Philly Sports Post - Home of the PSP Podcast

Why should I care about the 76ers?
Do you?
Really?
I doubt it.

The 2008-09 Philadelphia 76ers season is over. And while we're writing the obituary, let's add in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons while we're at it. You know what, enough with the formalities...the 76ers are dead to me! And as much as I'd prefer to leave this article at that, I have to post something semi-intelligent for the sake of the site. So here it goes. If you think I'm off base, if you're one of the "14,000" believers allegedly paying for a seat at the half-empty Wachovia Center for each Sixers game, then by all means, make me a believer. Make we want to "Come Run with Us," as the 76ers have so eloquently put it.


I admit that I'm not the biggest NBA fan, but I do love Philly sports! I'm a 'homer' and proud of it. The Philadelphia 76ers were the NBA as far as I was concerned. But this year, when it comes to the Sixers, the interest is just not there. And worse than that, I don't see this getting any better.

When the Sixers made their run in 2001, I was out every night, adult beverage in hand, screaming and cheering the team on as they marched through the East and squared off against the Lakers. That team had character, it had heart and of course it had the league MVP. But the joy of that memorable run quickly evaporated and has been lost and forgotten in just eight years. The team quickly deteriorated, and since the departure of Larry Brown in 2004, has had five different head coaches. Now, due to the atrocious state of the Sixers franchise, basketball, to me, is essentially dead. Does anyone feel differently throughout the city? When I look at the fact that the Sixers' average attendance is 14,790, 25th in the league, it seems like there are a lot of other people out there who also think the Sixers have been given their last rites. Prove me wrong.

Because of the overall mismanagement and poor play of the team, my interest in professional basketball now focuses on tuning in whenever Lebron is playing, holding off on flipping the channel if Kobe happens to be on, and from time to time allowing the man formerly known as Shaq to remain on my TV screen for a few minutes longer than I probably should be permitting at this point in his career. Turning on Comcast Sportsnet and seeing that the Sixers are playing hardly causes a pause in my nightly channel surfing. I may take a quick peek at the score, follow that up with a fast "they stank" comment, but I am quickly flipping back to reruns of Family Guy.

Don't tell me that they're not that bad. They are once again below .500 and have no chance at winning a playoff round. I'm sorry, but making it to the NBA playoffs and getting bounced in the first round should not be considered a success. Looking at this team from top to bottom and looking at the salaries that are attached to this second rate squad only leads to further frustration. The problems surrounding this squad are not going away any time soon. I'm not focused on who is getting minutes over who and I don't want to have to figure out how this team will gel next season when Brand comes back. I want Ed Stefanski and whoever the coach will be next year to fix the problems so I can enjoy a Sixers game once again. To be honest, I do have one bit of advice, this gem coming from a guy that knows only the basics: Can we please sign someone who can make a 3-pointer from time to time?

This team overpays at the wrong times, they cannot evaluate talent and they have no idea which identity they want their team to grasp on to. With only a limited repartee of basketball knowledge and salary cap regulations, I know that this team is stuck for at least the next three seasons; bogged down with the salaries of Brand, Iguodala, Dalembert, Williams, Evans and Green. Between those six players, the 76ers have already spent $55,005,349 in guaranteed money for the 2010-11 season, which we are still two years away from. In case you were wondering, this season's salary cap is $58.68 million with the luxury tax threshold set at $71.15 million. The cap has generally gone up about $3 million per/season over the past few seasons. But anyway you look at it, unless the Sixers deal at least one of those salaries away, they're not going to be able to make any major changes to bring this franchise back to life.

What's that? You say they could have attempted to dump one of those contracts this year by packaging someone along with Andre Miller? Wow. What else was there? Oh, they just lost their fourth game in a row, on a last second half court shot to the Nets? Forget it. Tag em' and Bag em', the Sixers are dead.