The Sixers Will Not Make History In 2014-15
By Ray Boyd
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Remember the 1972-73 Sixers that won an NBA worse 9 of 82 games? Me neither, but I've heard about them. Since the Sam Hinkie era started in Philadelphia we've heard about this generation of Sixers being as bad, or worse than that team.
ESPN has released their power rankings heading into NBA Training Camps which open all across the league over the next few days. The Sixers not surprisingly were ranked 30th and once again the 72-73 squad was mentioned.
"If you've ever wondered how much angry noise would have greeted the 9-73 Sixers of 1972-73 had they been playing in the Twitter age, you need only follow the 2014-15 Sixers. They're bound to be blasted even louder than last season as they openly chase the No. 1 overall pick again."
Looks like the Sixers are destined to make the type of history that no one wants to see them make. 8 wins? 7 wins? How low can you go?
It's easy to go to the extreme when imagining how bad the Sixers may be this upcoming season, but let's ponder how good they could actually be.
To preface things, good is a relative term. Good has a much different meaning for a team that won 19 games a season ago than it would for another franchise.
Last season's Sixers were a never ending carousel of players. Even the team's most devoted fans had trouble keeping up with who was on the roster as the Sixers encompassed 23 different players throughout the season. On top of that, you had a brand new coach in Brett Brown who had never held the reins for an NBA franchise.
Your floor general was also a rookie in Michael Carter-Williams and the majority of your decent veteran talent was shipped away half way through the campaign.
This upcoming season we will see a lot less players wearing Sixers uniforms. That is not to say that changes will not be made, but there are now more players on this team that actually fit the vision of what it is to become.
The Sixers lineup will consist of Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel who both have a lot to prove. Carter-Williams has to show people that his Rookie of the Year award was not a fluke and that he can develop into a contending level point guard while Noel has the opportunity to show everyone that passed on him in the draft that they made a mistake.
Once again fans will have to deal with not seeing their top overall pick playing for the team this season, but there are some young players that will play and get the chance to continue developing. K.J. McDaniels should see ample minutes for the Sixers and is widely regarded as the best wing defender from the previous draft.
Jerami Grant showed some flashes in Summer League play and has a good sense of playing with his former Syracuse teammate in Carter-Williams.
The team also managed to add some veteran pieces in Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved who are capable of logging some quality minutes which should slow down the carousel quite a bit.
You also want to hope that some of the pieces that showed some flashes last season continue to grow. Hollis Thompson was a project player all season long for Brown who managed to turn him into a viable three-point threat toward the end of the season.
Tony Wroten is entering just his third NBA season and showed flashes last season of a solid offensive game. If he learns to slow down a step this season, with more opportunity, he could raise that 13 point per game average from a season ago. Also keep an eye on Henry Sims who the Sixers acquired from Cleveland last season. Sims showed some upside as a rim protector and rebounder and will be crucial in developing Noel into a player that can compliment another big in the same offensive scheme.
It would be irresponsible of me not to mention the fact that the best overall player, Thaddeus Young, is gone. However, that just opens up more opportunity for the youngsters. I could definitely be understating that, but we'll see.
I am not telling Sixers fans to gear up for 50 wins. However, there is no real reason to think that a historic run to the basement is in the cards either. If last season was the tanking stage, this season will revolve around development. There are going to be more future oriented pieces on the roster this year that will be hungry to show off where this franchise is heading.
The bar shouldn't be set too high, but don't set it too low either.
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