Deep Sixer

In terms of winning, let the chips fall where they may.

I believe that the Sixers have a number of the young pieces they need going forward, so it is encoraging that they are not the league's speed bump on a nightly basis.

I think the cap space puts them in a position to imporve next year and if they stay around #8 in the lotto maybe they get lucky and jump into the top 3? If not, I think the team still improves next year.

I believe we can win. Well, it's actually more a hope

I just finished watching Bos-Por and Celtics' defense is f'n awesome, those guys seeem possessed... and they start playing tough D from the tip off

But they are vulnerable at C (no big news here, I know), and hopefully Posey and House won't explode for another big night, I would prefer to get killed by KG or PP scoring 40 than by the other role players/stiffs stepping up

In the first game we played a great game for 40 minutes, I think Miller can kill House posting him up over and over

Well said Doc! Yeah, I think the Sixers improve next year regardless of the draft position. I look forward to a good competitive contest between these two teams.

Craig, I would not give Josh Smith more than 8mil. If another team is going to offer him 10mil more power to them. I also know that the value I had for those guys on your list are below what they will get. Their worth is debatable. I don't mind "Joe Bannering" those particular guys because they are not franchise players, at least not yet. I'd still wait for 2009's free agent crop if these guys are going to demand more money than they are worth. Josh Smith is the only guy I would pay more than 6mil for. Emeka has not proven anything to me yet in the games that I've seen. Maybe he lights it up on the night I'm not watching! I do like the guy from L.A. though, forgot about him - easily 3-4mil for that guy!

If we bring in a pf that can at least be a threat away from the basket, Sammy may become an OK post presence. If Evans steps outside, his man just stays put.Sam has improved bigtime defensively, I hope he can do the same down on the block.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3MyU_NCyu0&feature=related

Maybe someone out there can tell us what his deal is. Cuz, I can't tell why he's been a healthy scratch out there in Indy. I know he's had some injuries, but he's only three years in and cheap. He's Reggie Evans with Offensive game. He could be a steal.

Oh, and check out some of the competition he's going up against. Some big names...

Why does Ike Diogu have his own youtube mixtape? How random.

Dean -

This is a response from the previous post.

I can see your angle here. Mo comes over from Portland, talks to BK, and BK says something like, "Mo, don't worry, I'm gonna get us the right players in here, and I'm gonna put you into a position to succeed. Trust me..." Then BK goes and screws the pooch and poor Mo has to, as Marc Zumoff would say, try to turn garbage into gold.

But Mo DID have something to work with when he first took the reins. Iverson, Webber, et al. weren't exactly chopped liver... or were they? That's the rub right there - could you have won with Iverson and Webber and that supporting cast? If he thought he could've won with those guys, then he failed. But if, going in, BK secretly told him, "Mo, this team ain't gonna work as constituted, just put up with it for a couple of years..." then yeah, you could say he wasn't given anything to work with.

Which one was it? I think Mo thinking he could win with that 2005-2006 team and failing is the more likely scenario here. I like the guy, and because of his ability to motivate young players (maybe not Matt Barnes), there are only about ~12 coaches better than him. But if he thought he could win but didn't, he failed. Conversely, you could say he's been successful this year, because people thought we were gonna suck but instead we're mediocre.

Speaking of Matt Barnes, when I first started posting on this blog, you responded to one of my posts by saying Barnes was, "moody and aloof"; how did you know that?

From the Benny Profane in the last post:

"If Korver was here then Thad wouldn't be getting as much PT."

Benny's right - Thad's basically taken all of Korver's minutes, and that made me think of two questions:

1. Are the Sixers better with Thad or with Korver?
2. Could Thad have developed with Korver still on the team?

If I had to choose between the two, I'd take Thad in a heartbeat. Defensively, Thad wins hands down, and offensively, I think Thad's scoring ability pretty much makes up for KK's sharpshooting. But I don't think this question can be answered right now, you have to wait until Thad gets more games under his belt. But the Sixers should be a better team with Thad than with Kyle, and I think that will show up in the standings this year... Shoot... Thad's good, isn't he? Good enough to cost us a high lottery pick... Hey Thad, if you cost us Beasley, please blossom into a perennial All-Star and future Hall of Famer...

To the 2nd question - could Thad have developed with Korver still on the team? I don't think he would've, given Mo's preference for certain lineups. Also, knowing what we know about Thad right now, how would they be used if the Sixers had kept them both? Could you play them at the same time?, Or would you have to rotate them in and out depending on the game situation?

