CHARLOTTE, N.C. --- Longtime trainer Al Domenico, who retired in 1989 after 26 seasons with the Sixers, has died, the team announced Friday.

Sixers coach Doug Collins said Domenico, who was with the team during its run to the 1983 championship, had a great sense of humor.

"The first experience I had with him was … I had sprained an ankle in the summer, before I had come to rookie camp (in 1971)," Collins said before the Sixers tipped off against the Bobcats. "I asked him if he could tape my ankle. And before he did, he pulled out a piece of paper. I said, ‘What’re you writing down?’ He says, ‘If you have to get your ankle taped, in your next contract, the owner will know you have weak ankles.’ That was the way I knew he didn’t want to tape ankles."

Collins also said Domenico had a penchant for hitting up horse tracks.

“If you gave a skycap $5 for your bag, he’d eat you alive because that was his horse-track money,” Collins said. “That petty cash was his, not for the skycaps.”

Sixers general manager Tony DiLeo said the following in a statement: "On behalf of the entire Philadelphia 76ers organization, it is with tremendous sadness that we mourn the loss of our long-time former trainer Al Domenico. I first met Al in 1964 and maintained a relationship with him from that point forward. He played an integral role in this organization for 26 seasons until his retirement in 1989 and remained a friend to many throughout the NBA and beyond. Our condolences go out to those who were fortunate enough to know and love Al during this difficult time."

Domenico was 82 years old.

(Associated Press)

Andrew Bynum hasn't been on the basketball court for the 76ers, but he may be heading to a courtroom in California.

The sidelined center, according to documents filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, sued the neighbors of his Westchester, Calif., home June 1 of this year. The documents say Bynum is suing Ramond and Cindy Beckett for throwing objects at his Ferrari and chipping it, yelling at him about the volume of his music and hitting the side of his home with a long stick.

According to a USA Today report, Bynum said the Becketts "object" to his "profession, his race, his friends, his cars, and his taste in music."

The Becketts countersued Bynum July 11, citing the following. Brace yourself. There are some serious claims in here:

"Bynum has demonstrated open contempt for the Becketts specifically and for the neighborhood generally by blasting loud, profane, and disrespectful music and video games at window-shaking volumes; by letting his dogs run loose through the neighborhood; by apparently engaging in illegal drug use and permitting marijuana smoke to drift into the Becketts' backyard; by constructing a fence on his property which is not in compliance with the community codes and regulations; by conspicuously brandishing firearms in an attempt to threaten and intimidate the Becketts in retaliation for their legitimate complaints; and, perhaps most seriously, by recklessly racing his luxury cars through the neighborhood at dangerous speeds where children or others could be injured or killed."

An initial request for comment from the Sixers was not returned.
Bynum, acquired by the Sixers in a four-team trade Aug. 10, has not practiced or played for the team while battling bilateral bone bruises and weakened cartilage in both knees. The Sixers (9-6) visit the Charlotte Bobcats Friday night.

Source: USA Today

(US Presswire)

Elton Brand said his installment of the Sixers "reached our ceiling," believing the team was justified in its decision to break up a team that was one win away from the Eastern Conference finals.

“If we beat the Bulls with Derrick Rose, maybe," said Brand, a starter in Tuesday's meeting between Brand's Dallas Mavericks and his former club. "But I’m a realist. I kind of felt we had reached our ceiling. Maybe we didn’t. They swung for the fences, tried to get (Andrew) Bynum. I like the moves they made."

Brand said it was "hectic" last summer, when the Sixers amnestied the power forward. He cleared waivers and signed with the Mavericks, who are paying $2.1 million for his services. The Sixers are paying the remainder of his contract -- $16.1 million, which does not count against their cap.

“Any time you get a demotion or anything like that, I don’t know," he said. "The word ‘amnestied’ wasn’t ‘cut,’ so it sounded better than that. Any time you get a demotion, you’ve got a chip (on your shoulder). I’m just trying to help my team win ballgames. I’m not looking at stats. We need to win. Sometimes that takes away from the winning formula."

Brand has started 14 of the Mavericks' 15 games, averaging career-low totals of 5.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

Sixers coach Doug Collins, who called Brand "a true professional," said the Sixers "miss his soul."

(Associated Press)

(Associated Press)

At his locker, answering questions about his career-best performance, Jrue Holiday was clutching a DVD of footage from Sunday's win over Phoenix.

It happens all the time, that Holiday will watch game tape right after the game has concluded. And from this one, Sixers coach Doug Collins wanted him to see one particular play.

Collins said Holiday's penchant for shooting leaners, preferring to jump sideways instead of up and down (pictured here) prevents Holiday from drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line.

“One of the things I’m going to show Jrue on tape a little bit is he’s picking up his dribble one dribble too soon going to the basket, so what’s ended up happening is he’s not high-jumping," Collins said. "He’s jumping sideways. When he jumps sideways, he’s shooting the ball over his shoulder and referees are not going to give him that foul because he’s the one leaning in. So we have to work with him. Grant Hill did that in Detroit. You have to take one more dribble and make sure you get contact. Once Jrue does that – what did he have, eight free throws today? – he can be shooting eight, 10 free throws every game. We’ll show him tape on that."

And Holiday knows it, too. After his 33-point, 13-assist performance, he said his inability to draw fouls could be the thing that keeps him from taking his game to the next level.

“To get to the next level, I do need to get to the free throw line more. Taking that extra dribble, because I take off so far (away), it’ll give me a better chance of getting to that guy’s body. The ones tonight, where I made the initial contact, that’s not a foul. That’s because I took from so far (away). If I take that extra dribble, and go up straight trying to get that contact, that’s what he’s talking about. Yeah, Lou Williams. He’s always at the free throw line. Even though some of them didn’t look like fouls, didn’t look like contact, he’s always there."

(That being said, I took the liberty of looking into trips to the foul line taken by a handful of the league's finer point guards this season, and Holiday's on par with all of them. Holiday has attempted 52 FT. While Chris Paul (66) and Deron Williams (60) have launched more, Rajon Rondo (31) and Greivis Vasquez have taken fewer.)