It's finally time to give my Sixers some love. Let's start with their most important player. He's a triple double machine averaging around 14, 7 and 7 a game. Not to mention he is the best defender in the world as showcased this summer. He's not the original AI, but he's just as athletic, much taller, and much more versatile. He is a player whom I thought we would, and should, have traded by this point. I thought he was overpaid. I thought he was a poor man's Scottie in desperate need of a Michael. While that still may be the case, Andre Iguodala has been the man this year for this surprising Sixers team. He has changed his game. He is not the number 1 option like he was last year, because no one on this Sixers team is the number 1 option. SIX players are AVERAGING over TEN points per game. Brand, AI, Holiday, Williams, Young, and Meeks. More impressively, Young and Williams don't even start, and should finish in the top 10 in sixth men of the year voting, an award Young has previously won.
Rounding out the starting line-up with AI is Holiday, Brand, Meeks, and Hawes. Jrue Holiday is a young point guard out of UCLA. He only played 1 year at UCLA and came out in a PG heavy draft, allowing him to slip a litter. He was a steal for the Sixers who took him with the 17th overall pick. The Sixers saw the talent, just like every other team, but unlike other teams, they were able to be patient in his development. He was only 19 when drafted. He is a solid PG, who has had a few 30 plus point games, a triple double, and many double doubles this year. Brand used to be an perennial all-star, year in and year out. After an injury, it took him some time to return to form, but now he is back. He is not all the way back, but he is averaging 16, 8, and 2 blocks per game, not too shabby. Meeks was a freak shooter at Kentucky, dropping 50 plus on a few occasions. Now he still has the killer instincts and he is a knock down 3 point shooter in the pro's to go along with his mid-range game. Hawes is a tall, serviceable center with soft hand who can pass well out of the post. This starting line-up doesn't seem like much, but with the 3 young guys, and 2 all-star veterans (AI, and Brand), it's been producing this year at a pace no one saw coming.
What makes the Sixers so good, however, is the DEPTH. Aside from Young and Williams, they have Evan Turner, Marresse Speights, Nocioni, and Kapono. The 2nd unit is almost as good as the first. Young and Williams are instant offense. They can run, shoot, provide energy, and score in bunches. Evan Turner, last years 2nd overall pick, is going to be a solid player for years to come. Speights can come in at center, hit down a jumper, run the court, and spark the offense. Nocioni and Kapono are knock down shooters to compliment the rest.
While the depth is what makes the Sixers good, the coaching is what had made the difference. Doug Collins is hands down the 2011 NBA coach of the year. No doubt in my mind that he deserves and will win the award. Popovich has done a great job, so has the Bulls coach, and who ever else may have a say in the outcome of the award, but Collins has taken a bunch of ordinary players, and made an extraordinary team. No other coach has taken the talent of his players, and maximized them as much as Collins. The team is greater than the sum of its part. They started 3-13, and were dead last in the East, but they never gave up. They were young. They had growing pains. They were adjusting to Collins style. Since their awful start, they are 29-17. They are 0.5 games behind the Knicks for the 6th seed. Everyone has been all over the Knicks this year, but the Sixers are just as good, if not better and more consistent. They are 10-4 in their last 14, losing to the Mavs, Orlando on the road, Memphis on the road, and the Knicks on the road (after beating the Knicks the night before in Philly). They had the 2nd overall pick last year and their only pick up was Tony Battie, a non-factor. Collins has done an amazing job.
This article was mainly written for me to give my favorite team some dap. Ever since Iverson left, no one talked about the Sixers too much. Sure there was a little talk when Brand came over, but then he got injured and that was the end of that. Now, I am putting the rest of the league on notice. This is a team that no one should want to see in the 1st round. The Sixers have the Coach of the Year, the Best Defensive Player in the World, 2 Sixth Man of the Year Candidates, Depth, Speed, Shooting, Defense, Team Play, and Heart. This is a young, hungry, and scary team. My Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers are for real.
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