Sixers, lose (7) in a row. They beat Houston without their best player. Might we be getting a little carried away here? This season is not about winning and losing. It's about evaluating our talent, and developing young players. The biggest problem I see, is there aren't many good players too evaluate..Young,Williams and Iggy,Sammy..The rest of them can return to the Developmental league.. Out of the (4) players I said. Any All Stars ? U G L Y... You can put all the make-up on you want. She still U G L Y !

Marc,

One of the recent ESPN articles noted that Gordon Girichek may be the next Sixer to be traded. This makes absolutely no sense to me, I assumed that he would certainly last the season due to his expiring contract. Is there validity to this rumor or is this the usual B.S. we hear from those ESPN guys not intimate with local teams?

Dan C.

Oh, for the record, the Korver trade was the right thing to do. I liked Kyle, loved his 3-pt abilities, but he wasn't the type who should command a lot of minutes. We begged last year to let the young guys develop, so now we're getting it (especially Thad), I'll enjoy their progress this year.

Ike Diogu is ALWAYS hurt. Including this season, out of a possible 204 regular season games, he has only played in 141.

If Shaggy Williams were to suit up tonight the sixers may have a shot against the celtics. Come down to B&R pizza for a slice and a root beer.

Green and Evans untradeable? OK. Can they help a good team? Look at the players coming off the bench for the best 10 or so teams in the league.E.House,A.Foyle,R.Butler,S.Vujacic,JR.Smith,E.Najera,F.Elson,E.Jones,B.Skinner,T.Allen,Dam.Jones,etc.When we become a contender,hopefully W.Green can become our microwave and R.Evans can become our energy guy,E.Cureton,K.Rambis,Ant.Carr,etc.They both try to defend and seem to be good guys,so E.S.,get a starting p.f.,move Iggy to the 2,start Thad at the three,and fortify the bench.

DerrickH, I agree that he has been injured, 54 of his 63 missed games were to injury. The only thing I can say is that he has skill. Way more than anyone we have and he's still very young. Financially speaking, it's not much of a risk, because he's still on his rookie contract. Even with his missed games due to injury (averaging 18 per year so far), I'm willing to bet he would provide more production than Carney, Amundson, and Booth combined. I'd like to trade Carney, but I'm not sure they would want him. They want shooters. We have none. A third team would need to be involved.

Out of left field here, but Phoenix is having internald discussions about dealing Stoudemire.

Give me your opinion (too much, too little)...Amare (4 yrs - $13 mil plus), Marcus Banks' awful contract (4 yrs - $ 4 mil) and Atlanta's unprotected #1 (Phoenix has traded a ton of 1st rounders recently to stay below the luxury tax) for Iguodala, Dalembert, Ollie and Utah's future #1?

Amare is one of the premiere post players in the game today, and still young, and he is one of the only players I know to have shown a full recovery from microfracture surgery. Banks becomes our backup PG, and we have two potential lottery picks this offseason, in addition to not losing our cap space, because the outgoing expring contracts (Ollie, Iguodala) would be offset by not needing to put money aside for Andre this offseason.

Phoenix gets its defensive presence in Dalembert, Iguodala on the wing (it could be argued this is not a major need area for them, but can they count on Grant Hill staying healthy?), and Ollie fills Banks' backup PG minutes.

Thoughts?

NO, NO, NO!! You don't trade Sam and Iggy! I would jump on the chance of getting Amare, but not for two key players. I would be willing to part with Sam but not Dre. How cool would that be to have him here. He's a pretty good defender too. He would solve a lot of our problems in the future, but not this year.

Bob, thats an interesting scenario. At first glance, it looks ridiculous, but the more I look at it, the better it gets. Stoudamire has faults, but he can put the ball in the net from the post. Play out the season with him, Evans, Young, Green, and Miller as your lineup. In the draft target a C (like Hibbert) or PF dependingon where you see Amare playing and a SG. Add free agents for depth. Not too bad.

Believe me BB, I am not looking for a way to get rid of Iggy and Sam, but you have to give something to get something, right? I don't think Sammy gets us close to Amare in a deal, even if we take back the Banks contract for Ollie's expiring.

