As if the 76ers’ job this year wasn’t tough enough, Boston has now made the plight of the Sixers and every other Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference team that much more difficult.
With the addition of Ray Allen and now Kevin Garnett, Boston has added two players with a combined 17 all-star appearances. That is in addition to the five all-star appearances by Paul Pierce.
The Celtics will now be a trendy pick to win not only the Atlantic Division but to surface as Eastern Conference champ.
Here’s a little advice – not so fast.
Boston’s Big 3 can match anybody in the league, but the last time we checked, they played 5-on-5 in the NBA.
This is still a team whose starting center is Kendrick Perkins. And point guard Rajon Rondo is still an unproven commodity.
That said, whose team would you rather have today – the Sixers or Celtics?
It’s no comparison.
Then again, the Sixers won’t match up in talent with just about any team on their schedule, but that doesn’t mean the they can’t have a competitive team (although one that faces a serious uphill battle concerning the postseason).
Since the Sixers have many players at a similar skill level, it’s become obvious that for them to succeed this season, they will have to go deep to the bench.
The Sixers should attempt to run teams into the ground.
Andre Iguodala is the only player who should approach the 40-minute mark. Andre Miller could be in the vicinity of 35 and after that, the Sixers should run players in and out.
They can’t go toe-to-toe with teams such as Boston by playing their starters as many minutes.
Some may question why could the Celtics do what they did and the Sixers stood pat? Good question. One thing is that Boston had the No. 5 pick in the draft, which was the main enticement in getting Allen.
And Boston had to give up a quality young player in Al Jefferson among others to get Garnett.
Plus, Garnett wouldn’t have come to a Sixers team that even with him would have struggled to be the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference. That’s because to get Garnett, the Sixers would have surely had to part with Iguodala, along with draft picks and probably Miller and Korver, just to name a few.
And Garnett wouldn’t have come to Boston without the chance to play with two fellow all-pros.
So the Boston deals just shows how much work the Sixers have to do just to get back to being respectable.
As stated before, president and general manager Billy King is doing the right thing by not trying to sign a stop-gap free agent, who will add more to the future cap.
It’s hard now for the Sixers’ fans to show patience when every other team in the Atlantic Division has made additions, with Boston at the top of the list.
For now, the Sixers have to bank on the improvement of the players they have and hope that they can develop enough depth to have the type of bench that could wear teams down.
It doesn’t provide a lot of immediate hope, but for now that’s the best that the current Sixers roster can offer.
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Sixers, Others KO'd by K.G.
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Author
Marc Narducci is in his 23rd year as a sports reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. The 2007-2008 season will be his first as the 76ers beat writer. For the past two seasons, Marc had been the backup writer for the Eagles. Over the past few years Marc covered the NBA, NHL and Major League baseball as well as writing on sports media. Prior to covering professional sports, Marc was a long-time high school sportswriter for The Inquirer's South Jersey section.
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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on July 31, 2007 5:28 PM.
