Will Spencer Hawes Play For The Sixers Next Season?

A few days ago I begged the question, 'Will Doug Collins Be The Sixers Coach Next Season?' Based on what people around the team are saying, it sounds like Collins will indeed be back. I prefer a complete house-cleaning – coach included – but that's not here nor there, because, in all likelihood, Collins will be back.

Based on the 280+ votes, the community is split 50/50 on whether they want Collins back. I expect the responses to be much more lopsided in today's poll.

Will Spencer Hawes play for the Sixers next season?

One of our favorite commenters, KJ Brophy, asked Dennis Deitch – the Sixers writer for the DelCo Times – that very question on Twitter. Deitch's response:

@kjbrophy no way. No shot.

— Dennis Deitch (@DennisDeitch) May 2, 2012

Unfortunately we don't know if Deitch's response represented: an educated guess, a definitive answer from someone "in the locker rooms", or a facetious 'hell no' response that every Sixers fan wants to hear. Regardless, the answer should be "hell no".

A few Spencer Hawes numbers before you vote 'no' in the poll:

• Mehmet Okur, Channing Frye, Tim Duncan, Byron Mullens, Al Jefferson and Andrea Bargnani are the only other "centers" in the NBA who attempt more long twos than dunks/layups per game. That's not what you want your center to do.
• Channing Frye is the only qualified "center" who has a lower free throw rate than Spencer Hawes.
• Hawes ranks 27 out of 37 qualified centers in TS% at 51.7 percent. The average guard has a true shooting percentage of 53.2 percent.
• The Sixers defense allows nearly four less points per 100 possessions when Hawes is on the bench (98) than when he's on the floor (102).
• The Sixers are a better rebounding team with Spencer Hawes on the bench.