Bob, I like Amare, but I'm hesitant to give up Sammy and 'Dre. They are both still young and developing. In addition, we lose OUR defensive presence in Dre and Sammy. Of course it can be argued that they are not playing defense anyway, but I think we just need to add to these piece, not a complete rebuild. This summer, we could probably trade for Amare. We could absorb most of his salary with the cap space, add some players and picks to it to make it work for them. Imagine Miller, Iguodala, Thad, Amare, and Sammy as a starting 5 next year. Willie G, Lou, Evans off the bench. I think J Smith might have to be part of the trade.

I can't get over this Korver lovefest. We can't even talk about tonight's game against the hated C's. Instead we have to again hash over why Korver was useless and really meant nothing to this team.

Let me just address this once and for all. Korver was a decent 2nd round pick. 1st round talent...don't think so. He can't play D, has no post game and wasn't even shooting %40 from the field when we traded him away. Yes, the great shooter couldn't break the Iverson line. But, man, do we miss that 10 points per game and 3 boards he manhandled every now and again.

And lastly, he didn't even start for a languishing team. That's the guy people are upset about going? Is it a white thing? We still have Jason Smith. It'll be ok.

On to more important matters...I hate the Celtics. Really, more than any other Philly rival. More than Dallas. Is there any way we can suit up Andrew Toney one last time? Just to hear Red Auerbach roll over in his grave.

Craig,

Just what exactly is Phoenix getting out of that: Jason Smith, Rodney Carney and a pick for Amare?

While I would not be thrilled to part with Sammy and Iggy, we have to be realistic...that package (Smith, Carney, picks) leads to a quick dialtone on the other end unless we are in the top three of the lottery.

I understand your line of thinking and would love it from the 76ers end, but I can't see the Suns doing that at all.

but if it is a top three pick... you HAVE to offer them that deal right? And I would definetely take Amare over Elton Brand. Question is, would Phoenix be interested?

We need Elton Brand. Even at 75%(if that's even remotely the case) he's still awesome. However we will all see his progress when he comes back this season.

The guy that was talking about how awful the spacing was on offense was absolutely right.

Two things you mentioned, they need to stay below the luxury tax and they are willing to trade him. Without Amare's contract, they may make below the salary cap. Besides, they have been giving a lot away the past couple of years.

Ok, how bout this draft day deal? We send them Smith, Lou, our pick this year (unportected?) and Utah's pick for Amare? They clear at least $10m in space, two young players (not stifs) and two first round picks. This still might not get it done, but I want to try and keep as many pieces as possible. If we give away too many pieces, we'd still be in the same boat as before the deal.

Why does everyone like Brand so much? I wouldn't mind having him but not for the money he is going to want. We need to spend that money on a young stud. We sign Brand we handcuff ourselves for another 5-6 years.

Bob, if we trade two starters to get one we will be taking a huge step backwards. Do you think Amare would even want to come here unless he can play alongside Dre anyway? He will be miserable here because he would have left a good situation (even though his name has come up for the last two years in trade talk) for a far worse one. We can get that deal done without giving both of them up. A third team would maybe get it done, maybe. I don't think it will happen though.

one more thing, what difference does it make to make to have a post up player but no spot up shooters. That would have to be addressed as well.

if the sixers were to pick up jon rock to play the post...after his first game played everybody will recieve a free trip to the chiropractor, a party hat, and a really tight pair of gym shorts.

While we're all speculating, let me throw a name at you, Augustine, best point guard in the nation. If
Beasley is gone I would grab my point gaurd of the next 10 years, use Lou as trade bait and call it a day.

Augustine is NOT the best pg in the nation. Have you seen Texas' offense? He doesn't run it. It's just multiple players weaving on the perimeter. Next time they are on watch how little he directs that team. More often than not he ends up being the end option taking a shot.

The best pg I've seen this year is Jarryd Bayless, who should be there where the Sixers draft. With his size you can run Lou as a combo guard. His performance against Houston (Bayless I mean) was the single most dominant performance I've seen this year in the college game, Beasley included. The guy gets anywhere he wants, any time he wants, has a sweet jumper, defends well, and you can just see he has leadership qualities (something I'm not sure Lou Williams has).

As far as I'm concerned I'd be more than happy with Bayless, Gordon, Mayo, Rose, Budinger, Beasley or Jordan in the draft. No one talks about DeAndre Jordan, but since when is it taboo to have two 7-footers?

It's sad we're talking about the draft in January. Thanks, Billy King!

