Why The 76ers Are Legitimate Contenders
ESPN.com

The Sixers lead the NBA with a plus-4.3 turnover differential -- up from plus-1.2 last season -- and are second in points per game off turnovers at 19.6, an increase of more than three over last year.
It's not just defense in this regard; Philly has a league-low 10.7 turnovers per game and easily leads the league in opponents' points per game off turnovers.
As a result, the Sixers have by far the best points per game off turnovers differential in the NBA, more than double the next-closest team.
In addition, the Sixers have a 2.11 assist-to-turnover ratio this season -- the Bulls are second at 1.62.
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Brian Babineau/NBA/Getty ImagesHoopIdea: A Better Game
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Join us as we get going with HoopIdea, our engine for improving basketball.
The motto: Basketball is the best game ever. Now let's make it better.
The problem: Many things in basketball exist because of rules and guidelines set up decades ago. But it's time to rethink. As Bill Simmons wrote last week, the eight worst words in sports are "Because that's the way we've always done it."
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Future Power Rankings
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At the same time, we looked at many other factors, such as management, ownership, coaching, a team's spending habits, its cap situation, the reputation of the city and the franchise and what kind of draft picks we expected the team to have in the future.
One change for this edition: Now that so many big names have landed in more permanent places, we have increased the value of the Players category. This also rewards teams like Oklahoma City, Memphis and Philadelphia that have successfully built their rosters already with young talent. Of course, we still recognize that teams like Dallas, Houston and New Jersey (future: Brooklyn) have the money and the motivation to spend, and can make a lot of noise in the coming years -- and we still reward teams for strong management, salary-cap space and so on.
Here are our latest rankings, from 1 to 30:
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