At Twelve Weeks, The Sixers Churning Along

Now, that's more like it.

After winning three times last week, the Sixers went 1-3 this week. They managed to beat the Pelicans without their best two players, which is still a win for this team, but lost the other three games fairly badly. They are now 8-32 at the 40 game mark, on pace for 16-17 wins this season, or over-performing expectations.

Who cares about that though. Let's address a few other things:

• Why the hell do they keep talking about trading Michael Carter-Williams. I do get that point guards are some of the most over-valued players in the league. I do get that there are concerns about keeping him around for the long-haul. The NBA builds in advantages for the home-club in free agency, but perhaps they worry about him walking away for nothing. This just makes little sense to me. He's played reasonably well on this team, and was great last year. While he's not a top-three one, he's a very good one, and could be a piece on a winning team. Trading him, one of the lottery picks we coveted when we went into tank mode, just feels like endless rebuilding. While i'm fine with these two years of tanking, i'm not sure how much longer that feeling lasts for me.
• The Embiid being lazy story worries me. He's being paid to sit out this season. Last year, we did the same thing with Noel, and he worked hard to prepare for this year. I expected to hear the same things on Embiid. I'm not sure how or why this story got out, and the implications are negligible at best, damaging at worst, but it's not good.

That's really all I had for tonight. Halfway through, we're a little ahead of what I expected.

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At Eleven Weeks, Youth Begins to be Served for the Sixers

The Sixers won three times last week. Three times. Yes, they got blown out by Milwaukee too, but ignore that. The Sixers beat three NBA professional basketball teams who are supposed to be better than them. They won almost as many games this past week as they had won all season (three this week, four before that). They've won four of ten. Yes, 4 of 10. The Sixers have 7 wins now, and at 7-29, have to win just three of their final 46 games to avoid that record I was certain they would tie or break. In fact, they are now four games ahead of the Knicks. Yes, four games out of last in both the division and the conference.

The win over the Cavaliers can certainly be attributed to who didn't play. That's fine. The win at Brooklyn was really exciting, though I think most of us agree Brooklyn isn't what they were last year. That's fine too. The win over Indiana is clearly aided by the losses the Pacers took in free agency and injuries this past off-season. Fine, I'll take it. The Sixers won three close, exciting basketball games this week, and they were fun to watch. Michael Carter-Williams on back-to-back nights had a game winning assist and basket in wins. Nerlens Noel slammed home a game winner. This is what Sixers fans wanted, no, needed to see to stay bought in. Try to put down the wins all you want, they are good wins for this team.

Please don't tell me how you're concerned they are winning too much. I get it, but no. Having the worst record is irrelevant in the lottery system, it just means your odds are better at the outset. When was the last time the worst team won the lottery? Yeah, exactly. This is still a lock bottom five team, probably even bottom three team, when the season is over. I feel confident they will pick in the top five next Summer, if not number one. They don't have to give us 70 losses, really.

Obviously i'm watching the development of MCW and Noel, but I'm pleasantly surprised by Robert Covington and Tony Wroten as well. No, neither should be a starter on a contender, but they are making you think about them as part of the plan. They could be rotation pieces that provide valuable points off the bench. Neither has a polished game yet, but I'm beginning to put them into the group to watch.

Next week should be a brutal week, filled with losses and tough stories in the press. Atlanta Tuesday, Toronto Wednesday, New Orleans Friday, and a suddenly hot Detroit team Saturday has the makings of a three loss week, minimally. The Kirilenko suspension story does not look good, and probably won't get better. That's fine. Be happy with the good week you saw, and let's hope this team can continue to show some life on their way to another high lottery pick. Maybe the young guys have something going.

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The Sixers Should Release Kirilenko

Last night the 76ers won a game in Brooklyn, their 6th win on the season. They're very bad, and this season is going nowhere. The Sixers and Brooklyn made a trade about a month or so ago that sent Brandon Davies to the Nets, who have since waived him, and sent back a second round pick, plus another pick option later, and Andrei Kirilenko. Kirilenko is the controversial part. The 34 year old Russian and the Nets wanted to part ways- the Nets because of their horrible salary cap situation, and Kirilenko because he has no chance to win there. The Nets dealt him to Philadelphia, and Kirilenko had no intention of playing there, and even claims there was a "handshake agreement" to waive him, which the Sixers deny. Now the Sixers have suspended Kirilenko without pay.

