The NBA trade deadline passed with a flurry of typical deals. Not player-for-player but player-for-cap space and washed-up vet-for-good-for-nothing young guy.
The Grizzlies picked up Ronnie Brewer for nothing. The Blazers added Marcus Camby for not much. The Cavs got Antawn Jamison for bubkus. The Celtics got Nate Robinson for the amazing Eddie House and bit players. Dallas was gifted Brendan Haywood in their swap of Josh Howard for Caron Butler. Tyrus Thomas and Theo Ratliff went to the Bobcats in exchange for Acie Law and Flip Murray going to the Bulls. The Bucks picked up Johnny Salmons for Hakim Warrick and the criminally bad draft pick Joe Alexander.
And, of course, another team is taking a flier on Darko Milicic: the biggest bust of all-time. This time it's the most clueless GM in the NBA: David Kahn of Minnesota who in addition to making a flurry of "house-cleaning" crappy trades this summer also somehow flubbed the gift of Ricky Rubio. This moron traded Mike Miller and Randy Foye for Washington's draft pick so that he'd have two picks in a row. Somehow, Rubio fell to him at no. 5. He drafts Rubio and then he drafts Johnny Flynn. Rubio is so pissed by this move to draft two PGs that he immediately flees to Spain and signs a three-year contract. Kahn somehow flubs wooing him back to the US. So, the Wolves now have Milicic and Flynn instead of Rubio, Foye, and Miller or Rubio and Stephen Curry. This guy is a complete moron. But I digress...
The Knicks, Rockets and Kings made an actual trade. New York gets Sergio Rodriguez and Tracy McGrady (who may be a shell of his former self); Houston gets Kevin Martin, Jordan Hill and picks; and the Kings got Carl Landry and Larry Hughes.
I really believe that the Knicks pursuit of maximum cap space is a humongous and, ultimately ridiculous and probably stupid, risk. Right now six teams have a chance to land LeBron or Wade or Bosh, and the Knicks can land two of the three (you could also add Amare, Boozer and Joe Johnson to that carousel). No one is going to sign with the Nets in their right mind. The Clippers have a solid roster but their organization is dysfunctional. They could get a lesser free agent, but not a superstar. The Wizards are a total wreck. No way anyone of value signs with them. The Heat are solid and they could pair Wade with, say, Bosh. I'd say there's a possibility for improvement there, though their roster besides Wade is abysmal. The Bulls have a budding superstar in Derrick Rose, the have a decent supporting cast, I could see a top free agent going there.
So what about the Knicks? I just don't see them landing their dream of LeBron and Wade or Bosh. Who will those guys play with? Danillo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler? Who will run the point? Chris Duhon? I could definitely see someone like Amare Stoudemire running to the Knicks, but what's the appeal here? To leave a good situation for LeBron for a rebuilding one?
The Knicks have no 2010 draft pick, Houston can swap 2011 picks with them, and no 2012 draft pick--and they just gave Houston their 2008 pick (Jordan Hill). They have mortgaged their future. They have mortgaged their team. For the past two seasons they have not given a hoot who is on their squad as long as they can shed salary.
But there is no good reason for LeBron to leave a good situation for a team in shambles. And why would Wade leave Miami for NY when Miami can sign him and another superstar just like New York can? D'Antoni is a great coach, but the team has no future, no assets, it's a scorched earth strategy that has a strong chance of backfiring.
Where will the 2010 free agents go? First of all, a good half of free agents sign back with their old teams. I don't see a compelling reason for LeBron to leave Cleveland unless he hates it there. Most people would hate it there, but he happens to be from Akron so he doesn't mind living in the dregs of the rust belt. LeBron would leave Cleveland if he thought he had a strong chance of winning a championship somewhere else. The only two options I could see being even semi-realistic are Miami (where he could play with Wade) and Chicago (where he could play with Rose). Cleveland IS an aging team without much star power, but they are also a very strong defensive team and they could be much-improved with Jamison.
Wade might flee the Heat after this dreadful season where his top sidekicks are the stoned-out Michael Beasley, the corpse of Jermaine O'Neal, and the guy who was traded four times this summer: Quentin Richardson. Chicago would make sense as a destination for him.
