Is It Time To Panic?

The Sixers could not have limped into the All Star break any worse. They have lost their last five games and have two of their better players out with injuries. While it doesn't seem that Elton Brand's thumb injury is too severe, the Sixers have not released much information on Spencer Hawes' achilles injury and his return date is unknown. Over the All Star break he is receiving a second opinion on the injury and is still currently in a walking boot. While the Sixers have played awful as of late and lost five in a row, I still don't think there is need to panic just yet.

Without Spencer Hawes the Sixers have struggled in the worst of ways having gone 8-12 in his absence. With him in the lineup the Sixers are a sensational 12-2. That statistic alone should tell you that when Hawes does return, things will start to go better for the Sixers. They will have a legitimate center who is a threat to not only score, but is a great passer of the ball and gets open looks for everyone else. One of the problems that the Sixers have had since Hawes has been out of the lineup is that they are settling for too many long and contested jumpers. Hawes would give them another guy to open up the floor and give open shots to the guards around him.

Another reason that there is little reason to panic for now about the Sixers is that the Sixers aren't losing to bad teams. In their recent five game losing streak the Sixers lost to five over .500 teams, four of them coming on the road. While some of those games were very winnable including the Mavericks, Timberwolves, and Rockets games; ending up on the losing end of all three games is not the worst thing in the world because they are talented teams. If the Sixers had lost five in a row to some of the worst teams in the league the level of panic would be much higher, but it is going to be tough to beat an over .500 team on the road without Brand and Hawes.

Although it seems the Sixers haven't won in forever, they still remain in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and have a 3.5 game lead over Linsanity and the Knicks in the division. It seems that barring a massive collapse the Sixers are safely locked in as one of the eight teams that will make the playoffs out of the Eastern Conference.

The front office shouldn't look at the five game losing streak and think that a trade is necessary. If the right trade comes to them then it is fine if they take it, but they shouldn't do anything stupid and trade away too much to fill the front court hole they have without Hawes. Hawes will be back soon enough and their is no need to panic just yet over their recent struggles. Things will turn around when they get back to full health, have the All Star break to rest, and start playing some games at home again. We have seen first hand how good this team can be when they knocked off some of the better teams in the league in that brutal seven game stretch that they had just about a month ago. The Sixers are definitely slumping into the All Star break, but in my mind there is not much reason to panic because this team has shown a lot of potential when fully healthy and will revert back to their roles they feel comfortable in once Hawes and Brand return.