Hey it's been a while but I've been coming to visit this site almost everyday. I don't comment on everything but even in the lockout the Liberty Ballers Community still have their sense of humor. Even though I'm a staff writer at another Sixers blog, I still gotta come here to keep up with one of the few very active blogging networks. Keep it up all of you. Doing great work.

I was just reflecting on some things recently. There are a few rumors swirling around that the Miami Heat are going to go after Samuel Dalembert this off-season. Kyle Korver continues to light it up from the arc. And I got the thinking: Who are my favorite Sixers that are still playing in the NBA on other teams? I cheer on most of the former Sixers on their new teams.

This is not a "Who are the best players" list. This is a "who is my favorite player" list.

#4 Andre Miller

Whether he wanted to be here or not, I liked how well he ran the Sixers' offense. And he's one of those underappriated players for most of his career by fans and yet teams welcome his ability to either assist or score his team to victory. He was never going to be the best scorer on a team but hey, he brings more positives to a team than negatives in my opinion. And what was up with the 3-point shooting. I'm pretty sure he hit more 3's as a Sixer than his career before being a Sixer. I thought that was cool.

#3 Samuel Dalembert

Yeah ok so how in the world did Sammy end up here. Look, I hate that his contract was so big. I hated that he was inconsistent. I'm convinced he blocked Andre Iguodala's game winner attempt @Dallas against the Mavericks. Through it all, when he was focused, he was a dangerous Sixer in the paint. He rebounded, defended, and led the league in goal-tending (if such a stat was kept, I'm sure he would be the leader). At least he tried; some players just raise their hands and expect some kind of miracle. I think if he stayed with the Sixers this past season, coach Collins could have gotten some consistency from him and an already good defensive team would have been that much better. We'll never though. I would welcome Sammy back to Philly (less money though. A lot less money).

#2 Jerry Stackhouse

I liked Stackhouse mainly for his ability to dunk and still hit the 3-ball fairly well. During his time with the Pistons he became a star but for some reason I liked him more during his Maverick days. I’m not sure if Stack retired or not but he did play for the Heat last season so technically he’s still an active player in my book. Ok yeah Yao Ming and Shaq retired but I didn’t hear from Stack yet so I’m assuming he’s still going to be available if anybody wants to sign him. Anyway, he’s only spent 2 seasons with the Sixers. I wasn’t involved in the NBA at that time. Still, I loved using him in video games. I’d make him dunk on everybody. I don’t know man, Jerry was always ok in my book.

#1 Kyle Korver

Who else? Kyle was at the top of the league for 3FG% two seasons ago. I remember that triple OT game vs the Celtics. I never had seen a triple OT game before then so it was new for me. Oh sure I heard about them but never actually watched an entire game like that. Sixers.com even made wallpaper for your computer desktop for his buzzer beater that sent the game into the 3rd OT. Kyle was also someone who could take a charge. Loved it. He dove for loose balls too (he’s busted his chin a couple of times). Simply put, he could shoot. He may never beat Ray Allen in a 3-point shootout today, but I don’t care. Speaking of 3-point shootouts, that 2005 all-star weekend was one of the busiest weekends for the Sixers in a while. You had the rookie challenge featuring Andre Iguodala on the rookies and Korver on the sophomores. Kyle ended up setting a rookie-sophomore record for 3 pointers made in a game. Then, Kyle made it to the finals of the 3-point shootout before losing to Quentin Richardson. Allen Iverson topped it off by winning the All-Star game MVP. Best. Weekend. Ever (unless the Sixers won a championship on a weekend).

So that’s it. What are your favorite players that are still in the NBA? Below in a poll asking if anybody on my list is tops on yours. Thanks for reading!

The Sixers have not officially made the playoffs but I would imagine that they will. At first, we imagined that the standings in the East remain the same for the rest of the season. In my first segment, Sixers were up agains the Heat. I thought they would face the Heat (no pun intended) but the Celtics have been slipping a bit so I figured I would write about how the Sixers would fare against the Celtics too, since it seems like the Sixers could go against either team.

I feel the Sixers have a better chance at beating the Celtics since the trade the Celtics made in letting go of Perkins. They just don't look that great now. Sixers have a meeting with the Celtics in April so we'll get a good chance to see how the team does against Sixers.

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The Sixers have not officially made the playoffs but I would imagine that they will. Let's imagine that the standings in the East remain the same for the rest of the season, which in most likely. Sixers would go against the Miami Heat. How would they do? This is my (hilarious, unrealistic, exciting or something) description/prediction of how the Sixers will face the Heat.

