Sixers Dodge a Bullet

With Elton Brand locked up, the Sixers now must turn to the signings of Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams. Earlier in the week, while Thaddeus Young and M. Speights tore up the summer league, Sixers fans worried that Iggy might receive a huge deal from the Clippers that would either force the Sixers to have a worse salary cap situation than they should or force the Sixers to lose last year's team leader.

Last year's playoff run may have exposed some of Lou and Iggy's flaws: Iggy needs to improve his offensive game and Lou needs to work on his PG skills. But, one can focus too much on the flaws of young players; Iguodala in particular is one of the league's best rising stars and Lou Williams at worst will be a Barbosa/Monta Ellis-type.

Now that the Clippers have traded nothing for Marcus Camby--and, in essence, added a second center and a second injury-prone star (Baron Davis being the other) to their roster--Sixer fans can rest easy. Barring an incredibly unlikely sign-and-trade deal, which would bag us a player in return, both Lou and Andre will be Sixers next year.

A team that looked lost at the beginning of last year, now appears set for a strong playoff run. The starting line-up is very solid: Dalembert, Brand, Young, Iguodala, and Miller. And the bench, though needing improvement is also fairly strong with: Willie Green, Reggie Evans, Lou Williams, Marreese Speights, and Jason Smith playing back-up roles. The team now needs some of what it traded away to get Brand: shooting and swingmen. It also may need a back-up center, though Smith could play that role. If it were up to me, I would fill out the roster with a couple of swingmen/shooters and a point guard.

Bullets:

• Summer league play has begun and a few of this year's draftees are looking very good, particularly Jerryd Bayless, OJ Mayo, Michael Beasley, and DJ Augustin. The Sixers' Speights and Young are also doing very well, though second-round pick from a couple years ago Edin Bavcic looks like a bust.
• I think that the Grizzlies re-build project may be further along than people give them credit for. They traded Pau Gasol to the Lakers in order to dump salary and re-build given that with Gasol they had not won a playoff series (nor, I believe, a playoff game!). What they got in return has been mocked, but right now they look like they could become a very exciting team. At point they have Mike Conley, Javaris Crittendon and Kyle Lowry; one of those last two will be traded but Conley at least is a stud. OJ Mayo will be a great swingman. Up front, there's Darrell Arthur, Marc Gasol, and Darko Milicic. Those guys may not strike fear in anyone, but there is good potential in that group. Then there's Rudy Gay and Hakim Warrick. Sure, this team will lose a lot of games, but between Conley, Mayo, and Gay they have a solid core to build one, and if M. Gasol, Arthur, or one of the other young guys becomes good, they will be ahead of schedule in rebuilding.
• I really don't like what the Clippers, Nuggets, and Warriors have done this summer. The Nuggets, wisely I guess, shed Marcus Camby, their only defensive player, in order to keep a team that features the bloated payroll of Allen Iverson, Kenyon Martin, and Nene. The team's salary situation is a disaster, and until they can rid themselves of the aforementioned three, they won't be good for a while. The Clippers essentially traded Elton Brand and Corey Maggette for Marcus Camby and Baron Davis. They did get a great point guard and a great defensive player to replace a top-5 power forward and a very solid swingman, so overall they didn't do badly, but I just don't like how their pieces fit together. They should roll out a line-up of Davis, Mobley, Thornton, Kaman, and Camby. That team could play good D, and could be solid, but it is injury-prone and could have trouble scoring. Even with Brand, I don't think this team would have competed in the West... at least now the Clips are committed to mediocrity rather than complete ineptitude. Finally, the Warriors are the last of the 3 West teams that will be fighting for 9th place in the Western Conference. The Warriors and Nuggets followed the Grizzlies lead and have decided to back off of the Western playoff race for now and instead look to build stronger contenders for tomorrow. The Warriors lost Baron Davis, their heart and soul, and last summer traded Jason Richardson and in return got Brandon Wright, drafted Anthony Randolph, and signed Corey Maggette and Roni Turiaf. This team, like the Clips and Heat, is a weird mess of old and young with some positions unfilled and others logjammed. Monta Ellis should be exciting at the point, Andris Biedrins, Wright, and Randolph could easily become an extremely formidable frontcourt, and Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington can add surliness to the mix. The starting line-up in GSW looks like it will be: Ellis, Jackson, Maggette, Wright/Randolph/Turiaf/Harrington, and Biedrins next year. That should be solid; but, again, I don't think those pieces fit together well.