Allen Iverson and Bobby Abreu...Two Peas in a Pod?

So the Sixers have turned around their season like the Phillies of '06...following the trade of their superstar...huh? So let me get this straight, Philadelphia franchises do better AFTER they trade away their best player.

The Phillies were 49-54 on the day that they dealt Abreu and Lidle to the Yankees for prospects. They finished the season on a 35-23 tear...narrowly missing the playoffs.

This year's Sixers were 5-18 with Iverson (though he wasn't playing everyday and eventually sent home) and are 19-20 without him, currently only 4 1/2 games out of the pathetic Eastern Conference playoff picture.

While no one can debate the talent of these well respected players (except for Abreu's offensive Gold Glove), their respective eras in this city were similarly over. It is nearly impossible for a franchise to change their losing ways while maintaining the same personnel, especially the face of the franchise. Iverson's 11 seasons here, highlighted by the Finals loss to the Lakers, had simply run their course. The team could not get any better with him as their leader, and he could never play a supporting role (nor would it have been right). The strange thing is, if the Sixers somehow climb into the playoffs, riding their current 6 game winning streak, they still may end up with a lottery pick, as Denver is struggling right now, only 1 1/2 games ahead of 9th place Sacramento. The same could be said about Abreu...a city can only take so many narrow playoff misses before they turn on their superstars.

At season's end, I think that the Sixers miss the playoffs. Aside from getting a shot at the lottery (albeit with much reduced odds than thought a month ago) they maintain their first round pick, which is protected through the lottery and lowest seeded playoff spot to the Warriors from a four-team trade in 2003. The pick has been protected through the top 15 and been delayed for 4 years (passing from Atlanta to Dallas to Golden State), and King finally agreed to buy the pick out for $1 Million. Therefore, the Sixers capturing the 7th playoff spot could be disastrous for the team.

I think Denver pulls it together and makes the playoffs. The team simply cannot play as bad as they are right now. They are young, and sometimes stupid, but I think Iverson puts on some spectacular shows down the stretch. That being said, their pick should fall into the teens. Dallas' pick, of course, will be worthless, and will hopefully be packaged along with either Denver's or the Sixers'. The last pick in the first round is worth less than the top 3 to 5 picks in the 2nd round because the money is guaranteed for the same second tier talent. Plus, this team is already young and would not benefit from 3 rookies (especially since they could no longer take a developing high school player and stash him in the D League).

So another Philadelphia team is seeing a resurgence since trading the face of the franchise. The Flyers are following suit trading half of their veterans, but it's impossible to play any worse so they are expected to rebound slightly. The same thing could happen to the Eagles if they miss the playoffs or McNabb gets hurt again.

Sixers winning 6 of their last 10?

With tonight's 100-98 win over the Nets, the Sixers now have a positive winning percentage in their last 10 games. That's right...positive. Add to that note Iguodala and Dalembert's efforts in tonight's game.

AI: 23 pts (8-18) 7 Reb 15 A
Sam: 14 pts (7-10) 17 Reb 4 Blocks

15 Assists? 17 Rebounds? It was only the Nets, but come on, you have to be impressed.

Iggy has played in every game over the last 2 and a half seasons for the Sixers. This year, his shooting % has dropped slightly to 46%, while his free throw % has been the best in his career. His scoring is also way up to make up for the absense of Iverson and Webber, but his assists are way up as well, nearly 2 more than any other season. His turnovers are up, as he is forced to handle the ball more, but he leads the league at 2.1 steals per game, so his defense has been steadily great. He is quietly coming into his own.

Dalembert has been an enigma since he came to the Sixers. He finally seems to be earning part of that huge contract he signed this past offseason, however, as he's averaging almost 11 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, in the most minutes per game of his career. His shooting has been ridiculous, as he's shooting 55.5% from the floor, and 72.8% from the line, both career highs.

Korver, Hunter, Miller and Joe Smith have all contributed this season as well. After searching to find themselves following the departures of their stars, this young team is starting to play basketball the right way. I hate to say it, but I'm glad they are far enough down in the standings that a few extra wins the rest of the season won't hurt their draft standing that much. But more important than draft position is the realization of the potential of the guys on the roster. This team will be legit in a few years. If they draft well with their 3 first rounders, I can see them as a low seed (7 or 8) in a terrible Eastern Conference next year. Once Webber's contract, and later Miller's (if they don't trade him) come off the books, a few key signings could push the team up to top 3 position in the conference. Now all this comes with the big IF, named Billy King. But Larry Brown may be back on the bench by that point and also making basketball decisions. Nevertheless, I'd rather root for an up and coming young team than for a group of overpaid, underperforming stiffs with a one man scoring show (I still love you Allen).

