Andrew Bynum is just one piece. I like that piece, I like the direction the 76ers are going.
But as the double teams start loading up on Bynum fast and he gets better at passing out of them (a skill he needs to work on) it just puts more pressure on everyone else. The other guys need to step up, make the extra pass and knock down the shots. This is still a team game no matter how good your center is.
Which is to say — Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner, you need to step up your games, also.
Holiday and Turner and the likely starting backcourt in Philly next season and coach Doug Collins kept talking about what an opportunity this is for them to CSNPhilly.com. “Opportunity” is coach speak for “if you can’t do this we will find someone who can.”“It’s going to give (Turner) more opportunity. If you look at last year, we had four guys who wanted to finish games — we had [Lou Williams] and Evan and Jrue and [Andre Iguodala],” Collins said. “Evan is going to take a great step leadership-wise….
“I think Evan knows what opportunity is there for him,” Collins said. “Just think about it -- last year Evan was our best rebounder. This year he could arguably be our third or fourth-best rebounder. That would be amazing because with the big guys on the boards you can get out more and go with it.”
Look for Jason Richardson to start at the three (and Spencer Hawes at the four) with Nick Young as the gunner sixth man. It’s a lineup that has potential.
For the backcourt, this is their opportunity. If they can’t make it work, we know the Sixers want to keep Bynum so everyone has to fit around him.