MCW, Noel Together At Last

Ahh, reunited and it feels so fucking good.

The reigning NBA Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams, and his draftmate, Nerlens Noel, will finally play together in an NBA game tomorrow. They were drafted in the same draft class to be cornerstones of the 76ers future, but through the first 89 games of their career's the duo has yet to share the hardwood.

MCW missed the first seven games, and all of the summer tune-up games, recovering from off season shoulder surgery, while last year it was Noel who was sidelined while recovering from an ACL tear.

The connection between the two runs deeper than just draft mates, as well. Noel and MCW both played AAU ball together as teenagers in the New England area, and its gonna be damn interesting to see how well these two can play together at the highest level.

76ers are in the midst of a Texas trip, tomorrow playing Dallas then head to Houston and San Antonio. Fuck. I am excited to be 0-10 and its a strange sensation.

Tankadelphia: The Tank Rolls On

KJ you are a bad man. 

If you're a Sixers fan, these past five games have been your best case scenario.

Play competitive, entertaining basketball for three quarters, hang around for the first couple minutes of the fourth quarter, THEN TANK YOUR BALLS OFF.

Obviously not having that go-to guy yet down the stretch when you need a bucket to end a scoring drought is killer, but nonetheless these first five games have been fun as hell.

Last night against the Magic -- who were also 0-4 coming into the contest -- the game was tied heading into the fourth, and remained close literally until the final second when J Cole Tobias Harris hit a game-winning bucket at the buzzer.

Some thoughts on the season thus far:

•  Nerlens sprained his twiggy ankle last night :( it didn't look too serious on the replay, but it seems like this is something that is going to be reoccurring. Noel frequently tweaked his ankles throughout Summer League and preseason bouts. His stellar leaping ability, and his baby ankles are not conducive to one another. Hopefully Nerls can bulk up the stilts a bit. Noel's been as advertised throughout the first five games of his NBA career -- defensive potential is through the roof, while the offensive game is, well, less than polished

•  KJ McDaniels. KJ FUCKIN MCDANIELS! My god, what an athlete this kid is. Noel made SportsCenter's Top-10 earlier this week, but McDaniels is certain to be on there tonight. An alley-oop from Tony Wroten that ended in an And-1 and electrified all 5,000 patrons at the Well. McDunks/McBlocks/McStealofthedraft finished with a stat line of 12 points, two boards and three blocks. He's refined his 3-point stroke (something that needed to be done to take his game up a level), has proven his defense can translate against NBA wing players, and has consistently displayed his other worldly athleticism. Don't forget Samuel Hinkie, our leader and master, got this animal at 32nd overall.

•  Uhhh, Brandon Davies. Davies' success is something I think I'd like to attest to Brett Brown and his developmental skills. Davies shot 42% last season while averaging a paltry 2.8 points per game, while quite possibly being one of the worst to ever play at the NBA level. This season though? How bout 60% (!!!!!!!!) for 12.6 points per game. And he's even knocking down the tre ball this year. Sophomore slump? More like sophomore MVP season.

•  Tony Wroten has made himself a top-20 thus far in the season, unfortunately when MCW makes his return from shoulder surgery Wroten's minutes and scoring opportunities will diminish a bit, but its not just Wroten scoring this year. We saw how capable he was of doing that last season. This year Wroten is putting up numbers all over the box score: (per game averages) 20.8 points, 7 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 3.4 steals. One thing Wroten still has been unable to hone in on is minimizing the turnovers, notching nine more of 'em tonight.

Sixers have the night off tomorrow, then get back in action against the 3-1 Bulls on Friday, marking the commencement of a tumultuous stretch in the schedule. Next five: Bulls at home, then Raptors, Mavs, Rockets and Spurs on the road. 0-10? 0-10.

Evan Mathis Returns to Lineup, Todd Herremans to IR

The All-Pro left guard, who tore his MCL in Week 1, will return to the lineup for the Monday Night matchup with the Panthers. His fellow guard, Todd Herremans, will be placed on IR, and effectively end his season after tearing his biceps two weeks ago.

It was no secret that missing Mathis for eight weeks was a big reason for the pedestrian numbers being put up this year by last season's number one rushing attack (it has been admittedly better the past few weeks). According to CSN's Reuben Frank, there have been 13 different offensive line combinations this season.

What's funny is this season, as I mentioned above, has been kind of a pedestrian rushing attack compared to last season's, yet Shady is still in the top-five in rushing, and has only improved over the last stretch of four games.

It's hard to imagine that Shady -- averaging 107.5 rushing yards per game in the past four contests -- will not continue to expound on these numbers, and finally get a fucking touchdown after six scoreless weeks.

Welcome back, Evan. Welcome back.

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