Sixers Struggle in Exhibition Opener, Yet Prevail 106-104

By Sean Kennedy

Traveling to Spain to take on a black camo-attired Bilbao Basket squad, the Sixers looked the part of a team that will struggle against legitimate NBA competition this season. Philadelphia lost an early double-digit lead and was actually down five points with six minutes left in the game before a run led by Evan Turner (team-high 25 points) and featuring converted triples by both Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes built a 9-point advantage. Bilbao fought back to tie the game but two Spencer Hawes free throws in the closing seconds proved to be the difference.

Box Score

Notable Observations: 

• As expected, James Anderson, donning the familiar #9 previously worn by Andre Iguodala, drew the start at the other wing position. Anderson played very well in his first action as a Sixer, scoring 15 points on 6-8 shooting (2-3 3PT), pulling down some important rebounds (7 total), and finishing a sweet alley-oop on a pass from Michael Carter-Williams. Anderson is likely the team’s best outside shooting option and should stick as a starter if he can continue to provide the sort of all-around floor game we saw today.
• The Thad Young as a perimeter option was apparently not just lip service from the organization, attempting 4 three-pointers but converting just the one in the closing minutes.  Aside from some misfires from long range, Thad Young did typical Thad Young things, working hard on the offensive glass en route to 14 points and 6 rebounds.
• Tony Wroten was the first guy off the bench for Philadelphia and was part of the crunch-time lineup in place of Michael Carter-Williams. Wroten aggressively attacked the basket throughout the contest, sinking 10 of 12 free throws. The team also experimented with a line-up featuring Wroten, Carter-Williams, and Morris, toying with some full-court pressure with the three point guards on the floor.
• We mentioned Turner’s team-high 25 points, and he will certainly be given every opportunity to put up huge scoring totals this season. Whether or not that scenario is purely to inflate his value for a mid-season trade remains to be seen. To Turner’s credit, he did a great job getting to the rim, also going 10 of 12 from the foul line. However, the European referees were particular whistle-happy so we may see the typical Turner complaints about no-calls in those situations when the team returns to the states. Turner was in the ear of a referee after being called for a travel in the second quarter, showing he’s a bilingual complainer.
• Hawes still has no post game, in case you were wondering. He also tried a reverse dunk in the second quarter, with the sort of result you might have anticipated.

Tanking Implications:

To give you an idea of Bilbao’s talent level, Jackie Carmichael, a player from Illinois State, was the starting center for the Spanish squad. Carmichael went undrafted and played summer league for the Mavericks. He then opted to take the bigger payday in Spain rather than be a 12-man/D-league shuttle-type guy with Dallas. Philadelphia was outplayed by Bilbao for long stretches of the game and certainly never looked like they would take care of business as you would expect a NBA-caliber squad to do. Some of the young guys, particularly Wroten and Anderson, provided hope that they could eventually be rotation players for a good team. However, the team’s second lottery pick this past season, Carter-Williams, while showing some good court vision at times, offered no hope that he’s on his way to correcting those shooting woes. All in all, the groundwork appears to be laid for a terrible overall record this season. The Andrew Wiggins train is still right on track.