The Chollies

The Phillies raised the bar. Can the Sixers reach it?

by E. James Beale

BASKETBALL STARTED?!?

Michael T. Regan ROLLINS' ROLE? Sorry, Andre. You're just not outspoken enough to compete for Jimmy's Award. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

In the midst of their soon-to-be historic championship run, Phillies ace Cole Hamels responded to a question about the now-concluded drought with the declaration, "We want to be the team of 2008, not the '80s, not 1993."

Well, it took a parade to get people to talk about Howard and Hamels instead of Carlton and Schmidt, but now it's all about the 2008 Phils across the Delaware Valley.

Everything that comes after a Big Win lives in its formidable wake. With that in mind, we're honoring the current champs by comparing their apples to the oranges of the 76ers. Here are some pre- (fine, early-) season awards for the Sixers based on the accomplishments of the 2008 Phils. Want your own awards, Sixers? Only one way to get them.

The Pat Burrell Award for a poorly timed, exceedingly large contract that skews Philadelphia's view of what a star should be goes to ... Andre Iguodala! In his fourth year in the bigs, coming off an impressive season and expected to improve, the Phillies signed Burrell to a six-year, $50 million contract. Burrell got off to a slow start under the weight of this newfound pressure, and the Philly faithful turned on him. He never recovered his pre-contract numbers. Six years later the Sixers inked should-be star swingman Iguodala to a contract worth $22 million more than any other team could have offered. AI2 is a solid player, but he signed a big contract, and if he starts to struggle Philly fans are more likely to remember the latter than the former. Not that all is lost: If six years from now the swingman is sitting on top of a cart leading a parade, all will be forgiven.

The Cole Hamels Award for a prestigious talent who is about to emerge as a legitimate star a year sooner than you expected goes to ... Thaddeus Young. Coming out of college, Young was a minus defender, and last year he turned himself into a plus. This year he's added a jump shot.

The Jayson Werth Award for an unheralded player who will start the season in a timeshare before blooming into a midlevel role goes to ... Kareem Rush. Rush is already the best (only?) shooter on the Sixers, is active on defense and is an underrated athlete. About 20 games into the season he'll beat out Willie Green for consistent minutes.

The Johan Santana Award for high-profile signing that won't actually make a huge difference in the standings goes to ... Elton Brand. Like Santana, Brand will really help the Sixers keep points off the board — he's an excellent on-ball defender when he's healthy, and it's already become clear that opposing teams are going to struggle to get layups on this Sixers team. Unfortunately, he's also like Santana in that he's not going to add a terrible amount of offense. Despite being a career 20-points-per-game player, Brand has never had a true post game, and coming off a season in which he played all of eight games due to knee surgery, he noticeably lags behind the Sixers' high-octane fast break. He's still an accurate jump shooter, and is a top-five offensive rebounder when healthy, but at this point in his career he shouldn't command a double-team. As Jimmy Rollins quipped at the parade: "One player can't buy a championship."

The Uncle Cholly Award for a good-guy head coach who gets his players to play hard, sometimes at the expense of Xs and Os game calling, goes to ... Maurice Cheeks. An easy call, and we're happy to give it to one of sports' true good guys. May your season end as well as Charlie Manuel's.

The Jimmy Rollins Award for loud, outspoken, veteran team leader who doesn't mind getting booed if it can take the spotlight off his team goes to ... no one! The Sixers are a nice, well-rounded team. But they still lack a vocal team leader. Andre Miller, the steadying veteran point guard, is a loner whom the GM can't find during the off-season. Andre Iguodala just spent his first year ever as the best player on his own team (Richard McBride was nice in high school), and came up small when the lights were brightest in last year's playoffs. And Elton Brand is still the new guy. The player who may be most apt to fill the roll — loquacious center Samuel Dalembert — doesn't have the talent or demeanor of the 2007 MVP. Could be a problem.

The CC Sabathia Award for the midseason signing that is going to shift the landscape of the league and strike fear in the hearts of Philly fans, only to end up not mattering because it turns out he's no good in the playoffs goes to ... Vince Carter, who is all but a lock to end up missing jump shots on an overrated Cavaliers' team. At the trading deadline, the Cavs are going to move Wally Szczerbiak's expiring contract and bit pieces to New Jersey for the disgruntled former star, the media will declare the East LeBron's to lose, and he will then lose it. To add insult to injury, New Jersey will use the cap space to sign James to open their stadium in 2010.

The Dumb, Overly Negative, Anti-Homer Prediction Award goes to ... I'll be taking this one. After going to print with the words "Rays in 6," I'm here to kill the joy again. Forty-three and 39, no better than a second round exit. Let's hope I'm just as wrong this time.

E. James Beale blogs at The Sports Complex, citypaper.net/sports.