I tend to believe the Sixers when they say they never agreed to waive him. They want to trade him at the deadline for another second round pick (I'm only partially joking). Either way, he's got virtually no value at this point, and is causing a stir now. The Sixers really don't need to worry about the fact that his contract is now guaranteed, since they're far below the salary cap floor. They should just get him out, open the roster spot, and then use the spot to fill more payroll. Kirilenko doesn't figure into the future plans, and really doesn't get them anything of value now. They should just move on.

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Trade Wroten? Like Cunningham? Sign Free Agents? International Success?

A few Sixers notes:

• Yes, the Clippers have interest in Tony Wroten, but no, they shouldn't just get him. Yes, the Sixers are tanking, but no, Wroten isn't open for sale. That doesn't mean they should slam the door on a move here, it just means Wroten has value. He's 21 years old, can play both guards, and is having his best scoring season in this, his third NBA season.
• The Sixers obtained Jared Cunningham in a trade with the Clippers, along with cash, but he'll never play here. In fact, they got him today, and he's not on the roster tonight, because they waived him. Oh well, good move. They hopefully picked up some payroll in the move to get closer to the league minimum.
• Should the Sixers spend some money this Summer and try to improve next season, Kawhi Leonard makes the most sense on this roster, and Lamarcus Aldridge makes the most, period. They would both be great pick-ups for the Sixers.
• So overseas, the Sixers now have four players playing ball. Dario Saric, the highest touted prospect overseas right now, won the Euroleague's November MVP, and scored a game winning steal and basket in a game in late December. He's coming along nicely, and would certainly make this team next season, if he wants to. Jordan McRae meanwhile is playing really well in the NBL of Australia, battling for the scoring title. Arsalan Kazemi is putting up 15 point, 15 rebound type numbers in China as well.

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At Ten Weeks, It's That Bad

Last night, the Sixers lost by over 30 points in Los Angeles, to the Clippers. The night before, it was Phoenix delivering the beating. It really doesn't matter where the Sixers go, or who they play, because they really aren't that good. Considering that MCW sat out last night's game with a sore shoulder (the same one that started his year late), there isn't even a whole lot worth watching. He's pretty day-to-day, Embiid hasn't seen the court yet, and that basically leaves Noel to team with McDaniels and Wroten to form a basketball team with a bunch of D-League-esque players. The 4-28 Sixers come home tomorrow for the most anticipated home game all year, against the Cleveland Cavaliers. In fitting fashion for this season, of course LeBron James is not going to play, ruining the fun of it, and they will still probably lose badly to a lackluster, mediocre, underachieving team. On the bright side, J-Rich will be back by the end of the month.....

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The State of my Sports Teams, End of 2014 Edition

As 2014 comes to an end, it's clear to me that most of my sports teams stink. It's ugly right now as a Philadelphia fan, and not much better on the college ranks. I figured I'd write a state of each of my favorite teams for the new year. Here we go:

