In case you were overwhelmed with Christmas presents or too busy watching the Mummers strut their stuff, we wanted you to know that the 76ers just finished a six-game road trip in which they assembled a 2-4 record.  The “successful” road trip inspired Jahlil Okafor to declare, “We really made huge strides this road trip”. Now, please remember, Jah is a rookie so he may have gotten a little excited about the team’s play on the road trip.

While there is absolutely some truth to Jah’s statement, it should be noted that a number of the same old problems simply killed the Sixers on their recent six-game West Coast swing.

After the jump I’ll take a look at three areas of improvement during the road trip as well as three problems that continued to plague the 76ers over the last six games.

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Back in October I wrote a post detailing that in the first month or so of the 2015-16 NBA season Philadunkia nation would have to exercise a significant amount of patience with this 76ers team and “the process”. In that post, I theorized that because of injuries, learning to play together and an unfriendly opening month of the schedule that the Sixers would struggle mightily out of the gate and cause us to nearly lose our minds.

The opening month of the season went as I predicted as the Sixers played energetic and entertaining basketball (for the most part), but posted a 1-18 record.  The problems I listed back in October were a big part of the slow start to the season. However a slew of unexpected issues also came to the surface in November and December and now those issues have turned the Sixers (1-30) into a pathetic, unwatchable team on another 12 game losing streak (FYI…average margin of defeat in last ten defeats is 18 pts.).

After the jump I’ll look take a look at the unexpected issues that have pulled the 2015-16 Sixers down to a depressing depth.

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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 in an awful slump right now having lost 3 in a row and 6 of their last 10. To be honest, I like the 76ers chances of stealing a win tonight.

(I can’t believe I just typed that 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 Brad Rowland at Peach Tree Hoops, as Brad will answer Fo’ questions on his Hawks squad from us here at Philadunkia.

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The 76ers record stands at 1-24.  They have dropped 7 straight games.  The last four loses have been by an average of 23 points.  Brett Brown’s roster does not boast  an NBA starting caliber point guard or shooting guard and features two dynamic bigs that may not be able to play together. They lead the NBA in turnovers (17.4 per game). Lastly, the Sixers have been awful on defense, ranking at the bottom of the League in points allowed (102.8 ppg.– 23rd).  In short, the 76ers are an absolute mess on the court.

Still, despite all the losing, makeshift lineups and embarrassing statistics, I have been impressed that this roster and coaching staff have stuck together in the locker room and that even during the lowest point of “the process” there appears to be no internal drama on this team.  Which is why this past weekend’s rumors regarding former Lakers/Knicks/Suns head coach Mike D’Antoni possibly joining the 76ers staff are raising significant issues in my basketball mind.

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Even for those of us who completely “trust the process”, there is no denying that the 76ers last 2+ seasons have been painful to live through (Last night’s 51-point loss to the Spurs was possibly the most painful moment.). Every individual no matter how mentally and physically tough, has a specific threshold for tolerating pain and once that point is exceeded, you will plead for mercy. Well, apparently a 1-20 record, a host of off-the-court issues from prized rookie Jahlil Okafor and allegedly a push from NBA commissioner Adam Silver have forced the 76ers’ ownership group to finally cry “mercy”.

Thus, on Monday, the Sixers announced that Jerry Colangelo — a Hall of Famer and the man responsible for resurrecting USA Basketball — will join the franchise as a special advisor and chairman of basketball operations.

After the jump, are three different takes I have assembled from my NBA contacts on the most recent move by Josh Harris & Company in “the process” .

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There were some boos, more cheers, and even more emotion.

Draft implications aside, Kobe Bryant’s last professional game in Philadelphia went about as well as it could have for a Sixers supporter also appreciative of Kobe’s career.

There were vintage Kobe moments – like his three three pointers in the game’s first two minutes*. The game also had its share of modern day Kobe gaffes – he was 7-for-26 from the field – which served to remind the packed Wells Fargo Center, and the player himself, why he is walking away from the game after two dominant decades with the Lakers.

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Los Angeles Lakers

91

FinalRecap | Box Score

103

Philadelphia 76ers

	Robert Covington, SF 34 MIN | 8-16 FG | 5-11 3FG | 2-4 FT | 5 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 3 TO | 23 PTS | +18 +/-Cov continues to play at a very high level (21 ppg. over his last 3 contests) and last night he was simply on fire. His 9 points in the 3rd quarter helped the 76ers grab the lead in this game. Then in the 4th Q Cov drained a huge 3-ball that pushed the Sixers to close out a game for once.
	Jerami Grant, SF 31 MIN | 6-7 FG | 0-1 3FG | 2-2 FT | 7 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 4 BLK | 0 TO | 14 PTS | +7 +/-I’m not sure what got into Grant coming out of the locker room after half time, but Brett Brown may want to bottle it up for future use. Grant scored 8 points in the 2nd half, but to me it seemed like he simply took over the game with his athletecism and energy.
	Jahlil Okafor, C 30 MIN | 6-14 FG | 0-0 3FG | 0-1 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 12 PTS | +13 +/-A solid night for Jah, especially considering this was his first home game since all of the off-the-court issues came to light. However it have become obvious to me that right now the rookie struggles when matched up against true centers such as Hibbert and D12.
	Isaiah Canaan, PG 30 MIN | 4-9 FG | 4-7 3FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 5 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 12 PTS | +13 +/-Canaan is a shoot first player and tonight because his shot was “on”, so mentality that worked for the Brown and the Sixers for three quarters. However, if you watched the 4th Q closely, you probably noticed that after a few ill-advised plays by Canaan, Brown replaced him with McConnell for clutch time.
	JaKarr Sampson, SG 19 MIN | 0-5 FG | 0-0 3FG | 2-4 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 2 PTS | +10 +/-Between Stauskas and Sampson, it’s like nobody wants top grab the starting SG job and own it.

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This special, Moses Malone Tribute Night 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 Los Angeles Lakers who own a record of 2-16, have lost six straight games, but feature D’Angelo Russell, former 76ers Louis Williams and Swaggy P as well as the soon-to-be-retired Kobe Bryant.

After the jump, I’ll look at Fo’ key items for tonight’s game. Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Los Angeles team the Sixers face tonight from our colleague Darius Soriano at forumblueandgold.com, as Darius will answer Fo’ questions on his Lakers squad from us here at Philadunkia.

Despite not having won a game this season, the 76ers have displayed a great deal of heart and fight on the court every night.  Now it appears they can fight off-the-court as well.

Unless you fell into a post-Thanksgiving dinner coma, you aware that TMZ Sports has posted a grainy cell phone video showing 76ers’ rookie Jhalil Okafor punching out a heckler in the streets of Boston late on Wednesday night.

The “fight” (in the video it looks like only 2 punches were thrown) came after a very tough loss by the Sixers to the Celtics in which Jah and Co. blew a late fourth quarter lead and suffered their 16th straight loss of the season.  Okafor scored 19 points in the loss up in Boston and during a post game night on the town, he was apparently in no mood to be clowned on by a Boston faithful.

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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 Minnesota Timberwolves, who have lost 6-of-their-last-7, but feature a rising star in their highly entertaining second year guard Andrew Wiggins.

After the jump, I’ll look at Fo’ key items for tonight’s game. Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Minnesota team the Sixers face tonight from our colleague Jonah  Steinmeyer at howlintwolf.com, as Jonah will answer Fo’ questions on his T-Wolves squad from us here at Philadunkia.