SB Nation - Xavier Silas

A Farewell To All The Fallen Sixers

Jordan Sams — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 13:00:02 -0000

The Sixers had 14 players on their roster the night they were eliminated from the 2012 Playoffs. Only five of those 14 remain – Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, Lavoy Allen, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes.

Lately, we've been handing out warm welcomes like free candy, in one of the most volatile off-seasons in franchise history. The plethora of newcomers include: Arnett Moultrie, Nick Young, Dorell Wright, Royal Ivey, Kwame Brown, Maalik Wayns, Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson.

We'll have an entire season to spend with the 13 (mostly new) players whom make up the current Sixers roster, but before we completely transition away from the era of mediocrity (!), a proper send-off is in order, for the off-season casualties.

We already said our tearful good-byes to Andre Iguodala, but he isn't the only departed Sixer who tickled our collective fancies. So, grab a kleenex, wipe your tears, snuggle up, and make the jump.

Andre Iguodala

Coolest Moment: The day he made Marc Zumoff's head explode (video here)

Best Combo: The self alley-oop (video here)

Best Quote: "On the free throws, [teammate] Tony Battie gave me some advice," Iguodala said. "He said, 'Think of something you love when you're shooting free throws,' because I've been struggling all year. I thought of my son, and it was easy after that."

Elton Brand

Best Nickname: Old School Chevy™ (by Maalik Rose) or Sugar Bear™ (by Doug Collins)

Greatest Sixers Acheivement: When he was named one of the NBA's 'Hottest Players'

Louis Williams

Best Rap Lyric: "I made my first million, before I ever got laid."

Bossiest Play: When he dagger'd the Dwyane Wade and the Heat, in the Playoffs (video here)

Best Story: When he bought a would-be robber dinner at McDonald's.

Nikola Vucevic

Best Attribute: Freakish athleticism

Most Unlikely of Hobbies: Playing the keytar

Jodie Meeks

Best Dad: Orestes Meeks

Best Hashtag: #M33KS

Moe Harkless

Coolest T-Shirt That Never Was: 'How Could You Be Moe Harkless' *Kanye Voice*

Least Significant Sixers Carrer: "Harkless threw one of Ben Hansbrough shots into Clearwater."

Thanks to Tony Battie, for his role in an epic Doug Collins pre-game speech, and telling Iguodala to think of his son on the game-winning free throws.
Thanks to Sam Young, for playing the role of 'second Young', before Nick Young showed up.
Thanks to Xavier Silas, for being a friend of the blog, and hanging with me in Vegas.
Thanks to Craig Brackins, for having a mohawk, and being bad at basketball?
Shout out Mo Speights for all the quotage he's given us over the years.
And who could forget about Andres Toastioni.

With that, we officially say good-bye to the Sixers we knew and loved, and usher in a new era of basketball.

OMG ANDREW BYNUM.

Sixers Offseason Open Thread

Michael Levin — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:30:52 -0000

Today's a horrible day and I'm not feeling up to writing anything. For me it's especially necessary in times like these to retreat to basketball. But it's also a reminder that it just doesn't matter that much. So please, please, please be nice to each other. There's a lot of sad people in this world and I don't want you to be one of them.

So just talk about basketball to get your mind off things. The Sixers will probably sign one more guy to the roster though I doubt it'll happen until after training camp. Who knows. I think it'll be Justin Holiday, though a health-dependent argument could be made for the incumbent Xavier Silas. They sure are more set at forward than guard. Maybe Jacob Pullen is a dark horse? Discuss.

The topic was broached in yesterday's thread, but I'm of the opinion that Evan Turner will eventually be benched for Dorell Wright (or Nick Young, though likely Wright) because of floor spacing and impending efficiency issues. If the team stumbles out of the gate, as I think they will, it will likely be Evan that's the first to move out of the lineup rather than Kwame Brown or Spencer Hawes. Collins has been more forgiving with his veteran big men so far in Philly, as evidenced by keeping Elton Brand (and to some extent, Hawes) on the court despite periods of poor play.

Also throw out some season predictions while you're at it. May as well get that ball rolling too. Let's not let this devolve into an argument about politics or gun violence. Just basketball. It's simpler and much less sad.

