Sixerfanforlife

The Philadelphia 76ers are coming off a losing
season after pheneomonal expectations....
Those expectations are being replaced with
expectations everyone believes is possible.

Many of the casual NBA fans have the Philadelphia
76ers as a top-12-16 team at best and preeninal
lottery team. The New York Knicks are also
recieving the same, unfair treatment by their
fans and arrogant fools such as Greg Anthony
who seems not to understand the importance
of dominance offensively (The Knicks are gonna be explosive,
I promise that) First off, as the season gets
under way, one of the things 76ers fans stress
is the concern of the defensive end of the ball
and the lack-there of change in the locker room.

Understandable. After all, this team gave up
102.6 PPG last season and maybe would've
given up alot more if not for 3rd-year forward
Andre Iguodala. But there's legitmate reason
to believe the 76ers will be a better team
this season, and most certainly a better team
on the defensive end of the ball. One of the
things Philadelphia 76ers's fans have to be
interested about is C Samuel Dalembert. We've
said it a million times,and I'll make it 1 million and 1
times: If Dalembert stays healthy, the 76ers have
potential to do amazing things on the defensive end of the
ball. Considering he averaged 15 PPG and 4 BPG in the 4
pre-season games he played. I'd love to see this on
a consistant basis. And even if we get something like
10/8/3 BPG, It'll be the type of dominance I expect
and we'll need from Samuel Dalembert. Another
Center with unlimited upside and dedication
to improvement is Steven Hunter. Hunter,24 was
at the time traded for a 2nd round pick and
as he himself said "I took that personally, I
want people to see the real Steven Hunter" At times
we did see the real Steven Hunter, once he split
minutes with Dalembert. He roamed the paint,
had alot of dunks and blocked shots. If he
impacts the game by doing the little things.
This team suddendly is very good defensively (Not that it
wasn't, it's just that players weren't clicking, now they are
and at the right time too.) One of the best
rebounders and interior defensive players
on the Philadelphia 76ers will recieve signifcant
minutes and is looking to look like an impact
player. F Shavlik Randolph turned himself from
a "find" to a guy that just got paid above the LLE
this season. Shavlik Randolph was among the
team's leaders in charges and one of the
more aggressive on the offensive glass.
Shav's offensive game continues to develop
as he looks to make Duke pay for letting him
leave. As well as 29 other NBA teams for not
drafting him. Randolph is one of the key bigs's
on the 76ers bench and one of the key players overall.
If Shavlik Randolph performs up to his and the
76ers managements's expectations, the 76ers defensively
and offensively have became that much better.
One of the other important aspects to the
Philadelphia 76ers organization is named
"Chris Webber" Averaging 20 points and 10
rebounds, last season. Webber was the one
who highlighted the offensive attack when
Allen Iverson sat down or was injured. And
at often times, was the #2nd option for the
Philadelphia 76ers. This came at a steep price
for the organization:Ball movement was limited,
his 1-on-1 defense seems annoying at times,
if not completely debacled and there's the
"Ego" factor. Maurice Cheeks seems to be more
demanding this season, we'll see how that plays
out with Chris Webber. But for now the 76ers
organization has to pray that Webber can play some
defense...OH well, he'll be splitting time with
Randolph. One of the more explosive swing men
on the Philadelphia 76ers, and quite possibly
in all of NBA basketball these past 3 seasons
is Andre Iguodala. Averaging a carrer high
12.3 PPG on 49 PCT shooting and 35 percent
shooting from 3 pt land. Iguodala seems to
be an automatic threat. However many 76ers
fans on RealGM seem to be in favor of Iguodala
scoring more points instead of being a near-
automatic swingman. I for one disagree. Having
Iguodala as a 12-15 PPG unknown threat is
great to have. We don't nessarily need Andre
Iguodala to exhaust himself offensively and
certainly not for the sake of the fans and
an ignorant management of which we have.

Andre Iguodala has said he will be more
aggresive and more assertive offensively
and we certainly hope that's the case. One
can't have too many points...But at the same time
we also can't afford Iguodala to be shooting
44 or 45 percent. Those are strictly Allen Iverson
numbers. If not no other chucker in the league lol.

Another one of the 76ers swingmen to fear
in the NBA, is 3pt shooting threat Kyle Korver.
In the pre-season thus far, Kyle Korver
has averaged 16.1 PPG off the bench with
a dazzingly 54.8 Percent from the perimeter
He is also shooting 49.4 percent from 2pt
land and is shooting a career high 88
percent from the line! Such a versatile
offensive threat is being asked to be
on the bench! This is why some 76ers fans
should get more experience before calling
out management and why Billy King needs
to stick a fork in it. Simply put it, I want
to ask 76ers fans one question: When's the
last time someone shot over 50 percent from
3 and 2 and from the line in a season,
and have come close to performing the feat
throughout their entire career? NOBODY, NOBODY
AND YOU DON'T MAKE A SIXTH MAN OUT OF SUCH AN
IMPACT WEAPON! Kyle Korver is crucial to
what this team does offensively and along
with Shavlik Randolph, he increases our
hustle defense enormously with his charges.

Kyle Korver's offense is such a great asset
to have, I'll tell you something: Kyle Korver
has scored over 2 thousand points in a little
under 2 1/2 seasons (don't count rookie year
where he played under 12 minutes). I'm pretty
Sure if Korver had the role he has Under Jim O'Brien
in 03-04 and the role he had for the first 18
games of last season, Kyle Korver would have
2,500 points by now. Amazing, simply amazing. Don't
you dare think about sitting Kyle Korver down.
The next wing-player of the Philadelphia 76ers
will need development. By Name of Rodney Carney, but
he still showed the incrediblity that comes with being
the 5th best athlete in an NBA draft class. In his freshman
year, Rodney Carney had 32 blks in 28 gms (1.1 BPG)
to go along with 30 ASTS (1.1) APG. He shot
over 37 percent from 3PT land but horrible overall
FG percentage at 38 percent. Eventaully, Rodney
Carney breaks out by averaging 16.0 PPG/5.0 RPG and shooting
a dazzingly 40 percent from the field. Although his 3pt percentage
takes a huge drop off (32 percent as compared to 37).

But then, in his junior year, Rodney Carney took the big-***
leap to stardom. Averaging over 17.2 PPG and
a career high 1.3 APG as a wing player. He shot
over 71 percent from the free throw line and
a dazzingly 39 percent from 3 and 43 percent from the
field all together.

Rodney Carney is similar to Andre Iguodala
but in one critical area, inferior: Consistency.
He shot 77 percent from the FT in his sophomore
year but in his junior year, he shot 71 percent
Likewise, 37 percent from 32 percent from 3, Freshman
to sophomore. This isn't a young kid coming out of
College. This is the truth:Rodney Carney is inconsistant
offensively.

I would collect career statsitics of Guards
Allen Iverson, Willie Green and Kevin Ollie
but we all know what roles they will have during
the start of the season, so let me just get to the bottom
of the line here:This 76ers team has the front-court
to beat in the Eastern Conference. If Samuel
Dalembert plays with the desire and energy he needs
too and Steven Hunter with the confidence, Webber with a
little D and an improved Shavlik Randolph. The defense is there
combined that with an eventual combination of Andre Iguodala
and Rodney Carney, the help defense of Kyle Korver,
Allen Iverson's 2.3 SPG from last season. The offense
we know is there: This team is 50-wins, tops.

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