Good News Bad News For Sixers

Tonight the Sixers will travel to Detroit to take on the Pistons.  Thankfully, the Sixers will get some help down low as Elton Brand returns to the starting lineup tonight.  Brand missed the last two games with a sprained thumb.

Unfortunately, news isn't so great regarding center Spencer Hawes.  Hawes met with a foot specialist, and it seems that he will be sidelined for at least another two weeks.

Although the Sixers will be without the services of Hawes over the course of the next two weeks, at least Brand's return will give the Sixers some much needed help down low.  The Sixers are getting burned in the paint right now, and it is having a trickle down effect on the rest of the team.  Without Hawes dishing it to guys from the middle of the floor, the Sixers have less options on offense.  Thus guys are settling for jumpers and not getting to the rim for easy high percentage shots.  The Sixers are also getting knocked around on the boards, and defensively they are not as strong down low without Hawes in the lineup.

Tonight will  be the Sixers' first game back from the All-Star break.  The Sixers most recently lost to the Houston Rockets, and are currently in the midst of a 5 game losing streak.  To get out of this slump, the Sixers are going to need Brand, Allen, and Vucevic to really step up their games.  The Sixers also need Jrue Holiday to be more aggressive and try to create some shots for himself.

The Pistons currently have the fifth worst record in the East, and the Sixers need to capitalize and pick up a much needed victory tonight.  Things don't get any easier for the Sixers as the Western Conference leading Oklahoma City Thunder come to the Wells Fargo Center tomorrow night.

Flyers Silent On Deadline Day

Today was the day of the trade deadline.  A day that perhaps some Flyers fans had been looking forward to in anticipation of another big blockbuster move.  Maybe the Flyers would bring in defenseman Rick Nash.  Or maybe the Flyers would part ways with one of their young guns like JVR or Brayden Schenn.  Surely the Flyers were going to make a lot of noise right?

Surprisingly, the Flyers were completely silent on deadline day, satisfied with the moves they made over the past two weeks for defenders Niklas Grossman and Pavel Kubina.  Flyers GM Paul Holmgren spoke to the media today addressing the team's silence at the deadline,

"We received some calls about a few of our players with some scenarios that we talked about, but nothing really made sense for us either in the short term or the long term.  I think we stated all along that anything we do needed to make sense both ways for us and nothing really came up."

Overall I'm fairly happy that the Flyers didn't trade away guys like Sergie Bobrovsky, JVR, or Brayden Schenn.  While a defender like Rick Nash would certainly help to solidify this defense, right now the Flyers' main defensive problem is Ilya Bryzgalov.  Bringing in all of the best defenders in the world isn't going to help if Bryzgalov continues to allow easy nonsense goals night after night.

Over the course of the next few weeks, hopefully the new defenders will begin to gel in the Flyers' scheme, and maybe Bryzgalov's first shootout win as a Flyer will help spark the defense.  But the key thing to remember about the trade deadline is that the Flyers were able to bolster their defense without giving up any of their young guns.  Holmgren also stated today,

“A couple weeks ago, we felt we lacked some things on our back end because of the absence of Chris [Pronger]. We addressed those issues without giving up anyone off our team."

The Flyers will have to make do with this current team.  Offensively, the Flyers certainly have all the weapons in the world.  They currently lead the NHL in total goals scored with 201, ahead of Vancouver, Boston, and Ottawa.  But on the defensive end, they are 25th in the league in goals against surrendering 182 goals as opposed to the Rangers and Blues who have both surrendered just 119 goals and are ranked first and second in the league respectively.

We will just have to wait patiently through this final month as the defense attempts to find its game.  But even if the Flyers are unable to make a Stanley Cup run this year, by not trading away any of the major pieces, the Flyers will definitely be potent in the years to come.

Should The Eagles Make A Move For RG3?

On Friday, it was reported that Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Robert Griffin III interviewed with the Eagles.  Now before you go getting all excited, many reporters and experts are describing the interview as "due diligence."  Couple that with the fact that the Eagles just inked Michael Vick to a big extension, and the RG3 excitement will surely die down.

And yet there is something very intriguing in the fact that the Eagles so far are the only team to meet with the Heisman Trophy winner.  Today on sports radio 94 WIP and 97.5 The Fanatic, experts went back and forth arguing the possibility of RG3 in an Eagles uniform.