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We're a bit over the half way point of the season and I wanted to look back at my season preview to see if I was on to something.

Here is the preview to catch yourself up (it made Editor's Choice so it must have been decent): Preview.

Read it? Good. Let's look at what we got here after the jump.

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We will look at the three basketball championships the the Sixers won. One was won as the Syracuse Nationals and the other two as the Philadelphia 76ers. I wrote this post at Liberty Ballers too.

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The Sixers, to this date, have lost their two previous games, games that they should have won. I'm not going into great detail because this post is meant to try to bring a positive spin on things. We will look at the three basketball championships the the Sixers won. One was won as the Syracuse Nationals and the other two as the Philadelphia 76ers.

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This post does not have statistics so if you like them, stop reading. Also, this is probably a negative look at the team so if you're a fan in denial , stop reading. I'm going to basically tell you why I'm not swayed by the strong play of a few players. the Sixers have started to pick up the wins like I knew they would but don't get carried away.

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The Sixers are off to an interesting start. Their record of 3-10 is a bit mis-leading. They've been pretty competitive in each of their games. Unfortunately, 3rd quarter collapes and the last 5 minutes of games are what keep the Sixers from going to the next level. But, they are a young team trying to gel. Everybody needs to go through their growing pains.

But the title of this post is referring to Andre Iguodala. The record that the team has, has trade rumors and talks about who the team should pick in the next draft. So the question is, should the Sixers cut their losses and trade Iguodala? The answer, I do not know. But, let's look at the two options for the Sixers to take.

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In the first post of the Question Series, we looked at the possibility of Andre Iguodala being an All-star as well as Evan Turner being Rookie of the Year. This time, we will look at Lou Williams and his stellar performance off the bench. In these first 7 games of the season, he's been the scorer for the team.

Stats:

Let's look at the past three winners of the award to see how Lou stacks up;

2008: Manu Ginobili  19.5 PPG  4.5 APG  4.8 RPG  2.7 TOPG  .46 FG%  .40 3FG  .86 FT%

2009: Jason Terry  19.6 PPG  3.4 APG  2.4 RPG  1.6 TOPG  .46 FG%  .37 3FG%  .88 FT%

2010: Jamal Crawford  18 PPG  3 APG  2.5 RPG  1.7 TOPG  .45 FG%  .38 3FG%  .86 FT%

Lou's stats for this season:

17.9 PPG  4 APG  1.4 RPG  1.4 TOPG  .44 FG%  .39 3FG%  .87 FT%

Williams has the potential to win 6th Man as long as he stays healthy. Also, the rest of the team needs to be healthy as well. If too many injuries occur, Lou would have to become a starter and thus, hurt his Sixth-Man chances. He's proven to be a spark off the bench. The game against Washington convinced me that he could be very effective. in the first half of the game, he started out 0-7 in field goals. at the end of the game, he was a point away from his career high with 30 points. To me, that says that if you keep shooting, the shots will fall. Lou didn't give up his game: scoring. As a sixthman your #1 job is to score. Give a boost to your team. With Igoudala struggling, Lou has become even more valuable to the team in terms of scoring. That's another requirement to win Sixth-Man. It's only been 7 games but it's something to think about and to keep track of. I think he can pull it off. Two other Sixers won that award too. Bobby Jones in 1983 and Aaron McKie in 2001. Now that you think about it...the Sixers ended up in the finals both years. I'm just saying...

Igoudala All-Star or Turner Rookie of Year?

I'm starting to see a trend of posters saying to trade this player, and that player over here is a bust. But guess what? It's just preseason! (gasp!) Yes, preseasons do give a nice glimpse of what to expect for the season. But. It's just preseason. Lots of experimentation with the line-ups. There are still players on the team who are trying to make the team! In this case, the team has a new coach who has admitted that he is struggling to get this team to score. Oh so I guess he's not a good coach then because he can't help the team find was to score, huh?This why we have preseason:

1. Figure out who starts games (position battles)
2. Find a decent rotation
3. Experiment with line ups
4. Give players who have no contract a shot at showing what they got
5. The coach puts his players through his system

There are other reasons as well but those are the top reasons. Winning barely matters in the preseason. After the Summer League, everyone was labeling Evan Turner a bust. For what!? Because it was his first time playing after months off the court? Because he was going up against players who were fighting with more passion because they were just trying to make a team? I didn't know the Summer League determined who the Rookie of the Year was.I know we have seen some bad seasons in the past. Most of us were thinking Thaddeus Young was going to be great. Not so much. We thought Speights would amount to a better defender. Not so much. Jrue Holiday is struggling too. But let's wait until January or maybe even February before the rookies of this team are busts. We as fans have smaller patience because we're frustrated. I get it. But right now, it's just preseason. The rambling that we're doing is just as meaningful (or less) as the games.

