Hello Thaddeus, My Old Friend

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

The Sixers will look to make it two straight wins in the preseason when they travel to Minnesota to take on the now-Kevin Love-less Timberwolves Friday night. For the first time since he was drafted out of Georgia Tech oh-so-many years ago, Sixers fans will not see Thaddeus Young in the familiar red, white, and blue Philadelphia jersey when he takes the court. (Quick aside: actually fans won’t be seeing anything Friday night because the game will not be televised, which is mind-boggling in 2014. Someone could stream the game on FaceTime from their phone and I’m pretty sure die-hard fans would watch. End of rant.) Young will be doing his best to help the Timberwolves reach the 9th or 10th spot in the Western Conference that coach/personnel czar Flip Saunders apparently craves. You’re not in the East Flip, the playoffs aren’t happening.

Of course, the Timberwolves actually did quite well in their return for Kevin Love, despite his going into the final year of his contract and basically affording the team little leverage. The jewel of their return package, of course, is almost-Sixer Andrew Wiggins. The ex-Jayhawk made his preseason debut against Indiana, recording 18 points on 4-of-11 shooting, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks, and a steal. The yet-to-be-refined offensive game and superior defensive prowess he displayed represented basically everything on the scouting report and what we saw in limited action during Summer League.

Finally, there’s one line-up change of note for the Sixers, as K.J. McDaniels will be getting the start for Hollis Thompson, who did not travel with the team after suffering the corneal abrasion Wednesday. McDaniels has lived up to his reputation as a game-changer on the defensive end through two games thus far, but it would be nice to him have any sort of impact on the offensive end as well. We’ll see how he jells with the starting unit. Enjoy the sweet baritone of Tom McGinnis tonight, Sixers fans.