Think about the whole situation before you draw any conclusions.  The Rams have the number 2 overall pick and seeing as they won't be interested in RG3 as they already have a young quarterback in Sam Bradford, they could be interested in a trade.  If the Eagles were willing to trade Desean Jackson, a first round pick, and maybe another young player, they could easily find themselves in a position to draft RG3 as their quarterback of the future.

It's certainly plausible that the Eagles have the talent and resources to make a trade, but now the question is should they make the trade?  Should they trade away young proven talent and a draft pick for a guy who has yet to even play a game in the NFL?  My answer is no based on the situation with Andy Reid, the fact that the Eagles already have Mike Vick as quarterback, and I truly believe that this team is just a few moves away from being a legitimate contender.

Let's start first with Big Red.  In case you didn't catch Jeff Lurie's press conference earlier this year, basically Lurie made it pretty clear that the 2011 season was completely unacceptable.  In other words, Andy Reid is on the hot seat this year, and in all likelihood this will be his final year in Philadelphia providing he doesn't win a Super Bowl.  If you trade away a decent portion of your young nucleus to get a franchise quarterback, after this year you may not be able to draw in potential coaches who would be forced to use RG3.  Maybe potential coaches won't like his style of play or whatever, but you would certainly be limiting your pool of potential coaches by locking them in with a quarterback they maybe don't want.

Remember a guy by the name of Mike Vick?  People quickly forget just how utterly amazing Vick was in 2010.  He may have had a rough year last season, but I truly believe that we have yet to see the best of number 7.  If the lockout hurt anyone last year, it probably hurt Vick the most.  After his first full year back in the NFL, the rug was quickly pulled out from under him with the lockout.  Many people have written Vick off after last year but I think Vick is going to come back with a fire in 2012.  Drafting RG3 could be detrimental to Vick's confidence as the Eagles would basically be saying to Vick that 2012 would be his last chance.

Lastly if the Eagles were to trade away Desean Jackson, a couple young players, and a first round draft pick for RG3, the Eagles would be setting themselves back at least two, maybe even three years.  I think that this current Eagles team is a few moves away from being a legitimate contender. But trading away vital pieces could hurt them next year and in the years to come.  Also this core of Lesean McCoy, Brent Celek, and Jeremy Maclin are young now, but in three years they could be completely different players.  The Eagles would have to take a large step back to acquire RG3, and by the time he is fully ready, the Eagles offense may not be the same potent offense that it is right now.

Based on last year, I'm not so sure the Eagles made a good choice by inking Vick to a big contract.  But overall I think we have to stick with MV7 rather than make move for RG3.  Of course this is completely hypothetical situation and I want to reiterate the fact that the meeting between RG3 and the Eagles was complete due diligence on the Eagles' part.  Still, it's something to ponder and keep in mind as we move closer to draft day.  

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.

Flyers Fall To Oilers

Last night, Ilya Bryzgalov had a fantastic game.  Although he allowed 2 goals, he had some truly unbelievable saves on odd man rushes, and on the power play.  The defense in front of him had some obvious lapses, but for the most part Bryzgalov stayed strong and allowed just two goals.

The two goals allowed by Bryzgalov both came in the second period.  The first goal came on the Oilers' power play when Taylor Hall snapped a tough angle shot right past the left pad of Ilya Bryzgalov.  Bryz knew what was coming but unfortunately couldn't react and get to the spot in time.  The second goal surrendered by Bryzgalov is one that he definitely should have saved.  But in his defense, the Flyers were in transition and getting ready to shift into offense when miraculously Jordan Eberle of the Oilers kept the puck in the zone, got it back in the slot, and shot one through the five-hole of Bryzgalov.  Again a save Bryz probably should have made, but not a terribly weak goal by any means.

Unfortunately, as has been the case so many times this year, the Flyers offense went cold while the defense played relatively well.  But it wasn't as if the Flyers didn't get their fair share of chances against Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk.  The Flyers got a ton of quality odd man rushes but either made too many passes or just didn't finish and were never able to find the back of the net.  Wayne Simmonds had numerous chances, as did Brayden Schenn and Danny Briere.  But quality chances don't get you goals, and unfortunately the Flyers were shutout in this one by a final of 2-0.

You really can't get too angry at any player in particular after this tough loss.  Bryzgalov played great, the offense had numerous chances, and overall if the Flyers could have had a couple pucks bounce their way they easily could have won this one.  If I had to call out any one player or group of players I would probably call out the defense.  I know that with newcomers Pavel Kubina and Nicklas Grossman the Flyers defense is still adjusting, but there were times during the game where the Flyers simply couldn't get the puck out of the zone.  And a costly defensive lapse led to the Oilers' second goal of the night as well.

