Bandwagon Fans, Soccer, Dalembert Trade

After a couple news-less weeks i'm back!

I dont know bout everyone else but did anyone ever notice the amount of flyers fans there seems to b now?..... hmm i wonder y? Maybe because they made it to the Stanley Cup finals, i personally hate hockey it doesnt do anything for me to watch it. It just pisses me off to not see 1 orange flyers shirt all year then they make it to the cup and now all the sudden everyone is riding their dicks.

Same goes with soccer, there is ZERO soccer fans in the US thats y the MLS pro league doesnt do well here, but this stupid ass world cup comes around and all the sudden all the people who have joined me in saying that its the girliest sport in the world besides field hockey suddenly love soccer and call the world cup "the most important sporting event in the world"... umm no... fuck that the most important sporting event in the world is the Olympics obviously...




Now that I got that off my chest back to whats important.... Sixers! Yesterday when i was at work a co-worker of mine gets an espn text message saying "Samuel Dalembert was shipped to the Sacramento Kings for Spencer Hawes, and Andres Nocioni", it was the best news I have received all summer and the best trade the Sixers have made in recent memory. For those who dont know Nocioni may never step on the court in a Sixers jersey.. he has been contimplating going overseas since mid last year and was thrown in the trade by Sac in order to clear cap room.

The Gem we got in the trade was 7-1 Center Spencer Hawes from the University of Washington. I have seen this kid play a ton, McDonalds all american team, when he was at school in Washington during their cinderella run, and even games on the Kings. He was even a player on my NBA fantasy team 2 years ago during his breakout season and half of last season. Hawes was a coveted post player by the sixers when he came on the scene 3 years ago but was picked #10 (the sixers had the 12th pick). Hawes is a phenomenal passer for a big man, he runs the floor well, shoots mid range jumpers consistently, and can knockdown the 3. 2 years ago he was a solid defender but his defense seemed to regress last year in his diminished minutes under a terrible coach in Sac's Paul Wesphal. I think with the right coaching he could fit into a great fast paced team of (Holiday, *Turner*, Iguodala, Young, Hawes) making up a possible Phoenix Suns of the East lineup. Douggie Fresh Collins has had nothing but good things to say about Hawes and i believe that he can mold Hawes into a great starting 25-30min player for the Sixers. All-in-all this was a tremendous trade clearing 6.6 million in cap space for this season and delivering a big time talent, and if Nocioni stays we get a 6th man and tenacious defender who can knockdown the 3.

Draft....

I still am backing up what i said about trading down, turner is a fantastic player, but not a good fit for the sixers. If you go to sixers.com and watch his private workout that he had the other day u'll notice he has a slow releasing jump shot that comes from behind his head, given that, his lack of a vertical leap, short arms, and distance struggles he could have a rough transition to the NBA. It also would give us an awful 3pt shooting back court. I think trading down is a possibility even tho it seems like Stefanski is sold on Turner. We will find out soon enough, the draft is on Thursday and i expect to see the sixers making moves, even if the take turner @2 i think they will make moves to get another pick either late in the 1st or early 2nd to address a possible back up point guard and another center because Hawes is a talent but not a guarantee that he will pan out.

This most likely will be my last blog until the day after the draft unless a trade happens, LETS GO SIXERS and lets hope Stefanski can give us the help we need to make a run in the playoffs next year!

-Jack