The Sixers, it seems, have become national media darlings overnight, getting coverage from outlets that rarely paid attention to them in the past. Some of the best in the NBA blogosphere have been giving the Sixers credit, a result of their 6-2 start, the best in 11 years for the franchise.
Yesterday, Henry Abbott, Chad Ford, Tom Haberstroh, and Brian Windhorst had the Sixers in their top-5 teams list on ESPN's 5-on-5 roundtable, although this was tempered with "I don't expect them to be on this list forever" from Henry Abbott.
John Schuhmann, from NBA.com's Hangtime blog, had a long and well-researched post about the Sixers reserves, including a gem of a quote from Doug Collins about Thaddeus Young getting All-Defensive Team consideration.
Zach Lowe from SI's Point Forward blog then came in with a slightly different perspective (and one Mike and I generally agree on) to wait until the Sixers have played a tougher schedule before putting them in the elite class. Not that they're not a playoff team, not that they shouldn't be a good and enjoyable team to watch all year, not that they couldn't even win the Atlantic. They're just saying that it may be easy to slightly overrate the Sixers based on the bump they've received from little roster turnover (which shouldn't be as big of an advantage come playoff time) and by a relatively easy schedule.
Kevin Pelton over at Basketball Prospectus has a a piece on the Sixers fast start. It's subscription based, but well worth the read if you're a hoops geek. And let's be honest, aren't we all?
Then, there's the Sixers rise in power rankings, with ESPN (7th), NBA.com (7th), SBNation (6th), and Chris Sheridan (5th) all having very lofty rankings for the Sixers. Since then, Matt Moore of CBS Sports has the Sixers in the 5th spot, all the way up from 11th a week ago and 15th to start the season. Also, John Hollinger just released his formula-based ranking, which has the Sixers up at the top spot. Queue up Queen? Probably a little premature.
Regardless of whether the Sixers are legit or not, it's nice for them to be at least relevant. Except at the Wells Fargo Center, of course, where even with drastically slashed prices the team only drew slightly over 8,000 last night.
UPDATE (Levin) - And now John Hollinger has ingested some sort of acid/arsenic combination and lists the Philadelphia 76ers of Pennsylvania, United States, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy, Universe, Booker T, Matter as NUMBER ONE in his power rankings. Granted it's formulaic-based rather than subjectively, but it's still rather absurd. In honor of that, we'll be selling #1 foam fingers with Spencer's face on them for you to poke your siblings with.
0 recs | 62 comments
When we beat the Heatby 50 next week, we will easily be called the best team in basketball.
TitansJonne - January 10, 2012
SO PESSIMISTIC
yosoysean - January 10, 2012
Liberty BallPESSMISTICers, am I right?!
Michael Levin - January 10, 2012
Right as usual.
yosoysean - January 10, 2012
Indeed, I am waiting to see how they fair against really good teams. Pacers, Pistons, Raptors, Suns, Warriors, and Hornets are all teams they should be beating. And barely any of those teams look to be a real lock for playoffs. I’m very happy with the quick start. Vucevic has been good, better than I thought. But the schedule needs to get though and Sixers have to do well in that tough span before I say they have taken a next step.
Dalanel - January 10, 2012
And minutes after you publish this, Hollinger publishes his latest power rankings.
Guess who’s #1?
Justin F. - January 10, 2012
wow
mopey - January 10, 2012
No human intervention, #1! Hard to argue with it. Let’s hope they smash the Kings tonight and stay there.
clintdelicious22 - January 10, 2012
This makes no sense.
soman319 - January 10, 2012
It’s because Hollinger’s rankings are based on team stats so far – and Sixers lead the league in defense and point differential (because we’ve blown out bad teams). Time will tell if we stay there.
J.P.Melle - January 10, 2012
They actually have the highest efficiency differential in the history of the NBA…lol
link
BrandonB - January 10, 2012
Lol yeah I know.
But the realist in me is getting prepared for a tough stretch that will bring them back down to Earth. All of this sudden attention, I feel, is setting them up for failure.
soman319 - January 10, 2012
I mean, I don’t expect them to win the NBA championship this year – but Doug’s rotation combined with the style they play means the ball almost always finds the guys who are playing well. At the very least it’s really fun to watch, and it probably means that we’ll be alright even if key players go through tough stretches (i.e. Jrue lately).
J.P.Melle - January 10, 2012
No doubt. I am 100% behind the excitement in this team. It started last year where even during the 3-13 start, our team was still playing hard and were actually in the games. Last year was a breath of fresh air from what seemed like a decade of “He-who-must-not-be-named”. This year we wanted to see improvement upon the last and what consistent coaching actually meant.
However, we’ll see what this team is actually made of moving forward. I’m still in the camp that this team is still in the mediocrity level, albeit on the highest level of mediocrity. While we are winning, the glaring weaknesses are there. We can’t really match physicality and we are thin in the front court. This spells bad for the long-run or playoffs if you look in the short-term. The problem is, acquiring stronger pieces often requires money and appeal, two things that we currently don’t have. Will our young guys keep developing and stars emerge? I don’t know. But, being a realist about it all shouldn’t mean that we are being pessimistic (not that you or anyone in particular is saying it). Cautiously optimistic is where I’m really at.
soman319 - January 10, 2012
One minor problem
Not many teams are deep in the front court. Indiana is actually quite deep for today’s NBA standards and we seemed to handle that ok. There are like 10 beastly big men in this league. I get tired of hearing that excuse as to why we will eventually lose.
B-DON - January 10, 2012
Not that it’s a prerequisite but championship contending teams typically have some type of force in the paint. I don’t know if we can match this when it comes time to face that type of team (say the Bulls or Heat)
soman319 - January 10, 2012
Appeal?
