Holiday falls to Sixers. Happy?

Apparently, yes. And welcome to Sixerland dude.

(NOTE: please give me credit at least for avoiding any pun in the title… Holiday time, Sixers go Holiday etc).

I always admitted I don’t know shlt about college bball. I confirm it again, of course, I cannot pretent to be an expert now, it would be silly.

I just don’t have the time to follow NCAA hoops, watching and blogging the Sixers from here requires a lot of time and dedication, so no room for junior overseas bball (LOL).

That’s why I really don’t know what to say about Jrue Holiday, Sixers’ latest draft pick.

He was expected to be a Top 10 pick, I read almost everywhere. That’s why I used the verb “fall” for the title. I guess that is said every year for many, many players.

But what I am 100% sure of is:

1) in recent years, very rarely Sixers completely f’d the draft up. Instead, they often found good/very good players and also some gems, even with late picks.

Think Willie Green, Korver, Lou Williams, all excellent players in terms of # of pick/efficiency ratio. Dalembert as well – not his fault if he was eventually overpaid, we are talking about what spot he was drafted at. Jason Smith had a promising rookie season and then got injured, but he showed he can play.

Thad Young and, to a lesser extent – but only because he played only a full season – Marreese Speights, can be considered real steals. Very good players that many teams passed on – and now regret it.

The only Rodney Carney could perhaps be labeled as a bust so far, but it’s not completely excluded yet that he will lately turn into a good/decent NBA player (think Matt Barnes or John Salmons, also former Sixers).

That’s why I am confident that DiLeo (almost a genius in evaluating young talent) & his staff did a good job once again. Also I am always optimistic, so no reason to panic or complain.

2) we needed a PG and we drafted a PG. Makes sense.

My beloved Clippers

I always loved the Clippers.

I am a die hard Sixers fan, but I like the Clippers too. One could say: “Dude, it’s your problem…”. Well, probably it is.

So the question could be: how can a Sixers fan in Italy love the freaking Clippers? (I’ll skip the “How come a guy in Italy be a Sixers fan?” question, anyway if you are interested, here you find the reason)

Answers, in no particular order:

1) I always root for the underdog

2) I hate the Lakers 

3) I am a soccer fan

You don’t see the link between 2) and 3) , right?

Maybe it’s the red uniforms…

… that I have always liked and pushed for, maybe it’s the fact that they are all smiling, and their smiles look for real… but the fact is that I am starting to like the Sixers 2007 draft picks more and more.

Actually, if we talk seriously, some other things made me slowly change my opinion, and starting to see some light. The draft initially left me scratching my head, like Rando Freeman wrote in his Sixers journal but then I took a deep breathe, stopped for a while and realized that:

1) many knowledgeable journalists, fans, posters in the Sixers board and fellow bloggers I trust (see also Jon from Passion & Pride, Brian of Depressed fan) like the picks, and explained very well in their breakdowns that this might turn out to be a very good draft for the Sixers. Even if we couldn’t get the top PF that we need(ed?) and that I’ve been asking for? Yes.

2) to BK credit, he didn’t make a Ainge-ish kind of move, like trading the #5 pick in one of the best drafts in recent years to get a 32 y/o injury prone All star, and this only to please the other complaining 30 y/o injury prone All star… It’s true King didn’t manage to trade up and that the “We have three offers on the table” was another BS of his, but at least he drafted on potential and didn’t go for the quick fix, mortgaging our future.

And Billy King’s plan is….?????

Let me make this clear immediately: I AM NOT – I repeat, I AM NOT – a college basketball expert. I don’t follow NCAA. Ok?

I don’t know shlt about college players except when I (occasionally) watch some game. It happened like 3-4 times this year, so that you know it.

That’s why I won’t break down Sixers’ draft picks, first because in my blogroll you have dozens of sites that do it remarkably, second because I wouldn’t be credible. And as a Sixers blogger I want to be credible.

Let’s stick to FACTS and things that are SURE. 