But overall the Flyers just have to continue playing hard.  Bryzgalov's solid outing is encouraging, and hopefully the Flyers can right the ship when they head to Calgary on Saturday night to take on the Flames.

Flyers Jets Preview

On the season it seems like there are two teams that the Flyers just can't beat: the New York Rangers and the Winnipeg Jets.  The Flyers have lost all three games to the Jets this year, including a memorable high flying 9-8 defeat back in late October.  The Flyers again lost to the Jets in November in another high scoring game this time by a final of 6-4.  Most recently the Flyers lost in a shootout to the Jets on January 31st by a final of 2-1.

After Saturday's embarrassing 6-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Paul Holmgren added more depth to the defense by trading draft picks for the 34 year old Pavel Kubina.  Kubina, along with Nicklas Grossman, will try to improve things in front of the net and try to help out goalies Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky as they continue to search for consistency.  The new look defense will hopefully help these two get back on track and it will be interesting to see how they play.

I think the key to tonight's game for the Flyers will be to continually attack the net.  After Saturday's debacle, it's clear that no lead is safe and the Flyers have to continue to try and find ways to score because the defense playing behind them is basically in shambles right now.  It will take time for the two new guys to get used to the system so there might be a few mistakes between the two.  The Flyers need to start this game with some jam and make a statement early on.

Guys like Jagr, Simmonds, and Giroux need to continue their hot play and try and put in as many goals as possible.  In addition, I would like to see JVR continue to play well.  In his first game back on Saturday after being sidelined with a concussion for over a month, JVR created some great opportunities.  He needs to continue to be aggressive tonight.

It's quite obvious that the Flyers are beginning to get fed up with the goalie situation.  While the players and coaches may not express it verbally, you have to figure that they are not happy that both Bob and Bryz continue to give up nonsense goals and squander leads.  The key for the Flyers is just to keep working hard and hope that the goalies and defenders figure things out.

Sixers Desperately Need A Big Man

As a Pennsbury High School graduate, I was overjoyed when I found out that the Sixers had drafted Pennsbury and Temple alum Lavoy Allen.  I got to watch this guy through out his high school and collegiate career, and having him start his professional career with the Sixers was all anyone could ask for really.

So far Allen and fellow big man Nikola Vucevic have been very impressive in their rookie campaigns.  Both Allen and Vucevic have seen increased minutes in the wake of Spencer Hawes' many injuries.  But the fact of the matter is that both Vucevic and Allen are both still young and developing players, and last night they were exposed going up against Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Love finished with 15 rebounds and 20 points, while Pekovic nearly had a double ripping down 9 boards to go along with 17 points.  But here's the real kicker: both Love and Pekovic had 5 offensive rebounds each.  On the other end Allen finished with 8 boards and 6 points while Vucevic finished with just 4 boards and 8 points.  Statistically the Wolves didn't dominate the Sixers on the boards, but overall Pekovic and Love basically dominated the paint and scored at will to the dismay of the Sixers.  

After a crazy hot start to the season, the Sixers have lost 5 of their last 7.  I think a lot of the Sixers' recent struggles have to do with the absence of Spencer Hawes.  After Hawes played in the Sixers win over the Los Angeles Lakers back on February 6th, Hawes has since been sidelined with a left achilles strain.  Thus Allen, Vucevic, and Elton Brand have all seen increased minutes, and the three of them just can't handle the scoring and rebounding burden left by Hawes.

At this point it looks as if Hawes won't be back until after the All-Star break.  This means that the Sixers have 2-4 more games that they have to play without Hawes.  While Hawes may not be a potent scorer, he definitely changes how the Sixers operate on offense when he is in the game.  This is most clearly seen by the Sixers "settling" for poor jump shots during their past few games.  Instead of trying to work the ball in down low, they are instead relying too much on their outside game to score.

Overall Allen, Vucevic, and Brand will have to make up for Hawes as he continues to nurse his injury.  Even if the Sixers don't win their upcoming games, at least Allen and Vucevic will be gaining valuable playing time as they continue to grow and develop into dominant forces in the paint.

Howard Injury Update

We all remember Ryan Howard making the final out of the NLDS, while also tearing his Achilles tendon.  It was an awful picture to watch and unfortunately it will hurt his start time for this season.  Howard isn't expected to make his return to the lineup until at least May, the Phillies want to take it nice and easy working him back in.

