The only thing hotter then the weather in Philadunkia nation right now is the 76ers themselves.  The 7-6 have been all over the news in the last 24 hours…

Obviously the big news is that the Sixers are up for sale and according to TrueHoop’s fearless leader Henry Abbott who broke the story, a deal is, “imminent”.

Of course once Henry had broken the story, then the locals got into the act…

Dei Lynam had a source confirm it. 

First, Kate Fagan went out and “confirmed” the story.  Then she decided that “imminent” was too strong of a word after talking with her sources.

However, the AP is reporting that the sale of the Sixers should be done in a week.

Also the Iguodala for Monta Ellis trade that surfaced weeks ago is suddenly front page news again.  Most of us here at Philadunkia are NOT in favor of this trade.  This team only has room for one player who shoots with no conscience and plays little defense.  Since we already have Louis Williams on the roster, Ellis would not be a great fit.  Relax Louis…We still love you, so don’t go banning us from your Twitter feed again.  Plus from everything we’ve read, Ellis is a locker room nightmare.

Sixers legend Allen Iverson came out of hiding.  Iverson tells SLAM magazine that he is ready to be a “role” player.  If you are a true Sixers fan, you should take the time to read this interview, it’s very interesting.

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We know this city is on fire over the Birds loss Tuesday night to the lowly Minnesotta Vikings, but the Sixers also have serious issues that need to be addressed and a simple post would not do those issues justice.

So Philadunkia scribes Nabeel Ahmadieh and Kevin Jones are back with another podcast to help you focus on the ills of the 7-6 and forget the Eagles debacle last night.

Among the numerous topics Nabeel and Kevin discuss on today’s podcast :

• The 2-3 start to this 8-game road trip
• Iguodala’s lingering injury
• AI9 — Trade him or not? 
• Brand or ‘Dre — Who is the better player on the Sixers?
• The upcoming matchup vs. the Suns
• What happens in 2010-11 if we drop the remaining 3 games on this road trip?

 Full podcast after the jump…

 
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“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

- Ronald Reagan

While most historians argue that Reagan was referring to the Berlin Wall, not the rookie wall, when he issued this portentous edict, I think we can be certain the rookie wall is a barrier The Gipper would have opposed with equal verve and indignation.

As for the wall itself: Most rooks run smack into the monolith around midseason and stumble around woozily for a few weeks, before reorienting, regrouping, and riding a second-wind to a strong finish. Some never bounce back from the initial impact though and there’s always an immediate post-wall period –for even the most highly touted, bet-the-house, rooks — where no one knows which way the thing is going to go.

Evan Turner, in one of the most extraordinarily early onsets of rookie wall ever recorded, has just hit such a wall (He also started the season with a summer league wall, then hit another in the preseason. His career so far looks like a police academy obstacle course.).  It remains to be seen which group he belongs to.

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Since the sun set on the Sixers’ dreadful ’09-10 season, a handful of significant things have happened.  They fired a bad coach, hired what might be a good one, lucked into the two pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, used it to procure the reigning national collegiate player of the year, traded the wildly unpopular but productive Sam Dalembert for two players who are significantly worse than Sam Dalembert, traded the wildly unpopular and unproductive Willie Green for two players who are probably worse than Willie Green, and hired an old man who just built the worst team since the first Bush administration to ameliorate theirs.  Ohh yeah, and they signed Tony Battie.

So while this offseason was a mixed bag (mixed in the sense that a bag full of broken glass with a couple Milky Ways in it is mixed), here in the offices of Philadunkia, while Oceans have risen, and cities fallen, hope has survived (This both false and stolen from Deep Impact).

Here’s our season preview.  Enjoy it, because given Comcast’s preseason coverage of the Sixers, this might be the last you hear of them for a long time.

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The 76ers tip off the 2010-11 season on Wednesday night by hosting and most likely losing to the much improved Miami Heat.  Over the next three days we will be previewing the 2010-11 Sixers as only Philadunkia can do.  We’ll kick things off this week with a look at what the “experts” in Vegas are forecasting for the 7-6 and their current roster.  After all it’s one thing to read what the scribes on the Internet are writing or listen to what the talking heads are saying on television, but when it comes down to it, the odds makers in Vegas typically seem to have a better feel for the League and what will happen over the course of a season.

