Slowly but Surely Sixers
Written by Tr0eAsY42, Friday January 07 2011
I have been a 76ers fan since I can remember. I grew up on Allen Iverson, I played a couple of sports but zeroed in on basketball, the heart he showed me inspired me to play and I loved doing it. People comment about certain things but all I knew was he loved playing the game. I did not see the tattoos, the baggy clothes, the so called 'thug style' I just saw a smaller guy giving it his all, the opposite of what I saw from someone like Donovan Mcnabb. The Sixers had a great year in 2001 and have gone down ever since.
At the time I agreed at the time about trading Iverson because there was a rumor he demanded to be traded and if he did not want to be here then leave and the team was playing really bad basketball as well. We received Andre Miller in return and he did a great job getting them to play the right way, they managed to pick up Reggie Evans in the process, who brought a great deal of toughness to a very soft minded team. Ed Stefanski seemed to do everything to destroy this team, by signing Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand to huge contracts, letting Andre Miller walk and then trading Reggie Evans away for Jason Kapono who is lucky to get 5 minutes a game at this point. I loved this team, it saddened me to listen to sports radio all day and hear people say things like "I did not even know we had a basketball team" and sports radio hosts in Philly would say things like " The Sixers are irrelevant", a team is not always a championship contender but you must support them win or lose but some people don't seem to feel the same way.
Last year it seemed the franchise was doomed and to say I was surprised about Ed Stefanski not being fired would be the understatement of the year but the turnaround all started with the signing of Doug Collins as the new head coach. I was hesitant at first but came around quick, the Sixers luck continued at the NBA lottery where one of my favorite current Sixers Jrue Holiday worked his magic and managed to take in the 2nd pick in the draft were they later selected Evan Turner. The Sixers started off slow and were 3-13 at one point in the season and I continued to hear things like “the Sixers will only win 25 games this year” which I knew was not true.
The Sixers showed steady progress even with the losses and still were in most games just could not seem to win it. They kept on giving it their all and now have a record of 14-21 and would occupy the 8th spot in the playoffs if they started today for the first time since Andre Miller left. I listen to sports radio and people call in are optimistic.
Elton Brand is having a solid year so far, Jrue Holiday is on the verge of becoming a solid PG and a possible All Star in the future, Andres Nocioni is adding toughness that they have not had since Reggie Evans was traded and people call in to sports radio and are actually saying positive things and are excited about this young nucleus that is forming. Evan Turner some would say is a disappointment so far, but he admits he is not playing good and I feel he will have a much better career then what he has shown thus far. Bright days are becoming repetitive in Philly, Cliff Lee came back to the Phillies, Michael Vick led to some great wins for the Eagles and the Flyers are legit contenders for the Stanley cup, but my favorite son is becoming relevant again and I hope it only goes up from here.
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