Bosh could leave the Euro-raptors since he's been surrounded with soft players in Toronto and the team is solid but not a contender. He could go to Miami or Chicago or, I guess, maybe New York. The thing is, why go to New York when you can play with Wade in Miami or Rose in Chicago and actually win games?
So, New York, like Washington, like NJ, like the Clippers, has created cap space supposedly to sign a huge name--but it probably won't happen. Is it worth mortgaging your future for Amare Stoudemire? I don't think so. Amare is great, but I wouldn't dump all of my assets for him. The Clippers do have a great roster, I should note, and should be an appealing destination, but I just can't take them seriously. They did dodge a bullet with Elton Brand, though.
Now, to our Sixers, who gave a big fuck you to fans when they made the blockbuster trade of Royal Ivey and Primoz Brezec for Jodie Meeks and Francisco Elson. Oh yeah, and we threw in our second-round pick. Meeks is a fine player. He can shoot. He can score. In itself, the trade is not too bad.
But, the trade speaks to the fact that the GM is completely ignorant of the state of the team. This team is a middling lottery team with a big payroll. Iguodala is commanding superstar money, when he's more like Caron Butler than Kobe Bryant. Elton Brand is our power forward for the next 4 or 5 years when it is clear that today he is finished as an NBA starter. Sam Dalembert continues to bumble around. Willie Green and Lou Williams continue to fill spots. Youth is not given the chance to see the floor while the god-awful Eddie Jordan runs our team--replete with crap like the ghost of Allen Iverson, 3-point skills champion Jason Kapono, and "long and fast" Rodney Carney--into the ground.
Just like George W. Bush not acknowledging the chaos in the first few years of the Iraq war, Stefanski seems to be ignorant to the mess he created. Dare I say it: even Larry Brown couldn't clean this up.
This is a team that, were I GM, should be building on youth. That should have become obvious very quickly this season when it was apparent that Brand still sucks. Start Speights, Young and Holiday. Start freakin' Meeks. Acquire draft picks. Be the next young team--like Portland or Chicago or Memphis or Oklahoma City were--that in a few years will be somebody. Don't be another one of these middling Miamis or Milwaukees or Torontos that have no future and no present.
To see your GM paralyzed is to wish for Billy King who, at least and to his credit, would do something.
The Inquirer reports that Stefanski likes the roster, but doesn't like the result. So why not fire Eddie Jordan and see what you can get out of this year's version of Tony DiLeo or Chris Ford? No. Paralyzed. Rather see Jordan crush Thad Young's spirit more with his nonsensical rotations or bury Marreese Speights on the bench or continue the sham that we're running the Princeton offense with, wait for it, Allen Iverson and Andre Iguodala.
More than anything this team needs direction: a plan. Stefanski does not seem to have one.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sixers and Trade Deadline
Yes, the Sixers are bad and going nowhere.
For the third year in a row it looks like they just might manage to win enough games to put them out of contention for a top lottery pick, though it appears that they're too far out of a playoff spot to earn the honor of getting destroyed by Cleveland.
The Sixers are basically are (rumored to be) making moves based on money and who other teams will take from them. If they were making purely basketball decisions, I don't think they'd be considering dumping Andre Iguodala--at least not over Elton Brand.
What's most troubling to me is how messy and unstructured the creation of this team has been. Are we rebuilding or fighting for a playoff spot? Are we a young team or a veteran one? Are we built for entertainment, the future, or making it to the Finals?
Ed Stefanski was brought in with the hopes that he would sort through the mess that Billy King made and create a contender. What do we have instead?
Remnants of BK's Legacy:
Sam Dalembert is still on the squad, is still being shopped and is actually playing relatively well. He boards, he blocks shots, he will never be a great offensive player. His contract continues to choke the Sixers, though at least he's worthy of seeing the floor now.
Willie Green is still on the squad, his absurdly long and generous contract (signed after ACL surgery no less) makes sure of that. He is a serviceable backup guard no more, no less. You could get the same player--or better--for no money from the D-League or the draft. His inclusion on the team doesn't add much. Case in point: Royal Ivey is a slightly worse player that was signed for beans.
Allen Iverson is back! And this time, he's worn out! AI is selling some tickets, taking a lot of time off, and generally using this Sixers season as a farewell tour. It's nice to have the vet, but his inclusion on this team is bizarre from every standpoint other than marketing.