Oh, and it's still BS that Iggy didn't win the dunk competition. He should have won on that backboard dunk alone. I don't care how short Robinson is; it took him 15 trys to hit his final dunk. Iggy was a stand up guy. I'm glad he's blowing the competition off this year based on spite. This year should be good, however, with Gerald Green, Dwight Howard, and rubberband man Tyrus Thomas. And oh yea, that punk Nate Robinson will be back, too. Sends a great message to the kids...suspended 10 games, come back to the dunk competition. The NBA makes one bad decision after another.

Webber's Departure

So far this season, Billy King has traded the face of the franchise for the last 10 years, brought back the coach that coached them to their last Finals appearance, and now paid Chris Webber almost 30 million dollars not to play for our team anymore. I'm not ok with the terrible landslide that Billy King orchestrated to get the team into this position, but I am ok with the AI trade and bringing Brown back as an assistant VP to the GM or whatever the hell his title is. I wouldn't be opposed to him coaching again here down the road, either. I also believe Andre Miller will get traded before the trade deadline, and possibly a few other players. The only players I can't see being traded are Iggy, Korver, Green, Williams (whom Brown drafted out of high school), Carney and possibly Dalembart (and Joe Smith's contract). No one else would surprise me.

More on Webber:
I hate buyouts. It's paying something (in this case a lot) for nothing. Every basketball GM could tell Webber was declining on Sacramento, so Billy King has no excuse for not seeing this coming.

The funny thing is, while Webber has essentially no value to this franchise this season, being a young rebuilding team, he will have value next season as an expiring contract. He's essentially last season's Joe Smith with 3 times the contract.

Let's look at the facts:
The Sixers save about 5 Mil with the buyout, and King claims that figure, along with Iverson's departure, will get them under the luxury tax threshold. So adjust that for the tax they don't pay, and I don't know the specifics, but possibly add the money they get back, and we'll take a stab and say it saves $6.5 Mil. The other positive is the obvious removal of a distraction, and the increased playing time for the younger guys.

The question, however, will be would keeping Webber until next year, and trading his expiring contract, net more value to the Sixers than the proposed $6.5 Mil and other benefits? If this were baseball, the Sixers could pay 3/4 of his contract (essentially the buyout) and trade him to a contender for a 2nd round pick and a young backup player or something similar. Instead he gets to sign with Detroit for a veteran's exception or something. If the Sixers could have gotten under the salary cap this offseason (not impossible, even with Webber if they traded Miller, Ollie, etc.), then they could have acted as the third team facilitator in next year's superstar trade (like this year's Iverson trade, possibly Garnett next year), and provided a team under the cap (a requirement so salaries don't have to line up), a 20+ Million dollar expiring contract (almost matches Garnett exactly, but one year shorter), and they could have gotten a pick or a young player in the process. Webber would also be ENTIRELY off the books from the moment of the trade (even at the trade deadline, it would save them 5 Mil +). I'm not sure how feasible this whole thing would be (I'm no expert on the NBA's detailed trading rules), but I just wanted to illustrate the value of an expiring contract.

So what does this mean in the end? The jury is still out. Holding onto Webber may have brought a extra pick in the '08 draft or maybe a young player and still saving a few million though trading his contract, but getting rid of him now gives you instant savings as well as changing the culture of the team. I just hate to see him helping the Pistons in the playoffs this year while collecting a huge paycheck from the Sixers.

In the end, the Sixers are still dismantling and will not even begin to rebuild a team until the draft and then once Webber's contract comes off the books. We'll check back in around the trade deadline, but no one's expecting anything until at least '09 (even if they landed Oden).

In other NBA news, I received a random text message last week stating, "Saw you got 29 last night- move over Arenas! Congrats from all of us. Say hi to your pop. Kevin, Mona, & crew." After being really confused, I realized with the points and Arenas reference that my number was being confused with that off a Wizards player. I checked the box score to find out that the player is Caron Butler. So if Kevin, Mona, or crew happen to be reading, Caron did not receive your congratulations, and you should double check his number in your phone. My basketball career ended with senior year of CYO basketball, though I think I may have had 29 once in my life.

Goodbye to the past, Hello to the present, and Hopes for the future

Billy King finally pulled the trigger. AI is now a Denver Nugget, and Joe Smith is once again a 76er. The Sixers also got Andre Miller and two first round picks in the 2007 draft (Denver and Dallas).

Everyone knows what the Nuggets got in the trade: the second leading scorer (ironically behind Carmelo Anthony, who still has 14 games of suspension to go) and an undeniable warrior. Iverson deserves a chance to win, and he got his wish. The Nuggets also got a throw away player in the deal, Ivan McFarlin, a rarely used, young forward from the Sixers.