Xavier Silas Suffers Possible Skull Fracture

Michael Levin — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:20:47 -0000

I didn't see it, but news of a head injury for Xavier Silas is traveling around Twitter pretty fast. Reported by Brian Levy, the worry is that it could be a skull fracture. Those kinds of injury are much, much more than basketball and the hope is that long-term damage can be avoided. If this is the case, needless to say he'd be done for the season.

From everything I've heard, Xavier is a great kid who just works his ass off to make the NBA. He was sort of the captain of this Summer League team and it's terrible if it's this serious. X was likely going to make the team as a backup guard, but now that's obviously in jeopardy.

Bobcats' Eduardo Najera had a similar injury earlier this year after taking an elbow from Jon Brockman. He had surgery to repair it and is currently recovering, but the dangers of operating on the skull are quite strong. I don't know much about it, but keep Xavier in your prayers and here's hoping it's not as serious as originally thought.

Edit by Derek

Not much information, but according to a tweet from Evan Turner, Turner has gotten off the phone with Silas and he appears to be alright, although not much in the way of medical information has been given as an update.

Just hopped off the phone with young snake aka @xaviersilas he's good. Thank god he's alright
— evan turner (@thekidet) July 13, 2012

Also, the video of the Silas injury has been posted on the main SB Nation site, so give it a watch if you're so inclined. It's not quite as vicious as one would expect from the description of the injury.

Orlando Pro Summer League: Magic vs. 76ers Game Time, TV Schedule, and More

Evan Dunlap — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 19:00:18 -0000

The Orlando Magic host the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday at 5 PM as Orlando Pro Summer League play continues. Use this space to comment on the game live.

Orlando fell to 1-2 on Wednesday as it rested its stars and failed to contend with the Utah Jazz's size. Philadelphia picked up its first victory of the week as it cruised against the Brooklyn Nets behind 18 points from Justin Holiday.

First-round Draft choice Andrew Nicholson leads Orlando with 17.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Second-leading scorer Maalik Wayns left the Magic after Wednesday's game to play for the Golden State Warriors' squad in Las Vegas.

2012 Orlando Pro Summer League
	@
July 12th, 2012
Amway Center Practice Court
5:00 PM
NBA TV / NBA.com
Possible Starters
Clay Tucker	PG	Kevin Anderson
Xavier Silas	SG	DeAndre Liggins
Justin Holiday	SF	Justin Harper
Lavoy Allen	PF	Andrew Nicholson
Solomon Jones	C	Kyle O'Quinn

We invite you to follow Orlando Pinstriped Post on Twitter and like Orlando Pinstriped Post on Facebook.

Orlando Summer League: Sixers Beat Nets, Tree Falls in Forest

Michael Levin — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 23:25:23 -0000

Since the higher-ups at NBA TV felt it more important to show Team USA practicing than the highly important summer league action between the Brooklyn Nets and random players with Sixers jerseys, the game was on tape-delay later. And by that point, I was already too invested in old nWo clips to seriously get anything from the game. Summer League, man.

I did see Justin Holiday do a lot more shooting, as without Jacob Pullen, it was up to him to shoulder most of the load in the scoring department. And he responded, going 6-13 (and 4-4 from deep) for 18 points in a 27-minute run. Guys, he's making the team. Holiday Bros for life.

We also saw the return of a super-casual Lavoy Allen, having just signed his official contract officially, in his first summer league action. Lavoy, as he is wont to do, played to his competition (in this case, down to it), letting the game happen around him and not blowing anyone away. 3-10 shooting, 6 points, 6 assists, 4 boards, 2 blocks. As we've seen at Pennsbury and Temple, Lavoy just isn't the guy that's going to dominate any competition. But it's his first action in a while, so we'll give him a pass. Oh and he announced on Twitter that he'd never been to Chipotle before. As a former Moe's Southwest Grill employee and Baja Fresh frequenter (today, actually!), I can say there's certainly better fast food alternatives, Lavoy. But check it out anyway. Get the chicken bowl.

Clay Tucker still reeks.

Xavier Silas played more under control today and you gotta figure he makes the team as well. Zack Rosen got 17 minutes and finished at a +19 with 6 points and 6 assists, a few of which went to JuHo for threes. The Queen Regent led all players with a +22 of his own. I really want him to make the team just for that alone. Terrence Jennings did nothing and the dream is over.

Back to nWo clips it is!

