Feb 21, 2012; Memphis, TN, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Tony Battie (4) during the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum. Memphis defeated Philadelphia 89-76. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-US PRESSWIRE

Tony Battie: Dear Lord. We saw quite a bit of Battie. Too much for me. Every time I saw him, I had wished Lavoy Allen was playing instead. What if Coach Collins felt Battie would be better on Garnett in the playoffs? Would there be a game 7? Nah, we’d be long gon’ fishin’ by then. Yeah there were some nights where it felt like a “Battie night”. He did his job though: defend and rebound. He’s the perfect 5th big man on a solid big man rotation. I’m sure he’s given good advice, the most recent form was him helping Andre Iguodala seal a playoff game at the FT line. I just wonder why Andre doesn’t use that special “technique” more often. So yeah, in accordance to expectations and performance, Battie had a solid season.

Season Grade: B

Apr 25, 2012; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Sam Young (7) drives for the basket during the second quarter against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

Sam Young: Even though he wasn’t with the team at the start of the season, he’s played more games than a few other players on the team. He came in a trade deadline deal. I always say that the Sixers basically traded Marreese Speights for Sam Young but they needed two deals to get it done. Whatever. Sam is like Battie in that he’s probably best used as a 5th wing player in a solid wing rotation. He was suppose to add much needed toughness to this team (that’s what people were saying. I wasn’t buying it). Young just wasn’t much of a factor when he stepped on the court. He shot 30% from the field and 64% from the FT line. He’s actually been okay on defense though he’s obviously no lock down player. I guess I’d be willing to keep him around.

Season Grade: C-

Mar 23, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Craig Brackins (33) dunks prior to playing the Boston Celtics at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers defeated the Celtics 99-86. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Craig Brackins: Don’t look so confused. Craig actually played the same amount of games as Sam Young. I was admittedly surprised he played that many games. Every time the Brackin was released, it was a blowout though. And, int he beginning of the season, there were plenty of those, so I guess it does make (Sixer) sense that he would play 14 games. Feels like 3 or 4 though. He spent time in the D-League too. I managed to watch like a couple of minutes before realizing I had better things to do in life like eating candy or listening to random songs on YouTube. In the end, Craig wasn’t any good and it’s been reported that the Sixers have declined their team option on him. He may not be back next season.

Season Grade: D

Feb 21, 2012; Memphis, TN, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Andres Nocioni (5) shoots against the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum. Memphis defeated Philadelphia 89-76. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-US PRESSWIRE

Andres Nocioni: Remember him? Yeah. In the beginning of last season, he was playing a fairly big role on the team. He eventually dropped off the face of the earth team rotation in favor of Jodie Meeks and Evan Turner. He started playing badly during that season and it carried over to this season. Like with Brackins, he mainly saw playing time during blowouts. He took bad shots, he played bad defense…well, I said the bad from last season carried over didn’t it. I don’t think Nocioni is that bad though and he may have been feeling a little uninspired after falling out of the rotation. He did start a game (I had to look that up). Alright well I’m done typing stuff hoping a positive attribute will pop into my mind before I’m done this “analysis”.

Season Grade: D-

Francisco Elson: In times of injury, the Sixers thought that the best way to survive was to bring in Elson for a couple of 10-day contracts. Okay fine. Um…he played 16 minutes and scored 2 points.

Okay you know what? For Elson and Xavier Silas I’m just not going to do any grades. Not enough games to work with here. So…yeah. Oh, for one thing, both Silas and Elson have connections to heroes. Elson looks like that Frozone guy from The Incredible’s and, at least for me, I called Silas the X-Man of the team. So there you go.

I do hope you enjoyed the grades of the players this season. Was I off? On point? Were you expecting an “F” grade? I’ve got a number of off-season posts just about ready to go. In the meantime, the NBA Finals starts on Tuesday. It should be pretty awesome.

May 1, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Philadelphia 76ers point guard Lou Williams (23) drives to the basket against the Chicago Bulls during the second half of game two in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at the United Center. The 76ers beat the Bulls 109-92. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-US PRESSWIRE

Lou Williams: Let’s first start off with this. I don’t think I have officially said this here at The Sixer Sense but I do not like Lou Williams’ game. Don’t want anything to do with it. It seems more harmful to the team’s future than helpful. His shot selection is terrible and I want him off this team or in a lesser role so bad it’s not even right. With that said, my personal feelings will be kept quiet.

You have to admit that Lou is the best pure scorer on this team. When he gets going, it’s all over. We’ve seen this happen many times. The problem with that is, he needs to jack up shot after shot in order to get it going. You live or die by the sword Lou. More times than not, Lou will kill the momentum of the offense. Ball movement becomes stand around and watch Lou dribble the clock out and then chuck up a bad shot or pass at the last second for a teammate to chuck up a bad shot. His defense is pretty bad too.

All in all, his season was a good one. He continues to be one of the best 6th-Men in the league. He even led his team in scoring without one single start. While he can stall the offense, he has gotten the Sixers out of a few scoring droughts and is also a leader in points in the 4th quarter this past season.

