It seems weird to talk about the Sixers and winning in the same sentence. When the season started, I didn't give them much of a chance, and the start of the season confirmed my original suspicions, that they just weren't good enough.
But as the season has gone on, Cheeks has tweaked and experimented and found out that a few of the bench players and rookies can actually play a little. Since going to a deeper, 10 man rotation, the Sixers have started playing more competitively, and have a 3 game winning streak.
I don't mean to suggest that they have become a good team. The Spurs or the Suns come into town and it won't be a contest. But against the middle-tier NBA teams and the non-playoff crowd, the Sixers look to be competitive.
OK, the wins were against NY, who really is a bad team, and the Houston Rockets, who were on the tail end of a back to back. But the games weren't even close. The Sixer blew both teams out, opening up huge leads before allowing them to score a few at the end.
The Sixers schedule is about to get easier, with teams like Memphis and the Timberwolves coming up. The most difficult team they play in the next 10 looks to be the Lakers.
Teams who know how to close out games and protect the basketball should beat the Sixers, I think the team is vulnerable at the end of games and doesn't have a go - to player to close other teams out. The Lakers can get away with being close at the end, because Kobe can take over a game at the end. The Sixers haven't shown the ability to execute under pressure yet, especially at the end.
But as far as rebounding and running the floor and playing in the open court, the Sixers are turning into a pretty good team. Dalembert and Evans outrebound their counterparts. Andre Miller is putting out double-doubles in points and assists. Igoudala is the teams leading scorer, and Willie Green is putting up decent numbers. Louis Williams is a real player who can play both the 2 and the 1, and Jason Smith and Thadeus Young look like they can both rebound and run the floor. Of course Kyle Korver is still the Sixth man, and can knock down a lot of threes.
I think this stretch will give Ed Stefanski the opportunity to really see where the team is, and who he should try to go after to make the team competitive. At first I thought he didn't have enough to work with, but now I'm not so sure.
