RealGM

ESPN uploaded their preview pages for each of the Eastern Conference teams today....

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime ... review0809

... and while there isn't any great news in there. It does contain the season prediction by each of their "experts" for our beloved Sixers. Apparently Jon Barry doesn't believe we will be much better than we were last year... WOW!

Either that or Barry believes that the East will be the beast conference this season and that the number 6 team might win 48 to 53 games.

At the end, all these pre-season predictions aren't worth the key strokes it takes to type 'em up.

We'll see. A lot will depend on how healthy we can stay and how well the young guys progress.

Wow Barry actually said we still lack bench depth

geiger wrote:We'll see. A lot will depend on how healthy we can stay and how well the young guys progress.

I think this theory applies to 90% of the teams in the league. As for Barry, I say "eh". His opinion won't make or break my feelings about the upcoming season but I do think that this team will be better than a 6th seed in the East.

Well, to some degree we do lack bench depth. We don't have a true quality back up SG or SF who can either be shut down defenders or top flight shooters and we have a couple of young guys who have yet to blow anyone away and a couple of veterans who are definitely on the down side of their careers.

Not sure if there are 5 other teams in the East with better bench depth though. In the West, sure. In the East? Who really has a better bench? Detroit, Cleveland, who else? Everyone else has the same type of mix as we do - young guys who might or might not play better than they have in the past and veterans who might be on the way down. We do have 5 guys who have averaged double figres before. Granted, one of them is Willie Green, one is Kareem Rush, and two haven't done it in ages and aren't likely to ever do so again - Marshall and Ratliff. But then again, Williams is getting better and Evans does provide rebounding galore and toughness, with Speights capable of turning into a top flight player one day and a solid contributor this season.

I think this theory applies to 90% of the teams in the league

I think we probably rely on our youth a little more than most teams that would consider themselves even close to contenders.

I'm surprised no one's up in arms about Williams being mentioned as a fantasy dud on ESPN.

... unless you all think it's true.

As far as fantasy, they are absolutely right. He'll be a very good player for us, but he's a third guard. How much do you think he will play with our depth and Iggy moving to SG? He might play a few minutes more than last season and average two more points, but he won't put up huge numbers. You won't see 18 points and 6 assists with 2 steals out of him this season unless there are injuries. So from a fantasy perspective, he might be a dud. From a basketball perspective, he might be in the running for 6th man of the year and be a top flight contributor for us.

geiger wrote:As far as fantasy, they are absolutely right. He'll be a very good player for us, but he's a third guard. How much do you think he will play with our depth and Iggy moving to SG? He might play a few minutes more than last season and average two more points, but he won't put up huge numbers. You won't see 18 points and 6 assists with 2 steals out of him this season unless there are injuries. So from a fantasy perspective, he might be a dud. From a basketball perspective, he might be in the running for 6th man of the year and be a top flight contributor for us.

Is it plausible that Lou could steal minutes away from Thad Young? If he plays well, a lineup with Miller/Lou/Iggy could log major minutes no?

^^They might use that lineup on certain occasions, but our back court defense would be horrid.

Thad Young has become much more adept at stroking the three, so he's very valuable as a starter not to mention all the other intangibles he possesses.

That being said, I'd expect Thad to log anywhere between 30-32 mpg, and Lou about 26-28...

That sounds about right.