While I think it’s a bit far off, if the sixers put together a very respectable finish (i.e. Atlantic Division champions, top 4 seed, playoff round win, and very competitive versus future NBA Champion team, taking them to 6-7 games in a playoff series loss) what’s to say that a superstar wouldn’t sign here with the belief that he could take the 76ers over the top and into NBA Finals contention.
I really do believe that Jrue is going to establish himself as an All-Star PG, ET will emerge as a solid contributor (all-star in 2013) and we will need a stud big man to come here and solve our front court problems. It’s a pipe-dream, but it’s not a distant possibility if the Sixers keep playing this well.
Vince1129 - January 10, 2012
fair enough.
soman319 - January 10, 2012
Well, he did warn us...
Hollinger Leaps on the Sixers Bandwagon…
dweebowitz - January 10, 2012
Good call.
Michael Levin - January 10, 2012
HEY EVERYBODY, HOP ON THE BANDWAGON! THE WATER’S FINE!
Michael Levin - January 10, 2012
for those with insider
here’s the explanation
ColeStevens - January 10, 2012
can’t paste full excerpt, but basically he says the he expects the Sixers to regress to the mean, not a threat to miami/chicago, but a legit top 4 seed in the east.
Derek Bodner - January 10, 2012
If only some people commenting on his power rankings could read and reason. Everyone is freaking out because the Sixers were number one without thinking about how he reaches his rankings and small sample size.
Ben16 - January 10, 2012
I want to see this team play Chicago
If I’m not mistaken we beat them twice late in the year and llooked like a bad matchup.
Dpez71 - January 10, 2012
Flattered
LibertyBallers.com is the first fansite in history ever to argue the national media and stats are overrating their team. (Kevin Pelton, Basketball Prospectus)
Derek Bodner - January 10, 2012
I love it I think? Yes, I love it.
mopey - January 10, 2012
That’s why you guys are da best.
nyunole - January 10, 2012
We're pretty awesome.
soman319 - January 10, 2012
lol
We’re not drinkin Hollinger’s kool-aid
jrb5094 - January 10, 2012
Naismithball - January 10, 2012
We’re the best!
yosoysean - January 10, 2012
and by “we” I mean LB, not the Sixers. We don’t think the Sixers are very good around here.
yosoysean - January 10, 2012
I like to call it a dose of realism but hey this works for me.
EREX21 - January 10, 2012
If we weren’t blowing these teams out I would buy the weak schedule talk but since we are I’m not buying we’re just getting a break with our schedule
KJ Brophy - January 10, 2012
so you think we’re a top 5 team in the league?
Derek Bodner - January 10, 2012
Damn...
The fairweather fans we were worrying about last night? I think this news will bring them out in full force. I hope this doesn’t get out of hand. But if the Sixers are doing good, I can tolerate them.
The Mad Hopper - January 10, 2012
Tolerate? They’re blowing teams out by 30 and you tolerate…
J.P.Melle - January 10, 2012
Tolerate fair weather fans.
yosoysean - January 10, 2012
Two points
1) I was at the game last night and the Sixers were seriously warming up to Imma Boss…clearly, this is the difference maker.
2) I was annoyed at the lack of respect the Sixers were getting over the last couple of days, but now I’m just mortified by what I’ve seen today (and not just from ESPN).
udkyle - January 10, 2012
Wait, were they seriously warming up to Imma Boss? If so, that’s amazing.
jrb5094 - January 10, 2012
Yes sir.
Jordan Sams - January 10, 2012
That’s awesome
jrb5094 - January 11, 2012
To add even more fun...
Nikola Vucevic officially has the highest PER in the NBA. Rejoice!!!
philsfreak6 - January 10, 2012
udkyle - January 10, 2012
haha!
Vuc, Hawes and the boss in the top 20. Arguably the three most hated players on the team before the start of the season.
mopey - January 10, 2012
I mean third highest, but still, REJOICE
philsfreak6 - January 10, 2012
Amusing...
…that David Thorpe has Young Nik as the 38th best rookie in the NBA, one place ahead of Lavoy Allen.
dweebowitz - January 10, 2012
76ers Facebook page has a poll
What is the reason for the Sixers successful start this season?
Option 2, garnering 18 votes so far, is Allen Iverson. Did I miss something?
The Mad Hopper - January 10, 2012
Now has 92 votes out of 320
The Mad Hopper - January 10, 2012
There’s always money in the
banana standAllen Iverson.Michael Levin - January 10, 2012
So we burn Iverson down?
yosoysean - January 10, 2012
As long as it’s intentional.
Michael Levin - January 10, 2012
And we don’t delegate mailing the premium to a magician named Gob.
nyunole - January 10, 2012
I’ve made a huge mistake.
yosoysean - January 10, 2012
I actually saw them mentioned on Sports Center!
What’s that all about?
Naismithball - January 10, 2012
I agree with the majority of people of this fansite, it’s too early to celebrate and we have to wait until the schedule gets tougher. However we must admit that (although not with top class opponents) the sixers showed stretches of well played bb, which is always a good sign. Happy to see many fans having such a developed sense of critical thinking. Well done.
apfan - January 10, 2012
......
u better not be joking about those foam fingers….
Tj Singh - January 10, 2012 via mobile
It started as a joke but now I’m thinking…..hard……
Michael Levin - January 10, 2012
Too early...
thanks for jinxing us… national media.
BIBTD - January 10, 2012
Marcus Thorton is out?! Forget Tebow, Jesus just became a Sixers fan.
xEgan - January 10, 2012
Our D should suffocate Jimmer
clintdelicious22 - January 10, 2012
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Liberty Ballers to post a comment.