As I watched the 76ers blow yet another fourth quarter lead (led by 7 points at mid-way mark last night),  and lose for the seventh straight night since the All-Star Game break and ninth in a row overall, I couldn’t help and think back to the amazing contest between the Warriors and Thunder I witnessed this past weekend.

As the Sixers were getting destroyed by John Wall (16 points in final stanza) during the fourth quarter it dawned on me that the Sixers were about to be “officially” eliminated  from playoff contention (Insert joke here).  For the fourth straight year the 76ers would not participate in the NBA’s post season and as I contemplated that idea as well as just how far away the 76ers are from being a competitive force, I jotted down several random thoughts about the 76ers that crossed my mind.

Continue Reading >>>

The 2016 NBA trade deadline has come and gone quietly for the 76ers.  Even after receiving inquiries from teams such as the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, the front office team of Colangelo and Hinkie thankfully chose not to move any of the franchise’s valuable “assets”.  Instead Sam and Jerry settled for a very Hinkie-ish move in trading for veteran Joel Anthony and a 2nd round pick in 2017.  It’s a stone cold lock that Anthony will be waived this week.

With a nearly irrelevant trade deadline now behind us it’s time to take a look at the “official” second half of the 2015-16 NBA season.  The Sixers have 29 games remaining in the third year of “the process” and after the jump I will identify five items I will be watching for with this team as we count down to the 2016 Draft Lottery.

Continue Reading >>>

This edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” – Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews key upcoming 76ers games – features tonight’s opponent, the Sacramento Kings who are in an ugly slide right now (4 straight L’s; 2-8 in last 10) and feature enough internal drama to star in their own reality TV show.

After the jump, I’ll look at Fo’ key items for tonight’s game.  Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Sacramento team the Sixers face tonight from our colleague William Griffith at sactownroyalty.com, as William will answer Fo’ questions on his Kings squad from us here at Philadunkia.

Continue Reading >>>

Brooklyn Nets

98

Final Recap | Box Score

103

Philadelphia 76ers

	Nerlens Noel, PF 32 MIN | 8-11 FG | 0-0 3FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 4 STL | 3 BLK | 3 TO | 18 PTS | -3 +/-A quick start (4 pts. in early 1st Q) lead to a big night for #4. He also had 4 pts. in the 2nd & 3rd Q’s. Talk about balanced scoring. I thought his on-ball defense was solid last night. His dive to the rim and dunk in the final minutes of the game was a huge play for the 76ers.
	Robert Covington, SF 26 MIN | 2-8 FG | 2-6 3FG | 3-4 FT | 8 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 9 PTS | +9 +/-This is now three straight gams that “Cov” has struggled. But they say that great shooters keep shooting and that’s what he did last night. #33 drained a key three with 1:13 remaining that gave the 76ers a 97-96 lead and posted 6 total points in the final minutes of the game.
	Jahlil Okafor, C 33 MIN | 9-16 FG | 0-0 3FG | 4-4 FT | 17 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 3 BLK | 1 TO | 22 PTS | +13 +/-A simply dominating night for Okafor against the Nets’ decent frontline. If a few calls had gone Jah’s way, I think he could have gotten to the 30 point mark last night. The ten point showing in the 3rd Q by Jah showed me once again that he can develop into an elite scoring threat in this League.
	T.J. McConnell, PG 28 MIN | 7-10 FG | 2-2 3FG | 1-2 FT | 2 REB | 6 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 17 PTS | +6 +/-TJ filled in for the injured Ish Smith and did a tremendous job last night. He tied his career-high with 17 points and had a huge steal in the final minute of the game. TJ dropped 6 dimes and had only 2 TOs. Obviously his energy was at a very high level and teammates seemed to feed off of that.
	Nik Stauskas, SG 20 MIN | 1-6 FG | 0-4 3FG | 2-3 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | -4 +/-Ugghh

Continue Reading >>>

This edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” – Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews key upcoming 76ers games – features tonight’s opponent, the Atlanta Hawks who are all over the place right now (5-5 in last 10), but feature streaking point man Jeff Teague and a formidable front line.

After the jump, I’ll look a Fo’ key items for tonight’s game. Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Atlanta team the Sixers face tonight from our colleague Clayton Crowe at soaringdownsouth.com, as Clayton will answer Fo’ questions on his Hawks squad from us here at Philadunkia.

