Okur

Would you look at that lineup?! Ronnie Brewer, C.J. Miles and Kosta Koufos don't scare me at all, and for good reason. That being said, the Jazz still have Deron Williams, they still one of the best home crowds in the NBA and the Sixers are still playing poorly.

This is a winnable game, but I still think the Jazz will pull it out. Call it pessimism, negativism or any other ism you want; I call it realism. The Sixers haven't played well all season. They aren't a good road team (or home team for that matter). And the Jazz are clearly the superior team. We're catching a break (as of right now) since they'll be without Boozer, Milsap and Okur, but the fact that we're missing Brand and starting Willie Green cancels that out.

If nothing else, look for Lou, Speights and Thad tear it up. They're the future.

Liberty Ballers

Rockets at Sixers 01/06/09

Power Rankings: Still suck

While Ed Stefanski wouldn't mention any names, it's clear that the Sixers desperately need a...

This makes me feel better about Iguodala. If LeBron does things like that, I'll give Iggy a...

Sixers top play(s) of the week

Sixers lose on Tony Parker game-winner

Sixers At Spurs open thread 01/03/09

Poll

Currently, who's your favorite Sixer?

Sixers at Mavericks open thread 01/02/09

Dalembert 2nd in All-Star Voting

Dalembert 2nd in All-Star Voting

Straight from a Clippers fan's mouth. "Thad Young had another excellent game against the Clips and...

Sixers move to 13-18

Wednesday GM

Philadelphia 76ers

Los Angeles Lakers

Sixers at Clippers open thread 12/31/08

Brand update Power forward Elton Brand remained in Philadelphia to rehabilitate after suffering a...

How sorry are the Sixers?

Speights moves into David Thorpe's top 10 rookies.

Speights moves into David Thorpe's top 10 rookies.

Reggie's at it again.

Sixers Lose Again.

Sixers at Jazz open thread 12/29/08