Liberty Links: Sixers Unveil New Court Design for Next Season

Happy Wednesday! Hit the links below:

Sixers unveil new home court design - Twitter

Sixers Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Chris Heck has teased a new court design at the Wells Fargo Center for the Sixers:

The hardwood is a bit darker here than it has been in the past. Here’s a look at the current court for reference:

sportslogo.net

The shade of blue looks a bit lighter in the new court, which also makes use of an old Sixers primary logo that was in place from 1963-1977. The team had alternate court design this past season that was used sporadically throughout the year to commemorate the 1967 Sixers NBA Championship team. No word yet as to whether the Sixers will utilize another alternate court in 2017-18, but I certainly would love to see Ballin’ Ben Franklin at center court.

Doug Overton charged with indecent exposure in Lower Merion - Delco Times

Uh, this is not a great look for the former Sixers guard and CSN Philly commentator. Overton is currently the head basketball coach at Lincoln University. He was charged with indecent exposure and disorderly conduct. Here’s a gruesome look at the incident, per The Delco Times:

According to police, officers received numerous calls shortly after noon Sunday that a man was exposing himself on the Cynwyd Trail. One of the callers told police the man appeared to be touching himself around his genitals. Another witness told police the man’s penis was outside of his pants and that he was continuously looking at a female in the area. The witnesses then told police he was seen walking on the trail with his penis exposed.

A male witness told police the subject was walking toward him with his penis fully out of his pants. He was described by the witness as walking “calmly and deliberately” and seemed to be aware that he was exposing himself but “seemed content with the situation,” police reported.

Yikes, Doug.

Markelle Fultz is an elite lead guard prospect because of his shooting off the dribble - The Step Back

This is an excellent, excellent look at a guy I believe is in a tier to himself this summer in Markelle Fultz. Cole Zwicker‏ uses both statistics and video breakdowns to illustrate how Fultz’s off the dribble shooting ability leaves him as the best guard prospect in years. Here’s his conclusion below, but you should really read the whole thing:

Overall, Fultz’s ability to shot-make off the dribble in virtually every way is one of the reasons he’s the most talented prospect in this draft. He did it efficiently in college despite sub-par spacing, and has the tools via size, fluid stroke and high release point for this shot making prowess to translate. I think his floor to median outcome in this regard is on the Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard difficult shot making plain, but his playmaking for others, which will be explored in the future, provides him a higher James Harden-esque playmaking initiator level of potential achievement.

High praise for sure, but that comes with the territory of being both the ideal modern NBA lead guard and the best lead guard prospect since Irving (and Fultz is better).

Also, here’s a fun practice dunk from Fultz that came out out today:

Top lottery picks skipping the NBA Draft Combine - Twitter

Here’s a report from The Vertical’s Shams Charania:

Not a huge surprise here. A lot of top guys frequently don’t attend the combine.