At around week five of the NBA season, our SBNation power ranks had the Sixers essentially in the basement of the NBA. They generally kept Doug Collins’ boys above the likes of the Nets and Raptors, but that was it. They were the third worst team in the NBA.
12. Philadelphia 76ers (26-28, Prev: #17) — The Sixers have nearly the same point margin as the Hawks … against a tougher schedule. Philadelphia might be more dangerous than the Hawks and Knicks in the first round.
This puts the Sixers above teams like the Knicks and Hawks, who both currently sit just above Philly in the Eastern conference standings.
They’ve done it. After five weeks of trying, the Philadelphia 76ers have found their way to the bottom of the eastern conference power rankings. The Sixers finished week 5 of the NBA season with the least amount of wins in the conference and subsequently our SBNation.com ranks have stuck them in the basement. The Sixers are now just one win shy of having the worst record in the entire NBA.
On the bright side however, Liberty Ballers says one good thing has come from this season so far. That’s when they coined the nickname “Donaglia.” So raise a glass to that Sixer fans!
The 76ers are coming off a week where they went on a pretty miserable road trip facing most of the Western conference’s best teams. Unsurprisingly, they were swept. We’ve got them falling down two spots from #11 in the Eastern Conference to #13.
Philly had a tough week, facing some of the best of the West. They lost to all three, and now sit with a terrible 2-8 record. Shooting a plethora of threes and making lateral moves over the off-season just doesn’t win you games.
I suppose the Sixers can take some solace in the fact that they aren’t in the cellar. Both the Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors are still ranked lower than Philadelphia.
Things do get a bit easier for the Sixers this week as they face the not very good Cleveland Cavaliers and the awful Toronto Raptors. On Friday they host the so-so Milwaukee Bucks.
The week 2 NBA power rankings are out and the Sixers have actually moved up from week 1, where they just about considered the second worst team in the league. They’re still cellar dwellers, but slightly more respectable cellar dwellers this week.
Despite four straight 20-point games from Brand — his longest such streak since April 2007 — folks in Philly already have dialed down the playoff talk. Year 1 under Collins and Thorn is suddenly an “audition season.”
Suddenly? Playoff talk? Where did this guy hear people talking about the Sixers as a playoff team?
Still getting flashes from Evan Turner and big offensive numbers all around, especially from Elton Brand. But Andre Iguodala is hurt and doesn’t look to be happy, and the 76ers are clearly still very much in rebuilding mode.
Elton Brand has been the Sixers’ best player this season, which is both good news and bad news. Good that Brand is regaining his old form, but bad that Andre Iguodala hasn’t shined as brightly. And to make matters worse, Iguodala just had his consecutive-games-played streak end at 252 after he was forced to miss his team’s game on Sunday due to a sore right Achilles’.
Did Evan Turner just Wally Pipp Andre Iguodala? Turner got his first start of the year for an injured Iguodala on Sunday, and the 76ers beat the Knicks in MSG. It’s just one game, but it underscores the problem Doug Collins faces when trying to get the rookie enough minutes. Maybe it’s time to move Iguodala elsewhere. The problem is that few teams want to take on that contract.
The first NBA power rankings are out and as you might expect, the Sixers are a bottom dweller thought they aren't the worst team in the league. Of course, that could change tonight. The SBNation.com ranks are done by conference, not the association as a whole. The Sixers come in at #14, or second to last in the Eastern Conference
Another winless team who, if we look at the games played so far, we would half expect to be winless, so no harm done I suppose, though only one of those games was even competitive down the stretch. When the highlights of your early season are "Elton Brand isn't dead" and "Evan Turner crossed over Dwyane Wade", it's hard to get over-excited about the future.
Coming in last the ranks? Tonight's opponent, the Washington Wizards. If those Wizards happen to beat the Sixers, then obviously Doug Collins' boys will find themselves at the bottom.
