How much will lockout hurt Sixers?

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Bad stuff. Two weeks of games canceled. Allegations of greed. Threats that offers might get worse from here, not better.

The NBA lockout slogs along, now well past Day 100. Earlier in the week, after the NBA took a hacksaw to the scheduled and lopped off the first hunk of regular season games, commissioner David Stern evidently hinted that the owners proposals would get worse since those offers would have to include the potential financial losses caused by canceling clashes that matter. The NBA estimated the damage would be somewhere around 200 million for those first two weeks.

Things are getting messy for the leagueor messier. But we already knew that. What we dont know is why all this will affect a Sixers team thats been on the rise since Doug Collins took over for poor, overmatched Eddie Jordan. With the labor stalemate, the Sixers have countless questions still unanswered. Is Evan Turner a potential star or merely someone they overvalued? Is Jrue Holiday ready to take the next step and help push the team deeper into the playoffs? After a much-improved season last year, what does Elton Brandwhose contract will finally end in 2012-13have left? Can Nikola Vucevic be a regular contributor? And everyones favorite lingering question: what willshould they do about Andre Iguodala?

Then theres the matter of transitioning the new ownership group into power.

During the NFL lockout, some fans and journalists argued that since the teams were all dealing with the same issues, the obstacles would be the same height for everyone. Im not sure thats right. Shouldnt some organizationsbecause of historic stability or the way their rosters are set up or simply because of front office acumenbe better situated to excel once the lockout is finally lifted?

What Im wondering is, which kind of franchise will the Sixers be? Will they take advantage of a truncated season and less prepared teams? Or will the labor unrest arrest their development?E-mail John Gonzalez at jgonzalez@comcastsportsnet.com

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