FanHouse Marreese Speights

It has, without a doubt, been a disappointing November for the 76ers. The team didn't figure to get a whole lot better than last season's solid showing (which ended with a 4-2 first round surrender to Marcin Gortat), having lost first-string point guard Andre Miller and adding only 18-year-old point guard Jrue Holiday in the draft. But a 5-10 record out of the gate registers far below expectations, and that mark comes even with new starting PG Louis Williams playing really, really well.

And now even that bright spot is blotted out! Williams broke his jaw on Antawn Jamison's shoulder earlier this week, had it wired shut and will miss up to eight weeks. (He also missed Thanksgiving, tragically. Turkey malt shake, anyone?) In his place, Holiday started Wednesday, a (surprisingly) tight loss in Boston. (The Sixers had lost to Boston by 31 in Philly earlier this month.)

The Sixers have been struggling with a bit of a controversy towards the future of their frontcourt. Elton Brand has been significantly limited this season coming back from his injury. The Sixers have reportedly gone so far as to pursue a trade for the former All-Star, a report Sixers GM Ed Stefanski has denied. Adding to this issue has been the remarkable play of second-year man Marreese Speights, who is averaging 20 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.4 blocks per 36. He's been electric, and a huge factor in the Sixers' wins.

So, naturally, he's out 6-8 weeks with a MCL tear. Because life is brutish, nasty, and short.

Picks and Roles provides all the vital information you need in making those tough lineup decisions for weekly leagues.

Injuries like the one to Marreese Speights garner mixed reactions. Those who took a flier on Speights are disappointed now that they've lost him for up to 6-8 weeks with a partial tear in his MCL. In his last five, Speights averaged 24.7 minutes, 12.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 60.0-percent shooting from the floor. Not quite overwhelming numbers, but promising nonetheless. With Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert both struggling to get into an offensive groove, Speights was starting to see some daylight in the rotation and many eager fantasy owners were beginning to think that they snagged this season's Paul Millsap. Unfortunately, we won't see him again until late December.

On the other side of the coin are the Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert owners. They are hoping that this will force Eddie Jordan to stick with both Brand and Dalembert in the rotation as they continue to work through their struggles -- as opposed to opting for the young Speights off the bench. Any spark to get fourth-round draft pick Elton Brand going would do at this point.

PHOENIX -- The Sixers almost came back from an 18-point deficit in the final eight minutes on Friday against the Suns, but the guys usually on the end of Phoenix's bench -- Dan Dickau, Carlos Powell, et al. -- were able to hang on just enough to secure a two-point victory.

Marreese Speights, a second-year player who averaged just under eight points and four rebounds a game last season, was a big reason for the Sixers' strong comeback. He scored 15 of his game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter, while also finishing with 12 rebounds and two blocked shots.

Even though this is the preseason, it was still a career game for Speights, and one that you'd think his new head coach, Eddie Jordan, would be excited about. But that wasn't exactly the case.

This isn't an April Fool's Joke, Philadelphia. Sixers stud Thaddeus Young will miss 2-3 weeks due to a ankle sprain and bone bruise, according to the Associated Press.

It's sort of a critical time for Philly, with the playoffs well within reach but not guaranteed. According to PlayoffStatus.com, the Sixers have a magic number of three with nine games to go. But the loss really shows up when you at the race for the No. 5 seed.

This week, FanHouse is taking a look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.

Today, we have enlisted MLMinTampa of the Alligator Army to break down the Florida Gators.

The Florida Gators return the core of a team that finished in the final four. Of the NIT.

Last season was a disappointment for the Gators not just for the fact that they did not make the NCAA Tournament, breaking a streak of nine consecutive appearances. But the reaction of head coach Billy Donovan after the Gators bowed out of the SEC Tournament first round ("They're not committed to it," in speaking of his team) led fans and outsiders to believe that this group of players was beyond saving. After rallying in the NIT, there is some optimism for this year's edition despite subtractions. The Gators' only front line presence, Marreese Speights, is in the NBA. Sophomore guard Jai Lucas, after playing the first preseason game, will transfer. UF hopes they can overcome both losses.

When Ed Stefanski moved into Philly's front office last December, a lot of people figured it was just a matter of time before Mo Cheeks was handed his walking papers. After all, Cheeks was in the midst of the final year of his contract, and in this day and age of the salary cap and guaranteed contracts, the easiest way for a new GM to put his stamp on an organization is hand-picking a new coaching staff.