Season Grade: B

April 21, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Philadelphia 76ers shooting guard Evan Turner (12) passes the ball around Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert (55) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory credit: Michael Hickey-US PRESSWIRE

Evan Turner: Turner may have had the most disappointing season for the Sixers. The #2 pick struggled to live up to the assumed star role that comes with being drafted at #2. I personally have not given up on him. He has shown flashes that he can be a big contributor on this team. The argument is still out there that if Andre Iguodala isn’t on this team, Turner would have more room to grow. But, in the games that Iguodala missed, Turner never really took advantage of it. Maybe he needs a bigger role than what he currently has now.

Still, his season was a letdown for anybody and everybody. Hopefully he blossoms into a star next season. Turner did do one thing that was much better than all of the other players on the roster: get into the paint. But, there is a reason why the Sixers were dead last in FT’s attempted. Turner avoided any contact and sometimes it actually made things worse. There have been times where he’s been very inefficient in his shooting. He seems to be one of those players that is perhaps spoiled. expecting things to come to him instead of going out and getting it.

Evan did a decent job defending. But, when he’s matched up with a solid defender, he’s almost useless. You saw that in the Celtics series. Avery Bradley pretty much shut down Evan. But, as Bradley had his shoulder problems, Evan was able to somewhat play better. He has amazing handling of the ball. You would figure it would help him shake off defenders but no. He had many “million dollar move; one dollar finish” or whatever the saying is this season. Meaning, he would do all of these fancy moves but when it came down to his shot, he failed. I keep saying it but Evan’s season left a lot to be desired.

Season Grade: C-

Mar 09, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young (21) shoots during the fourth quarter against the Utah Jazz at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers defeated the Jazz 104-91. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Thaddeus Young: Thad had another solid season. I also happen to believe that he has lived up to his contract enough to justify it. I also don’t think he’ll get much better than he is now. Good thing the contract is a flat rate. Anyway, his hustle plays did wonders for this team. He and Lou Williams lead one of the best benches in the league. For the most part, his stats are even with last season’s stats so yeah he may be flat-lining.

For some reason though, I can’t seem to grasp any solid memories of him this season. He played in 63 of the 66 possible games this season so it’s not like I didn’t get to see him play. He was injured most of the playoffs. But I know he had a good season. He’s one of those energy guys. As I said with the starters, he and Elton Brand have been two players that never really quit on a game. He improved defensively in my opinion. He still needs work on rebounding. His quick first step and soft hands really make him deadly around the rim. I said his rebounding needs work but he definitely fought for offensive rebounds and put backs. And he sacrificed his body to get lots of charges which shows he’s a decent help defender. As the season went, he did slow down from his injuries; but overall he had a good season.

Season Grade: B-

Okay now for the rookies. They didn’t play well at the same time, but both players played well enough to be considered a part of the night shift.

May 12, 2012; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett (5) drives to the hoop against Philadelphia 76ers power forward Lavoy Allen (back) during the first half of game one in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-US PRESSWIRE

Lavoy Allen: Mr. 500. ESPN gave out their player rankings and Lavoy was in last place. Someone had to take that spot. I just didn’t think it was fair though since we never saw him play and NBA game. But whatever. When Spencer Hawes went out with injuries, Lavoy was given the green light. At the time, fellow rookie Nikola Vucevic was blowing our minds with his impressive play. And Allen came in and did his thing. It wasn’t spectacular. He didn’t show that he would ever be a star. But, he played well enough for people to realize he belongs in the league. Dispite his best efforts, he would eventually fall out of rotation in the middle of the season. Instead of playing him, the Sixers went and signed Francisco Elson for a little bit. But, towards the end of the season, Lavoy was given the green light again. He eventually became a starter for the team, especially during the playoffs vs the Celtics were he was pretty much the only guy who could slow down Kevin Garnett.

Allen made the most out of his season by playing hard ball. His offense is still limited but his defense and rebounding and heart are good enough that he should be in the rotation next season depending on what the Sixers do to upgrade their big men. ESPN even apologized for their “mistake” in their rankings. Allen took it all in stride though. Perhaps it did motivate him. We can only hope he stays motivated.

Season Grade: C-

Feb 17, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Nikola Vucevic (8) shoots during the fourth quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at the Wells Fargo Center. The Mavericks defeated the Sixers 82-75. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Nikola Vucevic: When the Sixers made the pick in the draft, many were kinda like, “Eh we could’ve done better”. This past draft was rather weak and it really didn’t make much of a difference if Sixers picked 16th or lower. One thing about the rookies is that they showed very good basketball IQ. As the season went on, just like Lavoy Allen, injuries provided the opportunity to make some noise for Vucevic. Some called him a Spencer Hawes clone. And yeah, their games are similar. Vuce did play like he was in the league for a few years at least. With a limited training camp and barely and practices during the season, this is very impressive of a rookie.

Vucevic was more of an offensive weapon compared to Lavoy’s defensive skill set. He made some nice plays. He made smart plays. He wasn’t as talented or strong as other big men, but he held his own for a while. Just like with Allen, Vucevic didn’t convince me he was going to be a star, nor was he suppose to. But, both Lavoy and Nikola should be around for a good while if their skill set improves to their level of IQ. Sadly, Vuce fell out of the rotation and never really got back in it. If Spencer Hawes is gone next season and the Sixers get and actual Center to start games, I’d be okay with Vuce being the backup. time to see what we got in these young guys (haha they’re older than me!).

Season Grade: D

Welp that’s it for the magnificent Night Shift. the 3rd part will focus on the rest of the roster. One note: Anybody that has played for the Sixers this season will be graded, even if he’s not on the team anymore.