Philadelphia 76ers Blog – Page 57 – NBA Blog

Philadelphia 76ers now own a D-League team based in Newark, Delaware

The NBA Development League today announced that the Philadelphia 76ers have purchased the right to own and operate an NBA D-League team that will play in Newark, Delaware. The new team will be the single-affiliate of the 76ers, and will play at the Bob Carpenter Center on the campus of the University of Delaware. Tipping off for the start of the 2013-14 NBA D-League season, the team will be known as the Delaware 87ers.

“We’re thrilled to work with the 76ers to bring NBA D-League basketball to Newark and the state of Delaware,” said NBA D-League President Dan Reed. “Having a record 12th NBA team invest in their own NBA D-League team shows our development system for top NBA prospects is working, and highlights the league’s continued growth. We’re very excited to share our world-class brand of basketball, affordable family-friendly entertainment, and community engagement with all Delawareans.”

The name 87ers was chosen for the team in recognition of Delaware being the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1787, and the team will be referred to as the “Sevens,” a nod to the parent club being referred to as the “Sixers.”

“The creation of the Delaware 87ers is an important milestone in our quest to ensure that the Philadelphia 76ers are viewed in all respects to be a world-class and cutting-edge NBA franchise. We believe that the ability to own and operate our own NBA D-League affiliate will strengthen our player development and other team initiatives, and be a tremendous asset to the entire Sixers organization,” said Sixers Managing Owner Josh Harris. He continued, “We are particularly excited that we can situate the team in the welcoming, nearby state of Delaware, especially since there are so many Delawareans who already are avid 76ers fans.”

The 76ers have purchased the rights to operate the former Utah Flash, which has been on hiatus since the end of the 2010-11 NBA D-League season. The team becomes the 17th NBA D-League team, and the 12th to be singly affiliated with an NBA team.

Of the 12 NBA D-League teams with single affiliations, the 76ers join five other teams which are fully owned and operated by their NBA parent club, including the Austin Toros (San Antonio Spurs), Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers), Los Angeles D-Fenders (Los Angeles Lakers), Santa Cruz Warriors (Golden State Warriors) and the Tulsa 66ers (Oklahoma City Thunder). An additional five teams have a hybrid relationship with their NBA parent club, including the Erie BayHawks (New York Knicks), Idaho Stampede (Portland Trail Blazers), Maine Red Claws (Boston Celtics), Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Houston Rockets), and Springfield Armor (Brooklyn Nets). The hybrid partnership gives an NBA team control of the NBA D-League team’s basketball operations while local ownership retains control of the business. The Texas Legends have a one-to-one relationship with the Dallas Mavericks.

Sixers assistant Brian James might take job at Northwestern

Sixers assistant coach Brian James will join the Northwestern University coaching staff of Chris Collins very soon after the NBA regular season ends on Wednesday, according to multiple sources.

James was the high school coach of Collins, who is the son of Sixers head coach Doug Collins.

This impending move is another indication that Doug Collins will not return to coach the final year on his contract with the Sixers, although that cannot yet be confirmed. James has been his right-hand assistant previously in Detroit and Washington, as well as serving stints with Milwaukee and Toronto as an assistant coach and Seattle as an advance scout when Collins was out of coaching.

The Sixers coach has maintained that he hasn’t decided yet if he wants to be back for the 2013-14 season.

— Reported by Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Sixers may hope coach Doug Collins moves on this summer

According to multiple league sources, the 76ers organization privately hopes that coach Doug Collins decides not to return for the 2013-14 season and, regardless of his decision, it does not intend to extend his contract – which has one year remaining.

It will be an interesting game of cat-and-mouse when this season ends. Collins is unlikely to quit and leave $4.5 million on the table, but he is just as unlikely to agree to coach the lame-duck year of his contract.

“I’m entirely focused on trying to win the games we have left,” Collins said Wednesday night before the Sixers played Atlanta at the Wells Fargo Center. “I’m not thinking at all about next season. I haven’t gone there.”