But instead of giving Cheeks the axe, Stefanski gave him a one-year extension in February. And after watching Cheeks orchestrate a surprising second-half run, in which the Sixers went from being 12 games under .500 to not only securing the seventh seed but also pushing the favored Pistons to six games, Stefanski rewarded Cheeks with another extension today. (How many years? Stay tuned -- exact details should come out after this afternoon's press conference.)

After Philly made a big splash earlier this summer by giving truckloads of money to Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala, I'm guessing today's news will barely register on the radar of most NBA fans. But in my opinion, locking Cheeks up should prove to be just as (if not more) instrumental to Philly's re-emergence as one of the top teams in the East.

He's enjoys teaching the game as much as he does coaching it, which is absolutely vital considering Philly will be relying on the development of high-ceiling youngsters like Louis Williams, Thaddeus Young and Marreese Speights as much as the veteran leadership of Brand, Iguodala and Andre Miller.

Here's a look at the top ten players we saw at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

1. Jerryd Bayless: Who cares that him running point was like a Ben Stiller movie or that he managed so few assists his teammates almost decided to bring their own ball on the court to play catch? The kid was transcendent. Floaters, fadeaways, dunks, steals, you name it. If it's got flash, Bayless was unleashing it on someone this week.

2. Kevin Love: You know how some people's college game just doesn't transfer to the pro game? Yeah, Kevin Love won't be having that problem. Tough, resilient, with a range of moves and offensive versatility to go along with the sweetest, yes, outlet pass we've seen, Love was incredibly impressive.

3. Anthony Randolph: Youth and athleticism rules! The lanky Warrior started the week off with a bang and played solid throughout. His impressive handle really made him stand out, along with a tenacious effort on defense.

There will be no Tskitishvili repeats for the Nuggets this year.

Remember all that speculation earlier about what the Nuggets might want to do with their 20th overall pick in the draft? Well, forget it. Because they went ahead and sent that pick to the Charlotte Bobcats for "a future protected first round draft pick."

It appeared to me that the Nuggets could have used some size, and it seemed more than plausible that someone like Roy Hibbert or Marreese Speights would still have been on the board at 20, so why give away the pick? It's possible that the team didn't want to add to the roster with players like J.R. Smith and Eduardo Najera expected to be re-signed later this summer, or maybe they felt that whoever they'd get at 20 wouldn't really solve the team's immediate issues.

As for the Bobcats, they're now sitting pretty with the #9 and #20 picks in the draft. If Kevin Love and Brook Lopez are gone by the time Charlotte's first pick rolls around, they can feel confident in taking the best guard available, knowing that there should still be plenty of serviceable bigs left when they pick again at 20.

With the NBA Draft coming up on Thursday night, FanHouse's Tom Ziller took a friend's advice and unilaterally decided what teams ought to do in the first round. Think of it as a shorter version of our ongoing Crystal Ballin' series.

1. Chicago -- Michael Beasley, Kansas State. Fan consensus would have the point guard from Memphis here, and it looks like John Paxson will swing that way, too. It looks like a whole lot of Chris Paul-induced "pure point" fervor to me. Beasley, though, is the rare unassailable post presence who also boasts great perimeter skills and extraordinary tenacity on the court. With a team so desperate for points on something other than jump shots, Beasley fits right in.

2. Miami -- Derrick Rose, Memphis. The Heat, on the other hand, has some firepower in the paint, between Dwyane Wade's irrepressible slashing and the alternating efforts of Shawn Marion and Udonis Haslem. But Wade needs help running the show. Rose would provide the right engine to push Miami's offensive abilities while offering some backcourt defensive support.

3. Minnesota -- Brook Lopez, Stanford. Like any other basketball aesthete, I have cracked some Brook Lopez jokes. But behind the Cheetah Girls t-shirts, he's a good prospect. The biggest thing he can offer Minnesota in some interior anchorage on defense. Al Jefferson got abused routinely in the paint last season, with nary a partner to help stunt the opponent. Lopez immediately fortifies the effort, maybe not creating a good defense by himself, but at least helping out. Oh, and he can score too.

27 more picks of questionable logic after the jump.