• The Philadelphia Phillies- Status: Poor but Improving- This is going to be a rough season. After finishing last in 2014, the Phillies are going to be picked to finish last again. The positive news? They traded Jimmy Rollins and got back a Padres first round pick and Dodgers second round pick on the mound. Kyle Kendrick, A.J. Burnett, and Roberto Hernandez all pitched at or below replacement level, and are gone. There's reason to believe that Marlon Byrd, Chase Utley, Ben Revere, Carlos Ruiz, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Jonathan Papelbon, and even Ryan Howard could all move on this year or next, returning some prospects, cutting some payroll, and maybe even clearing space for free agents. Of course, the downside to that is a very, very young team in the near future, a team that will be expected to lose. While they may only really miss Hamels, Lee, Utley, and Revere of that list, they won't all be replaced with equal talents quickly. So, expect a last place finish in 2015. More so, the system they have isn't deep, as only top prospect Maikel Franco of the "elite four" as I refer to Franco, Aaron Nola, J.P. Crawford, and Roman Quinn, is likely to help in 2015 much, and Crawford and Quinn haven't seen AA yet. The Phillies will need another good draft, hope for guys like Aaron Altherr and Jesse Biddle to suddenly click, and then hope they get some good returns on their trades. In short, things are moving too slowly, and they are going to be really badly in 2015, but the Phillies at least started to rebuild by trading Rollins and Bastardo. Their current haul of five players, counting their Rule 5 picks, this off-season is a start though.
• The Philadelphia Eagles- Status: Above Average and Unclear- Over the last two football season, counting last year's playoff game, the Eagles are 20-13 since firing Andy Reid. Considering they were 4-12 before that, you have to give that some love. Chip Kelly has shown he can win football games in the NFL, and the team is actually exciting to watch. With that said, they went 1-3 against the big boys in the NFC West, they lost football games to four of the six playoff teams in the conference, and didn't even compete well against the top two. The offense needs to look for an answer at quarterback, straighten out LeSean McCoy's contract situation, replace Todd Herremans and get deeper on the line, and straighten out the receivers if Maclin leaves. The entire secondary on the defense needs work, and Demeco Ryans might need to be replaced too. After special teams, really no unit is close to set. Chip Kelly is by no means in any kind of trouble with a 20-12 record through two regular seasons, but perhaps there is more to prove in 2015. The coming draft and free agent period is the first critical one of his tenure.
• The Philadelphia Flyers- Status: Very mediocre and stationary- The Flyers made the playoffs last year and lost in the first round. Right now, they'd miss the playoffs, and they have a -9 differential. They've had issues with health and consistency, and obviously defensive play. They're not much of a contender, and they're only good randomly. This is probably the worst situation of the four teams, as they aren't good, aren't contending, and aren't getting better. Frankly the issue is a stagnant owner. With all of that said, you just have to give this front office time, as they're new.
• The Philadelphia 76ers- Status: Awful and building- Ok, so this team has 4 wins, and might end up under their own low record of nine. Joel Embiid might not play a game this season. Nerlens Noel is improving each week though, Michael Carter-Williams is excellent, and they've received flashes from K.J. McDaniels. The future is far away though. Furkan Alder is a work in progress, Dario Saric remains in Turkey, and a certain lottery pick from this year's team (if not more) still lies ahead. The good news? They have cap space. They have a good GM. They have a good coach. They have some really good young talent. They also lost by 40 tonight to Golden State though, which is really awful.

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At Nine Weeks, Some More Sixers High and Low Lights

Well, the bad news is that they are probably still the worst team in the league, but the good news is that the Sixers did win a game last week. They are 4-25, and while they are percentage points behind the Knicks, they are actually a game closer in the standings.

The highlight of the week was the come from behind win over Miami. Coming from over 20 back on a banged up Heat team is one of the highlights of the season (obviously if you have four wins, all of them are). They followed up that highlight with two lowlight losses in blow out fashion at Portland and Utah. The two losses just re-affirmed what we already knew: don't get too excited by the good days. This is still a really bad team, and against the Utahs of the world, they will eventually show us that again.

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Through Eight Weeks, The Sixers Do Some Positive Stuff

So the Philadelphia 76ers won their third game on Sunday night! Yes, they're 3-23 on the season, and yes they got blown out twice this week, but it's still always nice to take the wins you can get. Perhaps more heartening than the win was the good play of Michael Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel in the win. That is what this season is about.

The Sixers have the second worst home losing streak to start a season in NBA history, and so it's probably good they're on the road for six more games. They have games this week on Tuesday in Miami, Friday in Portland, and Saturday in Utah. Of the three, Utah is the most winnable, though they'll be underdogs all week.