Stefanski's Own Mistakes:
The two contracts that the Sixers would most like to dump at this point are Ed Stefanski's doing.
Yes, he signed Lou Williams to a decent contract and, yes, his drafting has been solid.
But, the amount he overpayed for a broken-down Elton Brand and a not-quite-superstar in Iguodala have basically stopped the growth of the team.
The drafting of Marreese Speights and Jrue Holiday have only complicated things as Speights at times has looked a good deal better than Brand and Holiday has looked like the true PG the Sixers need making Lou, Willie, and Iverson seem less necessary.
Young or Old?:
Then there's the conundrum of which direction this team is going.
There are a bunch of potentially very good young players on the squad: Lou Williams, Holiday, Speights, Thaddeus Young, and maybe Iguodala could even be included in this group.
Then there are the vets like Dalembert, Iverson, Green, and Brand who eat up the young guys' playing time.
The team started winning when Eddie Jordan finally listened to Licky Boom and began starting Holiday and Brand over Young and Lou. The bench improved, the defense improved, and now we're on the winning streak that has officially taken us out of the running for the top 5 draft picks--but that will almost certainly not lead to a playoff birth.
How messed up is this team?
Firstly, the coach has no idea how to use the personnel and is, by all accounts, not the right fit.
Second, the guard situation is a total mess. Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams are decent future pieces, but adding Iverson and Green to the mix only confuses what this team is about.
Third, who is the shooting guard? Is it Allen Iverson? Since Iguodala can't shoot, he's been shifted to SF. But then the team is doomed to start an undersized SG such as Green, Lou, or Iverson. If Iguodala could be the 2, a lot of problems would be solved. But he's not. And the team has no real offensive weapon that can match up with the long, 6'6"+ shooting guards in the league. This position desperately needs filling and sorting out.
Fourth, the small forward situation is too bunched up between Iguodala and Young. Young has taken a big step back this year, but if he hadn't maybe the Sixers would be more willing to dump Iggy. You can't have two of your best players at the same position. The team will have to basically make a choice because they can't have Young playing the 4 or riding the bench forever.
Fifth, the big man situation is equally muddled. Dalembert, if he were on a reasonable contract, might be a reasonable starting center. The same goes for Brand. Speights, after starting the season red-hot, has been buried in Eddie Jordan's inscrutable rotation. Given the $ dedicated to the frontline, this should be the Sixers' strength. It is definitely a weakness on the team that will take years to sort out since Brand isn't going anywhere and Dalembert will be both hard to move and hard to replace.
The Trade Deadline
I strongly suspect that the Sixers will do nothing to sort out their team this trade deadline. Other teams may want Iguodala, but they're not going to just give him away. They'd love to dump Dalembert, but his contract is still hard for others to take on--even with just one year left on it. After next year, Dalembert and Willie Green's contracts will be off the books, but a decision will also have to be made about the future of Thad Young. The team has been mediocre for years and now, without Andre Miller, they're going nowhere fast: neither to the playoffs nor to the high-lottey.
I strongly desired the Sixers to dump Miller so that Lou or whoever else would have a chance to play and so that the Sixers could actually rebuild. Instead, they're putting together one of the uglier rebuilding projects I've ever seen. Bringing back old legends, playing broken down power forwards, installing a coach that has no clue, playing vets in order to be mediocre rather than young people whose progression will actually help the team. Yep, it sounds a whole lot like the reign of Billy King.
For the third year in a row it looks like they just might manage to win enough games to put them out of contention for a top lottery pick, though it appears that they're too far out of a playoff spot to earn the honor of getting destroyed by Cleveland.
The Sixers are basically are (rumored to be) making moves based on money and who other teams will take from them. If they were making purely basketball decisions, I don't think they'd be considering dumping Andre Iguodala--at least not over Elton Brand.
What's most troubling to me is how messy and unstructured the creation of this team has been. Are we rebuilding or fighting for a playoff spot? Are we a young team or a veteran one? Are we built for entertainment, the future, or making it to the Finals?
Ed Stefanski was brought in with the hopes that he would sort through the mess that Billy King made and create a contender. What do we have instead?
