Archive: October, 2010
Bob Cooney
The Sixers just finished a light practice at the Wells Fargo Center before getting on a flight to Cincinnati where they will face the Cleveland Cavaliers tomorrow night. They'll finish out the preseason on Wednesday at home against the New York Knicks.
Coach Doug Collins said that Spencer Hawes, who has been out with a strained lower back for the past couple of weeks, is moving around better and hopes the center will be ready for opening night on October 27th. Marreese Speights, who is nursing a sore hamstring, looks like he'll be available for the last two preseason games.
Collins will put out sort of an odd starting lineup tomorrow against the Cavs, as rookie Evan Turner will start at the point. Collins said he wanted to do this being as the game is just a couple of hours from Turner's hometown of Chicago. The others in the starting lineup will be Jason Kapano, Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand and Tony Battie. Battie has yet to play in the preseason due to right knee synovitis. Collins said he wanted to get the veteran to stay warm and get him out there a little bit.
Bob Cooney
Right now, the Phillies and the Sixers are very much alike.
Huh?
Well, both are looking for some kind of offense. While the Phillies are struggling to get runs in the NLCS against the San Francisco Giants, coach Doug Collins is trying to find the right fit for a starting five before the season starts on October 27. He would preferably like to start a group that could score him some points.
Bob Cooney
A few weeks ago a Western Conference executive told the Daily News that the Denver Nuggets had been in conversation with the Sixers about a possible trade that would send Carmelo Anthony to Philadelphis in exchange for Andre Iguodala and other players.
Today, a source told the Denver Post that Anthony still does want to be traded from the Nuggets, but that the Sixers aren't a team he'd be interested in going to. According to the report, Anthony's preference is to go to an East Coast team, with New York or New Jersey at the top of his list.
Chicago is also a possibility, if a deal for Anthony can be reached
Bob Cooney
Sixers coach Doug Collins said forward Marreese Speights has a mild right hamstring strain.
Speights was injured during the Sixers' preseason game at Toronto on Wednesday night.
Collins said Speights can do some stationary shooting for right now. The hope is that he’ll be able to return to practice on Saturday.
It's been hard for the 76ers' offense to get in gear so far in the preseason, but some of the team's backup players have stepped up their games. Bob Cooney of the Daily News breaks down the Sixers' positives and negatives in an interview wtih Cinesport's Noah Coslov.
Bob Cooney
Perhaps it was fitting tonight that the Sixers defeated the Boston Celtics for their first preseason win due to the play of their reserves. Because that's what Boston had on the court all night.
The Celtics did not play Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo or Ray Allen as coach Doc Rivers chose to rest his star players. Doug Collins trotted out his starting lineup and was playing to win. His starters just didn't do a very good job of seeing that through. Had it not been for subs Lou Williams, Jason Kapano, Marreese Speights and Andres Nocioni, Collins might still be looking for his first win as Sixers coach.
The play of the first unit was not good, espeically considering they were matched up with Boston's second unit. To dig deeper, Elton Brand had no rebounds in 27 minutes. Evan Turner had five turnovers, Thad Young shot 3-for-12 and the first five of the Sixers got outrebounded by the Celtic starters by 27-18.
Bob Cooney
The Sixers will play their first home preseason game tonight at the Wells Fargo Center against the Boston Celtics - or at least against a slimmed down Celtics roster.
The Celtics will not play Ray Allen, Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce or Delonte West. All but West are healthy scratches. West is bothered by back spasms.
The Sixers are still without center Spencer Hawes, who is also nursing a sore back. Coach Doug Collins' starting lineup will be Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, Andre Iguodala, Thad Young and Elton Brand.
Bob Cooney
Tonight the Sixers will face off against a huge Boston Celtics team, with Shaquille O'Neal at Center, Kevin Garnett at power forward and plenty of bigs coming off the bench - like Glen "Big Baby" Davis.
With center Spencer Hawes nursing a strained lower back, the Sixers will start a small frontcourt of Andre Iguodala, Thad Young and Elton Brand.
It's not how coach Doug Collins envisioned things, but he has to go with what's available. He sees forward/center Marreese Speights as a valuable commodity coming off the bench, so he doesn't want to start him for Hawes.
Bob Cooney
Former 76er guard Eric Snow will be the new analyst for Sixer games on Comcast SportsNet, the station announced tonight.
Snow replaces Ed Pinckney, who left the microphone behind to become an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls.
Snow will be the third analyst in three years to team with play-by-play man Marc Zumoff since longtime analyst Steve Mix was let go.
Bob Cooney
Ever since training camp started back on Septembe 28th, Doug Collins has been doing an awful lot of teaching and tinkering - and it has meant for some long practices.
Today, Collins got the players on the floor a little after 11 and didn't dismiss them for close to 2 and a half hours later.
This has been the norm lately, and understandably so. The team has lost all three exhibition games, including a loss Saturday at New Jersey in which they blew a 7-point lead with 15 seconds to go.
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
