• March 29, 2024

Early Schedule Challenges For The 76ers

The anticipation is killing me. I can not wait until the Sixers opener against Portland. Man, I am fired up! Holla! Sorry, sugar high. Seriously, is it me or is Doug Collins awesome to listen too. People just gravitate to him as he talks. His knowledge and passion for the game is second to none. I am still ranting here. Okay, I am done now.
Let’s get back to business. The Sixers will be tested early on in the schedule with a five-game road trip from the start. They play two sets of back to back to back games. The first one is on Jan 9th-11th against the Pacers, Kings and at the Knicks. The second is April 16th-18th when they play at the Magic, home against the Pacers and at the Cavs. With being a younger team as they are they should be ok with the wear and tear. Check out the full schedule here.

I said this before and you might think I am nuts for saying this but the Sixers have a shot at causing a stir or should I say capture the city.  Don’t jump down my throat yet. Just hear me out. The Eagles are having there very own Day-Time drama series going on. They just have a real disconnect with the fans right now. Flyers still have strong core of fans but most casual fans do not pick up on them until March. The Phillies have been a little quiet and waiting around for J-Roll’s decision. So why not the Sixers?

People are keeping a close eye on them. Some are not getting their hopes up but are still interested to see if the can build from what they had last season. In which brings me to my next point Elton Brand. I understand that Brand is not worth the money he is getting paid. Though last season he was the Sixers most consistent player. He is a great voice in that locker room. What ever he has left he will give it. A lot of people are wondering why the Sixers don’t just use the amnesty clause on him. It really does not make a lot of sense to use it on him this year. The reason being like I said before to see if they can build from last season and with the shorten/rush of this season.

Another reason is next season the Sixers are only committed to 39 million against the cap according to HoopsHype.com. Thad’s new contract of 5 years 42 million is not include and neither is first round pick Vucevic. So if you add them in it should get them around the 50 million dollar ball park to go against the cap next season. And with that being Brand’s last year of his contract where he will make 18 million. By using the amnesty clause on Brand next season, that will leave them around 32 million to play with. You might want to double check that. Sorry, Catholic School.

You have to remember though  the cap could move up or down from the 58 million ceiling it has now. The free agents class of 2012 looks pretty damn good too. They are lead by Chris Paul, Steve Nash and Deron Williams. Obviously they will not be on there radar considering my man Holiday is here. There is this one guy who might be. Mister Dwight Howard. Howard has a player option for next season but most experts say he will decline his option.

Along with Howard there is Tim Duncan though he is not going anywhere. Other unrestricted free agents are Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby and Kevin Garnett. The restricted free agents look pretty enticing with Kevin Love, Brooke Lopez, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon and Darrell Arthur. Here is the full-list of unrestricted and restricted free-agents in 2012. So the bottom line is that the Sixers will have options if they choose for 2012.

Man, I am tired after all that math I just did. Okay, that is enough looking forward. Let’s get this season going and capture the city Sixers! Showyaluv!  As usually I am a jackass.

Joe Hickman Jr.

Bleed Philly Sports! 84 ounces of Coffee a day because that is what I do! Utley's hair has nothing on me! Father of the craziest little girl in the world! Born and raised in Darby, PA! By the way, my Grammar Sucks! You can follow on twitter @phillytugger.

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paulman
paulman
December 12, 2011 10:46 am

Sixers finish 36-30 and finish with the 6th Seed and get bounced out by the Bulls in 6 Games.. they show signs of improvement but are missing that nasty prescence and production that you need down low consitently that you have to have to compete with the big boys..