Previously, Collins has said he simply doesn’t know yet what he will do. This has been an excruciatingly difficult season for the entire organization, and particularly for Collins, who pours so much passion and energy into coaching that he is always exhausted at the end of a season. This time around, dealing with the crushing disappointment of not having the Andrew Bynum deal work out, and then dealing with a team that is incapable of winning without him, the toll has been even greater.

“I think he’s gone at the end of the year. He’ll be moving on,” said one NBA source with intimate knowledge of the situation. “He’ll decide to leave, and they won’t be upset about it. They would like to see it work out that he decides to move on.”

— Reported by Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia 76ers having Allen Iverson bobblehead night March 30

Former Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson will be in attendance at Saturday’s (March 30) game at the Wells Fargo Center when the Sixers host the Charlotte Bobcats at 8:00 p.m.

Iverson will be introduced and salute the crowd on the court prior to tip-off. All fans in attendance at Saturday’s game will receive an Allen Iverson bobblehead, courtesy of Reebok.

“It’s always good to come back to Philadelphia,” said Allen Iverson. “I’m excited to be there for my bobblehead night, see the team and hear the roar of the fans I love.”

The Sixers next host the Charlotte Bobcats at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday, March 30 at 8:00 p.m. All fans in attendance will receive an Allen Iverson bobblehead.

Andrew Bynum will have surgery on both knees, and not play this season

Philadelphia 76ers center Andrew Bynum will undergo arthroscopic surgery on both knees tomorrow, which will cause him to miss the remainder of the season.

“After many months of rehabilitation and consulting with numerous doctors, Andrew and the doctors treating him determined that this is the best course of action at this point,” Sixers General Manager Tony DiLeo said. “We will continue to monitor and evaluate his status moving forward.”

The arthroscopic surgery will be performed by Dr. David Altchek of the Hospital of Special Surgery in New York. The primary focus of the procedure is to clean out loose bodies from within the knees in an attempt to alleviate pain and swelling.

Bynum has not yet played a single minute for the 76ers, who are having a rough season. With a 25-40 record, the team is 10th in the East, but nowhere near catching up to the 8th seed.

Jameer Nelson scores 24, Magic beat Sixers 99-91

Injuries left Orlando Magic point guard Jameer Nelson as a spectator in each of his team’s first two matchups this season with the Philadelphia 76ers.

In Round 3 the Pennsylvania native reminded the Sixers what his presence can bring to a game.

Nelson had 24 points and 10 assists, and Nik Vucevic added 14 points and 17 rebounds as the Magic held off the Sixers in the fourth quarter to secure a 99-91 victory on Sunday night.

The win ended the Magic’s seven-game home losing streak, their longest skid in Orlando since 2003-04. It also gives the Magic some momentum in advance of the Los Angeles Lakers’ visit Tuesday, which will be Dwight Howard’s first return to Orlando since he was traded this past summer…

Arron Afflalo and Tobias Harris added 17 and 15 points, respectively. The double-double was the 35th of the season for Vucevic, who was dealt to the Magic by Philadelphia as part of the multi-team Howard deal.

Thaddeus Young had 26 points and 12 rebounds for the Sixers, followed by Damien Wilkins with 16 points in his first start of the season…

The Magic improved to 13-10 when leading after three quarters. … Young recorded his 16th double-double of the season. … The unit that opened the game for Philadelphia was its 13th starting lineup of the season. … Collins said the biggest change that he’s seen in Vucevic’s game since the Sixers dealt him to the Magic is as simple as him getting more playing time.

— Reported by Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press

Andrew Bynum concedes he might not play this season

Out all season with bad knees, Andrew Bynum’s latest setback may be the one that finally ends his year.

Bynum admitted for the first time that he may not play for the Philadelphia 76ers because of swelling in his right knee. Bynum had been steadfast since training camp that he would eventually make his Sixers’ debut, even setting an All-Star break target date. Bynum backed off Friday because he still had swelling in his right knee from five-on-five drills last week. Bynum, an All-Star last season with the Lakers, refused to commit to a comeback.

“It’s getting really late,” he said. “I don’t know.”