If we could somehow get Amare in a package for Dalembert, I'd drive to Philly myself to take Sam to the airport. With Amare on board, the low post threat and excitement problem of the team is solved. However, the Phoenix front office didn't fall off a cliff yesterday and bump their heads.

Let's see what Big Ed is going to do with the assets he has. I think he is more than up to the task.

Ed Stefanski's master plan to acquire on low post threat has just been released to the press. The plan does not require using draft picks, trades or free agent signings to obtain this player. Instead Ed has locked Tyrone Hill and Derrick Coleman in a closet for weeks in hopes of them creating a spartan love child that will some day take the sixers to the promised land.

There is NO WAY I give up both Sammy and Iggy for Amare. I'd give up one or the other. Preferably Sammy. Can you imagine Miller, Iggy, Thad, and Amare as 4 of the starting 5? They then go get a center in the off season. That team could make a run at the East

Ok,let's relax a little. Dalembert has been a huge improvement and over the last few weeks he become really consistent. Amare is obviously one of the best PF's in the game right now, but you never give up 2 key players unless you know that they are easily replaceable with equal or better talent- a la Atlanta possibly parting with Josh Smith with a capable young stud in Horford present. Remember that Amare also benefits from one of the 3 best PG's in the game, along with adequate firepower from almost every position to keep double teams off him. I'm sorry, but Amare is not worth losing our starting C and SG who are borderline in the top 15 in their positions. If you get a star like him, you're going to have double and triple teams on the man, frustrating him at every turn. Andre Miller can't shoot and would not draw any defenders away from the paint. Our top player after him would be Thad Young, a rookie. I don't think Stoudemire wants to be part of rebuilding from the ground up after being with a perennial winner for several years. Part with 1, not 2 key starters for him, and if possible, avoid giving up 1st round draft picks. And about Brand,... need I remind everyone about Chris Webber?

I know this might sound crazy but the more I think about it. I'd rather have Josh Smith than Amare Stoudemire. Think about it!

Amare 25 yrs old
Josh 22 yrs

Amare almost $14 mill/yr
Josh not even $3 mill this year

Amare 22+pts and 9+ rebounds
Josh 18+pts and 8+ rebounds

Even though Josh needs to be re-signed at the end of the year, he won't get $14 million/yr. He's 3 yrs younger and hasn't had the dreaded "microfracture surgery" on his knee. As far as the production difference, take a look at the team around each. Amare has a much better team around him. Just having Nash at point has to be worth a few points extra points.

Not to mention it would cost less to get Smith then it would to get Amare. Hopefully we wouldn't have to give either Iggy or Sammy to get Smith. Imagine Miller, Iggy, Young, Smith, and Sammy. I might pay to see that team.

The difference between the two is Amare shoots a career 53% from the field. Josh Smith just 43%. That's a HUGE difference. I take Amare so fast. Pay him and pay him now. He's absolutely worth every penny. The microfracture is a slight worry...but he's looked more than fine since the rehab.

Again the only way they sell off Amare is if for some reason they decide to rebuild. Which I just can't see happening.

Josh Smith is an amazing athlete, but he plays too much like a guard (43%? what kind of FG% is that for a PF?), and what we need is a traditional back to the basket bruiser. Sammy and Amare would make a fantastic frontcourt. If I'm the suns, and I don't win a championship this year, I have to consider blowing up the team (not to mention the bad chemistry that seems to be infecting the team), and what better way than a top 3 pick and salary cap relief? I know Ray Allen isn't the equivalent of Amare, but he was essentially traded for the 5th pick.

Of course you could argue that, using this method, we would have a better chance at getting EB...

fantasy starting five:
Miller, Iguodala, Thad, Amare, Dalembertt

raro,
I have no prob with your fantasy team except for Miller. You're missing a shooter. Draft a pass first pg with a nice shot and you have yourself a winner.

josh smith for andre miller and speedy claxton or tyrone lue. Get your 4 and ATL has legitimate shot at deep run in playoffs. They just need a center. I'm not sure why they have a zillion point guards however. Let Horford play power forward.

Let me tell you I've had microfx surgery and I wouldn't touch Amare with a ten foot pole. There is no way a 26 yo with degenerative knees is worth a long term investment.

The Suns need to win NOW. Their core with the exception of Amare is getting old and if shopping in the only thing their looking for is the necessary pieces to make that final step this year or the next. There is nothing we have that they would even consider.