Guys, knock it off. We beat the Sonics last night. The Sonics! Obviously we're title contenders. Not only did we beat them, but since point differential is the only way to objectively measure a team's quality, we beat them by 34!
The Spurs have nothing on us.
Back to serious basketball, Thaddeus Young is going to be a stud. Maybe not know, although he's a very good contributor at this point, even though he's the second youngest player in the NBA. But there are always two things in a draftee. There's potential (physical gifts and abilities), and probability to reach that potential. Thad's bball IQ is as high as I've seen in years for a 19 year old kid. His work ethic's tremendous, his rotations are crisp, and his touch around the rim is amazing. I could see him putting 20 lbs on his frame in the next 2-3 years and converting to a full time PF as well. Good kid. Billy King got that one right.
Thad's been getting better and better as his teamates gain confidence in him. He always seems to know where to go on the floor to be open, and he is one of the primary reasons the Sixers are so much better, as his increased scoring hasn't come at anyone else's expense. He shoots an extremely high percentage and has very good moves in the low post. It would be nice if he put on more muscle, but right now he's more of a three than a four. He just doesn't have the size or strength to play against a solid four and I'm not sure that he's the banging type.
Over the past 10 games the Sixers are now ranked 5th in point differential. Of course this includes games with the Sonics and the Bucks, so that would squew the rankings in their favor. I actually think they are about 9th in the League, behind 6 Western Teams and Boston, Detroit and Cleveland.
Over their past 20 games they are 14-6 which is .700 ball.
Things get very tough for them this week. Tomorrow, after traveling home from Milwaukee, they get to play Boston, who is ranked third in point differential over their last 10. I would love to see the Sixers win, but Boston really does do everything well, and if the Sixers managed to keep it close and force Boston to work hard for the win I would be happy.
If they loose there are no excuses, the Sixers have been very good in their back to back games this year.
In fairness to Billy King, he's drafted quite a few decent NBA players, including Young, Igoudala, Williams and Green. Carney also appears to be turning out to be a decent backup as well. There are also a few that ended up being traded away, like Tim Thomas and Larry Hughes. But it simply took Billy too long to make the team competitive again, and the Webber trade turned out to be a disaster.
It is a shame that it took the Sixers this long to start playing well, had they started the year like this Billy would still have his job. But, I think that Ed Stefanski is the one that told Cheeks to play up tempo ball, and to give the youngsters minutes. Ed will earn his money this summer and next if he can get us a decent 4 to add to the team without loosing Igoudala, Young or Dalembert. I wouldn't mind loosing Sam if we could replace him with someone else that could put up better numbers and post people up.
