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Sixers basketball is back and our TV crew is ready to go.
Presenter Marc Zumoff, color analyst Alaa Abdelnaby and journalist Serena Winters deliver some of their bold predictions for this season.
Zumoff
The bench of the Sixers will be better this year
On the surface, this does not seem to be the wisest prediction, especially with the injuries of Wilson Chandler and Mike Muscala and the losses of Ersan Ilyasova and Marco Belinelli.
But here is my reason:
• Although 34 years old, JJ Redick plays the best basketball of his career. He is a better three-pointer than Belinelli or Ilyasova.
• Once in good health, Chandler and Muscala will not only target all three, but Chandler is also a physical defender (which the Sixers needed in the playoffs against Boston) and Muscala is more mobile than you think.
I agree with Matt Haughton of NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com (see the story) that Elton Brand will eventually negotiate an agreement to help the bench, but for me, he is already preparing to be better than last year.
Abdelnaby
Fewer wins in the regular season but …
The Sixers will not have a better record in the regular season but will go further in the playoffs.
The team is not as good as last year and will not win 17 games in a row. The victories will be harder to find. They will go as far as they can to Boston, which I think will be in the finals of the Eastern Conference.
Winters
Brett Brown will win the coach of the year
From the annual lottery team to the serious contender of the Eastern Conference, it's time for Brett Brown to recover his due. The time of 19 wins, 18 wins and 10 wins, revolving doors of players and massive injuries (we hope) is over (but not forgotten), but Brown has managed to get this organization through.
And with a healthy Markelle Fultz, another year of experience for Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, a season of 52 wins and a semifinal conference to their credit, it's only from now on.
The difference this year? The bar is high. Brown has his eyes on the finals of the NBA, and if he succeeds, he will have another award to reward.
Ben Simmons will draw an additional 150 free throws this season
Free throws are clearly a priority for Simmons this season. After almost every workout, you can find Simmons at the line, focusing on maintaining that elbow, something he has been working on with his brother over the summer.
Last year, Simmons went to the line 4.2 times per game and shot 56%. This year, Brown challenged Simmons to get more access to the line, which in turn would make him better off the line.
Brown said that a realistic goal was to get Simmons to shoot between six and nine free throws, so adding 150 extra points (he took 341 last season) if he stays healthy, that should to be a child's game!
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