The first NBA player, no actually the first athlete I ever fell in love with was Shaquille O’Neal.  Charismatic, powerful, goofy, entertaining and exuberant, Shaq’s image started to become imprinted into the brains of sports fans and then in time, the world.  At first it was Kazam, then it was hilarious bleeped out locker room interviews and ultimately the image of O’Neal screaming “Can you dig it?!” during championship parades in L.A.

His thundering style of play around the basket was something the NBA needed to fill the void of Moses Malone, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.  Shaq was something you couldn’t stop watching.  We here at Philadunkia tip our caps to Shaq on what is no doubt a Hall of Fame career.  He is a true original on and off the court. 

Yet, as amazing has his career ended up being, Shaquille O’Neal was bested by our 76ers a fair share of times.  And since this is still a very dedicated and loyal 76ers site, we’re going to honor Shaq’s career as only we could. 

After hitting the books on some NBA history we came up with the top five moments in which the Sixers got the best of the NBA’s original “Superman”.

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John Finger of csnphilly.com lists what the Sixers must do to win Game 3.

Linda Robertson of the Miami Herald writes that after a season of bashing him, now it’s time to give some credit to Eric Spoelstra. 

Over at SI.com Reggie Miller says, “Don’t hate on the Heat”. 

Bob Cooney of philly.com reports that the Sixers remain loose despite being blown out in Game 2. 

Cooney also published a host of insights on the Sixers – Heat series from TNT’s basketball experts.  Charles Barkley went out on a limb and said, “[The 76ers have] got no chance of beating Miami, they are going to get swept…” 

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Midway through the season, approximately January 17th, forward Andres Nocioni lost his spot in the rotation.  Since then, the reserve who was brought in from Sacramento along with Spencer Hawes for Samuel Dalembert, was seldom seen on the floor. 

Now, head coach Doug Collins has peculiarly decided to bring back Nocioni into the rotation over rookie Evan Turner.   His reasoning makes sense to some, (Nocioni allegedly gives the Sixers a better chance to win NOW.) but not to me. 

With the postseason looming and potential first round competitors in Miami, Boston and Orlando, the Sixers are poised to make an attempt for an upset.  Any of those teams would present a series of highly challenging games for the Sixers and the chances of advancing out of the first round will be unfavorable.  Even if we sneak out of the first round, there is no realistic scenario where this squad is the last team standing in the NBA Finals.  So Doug Collins decision to play Nocioni over Turner should be second-guessed.

After the jump, I list and explain five reasons why I strongly dislike this move:

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The Sixers sent no players to the All-Star game.  Just Jrue Holiday to the Rookie-Sophomore challenge game.  However, this team still sits in playoff contention without a go-to superstar.  All thanks to head coach Dough Collins preaching a philosophy of team unity. 

Now that the All-Star break has come to a close and we’ve won four straight out of the gates, it’s time for the Sixers to continue their ploy for the postseason.  Looking ahead at the next slate of 10 opponents, we have seven contests that are winnable.  The tougher games will be played at the Wells-Fargo Center against the Mavericks, Thunder and Celtics.  And the last four contests will be on the road against teams we’re capable of beating. 

Let’s take a look at the upcoming challengers as we try to jump the New York Knicks as the sixth seed in the East. 

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Back on January 12th it was widely reported that Allen Iverson was ready quit the Besiktas Black Eagles and ride off into retirement.

Reportedly “The Answer” was set to have a news conference that day to announce his retirement from basketball.  As we all know, that press conference never happened.

Later that day, Iverson’s personal manager Gary Moore told the Associated Press that Iverson “totally disputes” any report of his retirement.  Moore said Iverson needs to have a painful lesion removed from his right calf.  He said the injury was the most painful that Iverson has had in his career. 

Now ESPN’s Rich Bucher has an update on this story which tells us Iverson has visited with uber-surgeon James Andrews and has now elected NOT to go under the knife.

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Is there trouble in Turkey?  It certainly seems likely…

Last week there were numerous rumors circulating around the internet and main stream media that Allen Iverson could be close to bolting from Besiktas and returning to United States.

Apparently the Sixers legend and former NBA star is not happy with his role on the team as well as has the criticism his play has received since his arrival in Turkey.

“The Answer” reportedly expressed his disappointment regarding the chemistry between the club and the fans, as reported by Talkbasket.

Of course, Iverson denied the rumors that he is unhappy in Turkey via a posting on his Twitter account.

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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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Maybe it was all of those little quips with Larry Brown.  Or maybe it was the now infamous “Practice? We talking about practice?” rant.  Maybe it was even his obvious unwillingness to take a back seat on the rebuilding bus that was the Memphis Grizzlies.  Perhaps it was the reports that surfaced last year which said that Iverson is battling alcohol and gambling problems. 

Some combination of these past career missteps has to account for the lack of consideration that NBA clubs have granted Allen Iverson this offseason. 

The fact that NBA teams are not lining up to elicit the services of the thirty-five year old former superstar does not come as a surprise; he has lost a step, cannot single-handedly dominate games in the manner in which he used to, and has done nothing to diminish the rumors of his displeasure with anything but a starting spot.  So no, one wouldn’t expect the market for the eleven time all-star to be too elevated.  The fact that not a single franchise felt that they could fit Allen anywhere on their roster, however, does come as a surprise.  In fact, in a league where Kwame Brown can dupe teams into a decade’s worth of employment, Iverson’s inability to find work, despite several statements on his part suggesting he’s ready to play, is slightly more than surprising.

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Right before the 76ers tipped off the 2009-10 season and promptly got throttled by the Orlando Magic in the opener – a sign of things to come this past year –, Philadunkia posted a unique preview of the 2009-10 season.  After all the changes that went on with the 76ers in summer 2009 and a 2009-10 preseason filled with remarkable highs and disturbing lows, many fans had no idea what to expect from the Sixers this past season, so we did our best to predict what to expect from Philadunkia’s home team in 2009-10.

We’ve been kicking around the idea of revisiting that “Preview” post since the season ended, but there’s been so many other things to write about that we haven’t had the opportunity to pull the piece together.  Well, we finally decided that today was the day to post something different from all the head coaching speculation and NBA Draft Lottery predictions that have surrounded the Sixers over the last few weeks. 

So today’s post is titled “Upon Further Review” (UFR) because we’re looking back at our 2009-10 76ers Preview and ripping our predictions to shreds or calling ourselves Nostradamus when warranted.

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That’s right, all of us here at Philadunkia would like to wish Julius “Dr. J” Erving a very happy 60th birthday. 

For the record, in his 11 seasons in a 76ers uniform the good Doctor…

Totaled 18,364 points (22 ppg. average) and left in third place on the team’s all-time scoring list.

Racked up 5,601 rebounds to go with 3,224 assists and is the franchise’s all-time leader in blocked shots.

Was selected to play in the NBA All-Star Game in each of his 11 seasons and was chosen MVP of the All-Star Game on two occasions (1977, 1983).

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