Also, you have to admit Pierce is quite a leader and player, tough as nails.  TNT showed Pierce being very emotional in the 2nd half huddle that he was getting right into Gabe Pruit’s face about playing with more passion.  I wish we had drafted him!

Anyway, GO SIXERS!! 

It’s incredible though how much the guys on TNT enjoy Thaddeus Young.  Reggie wanted to give him a hall pass.  Marv Albert’s voice shrieked “Yes” after the first bucket by Young.  Mike Fratello had some positive things to say.  (Mike Fratello, if you are available for coaching, you are welcome to audition for the Sixers!)

Slowly, Thaddeus Young has become our go-to-guy on the offense.  So far, teams have no answer for him.  Just to play devil’s advocate, if you were an opponent, how would you defend Young?  Next season with a little more motivation, consistency, and more specific goals, the Sixers will be interesting.  One goal would be issuing the PERIMETER (offensively & defensively).  If they can solve that issue, this team can go further.  Possibly having Miller, Iggy, Young, and Brand in the lineup next season, things could get interesting and could possibly have a Fantastic 4 out there.  For an opponent, how do you defend those guys with a balanced offense?  Brand’s rebounding and defense will certainly help.  He and Sammy can rebound, block shots, and handle their business in the paint.(and with Ratliff coming off the bench).  With the interior defense in tact, perhaps the other three players (PG, SG, & SF can focus more on chasing away the perimeter shooters).

WILD CARD:  If Sammy understands his role as a rebounder and a defender (without committing silly fouls and silly turnovers), this team can really go far!!  Believe me, a year or two ago, he was showing progress there, but somehow he took a step down this season.

Also, who will have a better postseason, the Sixers or the Flyers?  Both teams really missed out on opportunities to obtain higher seeds (and homeice for the Flyers) and have really dwindled down the stretch. 

I will see tonight’s Sixers-Cavaliers game, which will be on CN8 not CSN, but will also watch Game 1 of the Flyers-Penguins game on CSN.  CN8 now has a HD channel. 

GO SIXERS!!  BEAT THE CAVS HOME STREAK!! GO FLYERS!!!

450. Elton Brand
Dramatically edged out Gilbert Arenas and Tracy McGrady for the coveted LVP (“Least Valuable Player”) Award. Here’s what pushed it over the top: Not only did EB destroy Philly’s cap through 2035, he left the Clips with enough cap space that they reacted the same way looters react during a riot. They wanted to walk out of the store with something
… or in this case, Marcus Camby, Ricky Davis, Zach Randolph and a 27-inch Sharp LCD. In a floundering economy, should they have guarded that extra cap room and bided their time like The Team That Shall Not Be Named [Oklahoma City Thunder] did? OF COURSE!!!! OF COURSE!!!!! When you include Brand’s luring of Baron Davis to the Clippers, causing the Warriors to overreact with $66 million for Corey Maggette and Ronny Turiaf, you could argue that Brand murdered one franchise and gravely wounded two others. Sounds like an LVP to me.

Why pay Beno [Udrih] $33 million when you can pay a hungry D-leaguer one-tenth as much to give you roughly the same performance? What a stupid league. I can’t stand it. Insert “Lou Williams” for “Beno Udrih”.

The MVP of the 2009 B.S. All-Stars for “Guys I Like (In Some Cases, Inexplicably) With Potential To Become Quality Role Players For A Contender And/Or Overpaid By One Dumb GM.”  The B.S. All-Stars for 2009: [Anthony] Morrow, Marcin Gortat, Courtney Lee, Josh Powell, Nic Batum, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, RODNEY CARNEY, Will Bynum, Renaldo Balkman, Steve Novak, Daequan Cook and “Comeback B.S. Player” Chris Andersen. Jason Smith will end up on this list some day.

104. Kyle Lowry
Savvy acquisition by Daryl “Stop Calling me Dork Elvis; It’s Starting to Catch on Around The Office” Morey. The Rockets are getting a combined 19-7-5 every night from the Lowry/Brooks combo. Not shabby. The lesson, as always: When in doubt, make a deal with Chris Wallace. Stefanski, remember this quote from the movie “Rounders”: “If you can’t spot the sucker in the first half hour at the [poker] table then YOU are the sucker.”  Why the heck were you trying to deal with one of the league’s better GMs in Kevin Pritchard?  You shoulda been dealing with the Chris Wallace’s of the world.

It’s officially a slash-and-kick league, and beyond that, everyone else finally emulated the Spurs and embraced the corner 3 as a tactical weapon. Except the Sixers.  D’oh!

51. Raymond Felton
The guy I’d pursue this summer if I ran an NBA team. Ten weeks of trade rumors bounced off him and he never held a grudge. He has lottery pick pedigree (fifth overall in 2005), and if we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that many blue-chip point guards take awhile to “ferment” (for lack of a better word). He’s one of the five or six best people in the league by all accounts. I’ve never seen a Bobcats game where he didn’t play as hard as he could. The arc of his first four years looks exactly like Chauncey Billups, and like Chauncey, his game will open up once he starts making 3s. Just a lot to like. Someone will steal him this summer just like Detroit stole Billups in 2002. You watch. Is he Stefanski’s target for our point guard of the future?

“Wow, Vince is trying tonight.” And I thought to myself, “That one moment just summed up Vince’s entire career.” Sammy D, don’t let this happen to you, you still have time.

Meanwhile, check out the splits of the NBA’s six quickest point guards against Dallas this season: Tony Parker (31.3 ppg, 7.3 apg, 52 percent FG); Paul (33.3 ppg, 12.5 apg, 57 percent FG); Rondo (16.0 ppg, 14.0 apg, 62.5 percent FG); Harris (29.5 ppg, 10.0 apg); D. Williams (24.8 ppg, 11.5 apg); and D. Rose (19.0 ppg, 7.5 apg). Egads. The good news: Kidd and Nash tied for “Most Fun Teammate To Have” honors for something like the 10th straight year. Don’t forget about Andre Miller!  Hey Harvey Pollak, how about those guys’ numbers against Andre Miller?

(Here’s how dumb coaches are: Just this season, we witnessed coaches playing Kevin Durant at shooting guard, slowing down Steve Nash, PLAYING SLOW-IT-UP WITH THE SIXERS, bringing Rip Hamilton off the bench, burying Anthony Randolph on a lottery team, playing Darius Songaila over JaVale McGee on a lottery team, …and doing everything that Mike Dunleavy did. There’s a reason 85 percent of these guys get canned within three years.)

“…there just isn’t a statistic to capture what Chauncey [Billups] did for that lunatic fringe of a Nuggets team.” There was something about the Sixers’ youth movement of last year that had that same intangible.  For some reason, those young guys together really worked.  And now it’s all gone…

Also, in other news, Cleveland is resting a couple of players for tonight’s game:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4070466

That’s THE REAL ROB news!

Mo Cheeks couldn’t do it, now Dileo can’t do.  But the common theme is they both have the same assistant coaching staff.  I really don’t like bashing or saying someone should lose their jobs because that’s not right.  But Lynam is clueless and always have been.  Even back in the days Barkley played here.  He’s the one who wanted Shawn Bradley in the draft and pushed for it.  Go figure.  Ed needs to start over, even if it means starting slow again.  At least we as fans can say there is a new direction coming and hope for the best.   Ok, I’m done ranting.