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Comments (5)
First off I would like to say Marc, I love your writing and your optimism toward the sixers franchise. I am a big fan of your pre and post season analysis of the Eagle roster in the past. However, as a lifelong philadelphia fan I have to strongly disagree on sixers work on the offseason. If boston has taught sixers fans anything its that any franchise can make something out of nothing. Boston has turned into a HUGE threat in the east while philadelphia is considered a laughing stock. We are a few bad draft picks away from becoming the Bobcats. Boston aquired Keving Garnett that averages 20 and ten. To put things in comparison theres not one player on the sixers roster that averages over 20. Theres not one player that averages ten boards. I appreciate your sugar coating of how the sixers "suck" but lets be honest they dont have a chance. Last season the sixers lost their best player AI. Offcourt antics aside he was the sixers only superstar. Ray Allen and KG has a total of 17 all star appearence compared to the SIXERS ROSTER of ZERO. As far as showing patience as a fan I think this city has just about enough. Its been 8830 days since the franchises last championship. The last time we won one we had someone named the DOC and the savior in the shape of MOSES. As one of the most tortured sports cities ever I can only say im preparing myself for another dissapointing basketball season. Our most promising player in the offseason was a guy nams Louis Williams....yeah WHO? For all those that dont know louis he was drafted in 2005 out of highschool as our 45th pick. We had a great chance to make some trades on draft day with the 12th 21st and 30th pick but no trades were taken. In an offseason where ray allen, KG, Jason Richardson, and Kobe bryant were looking for different teams, the sixers aquired none of these exciting players. Our future lies with baby AI andre. I love my boy andre but he has to prove to be a leader. I think the fact that the sixers are banking on a deep bench is an understatement. We are hanging on for dear life based on our benches success. I hope to god that Thaddeus Young is as good in the NBA as he was in college. With the sixers luck he will be juat another mediocre player on our horribly managed team. It has come to the point where the sixers fans will be happy with a .500 season. But to be fair that is enough to make the playoffs in the east. Im sorry but i just cant accept that this is the best the sixers could do this year as far as management. All we can hope for now is that another selfish all star in the NBA will want more money and move to the sports cursed city to Philadelphia. I guess im just another harsh philly fan critic but I think for once I have a legitimate concern for this season. PAYCE IM OUT
Posted by James Lee | August 2, 2007 1:13 AM
Posted on August 2, 2007 01:13
James
you are very off base....first, Garnett wouldnt have come here, thats the bottom line. . . he wasnt even going to go the celtics before allen got there....furthermore, even if you argue that we have some decent players here for garnett to play with, the truth is to get garnett we would have traded those players anyway
secondly. . . you said we dont have any 20 and 10 guys. . . so what??!!? you know the last 20 and 10 guy we had......Chris Webber. . and look how that worked out
obviously the main goal is to win a title, but the biggest mistake we could have done this offseason is go and sign a couple good but not great players just to make us more respectable. . . maybe win 45 games and be a 6 seed in the playoffs and get an average draft pick. . .with our situation now, the best way to get a title is to not be good for another year, get a real good draft pick, and take the money that we didnt waste on average players this offseason, add that to all the money we will get when webber/mckie/other ex sixers contracts expire, and sign a big time free agent next off season
this might take a year or two longer than you want it to, but its the most logical and really only way to become a title contender
adding jason richardson to the sixers would have done nothing but hurt us
Posted by Brandon | August 2, 2007 11:09 AM
Posted on August 2, 2007 11:09
I don't understand why nearly everyone is eager to write the sixers off for next year. This is a team that played .500 ball after the Iverson trade. This is a team that went 16-9 to finish the season. I see no reason why they couldn't carry that momentum into this season. They have a solid young core, with everyone coming back from last year (save for Joe Smith, not a huge loss) and one of the top point guards in the league.
Let's see how this year plays out, yes the East is better, but alot of team also got older and took on alot of salary (celtics, knicks and orlando). Sixers have gone down that road and it didn't lead them anywhere. I think they're taking a page out of Detroit's and Chicago's book by developing a young core and keeping it together for several years to allow it to gell. Then adding a couple free agents to take it to the next level. Who knows, maybe Billy Kings finally learned to be a real GM, we'll see.
Posted by Roman | August 2, 2007 2:41 PM
Posted on August 2, 2007 14:41
Roman
Just reread your second paragraph, based on that, we will be good not this year, but in the years to come
the bulls were terrbile for a year or two before they became the solid squad they are now
Posted by Brandon | August 3, 2007 12:26 PM
Posted on August 3, 2007 12:26
What I don't quite get is how the sixers ended up with the 12th pick, made at least a couple of interesting picks, and yet are predicted to be one of the worst teams in the league. This doesn't add up somehow. Were they guilty of not tanking when a number of better teams laid low for the draft? (This borders a little on the current ref concerns.) Just a product of peculiar circumstances? Or did the sixers really have something going last year that could take folks by surprise?
Posted by rzzzzz | August 3, 2007 3:29 PM
Posted on August 3, 2007 15:29