What the Sixers got: a true point guard, albeit 30 years old, still top 5 in the league averaging nearly a double-double in points and assists. He has also shined for bad teams, and will at least promote the fundamentals of basketball on a young team. An unslefish player, he should also give the raw talent of the Sixers countless opportunities to foster their offensive development. The only catch with Miller is that he's signed for 2 more seasons, which is the same as Iverson, though 10 million dollars cheaper per year.

So the Sixers save 10 million dollars the next two seasons because Joe Smith's contract comes off the books after this year. Smith will play a marginal role in the rest of the 06/07 Sixers team, most likely being the 3rd or 4th guy off the bench, spelling Webber.

The two picks the Sixers receive will most likely both be in the 20s. If Iverson and Anthony can't coexist (or they suffer from not having a point guard...something the Sixers always struggled with), then Denver could potential slip, miss the playoffs, which would give the Sixers two lottery picks, once they get eliminated from the playoffs, which could happen next week. Dallas will be there until the end, so unless Dirk gets hurt, that pick will be a borderline second rounder. With this draft full of talent at the top and bottom because of the recent implementation of the age restriction, the Sixers should be in prime position to net a few good players. Outside of Oden, and maybe the other top 5 picks, I don't trust Billy King to make the right decisions, though. We'll see how the rest of the season plays out. At first glance, though, I like this deal. It's 3 components that the Sixers needed most: cap space, draft picks, and a veteran, unslefish point guard. Iverson will most likely prove to be more valuable over the next few years, but Billy King could have done a lot worse.

I wish Iverson the best of luck, though it's in the Sixers best interest that he fail, and fail miserably. If Iverson needed any other motivation to stick it to Billy King...

Goodbye, AI

With Allen Iverson's seemingly overnight transition from wanting to retire a Sixer to demanding an immediate trade (though no one can blame him), it marks the end for one of Philadelphia's longest current tenured athletes, and more importantly, the end of an era.

Love him, hate him, or indifferent, no one can deny that Allen Iverson left evertyhing he had out on the court every single night. A former high school quarterback (by the nickname of Bubba Chuck) Iverson's taken more hits in his career than Donovan McNabb. The way he just pounds the paint, play after play, occasionally breaking opponent's ankles, or pulling up for an off balance jumpshot...the guy is one hell of a basketball player. I know he disrespected coaches and teammates, had brushes with the law (though most involved friends), and everyone remembers the "practice" comment, but none of those will define his career. Sure his best year came when he had a team of role players around him as they ventured all the way to the finals, but people forget that Iverson also won an All-Star MVP and was one of few bright spots on a disapointing Olympic team, proving that he can play with talent, the Sixers just never had any. Iverson took all the shots because he had to. The Sixers tried to surround him with other options, but looking back, it's not what Iverson did with these guys, but what did they do without him:

• Jerry Stackhouse - Never panned out as a consistent scoring shooting guard anywhere. Success only on a loaded team in Dallas.
• Larry Hughes - Definitely never became the player he was supposed to in a draft where we could have had Paul Pierce or Dirk Nowitski.
• Keith Van Horn - Drafted him, traded him, then traded back for him. We never should have traded back for him.
• Tim Thomas - Makes a good 6th man.
• Joe Smith - Career avg. 12 points, 7 boards, 1 assist...couldn't play with KG either.
• Matt Harpring - Career avg. 12 points, 6 boards, 1.5 assists...fun fact - weighs the same as Joe Smith, 225lbs, but gives up 3 inches.
• Julius Jones - Enjoyed the dunks, but that's about it.
• Glenn Robinson - Overweight and didn't like playing defense, was formerly part of a 3 man show in Milwaukee.
• Toni Kukoc - Was third option behind Jordan and Pippen. We tried to make him the second guy in his twilight years.
• Chris Webber - Again, twilight years...on bad knees no less.

If anyone can be blamed for all of this mess, it's Billy King. The fact that Iverson's MVP season in 01-02 took the Sixers to the Finals with a team of role players should speak volumes for the little guy. In his 10 years with the team, the Sixers failed to put a couple good young players around him with a couple solid veterans. I believe that with any other GM, the Sixers win a couple championships in Iverson's reign, and we never have this conversation.

But here we are, another Philadelphia icon departing in his prime, with the Sixers in the familiar place of a forced unbalanced trade (see Curt Schilling, Scott Rolen, Charles Barkley). I won't even discuss the reported trade scenarios because I don't trust Billy King to pick the right one, and the Sixers will still have Chris Webber's immobile contract (and body) anyway.

So an era comes to an end, one of the greatest basketball players this town has ever seen. How long will it take the team to create another identity and for a new era to begin?