Philly Sports Developments for Today

Here are a couple of Philly sports developments on this Wednesday, July 28th.

1. Phillies top prospect, outfielder Domonic Brown, has been called up to the Fightin's as Shane Victorino goes on the DL with an oblique injury.

The much await debut of Brown will be tonight and can be seen in right field wearing No. 9. This move most likely signifies that there will be no trade involving Jayson Werth. The 22-year old Brown batted .327 with 20 home runs and 68 RBI in 93 games at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

2. 76ers swingman Andre Iguodala made it threw the first round of cuts for Team USA basketball.

Igoudala is part of the final 15 players but the Team USA roster will be trimmed to 12 after a camp in New York City that will be from August 10th to 16th. Chester native Tyreke Evans didn't make the final 15.

3. Flyers winger Ville Leino is recovering well from hip surgery.

Leino, who made a huge contribution in the Stanley Cup Finals run this past year for the Flyers, will be on crutches for two more weeks and is expected to be ready for training camp. Leino had 21 points in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which tied a NHL rookie record.

4. Division I-AA National Champion Wildcats have been selected to finishfirst in the CAA this year.

This comes as no suprise that the Villanova Wildcats are the preseason favorites to win the CAA. Wide receiver and return man Matt Sczcur was selected preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Linebacker Terence Thomas was selected as preason Defensive Player of the Year.

This Week's Philly Sports Headlines

This is the top five headlines in Philadelphia sports this week.
1. The Phillies swept the Reds going into the All-Star break
2. The Sixers sign draftee Evan Turner
3. Flyers sign winger Nikolai Zherdev; re-sign Carcillo
4. Phillies activate Durbin from DL; designate Figueroa for assignment
5. Eagles sign draftee Riley Cooper

Honorable Mention:
Delonte West pleads guilty to weapons charges
Billy King hired to be Nets GM
Rockets match Cavs offer to Kyle Lowry

2010 Draft Recap for the Sixers and Flyers

The latter half of the previous week allowed to quietly go on a winning streak and try to right the ship. The reason why you ask the spotlight was taken off the Phillies for the past couple of days is because of the NBA Draft held on Thursday night in New York City and the NHL Draft held on Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles.

The Sixers made it official the worst kept secret that their man they were drafting was guard/forward Evan Turner. This comes a week after shipping, Captain Underachiever, Samuel Dalembert to Sacramento for forwards Spencer Hawes and Andreas Nocioni. The trade of Dalembert and the drafting of Turner has sent a message from the new head coach Doug Collins to the rest of the team that the Sixers will be full of hard workers and players that will themselves to victories.

After the LeBron sweepstakes is over and all the big stars like James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, and Joe Johnson decide what their new addresses will be, those teams that will loose on the sweepstakes will take a look at what will take to bring in Elton Brand. In no way, realistically, were the Sixers going to be able to move Brand's $51 million. It was evident that the main players like Chicago and Miami were dumping salary just to make room to make max offers to the before mentioned free agents.

Unlike the major retooling the Sixers have to do their roster, the Flyers just to make a few tweaks to their roster to make a hopeful return to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Flyers as well last week before the draft make a deal aquiring the rights of defenseman Dan Hamhuis and a conditional draft pick in 2011 from the Atlanta Thrashers for defenseman Ryan Parent. During the season, the Flyers made a push to try to acquire Hamhuis from the Thrashers. Hamhuis, before being dealt to Pittsburgh during this weekend's draft, would have given the Flyers three formiable pairs on defense.

But the Flyers management and Hamhuis' agent, Wade Arnott, weren't getting any closer to reaching a deal. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren realized that the Flyers weren't going to be able to reach a deal before July 1st and wanted to make sure they could get value for Hamhuis before they would loose him to free agency. The Flyers were able to acquire a third-round pick in the 2011 draft.

Since the Flyers acquired defenseman Chris Pronger from Anaheim last year, the Flyers didn't have a pick until the third round. But the Flyers were still trying to make deals to address needs on their team. Rumors have been circulating that the Flyers were looking at the Boston Bruin netminder, Tim Thomas, along with the Jonathan Quick from the LA Kings. But the newest name out their is that the Flyers are trying to bring in San Jose Sharks soon-to-be free agent Evengi Nabakov.

