The Philadelphia 76ers continue their stretch run into the Eastern Conference playoffs tonight with a game against the Milwaukee Bucks.  More importantly, tonight marks the first game the Sixers will play without the services of Thaddeus Young.  

The loss of Young could not have come at a worse point in the season.  The Sixers are currently locked in a dogfight with the Miami Heat for the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference and every game is crucial.  Making matters worse is the fact that Young seemed to be just finding his grove on the offensive end of the floor—having scored at least 20 points in 6 straight games.  He was rounding into form as a second reliable offensive threat for the Sixers and possibly the most consistent offensive force.  Young’s services will be sorely missed.  Thad created matchup problems for opposing teams with his ability to run the floor, operate in space and knock down the open look from outside.  From an offensive standpoint, the Sixers will be hard pressed to replace his production.

But at this juncture of the season, there is no sympathy for depleted teams.  Every team has dealt with their fair share of bumps and bruises.  The Sixers need to move past their fallen teammate and ensure that winnable games like tonight’s contest are not squandered.  For this to happen, someone is going to have to step up and replace Young’s production.  Who will it be?

Of course, no one player is going to fully replace Thad on the offensive end of the floor.  Rather, the production will have to be spread amongst the entire team.  However, it will be interesting to see what starting lineup DiLeo puts on the floor.  If the second half of the Hawks games is any indication, we may see Reggie Evans start out the game at the power forward spot.  I think that is a mistake.  As has been written on this blog many times before, Evans brings a spastic level of energy to the game.  He commits poor fouls, is often out of position on the glass and is basically a waste of a player on the offensive end.  He is a player that needs to be used based on the situation—not as a starter.

The obvious answer here is Maresse Speights.  Speights is able to provide some semblance of consistency on the offensive end of the floor and has the ability to alter shots when he is in the right spot.  Granted, he has his deficiencies on the defensive end of the floor and as a rebounder.  But remember, Young was not exactly a lock down low post defender and he too was suspect on the glass.  In short: the offensive production of Young needs to be replicated more than what he brings on defense.  Speights is the only viable option in that regard.  Any other option makes the Sixers too vulnerable and one-dimensional on offense.  

The problem with this scenario is it eliminates one of the Sixers offensive sparkplugs off the bench and diminishes their defensive prowess.  To combat this, we will see a healthy dose of Donyell Marshall and Theo Ratliff respectively.  Marshall can provide the needed spark offensively off the bench and Ratliff brings a measure of defensive stability. 

The loss of Young at an integral point in the season was devastating to the Sixers’ playoff positioning and chances of advancing past the first round.  That is the level-headed, pragmatic view.  But they still have to show up and compete.  We need to continue to gauge the mental makeup of this team and this test will be a solid way to judge them in that capacity.  Will they all step up on the defensive end of the floor and hold each other accountable?  Will the make solid decisions with the ball and not settle for jumpers?  Will they refuse to be outrebounded and outhustled? 

The answers to these questions will tell us a lot about this team.  Those answers will begin to be formulated tonight against the Bucks.