Continue Reading >>>

Phoenix Suns

103

Final Recap | Box Score

113

Philadelphia 76ers

	Nerlens Noel, PF 30 MIN | 5-7 FG | 0-0 3FG | 4-4 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 3 STL | 3 BLK | 2 TO | 14 PTS | +9 +/-A quick start (6 points in 1st Q) propelled Noel to a very solid all-around night. Noel scored another 4 points in the 3rd Q and also helped close this one out be scoring 4 points in the 4th Q. I have to be honest here and say that while I love Jah’s low post scoring, the Sixers offense flows better with #4 in the game. He had several key blocks in this game as well.
	Robert Covington, SF 32 MIN | 7-15 FG | 5-12 3FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 19 PTS | +10 +/-Cov is simply En Fuego.  Last night was the second game in a row that Covington drained five or more treys and he is shooting 40% from deep over his last 5 games (15.8 ppg.).  Cov is also averaging 8 rebounds per contest over his last 3 games.  The release on his jumper has never been quicker.
	Jerami Grant, SF 29 MIN | 3-6 FG | 1-2 3FG | 3-6 FT | 3 REB | 5 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 10 PTS | +6 +/-IMO last night was a great example fo how Grant can be a key player for this team in the future. Grant played tough defense, doesn’t need plays run for him to contribute and will splash home the three once in a while.  Plus his knack for highlight reel dunks is an energy booster for the team.
	Ish Smith, PG 32 MIN | 7-17 FG | 0-2 3FG | 6-8 FT | 5 REB | 9 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 20 PTS | +8 +/-A near double-double for the man who is steadily leading the Sixers out of contention for the No. 1 pick at Draft16.  10 of his points came in the 4th Q — 6 straight at one point late in the game and he scroed 8 of the last 10 Sixer points overall.  Smith simply closed this one out for the Sixers like an All-Star lead guard. Ish comitted only 1 turnover last night.
	Nik Stauskas, SG 38 MIN | 4-7 FG | 1-2 3FG | 6-7 FT | 4 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 15 PTS | +8 +/-What I like about last night’s performance for Sauce Castillo is that he drove the ball to the rim aggressively. Stauskas absorbed a lot of contact in the lane last night and kept coming back for more. He also drained a key 3-ball at the 6 min. mark of the 4th Q and told the Suns bench about as he jogged back down the floor.  I like that moxy.  After returning from a three-game absence, Stauskas was ineffective off the bench against Boston, so IMO he desperately needed a performance like this one.

 

Continue Reading >>>

This edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” – Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews key upcoming 76ers games – features tonight’s opponent, the Phoenix Suns who are 2-8 in their last 10 games and will not have Brandon Knight available for this contest because of a strained groin. To be honest, the 76ers should win this game.

After the jump, I’ll look a Fo’ key items for tonight’s game. Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Phoenix team the Sixers face tonight from our colleague Troy Tauscher who covers the Suns for bballbreakdown.com, as Troy will answer Fo’ questions on his Suns squad from us here at Philadunkia.

Continue Reading >>>

After their convincing win last night in Orlando over the Oladipo-less Magic, the 76ers (6-38) are now 2-1 in their last three games. In fact if not for a horrific free throw shooting performance (13-25 = 52%) in their MLK Day matinee game against the Knicks, Brett Brown’s squad would be riding a three game winning streak.

While a friendlier schedule has helped things, the 76ers also seem to have found some chemistry and a few answers on offense during this stretch.  I don’t know if this level of play will last very long, so after the jump let’s talk about several keys to the Sixers recent winning ways.

Continue Reading >>>

Tonight’s game against the Bulls will mark the 41st contest for the 76ers (4-36) of the 2015-16 season.  Thus, it’s time for our annual mid-season edition of Philadunkia’s 4on4…

As a reminder, this Philadunkia question and answer series is “loosely based” on ESPN.com’s highly successful, NBA related series of posts titled “5on5″.  Our version of this genre of posts will ask 4 Philadunkia scribes to answer 4 topical, hot button questions about our Philadelphia 76ers.

Now you’re probably asking, “Why not simply stick with the “5on5″ format that ESPN.com uses?” 

Well as any great hoops coach will tell you — playing 4on4 is the best way to truly learn the game of basketball.

After the jump, Philadunkia scribes C. Smith, Michael Kaskey-Blomain, Jeff McMenamin and Tyler Cook will examine four questions surrounding our 76ers as we hit the mid-season pole.

Continue Reading >>>

With the addition of Ish Smith (via trade for two 2nd round draft picks) and Elton Brand, it’s clear that Sam Hinkie’s “process” has been rudely interrupted by Adam Silver via Jerry Colangelo and Mike D’Antoni.  For a “process” faithful like myself Silver’s interference is an annoying development as one could argue that the 2015-16 season was Hinkie’s finest tanking draft positioning work to date.  The 76ers had never been a safer bet to finally secure the No. 1 overall draft pick than they were pre-Silver/Colangelo.

Colangelo and of course Mike D’Antoni have screwed up “the process” by adding the solid point guard (Smith) and veteran leadership (Brand) that the 2015-16 roster has desperately needed. The result has been 3 wins in their last 9 games and a sense of hope (albeit false hope) for everyone involved with the franchise.  However, if Colangelo and D’Antoni are dead-set on continuing to make the mistake of improving the Sixers in short-term, then their next move should be to help Brett Brown fix one of the worst defenses in the Association.

That will be easier said than done.

Continue Reading >>>