Half Empty: Oh Sixers...what will happen this year?

So tonight begins another baskeball season. We all know the NBA is only a shell of what it once was; there's no more Jordan, there's no more Bird, and hell....there's no more Vlade. It's a league of one on one players, and it seems like outside of Phantom of the Palace Rip Hamilton, no one can make a jumper. The Sixers made the playoffs last year behind more heroics from AI, but were vanquished in the first round by the defending champs. No one was too surprised, and when the Pistons went deep into the playoffs for the second straight year, Sixers fans chalked up our poor performance to a tough draw. So the offseason began. Jimmy O gets thrown out with the bathwater, even though the Sixers are now currently still paying off the contracts from our previous 38 coaches. In comes Mo Cheeks. Legend. Jersey up in the rafters. Fan Favorite. So what's in store for AI and the gang this year?

First thing to consider...has the Atlantic division gotten any stronger? Hardly. New Jersey might benefit from having Vincanity all season long, but then again they might be hurt by having him all season long. Have the Sixers gotten any stronger? Well they have a new and assumedly better coach. AI and Webber should have had some time to mesh a little more, in addition to Webber meshing with the rest of the team as well. They added Michael Bradley, Steven Hunter, and a couple rookies. So really the biggest change is in the coach. The rest of the Eastern Conference hasn't changed too drastically either, so it should play out fairly similarly. AI is a year older...maybe not so durable anymore, and obviously the same with Webber. I think he's going to be forced to miss more games than ever before, and the Sixers will clearly suffer for it. Look for a bigger contribution from the bench (including Korver), but not enough scoring outside of AI to present a real threat to any good team. They'll make the playoffs, but unless this team gels in a way that they haven't for the past two seasons, get ready for another early exit.