Building around their 7-foot center, the Sixers (22-34) expected to contend for the Atlantic Division title and make a deep run in the playoffs. Without him, they have lost seven straight entering Saturday’s game against Golden State and are well behind the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Not even Bynum could help them salvage a playoff berth now.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Lack of effort from 76ers stings Doug Collins

In honor of center Andrew Bynum, who didn’t make a public appearance in the Wells Fargo Center during Tuesday night’s game against the Orlando Magic, his 76ers teammates didn’t show up, either.

A season that has become a long trudge through quicksand took another stumbling step toward oblivion with a 98-84 loss to the Magic. If the prospect of losing the game ever concerned the Sixers, it wasn’t noticeable.

“I certainly didn’t see this effort coming. It’s mind-numbing to me,” coach Doug Collins said. “Youth is a blaming thing. After a while, the talk gets old. It just does.”

The Sixers have a handy excuse for their dreadful circumstance, of course, and that is the absence of Bynum, the player around whom the team was designed. He hasn’t played and, at least judging by Tuesday night, he might not even feel healthy enough to sit with his teammates on the bench and stand during timeouts. Not that we know for sure.

Bynum was expected to update the world before the game regarding the state of his aching knees and the prospect that he might eventually use them once again in an NBA game. That didn’t happen, though, and the 76ers organization, which appears to be growing weary of either the questions or the answers, wasn’t in much of a mood to shed much light on the matter.

— Reported by Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Magic beat Sixers, end 10-game road losing streak

Players were high-fiving and telling jokes in the giddy postgame locker room.

It was a rare and pleasant atmosphere for the Orlando Magic, especially on the road.

Arron Afflalo and Tobias Harris scored 16 points apiece and the Magic snapped a 10-game road losing streak with a 98-84 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.

”It feels great,” said forward Maurice Harkless. ”Guys feel good about themselves and it shows what hard work can do. There are a lot of smiles around here for a change on the road.”

Andrew Nicholson contributed 13 and Nikola Vucevic had 12 points and 19 rebounds for the Magic (16-41), who hadn’t won on the road since Jan. 12 against the Los Angeles Clippers.

E’Twaun Moore had 12 points and a career-high 10 assists, while Harkless had 10 points for the Magic…

Damien Wilkins scored a season-high 14 points and Jeremy Pargo also had 14 for the 76ers. Dorell Wright had 11 and Evan Turner 10 for Philadelphia, which fell a season-worst 11 games under .500 at 22-33…

Orlando is also dealing with its share of injuries, but it was hardly evident on this night. It played without guard Jameer Nelson (left knee) and forwards Glen Davis (fractured left foot) and Hedo Turkoglu (NBA suspension).

— Reported by Andy Jasner of the Associated Press

Knicks beat 76ers to end 4-game losing streak

Even when he wasn’t hitting his shots, Carmelo Anthony delivered a shot.

Tired of losing and determined to stop it, the New York Knicks toughened up and fought their way out of their worst slump of the season.

Anthony scored 29 points, Amare Stoudemire had a season-high 22, and the Knicks snapped their four-game losing streak by beating the Philadelphia 76ers 99-93 on Sunday night.

”Losing games, games we think we’re supposed to win, you come into a game like this, we want to win,” Anthony said. ”Definitely want to be a very high-intensity game, a very high-energetic game back here on our home court and we didn’t want to lose this game.”

Anthony was only 6 of 18 from the field, but made 16 of 18 free throws and also was called for a flagrant foul for the fired-up Knicks, who have fallen behind Indiana into third place in the Eastern Conference and whose Atlantic Division lead over the Brooklyn Nets is down to two games…

”After losing four straight, it’s never a good feeling losing games, so tonight we came out with the intensity from the start that we needed,” said Stoudemire, who was 9 of 10 from the field.

All-Star Jrue Holiday had 30 points, five rebounds and five assists for the 76ers, who have lost five straight overall. Evan Turner had 21 points and Thaddeus Young added 11 points and 10 rebounds after missing six games with a strained left hamstring…

Raymond Felton finished with 14 points despite bruising his right heel and J.R. Smith also had 14 for the Knicks…

Kenyon Martin didn’t play in his first game since signing a 10-day contract Saturday. Though he hasn’t played since finishing last season with the Los Angeles Clippers, Martin said he has kept himself in good shape and would find ways to produce until he got back into good basketball condition.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press