Remnants of BK's Legacy:
Sam Dalembert is still on the squad, is still being shopped and is actually playing relatively well. He boards, he blocks shots, he will never be a great offensive player. His contract continues to choke the Sixers, though at least he's worthy of seeing the floor now.
Willie Green is still on the squad, his absurdly long and generous contract (signed after ACL surgery no less) makes sure of that. He is a serviceable backup guard no more, no less. You could get the same player--or better--for no money from the D-League or the draft. His inclusion on the team doesn't add much. Case in point: Royal Ivey is a slightly worse player that was signed for beans.
Allen Iverson is back! And this time, he's worn out! AI is selling some tickets, taking a lot of time off, and generally using this Sixers season as a farewell tour. It's nice to have the vet, but his inclusion on this team is bizarre from every standpoint other than marketing.
Stefanski's Own Mistakes:
The two contracts that the Sixers would most like to dump at this point are Ed Stefanski's doing.
Yes, he signed Lou Williams to a decent contract and, yes, his drafting has been solid.
But, the amount he overpayed for a broken-down Elton Brand and a not-quite-superstar in Iguodala have basically stopped the growth of the team.
The drafting of Marreese Speights and Jrue Holiday have only complicated things as Speights at times has looked a good deal better than Brand and Holiday has looked like the true PG the Sixers need making Lou, Willie, and Iverson seem less necessary.
Young or Old?:
Then there's the conundrum of which direction this team is going.
There are a bunch of potentially very good young players on the squad: Lou Williams, Holiday, Speights, Thaddeus Young, and maybe Iguodala could even be included in this group.
Then there are the vets like Dalembert, Iverson, Green, and Brand who eat up the young guys' playing time.
The team started winning when Eddie Jordan finally listened to Licky Boom and began starting Holiday and Brand over Young and Lou. The bench improved, the defense improved, and now we're on the winning streak that has officially taken us out of the running for the top 5 draft picks--but that will almost certainly not lead to a playoff birth.
How messed up is this team?
Firstly, the coach has no idea how to use the personnel and is, by all accounts, not the right fit.
Second, the guard situation is a total mess. Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams are decent future pieces, but adding Iverson and Green to the mix only confuses what this team is about.
Third, who is the shooting guard? Is it Allen Iverson? Since Iguodala can't shoot, he's been shifted to SF. But then the team is doomed to start an undersized SG such as Green, Lou, or Iverson. If Iguodala could be the 2, a lot of problems would be solved. But he's not. And the team has no real offensive weapon that can match up with the long, 6'6"+ shooting guards in the league. This position desperately needs filling and sorting out.
Fourth, the small forward situation is too bunched up between Iguodala and Young. Young has taken a big step back this year, but if he hadn't maybe the Sixers would be more willing to dump Iggy. You can't have two of your best players at the same position. The team will have to basically make a choice because they can't have Young playing the 4 or riding the bench forever.
Fifth, the big man situation is equally muddled. Dalembert, if he were on a reasonable contract, might be a reasonable starting center. The same goes for Brand. Speights, after starting the season red-hot, has been buried in Eddie Jordan's inscrutable rotation. Given the $ dedicated to the frontline, this should be the Sixers' strength. It is definitely a weakness on the team that will take years to sort out since Brand isn't going anywhere and Dalembert will be both hard to move and hard to replace.
The Trade Deadline
I strongly suspect that the Sixers will do nothing to sort out their team this trade deadline. Other teams may want Iguodala, but they're not going to just give him away. They'd love to dump Dalembert, but his contract is still hard for others to take on--even with just one year left on it. After next year, Dalembert and Willie Green's contracts will be off the books, but a decision will also have to be made about the future of Thad Young. The team has been mediocre for years and now, without Andre Miller, they're going nowhere fast: neither to the playoffs nor to the high-lottey.
I strongly desired the Sixers to dump Miller so that Lou or whoever else would have a chance to play and so that the Sixers could actually rebuild. Instead, they're putting together one of the uglier rebuilding projects I've ever seen. Bringing back old legends, playing broken down power forwards, installing a coach that has no clue, playing vets in order to be mediocre rather than young people whose progression will actually help the team. Yep, it sounds a whole lot like the reign of Billy King.
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