Fact #1 is this: “The draft concluded with the Sixers eventually acquiring Georgia Tech forward Thaddeus Young (in the picture), Colorado State 7-footer Jason Smith, Vanderbilt forward Derrick Byars and Providence forward/center Herbert Hill“.

All I read about these guys is: Young could be a terrific player but CAN NOT play PF, Jason Smith is a good big man with serious upside (…) but an average rebounder, Byars is a SG/SF, Hill doesn’t count, I guess…

Fact #2 is: Sixers desperately needed (well, actually need) a REBOUNDING PF. They didn’t get any player to solve this problem, that to me was THE priority.

Fact #3 is: we didnt’ manage to trade up, even if we had a lot of assets to do so, such as 4 picks a really good playmaker like Andre Miller + some role players that could be used, Carney, Hunter, Green etc. Billy King’s explaination for failing to trade up is this. Some significant excerpts:

Sixers blog(ger)s prediction – Pronostici dai blog (Part II)

(Here we go with the second part of the predictions, from other 76ers blogs, bloggers and mainly from posters of the Sixers board of philly.com that answered to my little survey.

Of course while I am writing these lines trade rumors are getting crazy – a Milwaukee deal that would give us #8, various combination with Atlanta getting us #3 etc… – , but here we are assuming that we still have our three first round picks at #12, #21 and #30 + #38 in trhe second. Just 24 hrs to go …Enjoy !!)

Continuiamo il nostro viaggio all’interno del mondo dei blog dedicati ai Sixers vedendo quali sono i pronostici dei miei “colleghi” a sole 24 ore dal draft.

Le voci su possibili scambi di scelte sono moltissime in queste ore, mentre quasi tutte le previsioni che leggete sono state formulate tenendo conto dello scenario attuale, vale a dire i Sixers con tre prime scelte (12, 21 e 30) e una seconda (38).

Chris di “Huge Tiny Mistake“, un blog dedicato al baseball ma che si occupa anche dei Sixers (http://hugetinymistake.wordpress.com) mi dice:

# 12 Al Thornton, 6-7 SF Florida State (nella foto)

# 18 (scambio con Golden State per Willie Green + 2 seconde scelte) Josh Mc Roberts, 6-11 PF Duke

Secondo turno Curtis Sumpter (un ragazzo di Philadelphia).

Ecco le previsioni di Marando (Rando) Freeman, curatore del “Sixers Journal” (http://the76ers.blogspot.com):

1st pick Julian Wright

Sixers blog(ger)s predictions – Pronostici dai blog (I)

(For non-guido readers: this is a small survey that I’ve made among fellow Sixers bloggers and some KNOWLEDGEABLE members of the Sixers board on http://www.philly.com that I am more familiar with.

Even if you don’t understand italian, it doesn’t matter, just check the predictions about the upcoming draft, it’s easy… then we’ll see who was right. It’s just for fun, of course)

E’ il primo post che scrivo in italiano, lo faccio all’antivigilia di un momento molto importante per la squadra, il draft di giovedì prossimo.

Per gioco ho chiesto ai più autorevoli Sixers blog(ger)s e ad alcuni selezionati membri del forum dedicato ai Sixers su www.philly.com, dove scrivo anche io, di indicare le loro previsioni sul prossimo draft. Fra 48 ore vedremo chi ci ha azzeccato !!!

Partiamo con Jon Burkett di “PASSION & PRIDE“, uno dei migliori blog sui Sixers (http://mvn.com/nba-76ers):

Interessante la sua teoria: secondo Jon i Sixers cederanno le scelte #12 e #30 + Willie Green ai Milwaukee Bucks per ottenere in cambio Dan Gadzuric e la scelta #6. Poi sceglieranno così:

#6 Jeff Green (nella foto)

#21 Josh Mc Roberts

#38 Aaron Brooks (a meno che Taureen Green sia ancora disponibile)

“Passion and pride” blogger Jon Burkett kindly answers to my survey request and says: