Philadelphia 76ers

Nice to see 6-year old ML was a Sixers fan RT @michael_levin Note I wrote on 1/19/1996 to Sixers. Do you like it?sbn.to/10EIlL3 — Adam Aron (@SixersCEOAdam) May 18, 2013 Thank you, Adam Aron, for giving me a reason to talk about 6-year-old Michael Levin's letter to the Sixers and/or a man named Vrnan Maxwall. There's so much to love about this pair of tweets: For starters, Aron probably doesn't agree with most of what's written on this site, but it's nice to know that he reads Liberty Ballers from time to time. Most importantly, it's just plain fun to over-analyze a handwritten note by a 6-year-old, especially when it's related to a team that we all love. It's safe to assume that Levin was writing about Vernon Maxwell, the gunner without a conscience who played for the 76ers during the 1995-96 season. But sadly, on the day the note was presumably written, the Sixers lost to the Atlanta Hawks (led by a man named Mookie Blalock) 82-77. Maxwall/Maxwell actually scored five straight points in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 77, but then the Sixers Sixers'd the final 2:41 and went scoreless for the rest of the game. Blalock, meanwhile, was not knocked out of the pank, and finished with 23-6-4. Lil' Levin's love letter (alliteration, baby) to Vrnan Maxwall ALMOST absolves him from his series of ill-fated tweets while manning the @SBNationNBA account last Tuesday. ALMOST. ----------- Yooo! Saying what's up to all of my @nbauk fans. I cant wait to playing in Manchester in October. twitter.com/Jrue_Holiday11... — Jrue Holiday (@Jrue_Holiday11) May 16, 2013 People of Manchester, England: On behalf of all of us here at Liberty Ballers, we would like to apologize for the fact that you have to watch Sixers' preseason basketball this coming October. WE hate to watch exhibition games on this side of the Atlantic, so to peddle that same product to you and actually market it as "professional basketball" is somewhat disingenuous. You know how excited you all get when Manchester City and Manchester United square off? Consider this the complete opposite of that. On the bright side, you will get to see Kevin Durant dunk on the Sixers for a good portion of the 12 minutes that he'll play that night. And you'll get to learn first-hand why we can't stand Spencer Hawes. By the way, if anyone over there wants to man our Twitter account during the game, just shoot us an email. ----------- Hahaha RT @jcie0law: @nickswagypyoung vs Mike Tyson in a fight! i think u ready Nick!! youtu.be/D5qaNOz_VsA — Nick Young (@NickSwagyPYoung) May 15, 2013 Long before he missed nearly 59 percent of his shots in his first (and likely, only) season in Philadelphia, Nick Young took to YouTube to challenge former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson to a fight. Now before you completely dismiss Swaggy P's 2010 boast (complete with a half-decent Tyson impersonation), let's not forget that Tyson was humongous at the time: Young's assertion that Tyson had a "turkey body" wasn't entirely off of the mark. But since then, "Iron Mike" dropped at least 100 pounds, and if the two were to square off today, Tyson would break Young in half. Young isn't the first non-boxer to call out Tyson, however: Will Smith did the same thing 21 (!!!) years earlier in the song "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson" from the underrated DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince album titled "And in This Corner..." Coincidentally, this was the first full-length album that I ever bought with my own money: 10-year-old me wanted something to play on my new cassette player, but I had to make sure that the album didn't have any profanity. 2 Live Crew's "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" wasn't going to go over well in my house. (In case you were wondering, the first cassette single that I ever bought was Milli Vanilli's "Blame It On The Rain." Again, I was 10 years old at the time.) ----------- NBA has approved our throwback uni design starting in '14-'15 season RT @princecapel

Shortly after I arrived in Philadelphia from LA last night (I was already eating the Wawa samich and Tastycake we picked up on the way home), my mom pulled out a notebook. She said she'd been looking through old boxes and pulled out something Sixers-related (kinda disappointed she didn't say "Sixersy." Get your act together, Mom.) that I did when I was younger. And so it is with great glee and nostalgia that I present to you this letter I wrote to the Sixers. Yes, I know, this is excellent. But to simply leave it at that is not in my nature. Let's break it down. 1. Before we get to the note itself, I have to don a detective's cap and figure out when exactly this letter was written. Vernon Maxwell, despite being my role model throughout my childhood and adolescence, was only on the Sixers for one season. One glorious season -- in 1995-96, when the Sixers finished 18-64 under head coach John Lucas. Mad Max averaged 16 points on a crisp 39% clip and played against the Hawks exactly twice that year. January 19th, in Philadelphia and April 6th, in Atlanta. I'm going to assume it was the 19th for a few reasons. One: By the second meeting with Maxwell, the Sixers were already 44 games under .500. I was 6, but I wasn't an idiot. Two: Mike At Age 6 would be much more likely to sit inside and write a letter in the freezing cold January rather than April. Thus, I can conclude with reasonable certainty that this letter was written by a 6-year-old Mike Levin on a chilly afternoon, January 19th, 1996. And we proceed. 2. It was not Jerry Stackhouse, Clarence Weatherspoon, or my future son's namesake Sharone Wright who I was pleading for victory. It was Vernon Maxwell. Or, more specifically, Vrnan Maxwall. 3. The post-script is longer than the initial letter, which totals five words. Five simple words that I felt a burning desire in my 6-year-old loins to tell the Sixers. Speaking of loins, this was the year after the infamous 1995 Eastern Conference Finals Knicks-Pacers-Ewing Knickerboxers incident, which you already know if you follow me on Twitter. 4. What did I have against Mookie Blaylock? My violent sports tendencies are on full display for all to see here. Were I to ever attack an athlete, journalists would go back, see this letter and go "Oh, that makes sense." Mookie was lucky he caught my hatred at an early, unformed age. 5. What is a pank? Could it be "park"? That'd be mixing up sports. Maybe "paint"? That seems the less-Dextery answer. Perhaps he was just penetrating and I wanted someone (LaSalle Thompson, probably) to bump him off his path. I'm open to suggestions/therapy. 6. Clearly I thought Mookie was related to future Texas Ranger Hank Blalock, hence the spelling confusion. 7. Spelling: Not great. 8. Handwriting: Fairly excellent, with the minor blemish on running out of page for "Maxwell", which still happens to me today, and the Y in "you". 9. Word Choice: "Tonight" twice? I'm gonna have to give partial credit here. 10. Style: Absolutely impeccable. -- The Sixers would go on to break my heart that night, losing to Mookie and the Hawks 82-77. Maxwell tallied an efficient 20 points on 14 shots off the bench, but Blaylock's 23-6-4 and impressive rebounding efforts from Grant Long and Craig Ehlo proved too much for the 7-29 Sixers to handle. I hadn't been driving the Tank Train at age 6, otherwise I would've asked them to lose and lose soundly. Allen Iverson was the result of all that losing just a few months later. Thank you, Mookie. This is how I'm going to blog from now on.

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports We are only a few days away from the NBA Draft Lottery, and teams like the Philadelphia 76ers are waiting to see where they will be picking. It may not be one of the top-10 picks unless the ping pong balls bounce their way, but there is a definite need for a scorer going forward as Philadelphia was the worst team in the league, scoring just 93.2 points per game. I know that new general manager Sam Hinkie has his work cut out for him. If the ping pong balls don’t go Philly’s way, they will probably be picking 11th, which also means that the best players will be well off the board by then. This isn’t a very strong draft by any means, so there is no one player that is going to change things around. Philadelphia has their point guard figured out with Jrue Holiday and should be looking for a big man inside who can score. It leads me to thinking that a player like Kelly Olynyk might be a safe choice. He proved that he can score on the inside last season and will bang around with bigger players. The scoring aspect of his game would work very well with what Holiday can do as well. It could be a long rebuilding project for the 76ers and it won’t all be saved by one great draft pick. Philadelphia needs inside help and I don’t see them trying to get Andrew Bynum to come back to town after missing all of last season. It may be worth a try, but drafting Olynyk would solve that. I’m just as curious as everyone else to see where the 76ers head up picking and seeing what Hinkie does with that pick. Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports, like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.

Former Indiana forward Cody Zeller said his interview with the 76ers went well. “I think I’ll fit in well there,” said Zeller, who met with the Sixers’ brass on Thursday at the NBA draft combine.

Last night, when doing some "research" on Sam Hinkie, I watched a Sloan Sports Analytics Conference panel on how to effectively communicate analytical data and information to decision-makers who might not be inclined to accept the information otherwise. It gives a lot of insight into how Hinkie makes decisions and how he feels an NBA front office should work, so I recommend listening to it if you have time. And like he has in many other press conferences, he mentioned that analytics is just a way to gather more information, some of it more valuable than others, and that he weighs that information alongside reports from scouts and information gathered from teammates and coaches and family members and other so-called traditional methods. He prides himself on getting as much information as possible about a prospect or a player before making a decision so as to make the best decision possible. Which brings us to the NBA Draft Combine. The combine is ongoing in Chicago, which is essentially summer camp for NBA prospects and decision-makers. Teams gather all kinds of information about prospects that they could usually only speculate on beforehand - official height and wingspan measurements and the drills portion are probably the most important things that will come out of the combine. Not every player participates in all of the drills, but everyone at the combine goes through the measurements. And this wealth of information about almost all of the prospects contained in one place is what makes the combine important, although we don't know how important this information they gather will ultimately be in their decision-making. According to Keith Pompey, who is covering the draft combine for the Inquirer, the Sixers either have interviewed or will interview the following players during the combine: Mason Plumlee, Cody Zeller, Rudy Gobert, DeShaun Thomas, and maybe Michael Carter-Williams. They'll likely interview everyone that figures to come close to either one of their picks in time. A couple of notes before the notes: the official measurements I am using come from Chad Ford's chart found in this Insider article. You can find most of the important measurements on his Twitter account as well on Draft Express. Also, I'm using height without shoes because some guys apparently wear stilettos when measuring height with shoes on. I just assume that players will all play roughly an inch taller than their natural height. Rudy Gobert is ginormous - he measured at 7'0.5" without shoes at the combine and set records in both wingspan (7'9") and standing reach (9'7"). The latter two generally matter more for defenders than height, and Gobert comes three inches from touching the rim without lifting his feet off the ground. Teams are going to be very interested in that height, and from a development standpoint if he learns the game better, adds weight, and works on his conditioning, he could become a defensive monster. Those are all big ifs, and the Sixers could be in position to weigh whether or not he would be worth that kind of risk. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes ahead of the Sixers with those measurements. Cody Zeller's wingspan was better than initially reported - the same as his height without shoes, 6'10.75". While that could make him a slightly better defender, I'm still hesitant because of his strength issues. Mason Plumlee measured at 6'11.25" without shoes and a 6'11" wingspan, so fairly comparable with Zeller. Kelly Olynyk only had a 6'9.75" wingspan, however, which is pretty bad for a center even with his height. Otto Porter looks better and better everyday, with a 6'7.5" height without shoes and a wingspan over 7' and WHY DAMIEN WILKINS WHY? Jeff Withey and Gorgui Dieng had relatively similar measurements. Withey measured an inch taller while Dieng had an inch of wingspan on Jeff. Usually people prefer one of the older, defensive-minded bigs to the other, and these measurements won't really impact those arguments.

Predictably, one of the main themes during Sam Hinkie's introductory press conference on Tuesday was his belief in advanced statistical analysis. It was mentioned during the introductory statement made by Joshua Harris as well as Hinkie's, and it was the first question asked by reporters. Hinkie went to considerable effort to explain that the gap between how he values statistics and how more traditionally minded analysts value statistics isn't as wide as is popularly believed. "I started my career out of college in the business world. Using data to help people make complicated decisions. It turns out it helps. It helps a lot," new 76ers president and general manager Sam Hinkie said about advanced statistics. "[But] It's not everything." "I'm trying to use information to make decisions. The same way you do," Hinkie would go on to explain. "You use analytics when you open your iPhone and try to figure out if it's going to rain today. All you're using is lots and lots of data and it's helping you make an informed decision about whether you should bring an umbrella or not. That's the way I think about it." "I want differential information. That might be from some snazzy, advanced something, and that might be from a conversation you had with that players brother."-76ers president and general manager Sam Hinkie As I argued the other day, the bridge really isn't all that wide, and the notion that he would be using statistics and only statistics to make a decision is one made up largely by those who have not made much of a sincere effort to understand the statistics they so readily deride. Related: What Exactly Makes One An "Analytics"? Harris and Hinkie made similar statements that statistics are not the only piece of the puzzle. "When we talk about analytics we're not talking about going into a back room with a bunch of computers," Harris explained. "We're talking about adding to a very strong player [personnel] department and a more traditional front office." "In every industry you're still relying on the judgement and experience and wisdom of smart, committed, loyal employees who have been at this a long time," said Hinkie. "I want differential information. That might be from some snazzy, advanced something, and that might be from a conversation you had with that players brother. " Hinkie didn't believe that finding a coach who embraced such a philosophy would be all that difficult. "I think they all want to win. I think they all want to use the best information they can," Hinkie said. "I think more and more, as [teams] are really invested in this, [coaches] say 'This is helpful. This will help me'". Still, there is plenty of resistance among more traditionally minded people in the sport, both in front offices and in the media. It's curious, since the practice of using statistics to help make an informed decision isn't all that uncommon in every walk of life. Surely we would not argue that continuing to evolve the statistics we use to predict the weather and natural disasters would be a bad thing. So why such resistance? "I tell people that change is hard for all of us. Look at me 30 years from now and try to talk me out of my position and what's been successful for me for my whole career. I suspect I won't be nearly as pliable," Hinkie postulated. "I think some people move along quickly [in adopting new techniques] and I think others don't," Hinkie said. "I think that's okay. If you've been doing something a very long time, you should guard it closely...I hope [a coach] doesn't change his mind every time somebody has a conversation with him and presents a case. There ought to be a very high threshold [to change]." The other major reason Hinkie stated, besides a resistance to change, is how the practice of using advanced statistics is presented. "I think part of it is the tone people deal with each other in, which I've tried really, really hard not to do," Hinkie said. I spent some

There seems to be a lot of different opinions regarding how the Sixers should handle the 2013 off-season. Some of Philadunkia nation thinks that the organization should still plan to build around Bynum, while a large percentage of people don’t want to see him anywhere near this team or city again. Then there are those who feel that the Sixers actually aren’t too far away from contention and could compete with a couple tweaks.  However for every one with this view there are at least two others who feel that the team needs to be  completely blown up. The only thing certain now after the disappointing season that was for the Sixers, is uncertainty. The hiring of Sam Hinkie is the first stride on a long staircase the Sixers are facing this summer.  Finding a “basketball guy” to support Hinkie’s analytics, selecting a head coach, making draft picks, and filling out the roster with free agents are all still left on the agenda.  With a new regime in town it is difficult to tell exactly how any of this will turn out. With that being said, the smart thing for the Sixers to do this summer is — as little as possible. Although it is extremely tempting to retool the roster, especially after the poor play of the past season, this summer’s free agent crop and draft class may not contain the proper players to solidify the Sixers.  Outside of Dwight and CP3, there are no real “needle movers” hitting the market this summer, and assuming neither of them are jumping for joy at the thought of signing with the Sixers, the organization would be wise not to sign away the future of the franchise this summer. While signing some fringe free agents like O.J. Mayo or J.J. Hickson won’t guarantee a championship chase, it will limit cap flexibility for the franchise in the future. A likely late lottery pick in this year’s draft doesn’t look to be a big boost either, as this 2013 Draft class is widely considered a very weak group of prospects. So, what the Sixers should do is stand pat, play out next year largely as is, hopefully stink for another season, and put themselves in great position for the 2014 Draft, as well as that summer’s free agent group. While this summer’s draft class is maybe lacking some franchise-changing faces, the 2014 Draft is the exact opposite. The 2014 class boasts top high school prospect Andrew Wiggins, along with Oklahoma State standout Marcus Smart, and Duke commit Jabari Parker. Wiggins has drawn comparisons to hall-of-famer Scottie Pippen, while Smart and Parker have earned more modern comparisons to Carmelo Anthony and James Harden, respectively. The 2014 free agent class isn’t too shabby either, as it includes some well-known names like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwyane Wade. So, keeping signings to a minimum this summer should not only help the Sixers’ salary cap situation for next summer, but it should also help to give them a good shot at landing a top lottery pick.  Rather than trying to sign up some players this summer in order to remain relevant next season, the Sixers should accept their current state and embrace opportunities to improve the future of the franchise.

