So what happened?

A season that started weak, ended weak. The Sixers bowed out once again 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs. Once again they looked not as promising in the playoffs as they did at certain points in the season. This time, Iguodala was not the goat and Elton Brand is waiting in the wings. There is some hope... but the direction is unclear.

Here are some thoughts on the Sixers this offseason:

• Every NBA fans' nightmare is that his team will become mediocre. Cleveland was mediocre for a while...then they got terrible...then they got Lebron. The Spurs swallowed a terrible season without David Robinson (due to injury) and then fell ass-backwards into Tim Duncan. The Celtics were loaded with young assets--and stunk--and decided to move those young'uns for some real talent. My fear today is that the Sixers are no better and have no better prospects than the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks have Villanueva, Ridnour, Redd, Ramon Sessions, Andrew Bogut, and Bobby Simmons. Plus they're lottery-bound. You could say that they're an "up-and-coming" team, but who would you be kidding? They're mediocre. They need to improve substantially and get at least two more good players. I think the Sixers are in the same boat. Neither team has a boatload of money to spend either...Oh well.
• The Sixers have glaring holes and they made add another when Andre Miller leaves the team this summer. They have no shooters, unless you count the corpse of Donyell Marshall. They will probably have no real point guards. Plus, they will have no offense from the center position. Basically, they've got a bunch of swingmen and role players who can't shoot.
• The logjam still exists. How many undersized two-guards that can't shoot does a team need? Royal Ivey is a decent journeyman nobody, add Willie Green, Kareem Rush and Lou Williams to the mix and you have the ultimate undersized mix of barely-average guards. I guess it's unfair to Lou--whose played well this year--and Willie--who had a career season--to still clump them in with Royal and Kareem, but no team in the NBA that is sane has this many guards who are 6'2 or under and can neither shoot nor play point.
• Andre Miller will probably go to a contender or a pretender or anyone else this summer. That subtracts the Sixers best player from the mix. Yes, he's old and unexciting. But he was the one steadying force who could get it done day in and day out. Without him, you could be looking at the pre-Al Horford and pre-Joe Johnson Atlanta Hawks. Ug.
• Sam Dalembert still sucks. The fact that Theo Ratliff, who has passed around like a bong at a Wesleyan party due to his expiring contract before this year, played serious playoff minutes tells you something. Dalembert is at best an inconsistent slightly crappy C and more realistically a very overpaid, skinny version of DeSagana Diop.
• Is there hope? There's Andre Iguodala. He proved that he can be a great number-two guy. He could be the second coming of Scottie Pippen if he were taller, improved his defense, and learned to shoot. There's Thad Young. Oozing with potential. But he and Iggy are 3s. I guess you could make Iggy into a 2--but that would require replacing his wrists with a smoother pair. Then there's Elton Brand. The team can reconfigure itself around Brand, Young and/or Iguodala, and some young guys (Speights, Jason Smith, Lou). That wouldn't be the worst team, especially if Brand can become anything near his former self.
• We have no coach. Our team's philosophy is shot. Run with us only goes so far if you have no 3-point shooters. In the Sixers' wildest dreams, they'd be a faster version of the Magic. But they have no shooters. Brand is no Dwight Howard and Andre Iguodala is barely better than Hedo Turkoglu let alone Rashard Lewis. If they had a guy like Rajon Rondo manning the point for years to come, I'd have hope. They don't.
  
• What's needed? A shooter. A real young point guard (see: the draft). A new philosophy. Avery Johnson. Major changes need to be made....