Deep Sixer

We enjoy the passionate responses to the blog, even when they disagree with our opinion. It makes for good discussion and forces us look at a different view.
That said, a response from a Sixers fan named James Lee about Kevin Garnett going to Boston was simply unrealistic.
He stated that Boston was able to acquire Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and questioned why the Sixers couldn’t.
It’s simple – the Sixers didn’t have enough ammunition.
Boston had the No. 5 pick in the draft, which Seattle used to take Jeff Green. Even if the Sixers gave their No. 12, 21 and 30th pick, it’s doubtful that it would have been good enough to pry Allen from Seattle.
And remember, K.G. wanted no part of Boston until after the Celtics got Allen. Suddenly K.G. didn’t mind playing with Allen and Pierce, who have a combined 12 all-star appearances.
If you’re counting that is 12 more appearances than the entire Sixers team has combined.
And it was mentioned that the Sixers didn’t get Kobe. How in the world was that going to happen?.
Kobe wasn’t going to leave a team for one that would be worse. Even with Kobe, or Garnett for that matter, the Sixers would have had to give up Andre Iguodala, Andre Miller, Kyle Korver and multiple picks and that still probably wouldn’t have been enough. And it would have left the Sixers worse than Minnesota or the Lakers.
Superstars like Kobe and Garnett want to win. Sure they also want to get paid, but they aren’t going to go from one bad situation to one that is worse. The Celtics had more assets to trade.
We’re not suggesting that the Sixers have enjoyed a banner off-season because that is far from the case.
But one has to be realistic in assessing players they could have acquired and Kobe, Ray Allen and KG aren’t three of them. The Sixers made a hard push to trade up for Yi Jianlian, which would have been a great move, but Milwaukee wouldn’t budge.
You can rip Billy King until you are blue in the face, but anybody who gets on him for not delivering the aforementioned three superstars is being unrealistic.
The Sixers can use all the fans with the passion of James, and a true fan shouldn’t be happy with this team. Yet the fans have to take a realistic view that right now, there just aren’t enough assets to have any of the game’s top players consider coming to Philadelphia in a trade

The NBA released its schedule today and while it’s crucial for a young team like the 76ers to get off to a good start, it won’t be easy.
The Sixers play 11 of their first 16 games against teams that made the NBA playoffs last year.
Then again, who knows if those same teams will be playoff qualifiers this year? Either way, it will be extremely difficult to duplicate last year’s 3-0 start since the Sixers open on the road Oct. 31 against Toronto and Nov. 2 at Chicago before coming home to host New Jersey on Nov. 3.
To just look at the schedule and count the potential wins and losses is meaningless in August. In fact it isn’t even too useful once the season actually starts.
So much changes, especially with injuries. The Sixers realize that they won’t be prohibitive favorites against any team.
They will have to scrap for everything they earn, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be competitive.
No doubt coach Maurice Cheeks will point to late last year, when many teams were already counting the days toward heading to the golf course. The Sixers, played with heart and conviction, winning 9 of their last 14 games.
That’s not to suggest that this will carry over into this year, but it’s a lot easier to sell the team on winning, when it actually ended last season on a decent roll.
What the Sixers have to block out is all the negative perceptions about the team and there will be plenty of them.
Most prognosticators will pick them to finish fifth in the five-team Atlantic Division. They can certainly use that as motivation.
What they can’t do is get off to another 5-19 start, the way they did last year.
It’s too easy to bury a team before it has played its first game. That’s why we’ll keep an open mind, while also realizing that the Sixers will have to play well over their heads if they are to surpass their 35-win total from last year.