As you probably know, Elton Brand organized some workouts for the 76ers in Los Angeles.  csnphilly.com’s Dei Lynam dropped in on those workouts and talked to various Sixers about the possibility of playing overseas.

A look at Evan Turner’s Li-Ning kicks for the 2011-12 season (if it ever happens).

Sixers.com has an interview with Nationals / 76ers legend Dolph Schayes.

A quick “76ers” Craigslist search brought up this great piece of memorabilia.

Only two 76ers will be representing their countries during international qualifying play for the 2012 Olympics.  Can you name them?

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As they stand right now, the 2011-12 76ers — if they ever take the court next season — have some very obvious issues.  Finding a big man in the middle who can contribute nightly and doing a much, much better job on the defensive boards would be two items at the top of that list.   

Still despite the above ills, in our collective opinions it is NOT unreasonable to think that in this upcoming season the Sixers could win 48-50 games and a playoff series.

Some of us here at Philadunkia would be be as bold as to say that anything less from the 2011-2 season is unacceptable.  

However, there is one issue on the Sixers roster that is being overshadowed by the more pressing problems mentioned above.  It is possible this one underlying issue could derail a 50-win season for the Sixers next year.  The problem we are talking about is, ‘What do the Sixers do at the two-guard spot in 2011-12?’ 

So the question put to the scribes here at Philadunkia was, ‘Can last year’s starter Jodie Meeks supply enough game from the 2-guard spot to help the Sixers reach the above goals in 2011-12?’

If your answer was “No”, then our writers were asked to explain their ideas for what should the Sixers do to solve their 2-guard issue so that they can achieve the goals mentioned above for next year.

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As you all know by now, the sale of 76ers by Comcast to New York billionaire hedge-fund guy Joshua Harris was completed yesterday.

While Harris is a very well respected and obviously successful man in the business world, his basketball pedigree is non-existent.  So all of Philadunkia nation is very curious and perhaps a little nervous about what kind of moves the Sixers Mark Cuban in-the-making will pull off. 

This post is the first in a two part series in which the Philadunkia scribes attempt to predict what changes Harris will make to the 76ers organization.  Today will examine the Sixers front office — Rod Thron, Ed Stefanski, Tony DiLeo and Courtney Witte — and try to forecast whether or not these executives will be employed by the 7-6 for the 2011-12 season.

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Recently Philadunkia scribe Jeff McMenamin spent some time with 76ers forward Thaddeus Young (@yungsmoove21). 

Thad talked to our man Jeff about what he’s been up to the summer, his basketball camp, Doug Collins, the Sixers 2011 Draft, the lockout and of course whether or not he thinks ’Dre will be back in a 76ers uniform next season.  

Philadunkia:  What have you been doing this summer to get ready for next year?

Thad:  I’ve just been working out.  Lifting, running, and just doing the normal things I usually do that are part of my everyday habits. I’ve just been hitting the gym and getting up shots and doing the things that the coaches have asked of me. Just trying to stay in sync and stay in the midst of things.

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Solid piece from Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the passing of former 76er Armon Gilliam. 

Bob Cooney at philly.com writes that Gilliam will be remembered as a “good guy”.  Wonder if Sir Charles feels that way? 

Well respected hoops blog “The Basketball Jones” ranked Allen Iverson as the 6th best point man of the last 30 years.

Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak lists the Sixers Evan Turner as his 2010-11 rookie who is ready to rise as a sophomore.

With Quin Snyder bolting to Los Angeles, who will be Doug’s fourth assistant in 2011-12?  We’d like to suggest a former NBA point guard be brought in to help with Holiday’s growth.

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To start off this column I want to congratulate longtime Philadelphia Flyer defensemen Mark Howe on the announcement of his upcoming induction into the NHL Hall of Fame.  He is one of the greatest skaters to suit up in a black and orange sweater and his selection for the Hall was long overdue.

