Deep Sixer

So the 76ers’ new strategy of using restraint in the free agent market is being met with skepticism.
If judging the complaints from e-mailers, the disgruntled fans want us to hammer the team for its previous spending habits and wondering why all of a sudden discretion is being used.
To review, the Sixers offered Joe Smith a three-year $10 million deal and lost out to Chicago which will sign him to a two-year $10 million contract.
Fans want us to bury the Sixers for overpaying in the past. Everybody knows the biggest fault of the Sixers is that they have paid way too much for their own players. They shelled out $35 million for Aaron McKie and then ended up eating the final three years and $19 million to avoid luxury tax penalties.
Samuel Dalembert was given a six-year deal for approximately $64 million, which even at the time was probably at least $20 million more than should have been offered. Or at the least, they should have let Dalembert, who was a restricted free agent at the time to get an offer and then the Sixers would have had the chance to match.
Other players such as Kenny Thomas and Eric Snow were given contracts well above their ability. And taking on Chris Webber’s huge salary turned out to be another huge mistake, but to be fair, this reporter and many others praised the move when it was made.
OK, so we now have that out of the way.
It’s possible that the Sixers could have learned from these mistakes.
They will be better off having cap room next year and the estimates are that they could be between $9 and 10 million under the cap.
Had they been in that position this year, they might have been able to sign Darko Milicic, who went to Memphis for three years and $21 million.
While some may not be sold on Milicic, he would have been an upgrade in the frontcourt, is still young and has enough potential to deserve the contract that he signed.
Just because the Sixers overpaid their own players and free agents in the past, doesn’t mean that it has to continue.
Sure, the Sixers could have used Smith, but it’s also important to be as much under the cap next year to attract a higher-level player.
Whether people like what Sixers president and general manager Billy King has done or not, he does have a plan and instead of quick fixes, he is looking toward the future. He could have drafted Al Thornton, who might have been a better immediate fix, but felt that the long-range potential of Thaddeus Young is better for the franchise. And to repeat, we’re on board saying that Young will eventually become a quality NBA players.
Nobody knows if this plan for the future will work any better than the previous plans, but it can’t be any worse. Building for the future, saving cap space and watching young players develop looks like a solid game plan.
When Allen Iverson was here, the only plan was to keep trying to find players who could mesh with him. That plan, especially in the final years, didn’t work out so well.
And remember, King is on the final year of his contract so it would be easy for him to look for more quick fixes, but he’s looking at the long-range view of the franchise when making decisions.
It’s counter productive to continue to rip King. He can’t undo the mistakes, but he can learn from them. And for now, we’ll given him and the organization the benefit of the doubt because the team seems to have a clear future direction something that always wasn’t present in the past.