I will be shocked to see the Flyers bring back Michael Leighton back after his success in the playoffs. Personally, Leighton had an unforgettable run but the journeyman will most likely not be able to repeat the success he had last year. I would prefer a proven winner like Nabakov or a young and talented goalie like Jonathan Quick. It is very fitting that Patrick Kane's winning goal was a "soft" goal that went between Leighton's five hole. The achille's heel of the Flyers will forever be the goaltender position until they get a franchise caliber netminder.

Let the Ping Pong Balls Fall Where They May

The Philadelphia 76ers organization and fans have been waiting for this day to come for about a month now. This day I speak of is the "John Wall Sweepstakes" or more well-known as the NBA Draft Lottery.

The Draft Lottery is a day for all the losers in the NBA to have a chance to turn around their organizations by getting one of the top three picks in the 2010 NBA Draft.

Going into the day, the Sixers would select sixth overall, if the ping pong balls fell in order. But, the Sixers had a 5.3 percent chance to get the first pick, 6.03 percent chance to get the second pick, and 6.97 percent chance to get the third pick of the draft. In the worst case scenario, the Sixers would stay in the Top 10, by selecting ninth overall in the upcoming draft.

But this draft for the Sixers organization is the most important draft for the franchise since the 1996 NBA Draft, where the Sixers selected shooting guard Allen Iverson. "The Answer" was the face of the franchise for a decade and helped selling out arenas throughout the NBA. Even this past year, the Sixers decided to bring back Iverson, in an attempt to drive up attendance at the Wachovia Center. But that experiment failed as Iverson appeared in 25 games, averaging 31.9 mpg, 13.9 ppg and 4.1 apg. Iverson left the team in the middle of the year due to personal and family issues.

The 2010 NBA Draft includes a handful of prospects that would be able to contribute to a franchise but two prospects are considered franchise players. Those two players include the freshman phenom sensation, John Wall, and most pro-ready prospect, Evan Turner. Many Draft guru's have said that the winner of the NBA Draft Lottery would win the right to select Wall, the 6'4" point guard out of Kentucky over Turner, the 6'7" swingman out of Ohio St., as the first pick of the 2010 NBA Draft.

After getting a solid contribution from their rookie point guard Jrue Holiday last year, it would have made no sense for the Sixers to hope for the first pick in the draft. The only use for the first pick of the Draft would be to select Wall and hear possible trade requests for Wall's rights. This way the Sixers could somehow get a greater return but that still doesn't make much sense. Selecting second overall would benefit the franchise by selecting the much needed swingman Turner.

Imagine next year having Holiday and Turner in the backcourt along, for now, the new A.I. at the three. If Thaddeus Young bounces back from a right thumb fracture and the rest of the team decides to achieve to the best of their abilities, the Sixers will end up in an annually weak Eastern Conference next year.

But I might be jumping ahead of my assertion being that the Sixers currently don't have a head coach. The door hasn't been kicked down by any particular prospective head coach for the Sixers job. The reason being the team is filled with horribly large contracts held by underachieving players. President and General Manager Ed Stefanski tried to make a splash in the summer of 2008 by signing forward Elton Brand to a $82 million deal over five years. Stefanski also signed forward/guard Andre Iguodala to a $80 million deal over six years.

Luckily, the only bright spot, before getting the second overall pick in the upcoming draft, was the fact the Sixers do having a couple of expiring contracts this year. The Sixers could finally be able to move center Samuel Dalembert and his $12 million remaining on his contract. Other flexibility and possible players on the move could be guards Willie Green and Jason Kapono with their combined $12 million currently on the Sixers books.

The Sixers organization and fans might now be able to say they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The flexibility to move the expiring contracts of Dalembert, Green and Kapono contracts gives the Sixers the chance to improve their team and give some cap relief. This will be a rebuilding process, which should be centered around Holiday and Turner. But for a change Stefanski will have to select a coach that loves to run instead of a coach who loves to slow down the game and run a complicated offense like the Princeton offense. If Stefanski doesn't select the right coach, then you might as well show Stefanski the door.