RealGM

Good morning, gentlemen.

For a moment I thought we could just step back take a breath and just look at this team. Like a fine painting in a gallery I just want to appreciate it for what it is.

Look how good our team is right now. Who would have thought that in less than two years we could assemble a team with a realistic shot at contending? It's been a very long time since I've had such anticipation for a Sixers season to get underway. Aren't you excited too? If not you ought to be.

My feeling is that the group we see today along with fillers will be the team that takes the court for us come game 1. That means we'll probably be going into the season with our perceived weakness (a shooter).

I believe that this creates a major opportunity for a handful of players to sieze the moment, work on the jumper night and day and be that "very pleasant surprise". There are 4 guys in particular who would best serve the team and their own careers to bring a sharpened eye to camp. With Brand here there will be a ton of spot up jumper opportunities and we can put teams away if we can hit it consistently.

Those guys are Lou, WG, Thad and Igoudala.

Lou Williams- IMO currently has the best spot up shot of the four so I make him my early favorite to be "a pleasant surprise" A very smooth and versatile player his jumper looks sweet when it on. Work on it Lou. This guy has the tools to be a very good NBA player for a long time and he's a fine young man as well.

Willie Green- This guy bothers me. Always has. He has tools. He can put the ball on the floor, he can create his own shot and he has some ups. This guy should be much better than he is. This guy should seize the moment more than any because he's underacheived and has very little love on this board. (Rightfully so) This is his chance to gain respect and contribute to a title run. Willie out to the driveway please and stay there.

Thad Young- Not so much to be "our shooter" but to take his game to the next level. That jumper on the wing will be available too. If he can consistently hit it they'll need to respect it, and when they respect it he has more opportunity to pump fake put it on the floor and go to the rim with that great length and grace he has. This kid is very impressive. Playing mostly the 4 at the pro level at age 19 he'll be an all star quality SF for the meat of his career. And he's yet another fine young man.

Igoudala- Saved him for last. An excellent slasher run the floor player he's (well) a poor spot up shooter. Frankly, he's throwing up helicopters out there, front rimming everything. He wanted max money but the matchup with Prince cost him so dough. We all agree it was brutal to watch. Mr. Igoudala please report to the driveway.

I am amped up for this season. I think the shooting thing is overblown. We don't have 3 point shooters but we do knock down the midrange jumpers. Thad's midrange jumper improved as the season went on. Lou's midrange j is fine. Iggy is fine as long as his feet are set and he is on balance. He struggled against Prince because of his length and he was fading away on most of the shots. Miller's midrange jumper is fine and Brand can knock it down.

We averaged over 100 ppg in the final 2 months of the season last year and now we have added a 20 ppg scorer into the mix. Three point shooting we still be a weakness but I think our offense will be fine and our wings will be able to leak out early on the break because with Brand and Dalembert they won't have to help as much on the defensive rebounds. Also with Willie on the bench we won't have to worry about his routine 2-9 1st half shooting performances.

How good is Brand at throwing the outlet pass off the defensive boards???

heres a question for you guys to ponder....

if Willie, my friend ur foe, comes off the bench shouldn't that further his desire to score because hell be the 6th man and usually the 6th man's job is to score. That and i just see that going down. Willie wont be any more passive coming off the bench.

the double teaming of brand should buy some time and space for our shooters . i think lou will get some of millers minutes and iggy at the two will be a huge improvement over green.start the season now!

hey phillyboy... i agree with the four you have listed, and i think sam needs to be on the list. he has shown the ability to hit the 15 footer in the past and if he is hitting that it will 1, pull his man away from the middle for brand to work and the slashing lanes that having brand will create and 2, really hurt the opposing teams if they try to clog the middle with sams guy.

also... i havent made one comment on the board yet about brand actually coming to the sixers, so since you were begging for it to... woohoo for us. and woohoo for the organization. major win. and i know you were also against having iverson here and believed we would have a better shot at rebuilding without him. i think its obvious that the rebuilding has been successful even without bringing brand in because of the growth of character and talent on the roster... and now we have brand to complete a rebuilding process that even without tweaks, puts us as a top 5 team in the east (minimum) awesome.

GreenWithEnvy wrote:heres a question for you guys to ponder....

if Willie, my friend ur foe, comes off the bench shouldn't that further his desire to score because hell be the 6th man and usually the 6th man's job is to score. That and i just see that going down. Willie wont be any more passive coming off the bench.

i dont think the issue is willie being passive, its him clanking jumpers and 3's. he needs to pick the correct times to take shots and when he does, he needs to freaking hit them. sometimes he suddenly seems to have a burning desire to score, yet he is sucking up the joint. but does that stop him? no, he just keeps forcing things. the issue is his efficiency, not his passivity.