82 games is a lot. Only time will tell if players are no good or not. We just got Nocioni and people are calling for his trade. This isn't the same as Dalembert or Green. Those guys had a lot of time to show what they had (or lack of). Nocioni hasn't even played an official game for the team and now he has to go? I've been watching the Sixers since they last made the finals. I watched their decline in the standings. I watched them grab Derrick Coleman, Glen Robinson, and Chris Webber to pair up with Iverson. That was painful. Iverson leaving was painful. It's nice that we have some passionate fans who are ready to get back to the finals. But I'm still sensible enough to wait past the preseason before I determine if a player is good or not, especially with new players. Remember. It's just preseason.

I haven't logged on in a while. Don't get me wrong, I've been reading the stories and FanPosts. I just never actually logged in to comment or whatever.Mainly because I've been hard at work putting together some stories at a site called Hardcourt Mayhem. Ever been there? I've been named a Wizard's corespondent there so I'll be spending some time working that out. But, fear not my beautiful readers, My loyalty is still firmly planted in this site as well as the 76ers. In fact, I'm going to give you my take on how the season will play out. First, I'll break down their monthly schedule. Next, I'll give you my own end-of-the-season awards for the players. It's going to be a blast!

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Recently, there have been stories about team USA and how Iguodala is a near lock to make the team. Plus the early season predictions of who will win the ROY award. It has been said that Iguodala and Turner are duplicates. To me, that's not a bad thing. But, I think one of them will look like the better player. Will Iguodala have a break-out season and finally make the all-star team? Or will Turner become the big scorer the team has been looking for and win ROY?

Iguodala as All-Star:

I think Iguodala would have to be a 20+ scorer to be known as all star material. He does have some competition too. Some forwards that can become all-stars in the east are: Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudimire, Carlos Boozer, Gerald Wallace, Paul Peirce, and Kevin Garnett. It stands to be that James and Bosh would be the starters so Iguodala will have to be picked by the coaches or maybe as an injury replacement like David Lee was for Allen Iverson. Another problem that Andre faces is that most all-stars are from successful teams. The Sixers probably will not be relevant enough for Andre to make it. On the plus side, he's been getting alot of compliments on his versatility with team USA and that should help his all-star chances. One a side note: I really would think it would be cool if both Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner made it to the rookie sophomore game in all-star weekend. While Turner would start, Holiday may not make it with so many other PGs out there. Oh well. Would have been nice.

Turner as Rookie of the Year:

This scenario seems more likely. I say this because Allen Iverson and Jerry Stackhouseboth averaged 20+ points in Iverson's rookie season. He won the ROY that year. So, because Turner and Iguodala are the same type of players, would they have similar stats? If so, it may be enough to win ROY. John Wall is with two other point guards. One of them, Gilbert Arenas, Is looking to reestablish himself as a big time scorer. Technically, Wall doesn't have to out perform Arenas to win the ROY, but it would help his chances if he were the leading scorer of the team. I don't see that happening. You also have Derrick Favors, who has a solid PG and C to play with. It probably is not too crowded to make a heavy impact so he has a chance to win ROY.

Both All-star and ROY:

Hey it could happen. If you pretty much combine the reasons why I said Iguodala would be an all-star and Turner being ROY, you can see how this scenario may not happen. Like i previously stated, Iverson and Stackhouse both were 20+ pgg players at the same time. Of course, Andre and Evan will probably not match that scoring production this season. But, Andre may be versatile enough, plus Turner could end up scoring 17ppg, that Iguodala could catch the coach's eye and be selected for all-star. Plus Turner could quickly adjust his game to NBA standards and steal ROY. We know he's a guy who knows the game. Read&react. Combined with a coach like Doug Collins, who has experience to give Turner advice on handling adversaries, and you have a rookie who, whether he wins or not, is definitely going to be a threat.  Also, Iguodala and Turner could actually play well together. It's a reach but if they play well enough together, along with Jrue, it could help the Sixers surprise a few teams.

Neither happens:

If Turner doesn't win ROY, this is most likely to happen. It could be that the Sixers struggle too much and Andre is not considered as an all-star. Turner and Iguodala may end up clashing on the court and both players could suffer. Or both players could play well but they're out performed by their respective competition.

So what is the most likely scenario to happen? Is there another way things could play out (injuries or trades)? I think this is an interesting topic to dicuss. Let me know what you think.

