Soon to be featured in the the new SLAM magazine are team previews written by fans, and their own journalists. Below is the Sixers team preview written by Khalid Salaam, journalist for SLAM magazine. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">WHAT'S YOUR NAME AND WHERE DO YOU LIVE?: Khalid Salaam. New York City YOUR TEAM IS: Philadelphia 76ers WHY IS THIS YOUR FAVORITE TEAM? Because as a kid this was the team that was always on TV. If you went into barbershops, that's what everyone talked about, and I just got pulled in. I really didn't have much choice. WHO IS RETURNING FROM LAST YEAR?: Iverson, Samuel Dalembert, Willie Green, Marc Jackson, Kyle Korver, Aaron McKie, Glenn Robinson, John Salmons, Kenny Thomas and also somehow Todd McCulloch. WHO SKIPPED TOWN?: Greg Buckner, Eric Snow, Derrick Coleman. And for the record, Buckner was a total bust. I mean, he was just terrible. Snow, on the other hand, was a warrior and he'll be remembered fondly by Sixer fans. Yeah, he didn't have much of a handle and couldn't really shoot but he was smart enough to understand that and he focused on his strengths instead of his weaknesses. It was time to go but it wasn't personal. WHO HAS YOUR TEAM ADDED?: Corliss Williamson, Andre Iguodala, Kedrick Brown, Kevin Ollie (again!! how is this possible?) and Brian Skinner. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR TEAM'S COACH?: J.O.B (Jim O'Brien) is the man. He'll energize the team and I feel good about his coaching ability. Although he has a little bit of a gunner mentality, I think he will make the Sixers play defense as well. WHICH PLAYER IS THE KEY TO YOUR TEAM'S SUCCESS THIS SEASON?: Willie Green!!!! As well as Dalembert, who will flirt with an All-Star type season. Remember where you heard it first, Dalembert is gonna take that next step. WHAT TEAM DO YOU MOST WANT TO BEAT?: All teams. Every team is our rival. There's not one team that has continously beaten us, We've lost to everyone. I'm an equal opportunity despiser. WHAT TEAM DO YOU MOST NEED TO BEAT? I guess the Knicks since everyone sees them as the best team in the Atlantic. I don't feel like I should worry about them and I will go to games and wear my Sixers gear even more. Knicks games at MSG will be especially interesting this year. I plan to be more of an a-hole than ever before. WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT NEW PLAYER ON YOUR TEAM? Obviously Iguodala. His athleticism will allow the team to do different things. Yeah, I wish he was a true small forward but I feel like he's gonna do some things this year that will help this team win. He'll have his dunks (my early favorite for slam dunk champ) and everything, but what he does that will really help is his passing. At Arizona he was a stat stuffer, so I expect that to continue. YOUR GENERAL MANAGER -- DISCUSS: Oh boy....I'm not the biggest Billy King fan. Everyone who knows me knows that. I feel like many of his decisions have been flat-out wrong. Including hiring Randy Ayers as coach last year and giving Buckner a six-year deal. Now he has rectified those situations, but they were such obvious mistakes that I don't understand how anyone could make them in the first place. I would have liked him to try and move Glenn Robinson but I guess that's not happening. He's been good with the last two Drafts but I feel like he should have made a bigger free-agency splash. Corliss and Skinner are cool and I feel they'll be a solid contributors but neither is a difference-maker. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR TEAM NEED TO IMPROVE?: We need to pass better. Too often we end up with bad shots at the end of the shot-clock. Pass the ball around and get better shots, instead of trying to take everyone one-on-one and the team will be much more competitive. And i don't say that as some kind of cliche, i'm serious. Also we have to rebouond well. We don't have the cumulative height to be a great defensive team but we can disrupt teams and force them into bad shots. But then we can't have second shots attepmts. Rebounding is crucial or this team is toast. WHERE DO YOU HOPE YOUR TEAM CAN FINISH THIS SEASON?: Top of the Atlantic. Once we're in the playoffs we can see from there. OK, NOW REALLY, WHERE WILL THEY ACTUALLY FINISH THIS SEASON?: See above, haters...</div> Full Article Courtesy of Khalid Salaam/SLAMOnline.com Pretty interesting, and nice to see the views of someone inside the business of the NBA. Answer back to the questions Khalid answered to in your own words, and what you think will happen come next season.
