76ers Lineup Shaping Up

The Sixers lineup is shaping up now that the draft is concluded, and the Sixers signed Evan Turner.

I still would like to see the Sixers make one offseason move; that move would be to get rid of Andre Iguodala, obviously via trade. Iguodala makes a lot of money, a bad signing by Ed Stefanski, but still is a good player, just not a #1 option. I think Iguodala makes a lot of sense for certain teams, including the Chicago Bulls, who missed out of signing LeBron. If you can unload Iguodala, it will open up room for Thaddeus Young to start at the #3.

This is the year you need to find out if Thaddeus Young can play or not. Young looked good and showed flashes early in his career, but struggled for the most part last season. This is the year you need to find out in Young can be a starter in this league, or if he is just a serviceable player. In this scenario, Jrue Holiday would start at the point, and Evan Turner at shooting guard. With Thaddeus Young at the small forward, this would give the Sixers maybe the tallest 1, 2, 3 combo in the league. Holiday is big for a point guard, Turner is big for a shooting guard, and Young is big for a small forward. This would allow the Sixers to create a lot of matchup problems for any other team.

If Iguodala stays on the roster, which is probably likely, then Iguodala will probably start at the small forward position, and Thaddeus Young will come off the bench. The Sixers have tried putting Iguodala at the 2, and Young at the 3, but that didn't really work, and Iguodala has said he feels more comfortable at the small forward position.

As for the big men, the Sixers are not great up front. Elton Brand is a natural power forward, but as we have seen the last 2 seasons, is well past his prime, but locked into starting with all the money they are paying him. He is also unfortunately sort of blocking the process of Marreese Speights, who has shown a lot of skill when in the game. He is another guy the Sixers need to see if he can be a long term starter in this league.

Finally, the Sixers do not have to run out Samuel Dalembert at center. It wasn't a very significant trade, but just getting rid of Dalembert is one of the best trades in Sixers history. Basically the opposite of the Cliff Lee trade. In return, the Sixers received Spencer Hawes and Andres Nocioni. Hawes will probably be penciled in as the starting center. Hawes isn't great, but has size, and is decent, and still young.

If the Sixers want to play around, they can put Thaddeus Young at the 4 from time to time, or Speights, and Elton Brand can play center. Jason Smith will also get some time up front this year to see if he can show us something.

Lou Williams will probably be one of the first players off the bench, and even though Williams didn't show much last year as the starting point guard, he can still play, and is a solid backup to Jrue Holiday. Throw in the fact that the Sixers now have a respectable coach in Doug Collins who can help groom the young players, and will make the guys work hard, and the Sixers should at the very least have more wins than last season.