Digging The New Style Of Sixers Basketball

With the Sixers winning their fourth straight game and finally getting above the .500 mark for the first time this year, I wanted to talk about this team and how I like their style of play. They are not built the way that most succesful teams in the NBA are built right now. I'm not saying I'm ready to call the Sixers an overly successful team just yet. But the progress they have made from last year, and even the beginning of this year, to now has been impressive.

Teams like the Celtics, Lakers and Heat are built around superstars. Players that can take over a game and single handedly carry a team through the playoffs. The Cavs had that in Lebron James. The Cavs went from perennial number one or two seed in the East with Lebron to the worst team in the NBA without him.

Despite what the Sixers payroll says (I'm talking about Iguodala and Brand's max contracts), they don't have that superstar. They're a team of very good young players, but no great player. They play selfless basketball on offense. They routinely have 5 or 6 players who score double figures in a given game. A lot of their points, something to the tune of 50 per game, come from the bench. The Sixers lead the league in bench scoring thanks mostly to Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young. I believe they have one of the best young point guards in the league in Jrue Holiday. He's your protypical point guard who sets up the offense and makes everyone around him better. Being only 20 years old, he's just going to get better.

The Sixers also play great team defense. Iguodala, as much guff as he gets for being overpaid and overconfident, is one of the better defenders in the league. He can completely shut down an opposing team's swing man. Not long ago I read a quote from a rival coach calling Iguodala the Darrelle Revis of the NBA. That may be a bit of a stretch, but it's a testiment to how good of a defensive player he is. Holiday, at 6 foot 4, is bigger than most point guards. Smaller guards have a problem trying to put up shots over him.

I feel that this is the way teams should be built and how teams should play. It's old school, which is the kind of coach Doug Collins is. He has them playing as a team, when most of the league plays as individuals. However, they do need another piece or two to complete the puzzle. Ideally, it would be a dominant 7 foot center. I'm not holding my breath on that one though, players like that come by once a decade. Until they find this missing piece, or pieces, I'm just enjoying the ride. I'm excited for Sixers basketball again, it's been a while since this team has been watchable. I really believe that they have the chance to make some noise in the playoffs. And, with Collins as the coach, they should continue to improve over the next couple of seasons.

NOTE: I wanted to title this post "Digging The New Brand Of Sixers Basketball" as a joke. I was afraid people would think I'd be serious with that title. I'd say about 1 in 5 articles I've read about the Sixers since Elton Brand signed here has played off his last name in the title. It's overdone.

Is Anyone Else Worried About The Phillies Season?

I'll be the first to admit that I think the Phillies are the best team in the NL, and probably all of major league baseball. However, the best team doesn't always win, or even make it to, the World Series. A lot of things need to go right for that to happen. Injuries need to be minimized and key players need to step up.

Is anyone else concerned about the lofty expectations placed on this team and the kind of affect it could have on their season? What about the fan base? How will they react to anything less than a World Series appearance or title?

I can't remember a Philly team going into a season with so much hype. I can't even come up with a close second. This team has garnered so much attention (nationally and locally) because it's a team filled with proven offensive talent and one of the best pitching staffs ever assembled, at least on paper.

Jimmy Rollins recently predicted that this team would win 100 games and contend for the all time record in games won by a team in a single season. While I love when Jimmy comes out with his annual predictions/trash talk in spring training, I think this just shows how high expectations really are this year. I'm not saying this team isn't capable of winning 100 games, they certainly are. Most fans are expecting 100 wins and a World Series title. When expectations are that high the disappointment can be huge.
This has never been a team that looks ahead or coasts through the regular season, but with the media and all the fans already looking forward to October, could this team be looking ahead? I don't know the answer to that, but I know it is a concern. Charlie Manuel addressed the team before full squad spring training began, a main point he wanted to get across to his team was to take this season one game at a time. He said that this team can't look to October, no team can. They need to look at April 1st and then April 2nd and so on. With the talent that they have on the roster, Charlie knows it will be easy to look forward to October. Can thay avoid that trap? Ultimately I think they can and will, but that doesn't mean it doesn't concern me.

Just Getting Started

Though it isn’t spring yet, with the start of another Phillies spring training in Clearwater, it sure feels like spring. Spring always brings new hope, a new summer on the way, a new baseball season and now a new blog.

My blogging career, much like the Phillies 2011 season, is just getting started. I’m looking forward to both. I plan on blogging about Philly sports, writing about all four teams (though I admit I’m not a huge hockey fan) and anything else having to do with the Philadelphia sports landscape. I’ll discuss other big sports issues, not necesarrily related to Philly sports, that peak my interest as well.

This is just something I would like to do in my spare time, so if posts are few and far between it’s probably because I’m also busy with my real life. I’m married to a beautiful woman, Kristen, and the father (still feels weird to say that) of an incredible little girl, Natalie, who is 9 months old. During the day I work as a senior accountant [insert "boring accountant" joke here].

But, I always find time to be a Philly sports fan. Whenever a team is playing you can bet the game is on TV at my house. I go down to Broad St. and Pattison Ave. to watch as many games as I can, within reason and budget of course. I even make it to one Eagles away game and one Phillies spring training game a year.

I have always wanted to be a sports writer, I just like talking sports. This will be my outlet. I encourage any readers to post comments, as I’m always up for a good sports discussion.

I just wanted to quickly introduce myself and my new blog, I’ll get into the real Philly sports topics in later posts. But for now my lunch break is over and it’s back to being an accountant.