So...Yeah...

"A week or two" away from practicing, still "100% sure" he'll play this season, new insane hairdo.  Really firing on all cylinders in South Philadelphia. The Sixers begin the second-half fight for their playoff lives tomorrow at Minnesota.  They still have 4(!) games left against Miami, as well as 2 with BKNY and Indiana, and 1 each against Golden State, Knicks, Denver, and LAC.  Hopefully it's not too painful to watch. 

Club Bosh takes in Sixers v BKNY

Chuck was kind enough to take me out on the town last night to South Philadelphia. We came in with high hopes for our hometown Sixers, who were just returning from a tough 8-game West Coast road trip (which they finished 2-6).  Not only did they have a tough road trip, but Jrue and the boys were on a 3-game losing streak, and 3-11 in their last 14(!!!!) coming into last night.  Their playoff hopes are slowly slipping away, and what better time to start turning things around than a game against a  legit divisional foe who is rounding into form. 

A decent but uneventful first half saw Brooklyn lead by one.  Jrue was playing well, and Spencer Hawes was hitting some midrange shots (while not collecting any god damn rebounds).  Beyond them, it was rough.  ET was chucking up a lot of ill-advised shots, and Nick Young, HOLY HELL NICK YOUNG.  Guy fucking sucks.  It's crazy to watch his game in person.  Shot the ball as soon as he got it for probably his first 5 touches, missing everything.  But the third quarter saw Philly completely and utterly collapse.  Some of the worst basketball I've watched in a long time.  The Sixers scored 4 points in the first 7 MINUTES of the quarter, en route to being outscored 35-14, and sealing the game for Brooklyn.  4th quarter was meaningless and unwatchable.

Notes:

• Jrue finished with a nice 19 & 8, and is the only player besides RussRuss to average over 18&8.  The talent level drop-off when he goes to the bench is absurd.
• Deron and Iso Joe were hitting a lot of tough shots, which doesn't make things easy.
• Ya know what else doesn't make things easy?  When Reggie god damn Evans has 23 rebounds and DOESN'T PLAY IN THE 4th QUARTER.
• The Sixers were truly miserable to watch after half, and the crowd let them hear it.
• Even if Bynum comes back, it looks like it may not be enough to salvage the season. 
• Last but not least: SPENCER HAWES, 7 FOOT CENTER, HAD MORE 3-POINT ATTEMPTS THAN REBOUNDS

What's up with Bynum?

After Bob Cooney laid into the Sixers management on Saturday, the team released a statement today saying Bynum will be out another month until Dec 10, when he will then be able to resume light drills.  Mixing that with the conditioning he'll need to get into game shape, Bynum needs anywhere from 1-4 weeks after Dec 10 before he can play, assuming all goes well.

And that "assuming all goes well" is the real kicker, because nothing has really gone well so far with Bynum.  Like every other Sixers fan, I was really excited when I learned of the trade.  Suddenly they have the best big man in the conference, while gaining some room for Jrue and ETurner to handle the ball and mature, and become as good as we all hope they can be.  That part is at least going well.  But the closest we've seen to Bynum playing was pregame intros in the home opener, where he came out to a standing ovation, only to go back down the tunnel right afterwards.  Management has been extremely coy on his situation as well.  Maybe it's because they don't want to say anything too premature to such a fickle fan base.  Maybe they're giving Bynum time to grow his hair until he looks like Dr J. 

But most likely, they remained vague so they could sell some tickets.  There's no better way to damper enthusiasm and hurt ticket sales than saying the injury-prone, All Star center you just broke up a fairly successful, if stagnant, team for, is already injured.  And ya know what?  That really sucks.  This new management group has actually been awesome so far in my opinion.  But no amount of dollar dog nights, 100-tshirt firing guns and cheap tickets will make up for refusing to tell anyone your new player, and hopeful franchise cornerstone, is injured way worse than you thought.  This team isn't going anywhere without Bynum, and I appreciate them being cautious - it's the right attitude to have for sure.  But just tell us.  Because when you don't, everyone assumes the worst. 

Sixers Already Fighting Injuries, Kwame Seeing Time

The 76ers are already dealing with an injury to an integral part of their lineup with Jason Richardson suffering a high ankle sprain Sunday afternoon after stepping on a cameraman's foot on the baseline at the Garden one minute into the game.  Rumors are that he was seen hobbling around in a walking boot which is never a good thing especially for an older player.  Besides a 5 minute stretch at the start of the game last night, the Sixers were outplayed, out-muscled and outclassed by a surprisingly spry (average age is 61) Knicks team.

Nick Young is a poor man's Lou Williams.  He'd better get hot soon or the fans in Philly are going to turn on him.  He is shooting 7-35 so far this year and is making me want to break my giant TV, and nothing... I mean, nothing... makes me want to break that TV.  Spencer Hawes, after a solid opener against Denver, looked like a giant marshmallow during the home and home with the Knicks.  Carmelo took the ball right at his chest over and over again and Hawes just took it like Sasha Grey in her prime.  Does not make any sense.  Dude is 7 feet tall and he refuses to put a guy on his ass.  Doug did not like that, so in Philly last night he started... KWAME BROWN.  Kwame logged a whopping 11 minutes and was benched at the beginning of the second half after that fat-ass midget, Raymond Felton confused the basketball for a Twix and took it from him.  Pablo Prigioni, the NBA's oldest rookie ever at 35 years old, kept up well with the newly signed franchise point guard in Philly and genuinely looked to take him out of his rhythm at times. The beat downs were thorough.  'Sheed even got his.

The Sixers need to play a tougher brand of basketball or the Atlantic Division is going to eat them alive.  That starts with the big men.  The return of the Andrew Bynum and his afro cannot come soon enough.  This team is young and will only get better from here.

And now for the lowlights:

IT'S ALL HAPPENING

Tonight, the NBA gets back underway.  Coming off one of the best seasons in years, the league awash in a level of talent not seen since the early 90s, big offseason trades, and storylines out the wazzoo, everyone in da Club couldn't be more excited.  Welcome back.

Kobe on a roll!

I am on the record as not being a big Kobe fan.  I know that's a really confounding thing to a lot of people, but I don't care.  Guy just never did it for me.  Plus he beat AI in his only real shot to win a title, so fuck him.  ANYWAY, I think I'm developing an appreciation for Kobe as he realizes that he's only got a couple years left, is a top-10 player ever, and can just talk whatever shit he wants.  First, we have Smush Parker responding to Kobe's comments yesterday by saying that Kobe wouldn't let Smush talk to him off the court?!  That is GOLD.  You have to be a serious kind of narcissistic asshole to pull something like that off. 

Then he trashes the Sixers and the fact that they gave Kwame Brown a two-year, $6 million contract.  And the fact is, he's completely right.  Kwame freaking Brown, on the Sixers.  If they got him after Bynum, I guess it would make some kind of sense to have him as a backup for when Bynum either collapses into a pile of torn ligaments or he pulls JJ Barea's head off of his body mid-game.  But Kwame was here before Bynum!  Seriously, this guy is going to get paid millions of dollars, and log actual playing time.  Unbelievable.

 

Kobe, when you're right you're right.