Nice stuff,and its also cool to see Khalid is a Sixers fan he has always been a good jorunalist for Slam im,now to answer the questions with my opinion. WHAT'S YOUR NAME AND WHERE DO YOU LIVE?: Brandon,PensoCola area YOUR TEAM IS: Philadelphia 76ers WHY IS THIS YOUR FAVORITE TEAM?My Dad showed me a game of the Sixers during their 01 playoff run and I've fell in love with the Sixers ever since. WHO IS RETURNING FROM LAST YEAR?: Iverson, Samuel Dalembert, Willie Green, Marc Jackson, Kyle Korver, Aaron McKie, Glenn Robinson, John Salmons, Kenny Thomas and also somehow Todd McCulloch. WHO SKIPPED TOWN?: Greg Buckner, Eric Snow, Derrick Coleman.I had mixed emoitions on Snow leaving but I realized that it really benefits us in the future with Snow having a pretty big contract.I was very glad to here we traded DC and actually got a player back(very suprised that happened),and Buckner really had no place on are team so it was right for him to go also. WHO HAS YOUR TEAM ADDED?: Corliss Williamson, Andre Iguodala, Kedrick Brown, Kevin Ollie and Brian Skinner,this offseason it seems the Sixers have really foucused on making cap space for next offseason to sign a big name free agent. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR TEAM'S COACH?: J.O.B,was the right man for the head coaching job here in Philly,being a Philly native he knows the roots and knows what the people expect for from Philly basketball.He also has taken the time out to get to know and develop positive relationships with our players,something that Randy Ayers and Ford didnt do. WHICH PLAYER IS THE KEY TO YOUR TEAM'S SUCCESS THIS SEASON?: Willie Green!!!! As well as Dalembert, who will flirt with an All-Star type season. Remember where you heard it first, Dalembert is gonna take that next step.I agree 100% with Khalid,but also another big key that he didnt mention is AI,this teams sucess will all fall down to AI's play. WHAT TEAM DO YOU MOST WANT TO BEAT?: All teams. Every team is our rival. There's not one team that has continously beaten us, We've lost to everyone. I'm an equal opportunity despiser.I agree with him again,but I see the Celtics as are biggest rival. WHAT TEAM DO YOU MOST NEED TO BEAT? We need to beat every team we play lol,we should just be competitve every game and treat every team like they were the same team and play hard against all of them. WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT NEW PLAYER ON YOUR TEAM? Obviously Iguodala. His athleticism will allow the team to do different things. Yeah, I wish he was a true small forward but I feel like he's gonna do some things this year that will help this team win. He'll have his dunks (my early favorite for slam dunk champ) and everything, but what he does that will really help is his passing. At Arizona he was a stat stuffer, so I expect that to continue.I agree with him here also. YOUR GENERAL MANAGER -- DISCUSS: We could have a better GM but I can live with Billy King,in the past his descision make was really shaky,but now days he is realizing that we have to invest in our young players,and look toward the future.8 IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR TEAM NEED TO IMPROVE?:I think we just need to get more chemistry,AI was out for a majority of the season last year and the Sixers played ok when he was out but they had problems playing as a team when AI would come back from an injury. WHERE DO YOU HOPE YOUR TEAM CAN FINISH THIS SEASON?: Top of the Atlantic. Once we're in the playoffs we can see from there. OK, NOW REALLY, WHERE WILL THEY ACTUALLY FINISH THIS SEASON?: See above, haters...
