*** -- PROCESSING Your Philadelphia 76ers -- ***

Jearlpam0925 wrote:

Impressed with this new ownership so far. If you participated in the feedback to see what the fans want then you get free tix to a game. Nice.

The Juggler wrote:

john hollinger's prediction. pretty much what i was thinking for this team. 36-38 wins. hope that jrue takes that giant leap forward and then look to dump iggy or brand in the summer...



5. Philadelphia 76ers (37-29)

The limited practice time before opening day is going to favor teams with continuity, and the Sixers have more of that than anybody. The likely nine-man playing rotation will be identical to last season's; the only major change is the mascot, which they've tentatively named "At Least It's Not A Hip-Hop Rabbit."

Philly also sports a fair number of young players who should play better this season, most notably point guard Jrue Holiday and wing Evan Turner. Putting the pieces together into coherent lineups gets a little tricky, however. Jodie Meeks is the only consistent long-range threat, inviting teams to pack the paint. Sixth man combo forward Thaddeus Young, while deadly effective in the right matchup, has to be spotted carefully; he can't guard big 4s and has struggled when asked to play the wing.

The Sixers proved shockingly good when they played small with Young at the 4 and Elton Brand at the 5 last season. They could go to that option more often this season, especially since small, young and fast is likely to be a winning strategy in this season's grind of a schedule. However, they built a top-heavy roster that's dangerously thin in the backcourt, and an injury to any of their guards would leave them in a precarious spot. Philly was very fortunate in that respect last season, gliding through 2010-11 virtually unscathed health-wise, but it can't count on similar fortune again.

Big picture, the immediate future is a bit brighter than the medium term, despite the club's youth. Philly might challenge for a top-four seed this season, depending on Dwight Howard's mood, but it's difficult to see how it will take the next step forward with this group. Coach Doug Collins' history is that he gets a big boost in Year 1, starts getting on everybody's nerves in Year 2 and completely self-combusts in Year 3, which presents a bad omen. A worse one is the Sixers' lack of stars and subpar cap situation. Unless Holiday becomes a big star -- possible, but not likely -- they'll be tugged back toward .500 by two giant anchor contracts (Brand and Andre Iguodala) that have left them with their hands tied financially.