Brooklyn Nets vs. Sixers in Orlando Summer League Day 3 Thread

Michael Levin — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:47:06 -0000

I'm going to have to keep saying "Brooklyn Nets" if I'm going to remember they're not New Jersey anymore. It would probably have been more helpful if Jay-Z made them the Brooklyn Hovas. Welp, we've got another Orlando Summer League game, only this time the Sixers are without almost everyone remotely interesting.

Moe Harkless is out with a hip flexor, Arnett Moultrie with an ankle sprain, Nikola Vucevic with a strained Achilles, and now Jacob Pullen with a sprained ankle as well. Hopefully Lavoy Allen will see some time considering he's legally allowed to be there now that the moratorium has been lifted. His wrist probably hurts from contract signing, but word is he'll play.

So who do we care about? I suppose we'll get to see a bit more of Zack Rosen, which is nice. Justin Holiday should be on full-BOSS mode with Xavier Silas, who has been sloppy so far. I'm still hoping for a few more Terrence Jennings moves and you just know Solomon Jones is going to make this team so expect more of his badness. I want to see Jon Scheyer get hot. That'd sure be nice.

On the Brooklyn side of things (BROOKLYN WHERE YOU AT), we've got Adam Morrison! Jeff Foote! MarShon Brooks! Edwin Ubiles! Notre Dame's own Carlton Scott! Wichita State's Garrett Stutz! Former Florida point guard who my friend's brother once scored 73 points with on College Hoops 2k8, Taurean Green! Can it get more exciting than this?

Thread.

Jazz Summer League Game: Kanter, Michael Stockton, and More - The Downbeat - #791

andylarsen — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:06:28 -0000

So the Jazz lost yesterday afternoon's Orlando Summer League game, 73-76. The story, though, is the play of the big name players: it was non-ideal. Subpar would be another word you could use. Let's investigate further:

There's the list of players who have had significant NBA experience (besides Simmons and Weaver, who didn't play). They all played extremely poorly, except for Ahearn, who knocked down his 2 three point shots and went 3-4 overall. On the other hand, you'd expect better than 1 assist from a team's starting PG who played 18 minutes.

Each of the other players on this list, though, shot at or below 33%. Combined, they were 7-27. That's worse than Kobe's 6-24 in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals, the classic standard of a terrible game performance. Addressing them individually:

DeMarre Carroll had the best game of the 4, by only making 2 of his 6 shots, and picking up 3 assists, 1 rebound, and 1 steal in his time on the floor. Unfortunately, he got his shot blocked twice, missed his two threes, and didn't have an especially good defensive game either (check out the stats of the Detroit starting forwards). It wasn't a terrible performance, but let's just say you would hope for more.
Enes Kanter should probably be doing better against this level of competition. In almost 30 minutes, he only got 3 points on 1-7 shooting, only got 5 rebounds (all defensive), had his shot blocked twice, and turned the ball over 4 times. That's just not good enough from a #3 pick with NBA experience. Yes, he's young. Yes, it's only the first game of summer league. Yes, he had much better games at the NBA level last year. Still, it's worrying.
Alec Burks, sadly, wasn't much better. While he got to the free throw line some, he managed 4 turnovers and only 1 assist. His shots weren't always in the flow of the offense either, which is somewhat worrying for someone who should probably know the system pretty well by now. His saving grace is the scoring, though, 10 points in 20 minutes isn't Kanterian (I hope and pray that "Kanterian isn't an adjective that sticks).
Stephen Graham wasn't good, but his NBA M.O. was being not good, and so his not good performance here isn't a surprise. You can make an argument that he's the worst NBA starter of all time. Here's a list of players who started more than 25 games with a PER under 5:

				Totals			Shooting			Advanced
Player	Season	Age	Tm	G	GS	MP	FG%	3P%	FT%	PER	WS
Jason Collins	2006-07	28	NJN	80	78	1844	.364	.000	.465	3.0	0.6
Jason Collins	2007-08	29	TOT	74	26	1172	.469	.000	.459	3.4	0.1
Stephen Graham	2010-11	28	NJN	59	28	959	.405	.238	.816	4.4	-0.3
DeShawn Stevenson	2011-12	30	NJN	51	30	960	.285	.283	.563	4.3	-0.3
Uwe Blab	1989-90	27	TOT	47	33	531	.398		.541	3.3	-0.4
Rafael Araujo	2005-06	25	TOR	52	34	601	.366	.000	.536	4.5	-0.8

So, let's just not sign Steven Graham. Cool.