The other big news out of the week was on the trade front. The Sixers sent Alexey Shved to Houston in a three team deal with the Rockets and Minnesota, picking up Houston's second round pick this year, the out-for-the-season Ronnie Turiaf, and Liga ACB's Valencia's Sergei Lishouk's rights through the trade. We'll see if on the court they picked up anything in Turiaf and Lishouk (the odds are no right now), but they sure have stocked up picks:

Assuming protections on the team’s 2015 picks shake out on draft night as they would today, the team would have six picks in 2015 and 21 through 2020. According to RealGM.com, the breakdown would be as follows: 

2015: PHI 1st, MIA 1st, HOU 2nd, GSW 2nd, ORL 2nd, NOP 2nd

2016: PHI 1st, DEN 2nd

2017: PHI 1st, PHI 2nd

2018: PHI 1st, PHI 2nd, better of CLE or BKN 2nd, better of LAC or NYK 2nd

2019: PHI 1st, PHI 2nd, NYK 2nd, better of MIL or SAC 2nd

2020: PHI 1st, PHI 2nd, BKN 2nd

That is excellent. Considering it's all about the future, at least the Sixers have stocked up on lots of future chances. 

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OMG.... Nerlens Noel

From Bleacher Report.

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The Sixers at Seven Weeks- Back to the Norm

After having a fairly decent sixth week, the Sixers returned to irrelevancy, going 0-3, and only competing in one of the games. Atlanta smacked them by 16 and Brooklyn by 18, before they took Memphis to overtime in a game they really could have won. The results were all too familiar though, and they are now 2-21.

The bad news- with 59 games to go, the Sixers have to go 8-51 to avoid the worst record ever, and that's going to be hard for them.

They traded Brandon Davies to get Andrei Kirilenko, Jorge Gutierrez, a 2020 2nd Round Pick, the right to swap 2018 2nd rounders, and cash. The Sixers will probably end up waiving Kirilenko, but they need to take on salary, needing $18 million to reach the salary cap floor. All of this, coupled with the signing of Furkan Aldemir to a four year deal (two guaranteed), made for a busy week in Sixers-land.

Only 59 more games of this though guys, 59 more games.

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Week Six: The Sixers Best Week of Basketball Yet

Nobody is mistaking the 76ers for Jordan's Bulls, but let's not let this week go without taking note of it- the Sixers won two games this week. They also played reasonably well for themselves in the two games they lost. Sure, they beat Minnesota and Detroit, two terrible teams themselves, but they count as NBA wins, and on the road, no less. They lost to San Antonio and Oklahoma City, now back healthy, two teams they have no business even playing. All in all, not a terrible week.

They are 2-18 though, and so we're only really watching for a few players. One of them is Michael Carter-Williams, and my suspicions of him being special are baring out again. The reigning NBA Rookie of the Year is averaging 19.6 PPG, 12.2 APG, and 9.0 RPG over his last five games. He had 15 assists against Detroit, and is generally beginning to show improvement over even last season.

I'm not one to get too excited over a few meaningless wins, but this team needed that. They are 2-18, and with 62 games to go, must go 8-54 to avoid tying the all-time losing mark for an 82 game season. That's still not going to be easy, but one can hope that better days are ahead.

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The Sixers at Five Weeks: Record-Settingly Bad?

0-16. That's where the Sixers are at. Two losses from tying an infamous bad start by the Nets (which didn't land them the top pick). San Antonio is coming in tonight, so it's hard to see the streak stopping before 17. They have some shot against Minnesota on Wednesday, though it's not great, and on Friday they'd face infamy against Oklahoma City. Next Saturday, they'd play Detroit too. That does put three teams with bad records on their schedule this week, but their record is worse.

This all seems like a big joke, and honestly it is. The product they are putting on the floor is terrible. Nerlens Noel appears to be improving as he goes, and MCW is getting back into it. K.J. McDaniels has impressed enough to stick around, as has Tony Wroten. Past those four, nothing is showing enough to stay on this roster. I'm interested in seeing Aldemir get over here from Turkey too. Honestly though, this team is a lot more than that away.

The Sixers have to go 10-56, a terrible record, to avoid being tying their own NBA record for futility. I do not see them achieving that. This team can easily win less than nine games.

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The Sixers at Four Weeks- This Joke isn't Funny Anymore

Are you smiling?

