Last season was a small step towards that recovery, and it will be seasons more before this team is looked at as more that an upstart. Doug Collins seems to be a good fit for the cast of characters on the team and the new ownership team appears to care about the fans. On both fronts, only access to the results will let us know for sure how good these two will be for the team.
One immediate step towards progress is the re-signing of Thaddeus Young. So much is made about the players meshing together, struggling to be a cohesive unit. Evan Turner's game is like a teenage girl that wants to drop out of high school and backpack through Europe. Until he decides to man up and make some shots, he is undependable. Andre Iguodala might have misheard someone describing his jumpshot as "clutch" rather than "a crutch" and continues to ruin the last 24 seconds of games. Brand is consistent but old and slow, Holliday is young and fast but inconsistent.
Young surely has his weaknesses; perimeter defense, ball handling, puppies in Christmas sweaters (haven't confirmed the last one). The unifying element with the players in the last paragraph is that they are the starters so their faults are ever-present. Young is a burst of left-handed energy of the bench that confuses defenders. He is very fast from post to rim to his left, a characteristic not seen in many players in the league. He is also very long hand has a nearly unblockable jumpshot.
Young's importance to the team is not in giving 40 minutes or 25 points a game. He is valuable in that while all the others figure out their roles on the team, Young will come in and take high percentage shots, and create match-up problems for opponents. Letting Young go in free-agency would have severely affected the bench of an already shallow team. It is important for the new ownership to remember that the salary cap was designed for the whole team, rather than just the starters, and that a strong bench will help climb the ladder in the East.
The next step for the Sixers is to polish the talent of Craig Brackins and Evan Turner to make the two highly valuable rather than just highly touted.