Interestingly, though, the second team unit played well, taking the team on a huge run at the end of the first quarter through much of the second. This effort was primarily guided by one Michael Stockton, which is pretty neat.

Listen, all of the odds are against Michael. He's probably not NBA-good at basketball. (Evidence: He averaged 11 PPG, 3.6 APG in 28 MPG in the German 2nd league. He didn't start for Westminster until his senior year. He's already 23. I sort of guarded him once.) That all being said... it was really fun to have him leading the charge with and against real NBA players. It will be exciting to see how he plays over the next few days.

At some point, I'll write about the cognitive dissonance that came from watching Stockton play, but I told myself that this Downbeat would stay reasonably short.

Now, the second summer league game comes for the Jazz, as they take on the Philadelphia 76ers at 9 AM. This should be a better opportunity for Kanter and Burks to shine, if Philadelphia keeps the same starting lineup, because they will be matched up against Devin Searcy and Xavier Silas. I regret to inform the readers of this blog that I know next to nothing about those players. Silas is a pretty famous basketball name, and Searcy is a town in Arkansas with this motto:

I'll admit, I was surprised that millions wished to live like Searcians do in the middle of Arkansas, but you learn something new every day. If you really want to learn about the Sixers summer league team, Sixers.com put up this article.

Seriously, though, Kanter and Burks will have heard the criticism, and this is an excellent opportunity to respond with a better performance.

I have a semi-weekly series win which I ask you, the Jazz fan, to contribute suggestions with the goal of improving some part of Jazz fandom off the court. This week, we look at the intro videos shown at the beginning of each Jazz home game, made by @brownboy1473. There were two, I never figured out the pattern in which they were shown:

Let's start with things I like about this one:

The first is pretty professionally done. The text, the cuts, the action is all sharp, quick, and high quality. Cool.
Splicing cool game moments: standard, but still a good idea. I also like having good calls of moments spliced in.

Okay, and things I don't like:

Boler yelling "WHAT A SHOT!" after Devin Harris' extremely average layup.
The pacing. Look, this is a intro video. We don't have time for the weird drum intermission with Ty clapping and the dancers dancing and Millsap getting the ball stolen from him. It's the opposite of exciting. And then you don't transition back into dramatic time very well. I also don't have time for you to splash every player's name on the board. My excitement for Bell is limited.
Favors in what looks to be a Knicks jersey at 0:57. What?
The end: cool Jazz explosion. Would have been nice if anything else had been leading up to that. Basically, at only limited points is excitement generated.

My problem with this one is mostly conceptual. "We are Utah Jazz", while terrible grammatically, is at least a copy of another cool and famous slogan ("We Are Marshall"). That doesn't mean it's a good idea to make it personal. When the video says "I am unity", WTF does that even mean? Who is the I speaking here? Is it you, the maker of this video? And how does a single person become unified? It's not as if the Jazz players were out there reading Walt Whitman during games: "I am large. I contain multitudes." And then to follow that up with a nice big Al assist to Hayward means the subject of this sentence is totally confused.

"I am team" suffers from the same conceptual flaws, but is especially broken due to the existence of the phrase "there is no I in team". Next, cut to "I am tenacity", showing Millsap making a wide-open dunk. Confused with the imagery, now.

Finally, the video gets to "I am fearless", which has the incredible positive that it is an actual adjective. And then Jeremy Evans dunking, which is always awesome and fun. Unfortunately, this is followed up by a Memo three and the phrase "I am intensity", which is just a mean joke to play post-injury.

The music and finale montage is pretty good, leading up to the final shot at 0:39 when a boy is so excited about the upcoming game that he and his neighbor are on their cell phones as he holds up the sign. At least we're being realistic.

I just think that we can do better. Grammar is not a particularly high bar, nor is making sense. If we could get that as well as excitement building, we might really have something.

The big topic of conversation in Jazzland before this morning's game is the performance of Kanter. Thus, I wanted to get your take on his game yesterday: was it indicative of big problems in his game, or should it be ignored (after all, it was only preseason)? Poll time!

Poll

Does Kanter's performance mean anything?

Yes. It's indicative of a larger overall problem.

61 votes

No. It was just one summer league game.

157 votes

Somewhere in between.

