 A Costly Win If you haven't heard, the Sixers were dealt a potentially deadly blow in the third quarter tonight. Elton Brand went down with a dislocated shoulder. I'll have more on that later, for now, let's talk about this come-from-behind win and how the bench carried the Sixers to the win. How's this for a stat:
With 3:51 to go, the game was tied 86-86. Here's what the Sixers did with their final 9 possessions:
As Alvin said in the comments earlier, "This is the Lou Williams that we signed for $25m/5yr." Indeed. A quick note about DiLeo's rotations. He seemed to let the flow of the game dictate his subs tonight, rather than mechanically putting a guy in according to a formula. He gave the bench guys some extra burn in the second because they were playing well. Same thing in the fourth, Reggie Evans worked his ass off for his minutes tonight, and he made the most of them. Player of The Game: Loooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Team Record: 11-14 (ahead of the Knicks and the Bucks) Up Next: The Wiz, again. Friday night, their place. 
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I think this is ultimately a blessing in disguise. We were never going anywhere with this roster. You'll disagree, but that's my opinion. Now they'll be much more likely to sell off Miller and Dalembert. The latter of which can only be good for this team. Miller's a tougher question, depending on what we could've gotten in this free agent market, but he could bring us young talent, shooting, or picks. And finally, lottery here we come! Stephen Curry would be such a huge get for us.
If they don't sell off Miller, I don't think they're in the lottery. Agree 100% on Stephen Curry, though.
Without Brand we may be able to play the same way we did last season. We may even go slightly past .500 and earn a playoff berth. But that wouldn't be a step up at all from last season.
I can't say the same for everybody, but I want this team to push for the next level, which is a legitimate shot at the title. Without Brand we are definitely further from that goal.
The most important thing right now then would be to determine the futures of Miller, Dalembert and Green.
If Miller is willing to stay and accept a reasonable contract I want to keep him around because I don't see signs of his game declining that soon. Besides it's hard to get a quality PG, Boston only got away with lacking a good PG because of the big three.
I believe Dalembert is movable depending on what kind of deal you can get for him. At his best he is a very good rebounder but he's such a pain at other times. If we can package Daly and Green for someone good I'm all for it.
loved the 4th quarter defense and the energy of lou and sp8s; loved the lineup of lou, iggy, miller, reggie and sp8s especially defensively. that said, i think sammy is going to make or break this team. the interior defense, especially in the 2nd quarter, was sad. like you said before, he's a tough nut to crack but the coaches need to find a way to solve the puzzle that is sammy and get him to play his best, b/c when he does, this team can compete.
amazing that bogut was a #1 pick, ahead of CP3 at that; not a good draft for the bucks.
WIth Brand they're a barely 500 team that maybe wins a couple games in the first round...they still don't have the right point guard (guess the Wiz games was a fluke and not the beginning of something) who should be traded...their starting center is still bad, and their bench is still shallower than those chicks on the hills (and the chicks who watch them, don't care who you are, if you watch the hills, you're a chick)