The Sixers got their man, Evan Turner. They have a solid back-court for years to come. We all know that the Sixers are not contending for a championship any time soon, even if Lou Williams was MVP. The Sixers have locked up their money in Andre Iguodala and Elton Brandfor the next 3 years. We all know this. So should the Sixers care if they win or lose? Yes and no.

Why they should win:

Sixers have to try to prove to management, the fans, the league, and to themselves, that last year was not the real Sixers. They had a coach that did not know how to use the roster. Were injuries a factor? Not entirely. Lou Williams seemed to be on the verge of a breakout season until he broke his jaw. Marreese Speightswas doing OK as well. At the time that they both went down with their injuries, they were the main scorers for the team. Stafanski decided to try to solve two problems (low attendance for games and lack of scoring power) for the price of one by bringing in Allen Iverson. During his time with the team, the Sixers basically had a .500 record. So how else did the Sixers lose? Was it the rotation that their coach had for them? Here are the factors that I think affected the Sixers this season:

1. Poor rotation
2. Injuries
3. Lack of player development from the off-season

Those are the main reasons why the Sixers did so poorly this season. With the poor rotation, most of the players couldn't get into rhythm. Kapono even said that he needs consistent minutes to become effective. At the end of the season we saw that indeed the consistent minutes did him well. As mentioned above, the injuries to Williams and Speights really hurt the Sixers' scoring. Players like Young showed no signs of improvement from the previous season. The lack of improvement could also be caused from the first two items on the list. Another reason the Sixers should win is because no one loses on purpose. Money, fans, friends/family, self respect, and/or teammates keep a player from just giving up on a season.

Why they should lose:

I'm not saying they should tank. I'm saying that they should not stress about winning games. As the roster stands, and even after any changes they make during the off-season, the Sixers are going to end up in nowhere land. They will either barely make the playoffs with an early exit, or barely miss the playoffs. In both scenarios, they will have a pick in the teens. While sometimes this can be an OK situation, the Sixers will not be able to make a move anywhere else. They can't sign because they have no money. They do have possibilities to trade a few players, but no trade will make a huge positive impact for the team. With this in mind, the main reason why the Sixers should not rush the rebuilding process is because of what will probably occur in this off-season. If LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and all of their friends combine their talents, the Sixers will stand no chance in winning anything. One could argue that with all of the money spent on 2-3 all-stars, there won't be enough left to sign a solid team around the stars. I personally think that there will be a lot less movement than what is being called. Let's assume that the all-stars combine their talents and join New York, New Jersey, Miami,etc and that the teams are going to dominate the league for years to come. The Sixers should just ride out the contracts of Brand and Iguodala. Next season, the Sixers should just try any experiments to the rotation. It's not like they have anything at stake. They could end up in the lottery again.

There's always the chance that the Sixers could pull an upset. But, the best thing that the they should do is suck. And when Brand's contract is on the last year, trade him with Iguodala for picks and of course a couple of role players. Re-signing Iguodala could ruin the Sixers. He won't take less money. Either trade him or let him walk. By then the money should be going to rising players like Holiday and Turner. By the time Iguodala's contract is up in 3 years, Holiday will be 23, Turner 24, Young 25, Hawes 25, Speights, 26. If Speighs and Young can bounce back from their poor play last season, and if Hawes plays some nice defense, the Sixers are in good shape with a still young team to build around. With these young ages and with the free agents combining their power, the Sixers should lay low and keep on finding young talent. Time to let go of Willie Green and Jason Kapono(by trade of course). It doesn't matter who they get back. Also, Iverson and Fransico Elson should not come back. Again, the Sixers are in no position to make a serious run. If the Sixers end up back in the lottery, they can draft for more talent. The fans must be patient during this time. Look at the Thunder. They traded off Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen and started over. It took some time but now they are a couple of years from potentially winning it all.

No more quick fixes. That's what Brand was used for when he was signed. Iguodala will have to be traded, let go, or maybe a sign and trade. The point being made here is that, because the team is not going to make some noise, why be afraid of making some moves during the off-season? Ride out the coach's contract. No more one and done. This is it. Now or never. Key word is patience. Let the other teams fight for glory. When the Sixers finally arrive, it will be worth the wait. Let us, as fans, be faithful to support this plan. This will be a hard, possibly humiliating, ride. But when we reach the finish line, we'll have parades left and right.

This whole thing is a stretch, I know. But again, what do they have to lose? They have nothing to lose and everything to gain. They could do this without worrying about the free agency at all. They don't have to tank but instead, just take their time with it. Let Doug Collins do his work and finish his contract.