134 votes

352 votes | Poll has closed

Orlando Summer League Game One: Sixers vs. Pacers Thread

Michael Levin — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 21:05:31 -0000

So here we go. Basketball once again. The Sixers will be without Arnett Moultrie with a sprained ankle but Moe Harkless will be playing and starting despite his hip flexor. As I said earlier, keep an eye out for the point guards. The two I care about (Jacob Pullen of K-State and Zack Rosen of Penn) will come off the bench against the Pacers.

PG - Clay Tucker
SG - Xavier Silas
SF - Moe Harkless
PF - Devin Searcy
C - Solomon Jones

I suppose Solomon could find a spot here but I'd guess he'd have more touches and opportunities elsewhere. Though maybe Doug would want him to take the Tony Battie Memorial bench spot. Tucker is 32 years old. Show me Terrence Jennings.

On the Pacers side of things, Dave is excited to watch Notre Dame alum and perennial little brother Ben Hansbrough ball. I'm more pumped about Purdue's Chris Kramer, Duke's Miles Plumlee, and Northeastern's Matty Janning. Random basketball for the win.

Thread it here and reminisce how much Lou used to dominate Summer League and the D-League. Also, 25-team Dwight Howard trade rumors.

Sixers Summer League Mini-Preview

Michael Levin — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 15:41:42 -0000

As I'm currently watching Kyle O'Quinn and Jeff Foote rumble in Orlando at the Summer League's first game of the Magic vs. the Nets, it's a good time to get a quick little thing up about the Sixers before their game later this afternoon. There are, by my count, ten players currently on the Sixers roster for next season. That means there will be more than two players added to the team before October, potential Andre Iguodala trade notwithstanding.

Since the Sixers will have renounced Louis Williams and all his claims to the throne (sorry, GoT), there is no point guard on the roster outside of Jrue Holiday. That's the position you should be watching when the Sixers take the floor today. Jacob Pullen played in Italy last year but worked his college ball at Kansas State, where he stayed for four very solid, bearded years. Zack Rosen is a Penn kid so you pretty much know what skill set he possesses - smart, not terribly athletic or quick. I see him as a poor man's Scott Machado, who also went undrafted in late June.

I figure Xavier Silas will also get a roster spot here because of his time in Philly last season, but he's obviously not an ideal point guard so I'd guess one of Pullen/Rosen will make the team if they play well enough. Jon Scheyer is a dark horse for his shooting and goofy faces and Dayton's Chris Johnson can stroke it as well, although his face-making ability is underdeveloped. Terrence Jennings of Louisville is a guy I'm hoping makes the team. He's got a lot there if he can put it together. Jrue's brother Justin Holiday is also around for the week.

Bob Cooney tells us that Nikola Vucevic (foot), Moe Harkless (hip flexor), and Arnett Moultrie (out with ankle sprain) are all hurting so there will be PLENTY of time for guys to prove they deserve a spot on the team. And with spaces to be filled, these young guys should really take advantage of the opportunity. I'm just really pumped to overrate everyone's ability based on a few pickup games in Disneyworld.

Just a reminder that the Vegas Summer League starts Friday. The Sixers won't be in it, but Liberty Ballers will be. And you can be sure we'll be reporting.... something... next week when we're there wandering aimlessly.

Sixers Free Agency 2012: Qualifying Offer For Lavoy; None For Meeks, Young Or Silas

Jordan Sams — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 21:24:57 -0000

According to John Finger, of CSN Philly, the Sixers made a couple of minor moves over the past 24 hours. First, Lavoy Allen is coming back, at least for another season.

Allen, drafted with the 50th overall pick last June, should receive a qualifying offer slightly less than $1 million. Allen could field offers from other teams, but the Sixers would have the right to match any offer.

Allen will become an unrestricted FA next season, if not extended.

Meanwhile, Jodie Meeks, Sam Young, and Xavier Silas were not extended qualifying offers. The three of them become unrestricted free agents.

Sixers team president confirmed that the team has not made a qualifying offer to Jodie Meeks, Sam Young or Xavier Silas.

So far, so good. These were all the correct moves, in my opinion. Meeks presents a decent value, given his skillset, but at $2.7 million, he becomes very replaceable. Free Agency officially begins at Midnight. If the Sixers re-sign Spencer Hawes or Louis Williams and/or sign Jamal Crawford or Chris Kaman, we might as well abandon basketball for a few years.

Important decisions coming ... hold me.