After the jump is a Sixers-centric review of the 2010-2011 NBA Odds posted in Vegas.  Included in the list of futures and line info we have for you are odds to win the NBA Championship, Conference odds, over/under win totals for the 76ers, award and stats odds and a variety of player odds. 

Take a look at what the “wise guys” have to say about the 76ers.

 
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76ers legend Julius Erving stars in a series of new Converse commercials known as “The Procession”.  Dr. J appears with Carlos Arroyo, Kenny Anderson, God Shammgod, Jim Jones, Doug E. Fresh and playground hoops star “A-Butta”.  Catch the spot below.

ESPN.com’s John Hollinger has posted his 2010-11 NBA team forecasts.  With regards to our 76ers, Hollinger predicts 43 wins and a playoff appearance.  No lie…check it out for yourself.

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Why hire a guy to run your franchise who just finished a roller coaster career up the Turnpike in New Jersy?  I was a little confounded at first by the Thorn hiring, but after spending 28 minutes on a conference call with him and a handful of other bloggers, the logic is screamingly obvious.  He’s really charming.

On Thursday, Philadunkia, DepressedFan, LibertyBallers, The 700 Level, ReclinerGM, and Sixers4Guidos took part in a conference call with Rod Thorn.  Thorn was generous with his time and his knowledge and everybody walked away a little smarter than when they dialed in.

Annotated Q’s and A’s after the J.

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As you may or may have read on Twitter, 76ers first round Draft pick Evan Turner has been on a tour of China promoting his new shoe from the Chinese basketball sneaker company Li-Ning.  Back on August 23rd Turner signed a shoe endorsement deal with Li-Ning, a company well known for its table tennis and badmiton apparel that has recently become a factor in the basketball sneaker wars.   The upstart Chinese shoe brand also boasts Shaq, Baron Davis and Damon Jones as endorsers of its basketball kicks.   

Nabbing Turner away from Nike and adidas was a major coup for Li-Ning and when the #2 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft signed on, Li-Ning Brand Initiative Director for Basketball, Brian Cupps had this to say, “This is truly a game-changing moment for the Li-Ning brand.  Adding a supreme young talent like Evan Turner sends a message to the global basketball community that Li-Ning basketball is committed to being a player on the global stage.”

Li-Ning must have truly been excited to land Turner because they wasted no time in producing a line of shoes for the 76ers new shooting guard.  On his recent tour of China Turner debuted his first shoe model which is named the “Conquer.” 

Today we present a look at Turner’s first Li-Ning player exclusive shoe.

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One of the things that “they” (They  being pundits, prognosticators, analysts, talking heads, Monday morning quarterbacks, arm chair quarterbacks, quarterback quarterbacks, wise old men, unwise but confident old men, and evidently me)  say is that NBA players make their big jump between years one and two.  It’s when the leap happens, if it happens at all.  This makes sense.  Rookie year is a time of great flux in the lives of these guys.  They have a new system to learn, a new set of responsibilities to live up to, a new city to settle in, and a new lifestyle to accustom themselves to.  They have to figure out where to stash their new wealth (new, that is, unless they played for John Calipari in college), or in lieu of that, pick a trustworthy person to stash it for them.  They need to gently deflect the cash grabs of friends and family, avoid the temptations of the road, and purchase large vehicles outfitted with unnecessarily loud speakers.

These are a lot of moving parts, and they tend to distract and detract from performance.  But eventually this overwhelmed state passes.  The quiet/steady pressure of time works its magic: The new becomes old, rookie becomes vet, things slow down a bit, guys find their rhythm, and, as the kids say “it’s all good” (Kids don’t actually say this.)  And eventually usually comes in about a year.  Which means it comes for Jrue Holiday October 27^th at the Wells Fargo Center against the Miami Heat.  

At least that’s the plan.

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Sean Deveney of SI.com talked to a host of NBA scouts about which players are about to have major break outs this season.  At the top of the opinion poll is the Sixers Jrue Holiday.

The GSW inked former Sixer high-riser Rodney Carney to a new contract.

Over at foxsports.com John Galinsky ranks Evan Turner as one the Top 5 challengers to the expected crowning of John Wall as the 2010-11 ROY.

Jordan Sams at Libertyballers.com ponders who will start at center for the 76ers this season.  We agree with his decision on who “will” start, but do not agree with his opinion on who “should” start.

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