Brett Davis – USA Today Sports When a new general manager gets hired to take on a rebuilding project like that of the Philadelphia 76ers, many personnel decisions need to be made. The first choice Sam Hinkie will have to make is who he would like to be his first head coach. While names have floated around from Mike Malone, to Brian Shaw and Michael Curry, a new name has emerged as someone who has direct ties to Hinkie. The Sixers have received permission to interview Houston Rockets assistant Kelvin Sampson for their head coaching vacancy. Sampson started his career in the college coaching ranks, getting his first head-coaching job at Montana Tech. He then moved on to Washington State, Oklahoma and Indiana. He has spent the last five seasons in the NBA as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Rockets. Sampson left the college game after many rumors of illegal recruiting and has now settled in nicely in the pros. Hinkie already has a pretty good idea of the type of coach Sampson is and if he sees it as a fit for this roster, he should make the move to bring his guy in. The Rockets were second in the league in points per game this year with 106.0 per game with Sampson on the bench as an assistant. Who, as a Sixers fan, wouldn’t love to see Jrue Holiday and Thaddeus Young running the fast break more often and putting up more points? The Rockets were also third in the league in free throws made per game with 19.2, another aspect of the game the 76ers struggled mightily at. Maybe Sampson would be able to teach some of the aggressiveness James Harden had to our very own Evan Turner. If Hinkie can use his analytics brain to bring in the right players like he did by helping bring in Harden, Chandler Parsons and Omer Asik, it seems like Sampson would be the ideal fit to coach those types of players. Zach Slotter is a writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @zslot6, Like his Facebook page, or add him to your network on Google.

Jeff Withey is keyed up about Friday’s interview with the Sixers, who will likely get the 11th pick in next month's NBA Draft. “I’m extremely excited,” Withey said Thursday at the NBA Draft Combine.

A plan. The Sam Hinkie hiring is second to only the 2008 Phillies in my hierarchy of Good Things That Have Happened To Professional Sports Teams I Root For. And certainly the most important thing the Sixers have done in my lifetime. *** I am not a normal person. I spend hundreds of hours a year writing about a basketball team that, most of the time, I want to lose. I just snacked on bacon at midnight on a Wednesday and I am in good shape. Last week, I went on a date with a girl because of Harry Potter. Backstreet Boys just came up on my iTunes and I didn't even think about changing it. I couldn't be any more self-aware that my opinions and interests are not shared by the populace. And especially not the predominantly ass-backwards populace of Philadelphia Sports Fans. *** The Sixers have not had a concrete plan in decades. Iverson wasn't a plan, he was a highly unique and highly flawed player that they built a little shack of a team around because they didn't know what else to do. Since they traded AI,