Position players aren't required to report to Spring Training until Tuesday, but Howard has been here for several weeks.  He has been working really hard to rehab from his surgery in the offseason.  The good news is Manager Charlie Manuel says that he is ahead of schedule.  They will still take it easy though as they do not want Howard to have a setback on his recovery.

After a reporter spotted him jogging in the outfield the other day, today everyone was clear to see Howard take the field.  He was taking ground balls today moving laterally a little bit, but nothing to much.  He also took some soft toss after as well.  He is making some steps towards significant baseball activities.  This is some good progress and look for his workload to increase even more as Spring Training gets into full gear.

Goalie Problems Continue As Flyers Fall To Pens

Coming off a big 7-2 victory on Thursday, the Flyers came into today's game against the Penguins desperate for a victory once again.

The Penguins scored first thanks to a break away goal from Matt Cooke.  The Penguins led for most of the first until Jaromir Jagr exploded for two goals at the tail end of the period.  Jagr grabbed hold of the puck at center ice, skated into the slot and wristed one past Marc-Andre Fleury for his first goal.  For his second tally, the Flyers were on the power play and Jagr again beat Fleury with the wrist shot, this time sailing the puck past his left shoulder.

For much of the second, neither team could find the back of the net.  But toward the later part of the period, the Penguins cashed in on two goals to take the lead and chase Ilya Bryzgalov from the game.  The Flyers quickly responded with Eric Wellwood's first career NHL goal.  Going into the third the game was tied at 3.

In the third, the Penguins scored two quick goals against Bob to take a commanding 5-3 lead.  From there both teams tacked on another goal a piece and the game ended in a 6-4 Pittsburgh victory.

The big story of the game was the goaltending.  Ilya Bryzgalov gave up 3 incredibly soft goals.  The first goal he gave up came within the first few minutes on a break away.  Definitely a save he should have made but I'll give him that one.  The second goal came when the Flyers were on the power play.  It was a wrist shot that simply should have been stopped.  He wasn't screened or anything and he just missed it.  The third goal came when the Flyers had a two man advantage, and after surrendering the goal, Peter Laviolette had seen enough and removed him from the game.  It's becoming increasingly difficult to tolerate Bryzgalov.  Overall Bryzgalov continues to go through slumps in which he can look great one game and then look lost in the woods the next.

To make matters worse, the Flyers didn't have a hot Bobrovsky to go to in today's game.  Bob came in and allowed 3 goals in just one period of play.  The offense is not a concern at all at this point in the season.  Guys like Jagr, Giroux, and Simmonds continue to play well.  But the defense, namely the goalies, are a major problem.  The Flyers don't have a great defense, but the goalies can and should come up with some big saves every once and while.  These last few games, it seems like we would be better off with a cardboard cut-out in net.

But there were a few things that I did like about today's game.  First off Jaromir Jagr was spot on with his wrist shot.  His two quick goals gave the Flyers a ton of life and energy and it is good to see him continue to compete at a high level.  In addition, newcomer Nicklas Grossman looked pretty solid in his first game as a Flyer.  And in his first game back from his concussion injury, JVR created some great opportunities both for himself and his teammates.

But the Flyers can't win games if they can't stop the other team from putting the puck in the net; it's that simple.  Defense is already and needs to continue to be a top priority as the trade deadline approaches.

Flyers Look To Right Ship Against Sabres

Tonight the Flyers will host the Buffalo Sabres as they attempt to rebound from consecutive losses to both the Rangers and Red Wings.

After being sidelined the past three games with the flu, tonight Ilya Bryzgalov will get the start in net as he tries to continue his strong play and give this defense some much needed answers.  Over the past three games, Sergei Bobrovsky and the defense have surrendered a total of 12 goals.

The Flyers currently hold a 2-0 season series advantage over the Sabres.  Back on November 2nd, the Flyers beat the Sabres by a final of 3-2.  Most recently the Flyers again defeated the Sabres in a 5-4 overtime thriller on December 7th. Claude Giroux had the game winning break away goal in the extra session and hopefully he can have continued success against the Sabres tonight.

For the Flyers, they can't let things spiral out of control too much.  The Flyers need this win to help get them back on track, and also help them get ready for an important game coming up this Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Although the Flyers will have Bryzgalov back tonight, it looks like they will be without Jagr, Voracek, Meszaros, and JVR.  The Flyers will have to make do without them as they need any type of victory tonight in the worst way.