Finally – part 1

Special contribution by JT ‘Sixerguy’

As if the Liberty Bell had finally been put to use, the curse had been lifted upon Philadelphia as the sound of thousands of Philly Fans packed Broad Street on this 4th day after winning the 2009 NBA Championship.

It has been 27 years since the city has seen a championship. From 4 owners: Harold Katz, Pat Croce, to Ed Snider, and finally after an almost desertion of the team in 2007, came our savior and everyone’s friend, Mr. Myspace.com founder, “Tom.”
Much like Marc Cuban’s strategy, ‘Tom’ lavished the Sixers with all the luxuries an NBA team could want. Limousine pickups on the day of the games for visiting and home team players and staff, 76er towels for the visiting team with the 76ers logo and player’s names on them to take home and admire everyday.

Talking about low basketball IQ

Yeah, we finally managed to watch a whole Sixers game thanks to NBA League pass broadband (great stuff, by the way). It was an OT 103-97 loss to the Clippers, that sent us below .500 for the first time in this season (4-5, 0.444).

Actually it wasn’t a bad game. We could have won it, since we led from the tip off to 5.18 left in the fourth, the first time Clippers were ahead (78-77) after we blew a +16 first quarter lead. But we could also have lost at the end of the regulation: Maggette missed a wide open 3 pointer at the buzzer after we had a terrible turnover on an inbound pass. So here are our overall impressions about the Webber-less team.

Keep Webber. And play him

Yes, you read it well. Sixers should keep Chris Webber. And play him.

We are aware that this post could destroy all the credibility of this young blog. But we are not afraid of our thoughts. But, before clicking to another, smarter site, follow us for a while.

We are writing this post after the defeat in Toronto (104-102), and our record dropped to 3-2 now. That’s the typical situation when Sixers fans usually overreact, going from “We’re gonna win the ring !!” (after the first 3 wins) to “We suck, let’s rebuild !!!!” (after these last 2 losses).

Webber is playing bad. Really bad. Maybe the worst basketball of his glorious career. Few minutes, very poor shooting percentages, no defense. Wanna know a funny stat? He shot six free throws in five games. That sucks, right? Yes, no doubt.

Angry and hungry

It’s 3-0, then. Which means two things: 1) it’s only 3 games in the season; 2) we won them all. Therefore, we at sixers4guidos are nothing but happy. Happy but nonetheless cautious. We said 43 wins, and we are not going to change our bet just yet. To us, 3-0 so far means only 40 more wins to get to the point where we (still) think this team should reasonably get.

But we want to be optimistic. So let us state that what we liked most of these three games comes down to one thing (two, actually): the Sixers showed us poor dagos from sunny Italy that they are angry and hungry. Angry for all the negative things they have been hearing about them. Hungry ‘cause the bellies of most of the players are oh too empty.

As long as they will keep these two passions and will be able to turn ’em into positive attitudes, well, there will be serious chance that we will be proved too pessimistic and loose our bet. In that case, dear friends from both sides of the Atlantic, none will be more happy than us.

Fans’ whines

We all know that it’s very easy for a fan to say: “my team’s management sucks”.

Complaining about poor management is a must for the average sport fan. It’s actually so easy, that we want to repeat it loudly: “Sixers management REALLY sucks”.

We consider Billy King, Sixers’ general manager, the main responsible for the (bad) situation we are in. Bad trades, even worse free agent signings, insane deals given to players that were already in our roster, weak decisions about coach(es), poor international scouting (assuming we have it, which we are starting to doubt): that’s only a short summary of all the mistakes we consider King to blame for.

As a result, we missed the playoffs in two of the last three seasons, in the same stretch we had four coaches, we are currently capped out for the next two years, with a payroll that is ranked as the 3^rd highest in the league, just under the Knicks’ and Dallas’.

We say: 43 wins

That’s our prediction for the 2006/2007 season that starts tonight at the Wachovia center vs the Atlanta Hawks. A 43-39 record. That would be a 5 W improvement from last year, which ended with a sad, disappointing, almost embarassing 38-44.

It would be also the same record of 2004/2005, with Jim O’ Brien as coach. That team made the playoffs, only to see its butts kicked by Pistons in a 4-1 series that actually didn’t even start. Yes, we know that for most of you/us Sixers fans 43-39 means “mediocrity”. And you are probably right about that.

That record probably means also a quick first round exit playing vs a # 1-2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Exactly how it went two seasons ago with Detroit. This year it would be Miami or Cleveland, maybe New Jersey. All teams that are clearly better than us, and that would surely beat us in a 7 games series.

But we want to be optimistic, think positive. The good thing about living in Italy for a Sixer fan is that we are an ocean away from that “Negedelphia” atmoshpere. So, for us, 43 wins would be a good result not mediocrity. Still a step further, in a good direction.