The great news on Mark Howe got us thinking here a Philadunkia about which former 76er is headed to the Naismith Hall of Fame next.  So I want to lay out some evidence as to when the basketball junkies here at Philadunkia will be able to rejoice with the Flyers fans, as one of our own 76ers is inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.  Honestly, there are only two retired candidates worthy of  even being discussed:  Mo Cheeks and Allen Iverson.

I’m going to take a harder look at each of our former superstars’ resumes while they ball’d in Philadelphia and then hypothesize a realistic year the Hall of Fame voters would consider electing them to the ultimate enshrinement.

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CSNPhilly.com’s Dei Lynam got some time with Rod Thorn.  Thorn basically does a nice job of dodging all her questions, but he does mention that he hasn’t spoken to AI9 in three weeks.

Jrue Holiday who has been traveling in Europe and China tells hoopshype.com, “We need a big man…” 

ESPN.com Insider Chad Ford predicts the Sixers will go with potential scoring machine Jordan Hamilton (6-9, 230, SF, Texas).  Which probably means that AI9 will get traded Thursday night or that Ford thinks he will be traded this summer. 

The boys at draftexpress.com forecast Thorn will nab Nikola Vucevic (6-11, 260, C, USC) at #16.  They also predict the Sixers will draft David Lighty (SF / SG) from Ohio State at #60. 

Over at nbadraft.net, they are saying that somehow Bismack Biyombo (6-9, 243, C, Congo) will fall into the 7-6′s lap.  That would be a dream come true as Biyombo has a  7’7 wingspan and is athletic as hell.  Yeah we know he has no offensive skills, but he would still be a very nice addition to our interior defense.

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The Philadelphia 76ers select…Nikola Vucevic from the University of Southern California…

In the 2011 True Hoop Network Mock Draft, Rod Thorn and the Sixers get their much needed big man…

The New York Knicks are on the clock…

Strangely enough, the 76ers were the third trending NBA topic on Google much of last week.  It was the biggest NBA week of the entire season and yet our team couldn’t stay out of the news. 

There were Iguodala trade rumors running wild, Jrue Holiday’s 21^st birthday and probably most importantly was the ownership situation.  All of this news was happening before the offseason had even officially begun.

True Hoop’s own Henry Abbott broke the news that the sale of the 76ers is ‘imminent’.  Current owner Ed Snider, 78, of Comcast-Spectator has reportedly all but agreed to sell the franchise to Joshua Harris, 46.  Harris is the director of Apollo Global Management LLC. and is speculated to be worth upwards of 1.5 billion dollars. Nice little chunk of change.

If this ownership transfer goes down for the 76ers, I believe on the surface that is a positive thing for the city.  I’m all in favor of a young hands-on owner in the mold of Mark Cuban which hopefully Harris will become.  Plus it’s been abundantly known that Ed Snider is solely a hockey guy and that his acquisition of the Sixers in ‘96 was looked upon as a business decision.  Snider was a founding father of the Flyers in 1966.

So now that you understand the gist of things, how thrilled are you to be a 76er fan?  This could be the most important offseason since the summer of 1982, when Moses Malone was signed as a free agent away from the Houston Rockets.

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This past season, the only thing we enjoyed more then the surprising success of the 2010-11 76ers as a team was the consistent standout play of fourth year man Thaddeus Young. 

Arugably the team MVP, Thad shook off what many viewed as a two year slump to have the best overall season of his career.  His energy, scoring and improved defense were the cornerstone of the best bench in the NBA and a huge part of the Sixers 41 wins this past season. 

We got @Yungsmoove21 on the cell yesterday and he gave Philadunkia scribe Nabeel Ahmadieh a few minutes.  Among the topics they discussed — his upcoming basketball camp in Philly, playing for Coach Collins, the Sixers 2010-11 season, their need for a quality big and of course the elements of his game Thad plans to work on this summer. 

Full interview with Thad after the jump.

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