NBA 2006-2007 Preview: Philadelphia 76ers

Philadelphia 76ers
Coach: Maurice Cheeks, 2nd Season (38-44)
General Manager: Billy King
’05-’06 Record: 38-44, 2nd Atlantic Division


Projected Starting Lineup (’05-’06 Stats)

PG – Kevin Ollie (2.7 ppg., 1.4 rpg., 2.4 apg.)
SG – Allen Iverson (33.0 ppg., 3.2 rpg., 7.4 apg.)
SF – Andre Iguodala (12.3 ppg., 5.9 rpg., 3.1 apg.)
PF – Chris Webber (20.2 ppg., 9.9 rpg., 3.4 apg.)
C – Samuel Dalembert (7.3 ppg., 8.2 rpg., 0.4 apg.)


Key Additions: PF Alan Henderson (UFA – CLE)

Key Subtractions: SF John Salmons (UFA – SAC)


2006 NBA Draft
Round 1 – SF Rodney Carney (16th overall; from CHI), University of Memphis
Round 2 – SF Bobby Jones (37th overall; from MIN), University of Washington; PF Edin Bavcic (56th overall; from TOR), International - Bosnia


Positional Breakdowns

Guards
One of the biggest problems throughout the past few years in Philadelphia has been matching a quality point guard to compliment Allen Iverson. They’ve tried a number of different options, including having Iverson himself run the point, but they seemingly haven’t found a viable option as of yet. Kevin Ollie will take his turn with the Sixers this season after seeing some action starting last season in 23 games. Ollie has shown that he will be game for the task of handling Mo Cheeks’ offense, but whether he can succeed is a different story. He’s not going to score a lot, so his focus will remain on getting the ball to guys like Iverson, Andre Iguodala, or Chris Webber. Ollie has some speed and decent ball-handling skills, but he needs to focus on using both together. He knows how to take care of the ball and had an assist-to-turnover ration of 3.48/1. Of course, this is in a little over 15 minutes a game off the bench. We’ll see how much more effective he can be in the starting lineup.