When we last left the 76ers, this hopeless professional basketball club had just suffered a humiliating loss to the Charlotte Bobcats that broke the team’s three game winning streak, but also helped improve their lottery odds. 

So with ping pong balls in the minds and hearts of Philadunkia nation — except Doug Collins, who persists on playing for pride and an improbable playoff berth — the Sixers headed off to Atlanta and then Miami.

Fortunately, for all parties involved, the 76ers were eliminated from the 2013 NBA playoffs this weekend and officially transitioned into offseason mode.  But, that’s not the only thing that happened during Final Four weekend.

After the Jump a Philadunkia Weekend Recap…

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On Monday night, Sixers forward Thaddeus Young held a black tie fundraiser for his charity, The Young for Youth Foundation, at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse in Center City Philadelphia.

While a lot of athlete’s tend to use their free time to gamble or party, Young enjoys seeking ways in which he can help the at risk youth in the area’s in which he’s made a name for himself. Started in May of 2011, Young for Youth has continued to expand from Memphis, Philadelphia and New Orleans to now having programs which reach across the globe.

“You hear about a lot of players that have foundations around the league, but I feel like I’m one of the few players who gets involved with everything that goes on,” said Young in front of a crowd that had gathered at the event. “I know everything from top to bottom that we’re working on from week to week. We’re constantly texting, emailing, calling and we’ll even have sit down meetings every now and then.”

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When the 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks square off in Phillips Arena tonight, the Sixers organization and Philadunkia nation will have their second to last view of Hawks forward Josh Smith before he hits free agency.  Ironically enough, the skill set that Smith possess which makes him an attractive free agent prospect for the Sixers makes him a dangerous opponent this evening.

While Spencer Hawes has been very productive as of late for head coach Doug Collins, defensively, he will likely be taken out of the game by Atlanta center Al Horford’s size and skill.  With that in mind, Thad Young, Lavoy Allen and sometimes Arnett Moultrie will be left to cover the polarizing Smith. 

Unfortunately for Collins, Smith is a mismatch for all three of those bigs.

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With a few games remaining and the making playoffs a reality for Doug Collins only, focus on free agency has most assuredly been on the mind of everyone involved with the 76ers.  The draft lottery is just that this year, a lottery.  Free Agency is a much different animal altogether. 

Everyone has a varying opinion on what the Sixers will do this offseason.  From Andrew Bynum to Al Jefferson to Joel Przybilla, each would have a varying effect on the future of the franchise.  Assuming the 76ers decide that tanking isn’t an option in 2013-14, here is what should transpire during free agency. 

No trades or stretch clause are factored in, otherwise I’d trade the whole roster for Andre Drummond and Ryan Anderson.

So, next year’s team currently consists of Thad, Jrue, Hawes, J-Rich, ET, Lavoy, Moultrie, and Kwameeeee.  Throw in the 76ers projected lottery pick and the team has about $13,000,000 to work with this offseason.  The team needs a bit of everything and will take some smart moves to build a playoff team. 

After the jump, I present the plan for what I’d do this offseason, if tanking in 2013-14 isn’t an option…

 
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With multiple prime-time NBA match-ups, the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds of the NCAA Tournament as well as the Easter Holiday (and family visiting) going on this past weekend our beloved 76ers were relegated to DVR status.

But now that we have had time to “watch the tape”, we have some thoughts on what went right for the 76ers this past weekend (winning back-to-back games) and what went wrong for Collins & Co. (winning back-to-back games).

So, on the opening night of the Phillies 2013 season, let’s recap all that went down with the 76ers who extended their win streak to three games this weekend.

 
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A quick Google Images search of Damien Wilkins will put his career for you in a nutshell.  In that search, you’ll see the 6-6, 225 pound swingman dawning a vast variety of the NBA jerseys.  Wilkins has been one of the lucky few who have been able to live the life of an NBA journeyman.

But recently, Wilkins, the current starting shooting guard for the 76ers, hasn’t been playing like a nomadic bench player.  In fact, the 8-year veteran out of the University of Georgia has been averaging 15.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 steals in 29.0 minutes per game over the team’s last five contests.  Wilkins, who has started 10 games for the Sixers, has been a spark plug for Doug Collins’ team ever since he was inserted into the starting unit to replace a hobbled Nick Young.

Even though the veteran and well-respected locker room presence has been turning heads on the court for the Sixers of late, not many in the City of Brotherly Love truly know a lot about Wilkins off the court and what his thoughts have been about his first season rocking the fabled red, white and blue.

With that in mind, Philadunkia scribe, Jake Fischer, caught up with the Sixers’ cagey veteran and talked about his family lineage, the Sixers struggles this season, his days with the Seattle Supersonics and his obsession with Wawa.

 
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The 76ers are 5-4 in their last 9 games and if they hadn’t simply given away a game in Denver last Thursday that record would be even more impressive.  Collins & Co. have won 6 games overall in March – their highest monthly win total since December.  There are a couple of reasons for the improved play of the Sixers over the past month, but none have been a big factor than Damien Wilkins.

The 33-year old Wilkins has had a resurgence that is reminiscent of the Jason Richardson we saw in the first month of the year.  Damien’s play of late is both unexpected and more so untimely.  Whether it is a case of veteran savvy coupled with intense mental fortitude or variance, DW has been managed to produce at a level far above even he likely thought possible — 18 points; 5 boards and 4 dimes last night.

 
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The latest in the “30 for 30 Shorts” series over at Grantalnd on ESPN.com is titled Silver Reunion.  In the short film, Director Rory Karpf sits with the men of the 1972 USA Olympic basketball team to discuss their highly controversial 1972 gold-medal game against the team from the Soviet Union.  The footage is extremely compelling and among those on the USA’s history making squad were current 76ers head coach Doug Collins and former Sixer great Bobby Jones.

Reuniting more than four decades after the controversial gold-medal game in which they lost to the Soviet Union and then declined to accept the silver medal, the team members met in Lexington, Kentucky wheer they sat in “round table fashion” and talked to Karpf and his cameras.

Karpf got the members if the 1972 team to provide eye witness accounts of the chaos that occurred that day in Munich as well as give some emotional reactions to “losing” the ’72 gold medal.

The video featuring the thoughts of Collins and Jones after the jump…

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