Top Five Seeds in Eastern Conference for 2012-13 NBA Season (Part 5) – NBA Feature
Philadelphia 76ers: Seeded 5
The Philadelphia 76ers were the dark horses in the Eastern Conference last season. They started the season rather well, but lost track sometime in the middle and ended up barely taking the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. However, when Derrick Rose suffered an ACL injury during game 1 of the playoff series between the Sixers and the Chicago Bulls, the Sixers took advantage and won the series in 6 games. That followed with a 7 game tightly contested series against the Boston Celtics, which the Sixers eventually lost. However, it had been a great season for the team and looking forward, they wanted to take the same momentum into the offseason.
The Sixers re-signed Lavoy Allen to the team in free agency, and then parted ways with their top scorer from last season, Louis Williams. In his place, the Sixers brought in an excellent shooter in Nick Young to give boost to the team offence and add some perimeter shooting to their game. Elton Brand was then amnestied by the team to clear some cap space, and they signed Kwame Brown to the team. But their biggest offseason move came when the Sixers became part of a four team trade that sent their All Star guard/forward Andre Iguodala to the Denver Nuggets, and brought in centre Andrew Bynum from the Los Angeles Lakers. Although Iguodala had been the Sixers best player over the past few seasons, the decision to bring in Bynum was one that was good for both Iguodala and the team.
Bynum has the skills and talent to become the best centre in the league, and showed streaks of that last season with the Los Angeles Lakers. The young centre is tipped to become the franchise player of the future for the team, provided he signs a contract with them next year when he becomes a free agent.
Nonetheless, Bynum is an exceptional player who averaged a career high 18.7 points and a career high 11.8 rebounds per game last season. The Sixers were already one of the best defensive teams in the Eastern conference last season, and will become even better with the addition of Bynum. In addition to that, Bynum will add a whole new dimension to their offence due to his ability to post up and dominate the rim.
Along with Bynum, the Sixers have some good pieces that will help make them an above average team in the East next season. Nick Young is a good shooter who can come in and pick up the pace of the game. Allen, who be starting his sophomore year, was impressive last season and will only improve as he spends more time in the league. Jrue Holiday, Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner give the Sixers those important pieces that can be paired in different combinations to create trouble for the opposing team.
Although the Sixers are a long shot away from making a deep playoff run and causing trouble for any of the top four teams in the East, they will be able to finish above the New York Knicks next season and grab the fifth seed.
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