The Sixers are 3-0 versus the Wizards this season, beating them by an average margin of 21 points. Tonight is their fourth and final meeting of the season. This time they have Nene instead of JaVale McGee and a bundle full of Seraphins and Veselys. Mmm, sounds delicious.
As much as I disagreed with the acquisition of Nene and the signing of Andray Blatche, the Wizards are well on their way to employing a duo of John Wall and one of the following bigs: Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond, Thomas Robinson or Jared Sullinger. I'll have what they're having.
The Celtics are in Minnesota to face the Rubioless T'Wolves. Lucky for Sixers fans, they got the Love Machine. For the sake of first place in the Atlantic Division, go Wolves!
P.S. Today's National Cleavage Day, apparently. Here's a SFW picture to celebrate, if you're into that sort of thing. And here's a picture for the one female that reads Liberty Ballers, not counting Dave's mom.
Make the jump for a special edition of "quotables", starring the crew at Liberty Ballers, and the things they had to say about John Wall, Evan Turner and the 2010 draft, in honor of their match-up tonight.
Nailed it
The length of the Sixers starting lineup would absolutely blow Jay Bilas' mind. Holiday at 6'4'', Turner at 6'7'' and Iguodala at 6'7'' would give perimeter players nightmares when they played the Sixers.
[snip]
Do I find it troubling that he "over-dribbles", turns the ball over too much, and can't shoot very well? Definitely, but you're not going to find a better player at number two than Evan Turner. He's either Brandon Roy with a worse shot, and better defense. Or Andre Iguodala with a more well-rounded offensive game.
Short-term, a starting lineup of Jrue, Turner, Iguodala, Brand and Dalembert has top 10 defensive potential, effective immediately.
Don't be surprised if the Holiday-Turner-Iguodala experiment turns out to be a success. Turner's ability to create for teammates could be the best thing that ever happened to Holiday and Iguodala. Iguodala shot 39.4% in catch-and-shoot situations last year - in the 74th percentile, and Holiday shot 45.8% - in the 94th percentile.
Turner can play three different positions, point guard, shooting guard, and small forward. In drafting him, the Sixers open up a world of possibilities. They can go uber-big and play Turner at the point. They could go small and play Turner at small forward. Or they could go conventional and play Turner at the two. As we witness in the playoffs, year after year, series often boil down to which team can create the most mismatches, and Turner is a mismatch waiting to happen.
Big Board 1 - Tanner!
I put Paul George much higher than most people would put him because when I see his tapes I just think Danny Granger over and over again. He can soot the j, he can rebound with the bigs, has great length, he's unselfish, he's smart, and screams potential. I think he could end up being an all-star in the league if he works at refining his weaknesses (drive more, improve dribbling ability, play with scorer's mentality).
Makes Me Sad
There is no doubt in my mind that [Wall and Turner] are the two best prospects, but D-Favors is probably my favorite prospect of this class.
Turner's ceiling is a perennial all-star and go-to scorer, but Favors ceiling is Dwight Howard with Amare's offense. In my opinion, the likelihood of each reaching their ceiling is: Turner - 60%, Favors - 10%. Turner is clearly the safer choice, but there's a chance - if the Sixers take Turner over Favors - we could be looking back on this draft five years from now saying "I love Evan Turner and all, but we passed on that?!"
Whoops
Don't like the player, don't like the fit, and I'd be devastated if the Sixers picked Monroe anywhere near the lottery.