The Sixers are 0-13. If you want to look at the positive, they lost by single-digits to New York last night, but that's cold comfort.  This team is pathetically bad, and lost by 26 points to Phoenix the night before. Neither of these teams is a title contender, so this is bad. They did play a title contender this week, San Antonio, but they blew the Sixers out too.

The bad thing is, Carter-Williams is back, and playing reasonably decent on the stat sheet. This team just can't beat anyone. They have 69 games remaining this season, and to avoid their own record for futility (9 wins), they have to go 10-59. That's .145 ball, which is terrible, but do you think this team can win 15% of it's remaining games? I'm struggling with that. If anything, it's more likely than not that they do break the record for worst seasons. It's also more than possible that this team can break their own record for consecutive losses. Futility is abundant!

I stand by my assessment that only Carter-Williams, Noel, Embiid, Wroten, and McDaniels of this current crop look like they have any future here. The rest of the roster is basically D-League level talent, if that, and could possibly lose to a team of our over-seas "assets" that we own the rights to. That's pathetic.

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The Sixers are 0-10, Will They Ever Win?

I bet they're selling like hot-cakes.

The Sixers lost by 25 points to the Spurs to fall to 0-10 on Monday. Now sure, the Spurs are a legendary team, so let's put that aside, but how bad is this team? Well, they have lost by 50 or more once, thirty or more twice, twenty or more three times, and double digits seven of ten times out this year. That's... putrid. I don't even really have a word for it.

I got a little bit of hope from the Houston game on Friday, when they played pretty well and nearly won in their second game with MCW back. Then they played San Antonio, and all hope was lost again. I put that title on this post for click-bait, because they will win a game, but how many? I have a hard time counting to ten for this team. Tonight's game with Boston is one of their best chances, and I'll remind you that Boston is well ahead of them already in the Atlantic Division. Boston also twice blew them out in the pre-season, for what that's worth.

Carter-Williams will be fine, and I don't think we can judge Noel based on a few weeks of his rookie year. Past that, you really have to wonder how much they have that's NBA caliber. McDaniels and Wroten can probably stick, but who else? This honestly might be a roster capable of under ten wins. I do get the value in high picks, but this feels a little excessive to me.

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The Sixers at Three Weeks: Hopeless?

The Sixers did it all this week. They lost a game by 53 points, which is basically inexplicable. They also lost a game at the buzzer. They're now 1/9th of the way into the season and they're winless. They're in last place in the division. They're the last winless team. Oh, and they play San Antonio next. So, yeah..... 0-10 anyone?

At least MCW and Noel are both healthy and playing, I guess. I have a hard time seeing this team win 10 games as is. I understand tanking, but this isn't even mildly entertaining.

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Some Positivity About the Sixers

You've endured so far as the Sixers started 0-7 and sit in last place in the putrid Atlantic Division, so you've earned today. Today, the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams, returns to the Philadelphia 76ers to play basketball against the Dallas Mavericks. No, the Sixers should not win this game. They shouldn't beat Houston tomorrow either. Still, it gives you a reason to watch the games, which is important at this time of year, with a team this bad. It could be an added bonus to see him play with Nerlens Noel for the first time, very soon. Noel has been looking like a potential Rookie of the Year himself, when playing.

I'm also excited about the play of K.J. McDaniels, the first second rounder the Sixers picked in the draft. He blocked four shots against Toronto and his minutes are up. I consider him and Tony Wroten to be the two non-lottery players on the roster right now with the best chance to be here when the team is good again.

Of course, there are others out there playing, overseas. None is more prominent than the 12th pick in the 2014 draft, Dario Saric, who is playing for the Anadolu Efes in Turkey. He's averaging 11.5 points per game and shooting 59% in Turkey, and the Croatian star appears to be back healthy from an ankle sprain. I'd like to see him grab a few more rebounds than he is (5.1 per game), but that's really the only complaint I can come up with in his game right now.

Naravno, tu su i drugi vani igrati, u inozemstvo. Niti je izraženiji od 12. pick u nacrtu 2014. godine, Dario Šarić, koji je igrajući za Anadolu Efes u Turskoj. On je u prosjeku 11,5 poena po utakmici, a snimanje je 59% u Turskoj, a Hrvatska je zvijezda čini se da će se vratiti zdrava iz uganuti gležanj. Volio bih ga vidjeti zgrabiti još nekoliko skokova od njega (5,1 po utakmici), ali to je zapravo jedini prigovor mogu smisliti u svojoj igri upravo sada.

Tabii ki, diğerleri yurtdışı dışarı orada oyun vardır. Yok Türkiye'de Anadolu Efes için oynuyor 2014 taslakta 12. çekme, Dario Saric, daha belirgindir. O maç başına 11.5 sayı ortalamasıyla Türkiye'de% 59 çekim ve Hırvat yıldız bir ayak bileği burkulması geri sağlıklı görünüyor var. Ben o (maç başına 5.1) daha onu birkaç ribaund kapmak görmek istiyorum, ama gerçekten ben şu anda onun oyun ile gelip tek şikayet.

Then there is Jordan McRae, who has lead the Australian National Basketball League in scoring a lot this season, and is averaging 21.5 points per game. McRae has put up some highlight reel dunks down there, and is doing a good job of scoring, following up nicely on a solid Summer League campaign. The 2014 second-rounder can be up and down, but his numbers are very nice down there.

Arsalan Kazemi, who could be the first Iranian to play in the NBA, had 11 points and 14 rebounds in the first game for the Chongqing Flying Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association. He had six assists and four steals too. The important two things for Kazemi is he continues to grab boards and his offensive game continues to show solid improvement. In his first game, he did both.

阿爾薩蘭卡澤米，誰可能是伊朗首次在NBA打球，得到11分和14個籃板，在第一場比賽中為中國籃球協會的重慶飛龍。他有6次助攻和4次搶斷了。最重要的兩件事卡齊米是他繼續搶板和他的進攻繼續表現出堅實的改善。在他的第一場比賽，他做到了兩者。

ارسلان کاظمی، که می تواند برای اولین بار از ایران به بازی در انجمن ملی بسکتبال، 11 امتیاز و 14 ریباند در بازی برای اولین بار در چونگ کینگ پرواز اژدها از بسکتبال چین بود. او شش کمک و چهار دزد بیش از حد بود. مهم دو چیز برای کاظمی است که او همچنان به گرفتن تخته و بازی تهاجمی خود ادامه برای نشان دادن بهبود جامد. در بازی اول خود، او هر دو را انجام داد.

Furkan Aldemir, who plays for Galatasaray in the Turkish league, is leading the league in rebounding, and is scoring more than one might have guessed. He's averaging over 11 boards a game, and is scoring in double digits. He has a three year deal with Galatasaray though, so he's staying there for now.

Türk ligde Galatasaray takımında oynayan furkan Aldemir, dolaşması ligi lider ve bir tahmin olabilir daha atmaksa. O üzerinden 11 panoları bir oyun ortalama, ve çift hanelere atmaksa. O olsa, Galatasaray ile üç yıllık bir anlaşma vardır, o şimdi orada kalıyor.

Then finally there is Vasilije Micic, a Serbian player the Sixers drafted and own the rights to. He's playing for Bayern Munich (not the soccer team), and came off the bench the other day and scored ten points in fifteen minutes, an impressive showing. Micic had some injury issues in the Summer, but appears to be healthy and playing well now.

И на крају ту је Василије Мицић, српски тенисер је Сикерс нацрт и поседују права на. Он је играо за Бајерн Минхен (не соццер теам), и дошао са клупе неки дан и постигао је десет поена за петнаест минута, импресивних приказивања. Мићић је имао неких проблема са повредама у летњој, али чини се да је здрава и играју добро сад.

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At Two Weeks In, Will the Sixers Ever Win?

The Sixers just lost by 30 to Toronto. Yes, 30. Nerlens Noel and MCW both sat, let alone Embiid. In short, it was an awful display.

With 75 games to go, the Sixers are 0-7, in last, or fifth, in the Atlantic Division, and are the worst team in the NBA. There's no two ways about it. They stink. There's also not much to really write about them, since Noel and MCW sat tonight. So, that's that.

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