I purposely did not write something about the Sixers’ draft performance immediately following Thursday night’s event at the Garden. It was too soon. I really wanted to have the weekend to think about what they did - or didn’t do - and not just automatically kill Billy King (which, as a Sixers fan, is pretty much the automatic response after being subjected to years of ineptitude). Despite the fact that they make it really, really easy, I don’t want this part of the Dime site to turn into a constant Sixers-bashing forum.
So that’s what I did; I waited. Played a little ball with the rest of the guys at Dime on Friday afternoon, saw some of my boys from school on Saturday night, went to see Knocked Up with the girl yesterday afternoon (kinda overrated by the way), and came back fresh this morning. And you know what? I think I came to the absolute worst conclusion possible … I’m indifferent.
Lots of people have been asking me since the 12th pick was announced on Thursday night, “So what do you think of Thaddeus Young?” … Ok, I guess. Would I have been more excited at the prospect of Al Thornton stepping on the court in a Sixers uni and immediately getting buckets? Probably.
“How about the rest of your draft? Jason Smith? Derrick Byars? The immortal Herbert Hill?” … Whatever.
Obviously, being indifferent is worse than being elated, if, say, King had done something to get us in a spot to take Joakim, or Yi, or Jeff Green. But indifferent is better than being frustrated/infuriated, if, say, King had packaged players and picks to move up for Spencer Hawes. I’m just not sure what our plan is for the future. Is it to bring in young pieces in the 6-8 to 7-0 range who can run, who can play uptempo ball? If yes, does that mean that Andre Miller is going to be moved somewhere to facilitate that end? We don’t know because we can’t tell and haven’t been told. We haven’t been let in on the plan. If there is one.
When it comes down to it, I like Thaddeus Young. I do. I wish he had a chance to play with Allen Iverson. For years, we basically refused bring in any thoroughbreds to run with AI, to get up and down and run all day (other than Andre Iguodala, who has been great). But Allen’s gone, so of course now we decide to bring in the athletes.
I’m not really mad at the Young selection. Although I am already a little tired of non-Sixers fans cracking the “They couldn’t even draft the right Young” joke because Nick Young was still on the board. Thaddeus could be a nice player for us for a long time, or he could be out of the League in a few years. Who knows. I’m willing to roll the dice a bit.
I don’t know what to think of Jason Smith. I’m not going to pretend that I saw a bunch of Colorado State games over the last few years, so I can only go off of talking to people in the League or scouting reports. The fact that the Sixers seemed to like him way, way more than anyone else in the Draft, and were supposedly even considering taking him at No. 12 scares me a bit. If it was Jerry West in love with him, I’d probably be on board. But it’s not. The love is coming from the a guy who does things like decide that it’s a great idea to take Louis Williams when you already have Allen Iverson and Ryan Gomes is still on the board. It’s coming from the guy who broke the bank for Kenny Thomas and Brian Skinner. It’s coming from the guy who traded for Chris Webber and then rewarded him with an unbelievably generous buyout. It’s coming from the guy who traded Allen Iverson for 50 cents on the dollar. You get the idea.
I guess my biggest disappointment with the Sixers’ draft is that they really didn’t do anything to put us in a position to win. I sat there on draft night and watched the Blazers, for the second year in a row, wheel and deal and do whatever they can to get better. I endured sitting with Celtics fans as their team, after watching LeBron take a subpar supporting cast to the NBA Finals, make a power move to immediately make them players in the East while still retaining their core. True, our guy Ray is 32 and coming off double-ankle surgery, but a trio of Allen, Paul Pierce and Al Jefferson can win in the East today. The most noise coming out of our camp this week? How we’re going to keep Joe Smith. Wonderful.
Maybe Billy will surprise us and swing a deal that still gets us Noah or Yi or dare I say it, Kobe (make no mistake, what LeBron was able to do this year was not lost on No. 24 whatsoever). And I know that he tried. We’ve been told over and over the last week about how King was “furiously” working the phones to make something happen. Great, we get an “A” for effort. What does it mean though? More likely than not, we’ll stand pat and continue to build for the future. Which is fine … for most clubs and most cities. But for us, for Philly, can we afford to wait?
Better yet, can Billy afford to wait?
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:28 am
Luke says:
As a sixers fan i’m starting to get depressed, it seems like billy king doesn’t even have a plan. We now have like 6 small fowards and no big man, oh yeah that’s right we have dalembert, who should be learning the game of basketball any day now. Don’t even remind me the size of his contract.
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:29 am
Luke says:
Fire billy king!!
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:00 pm
BOnAciertheLAW says:
That’s an informed opinion… If you take the AI trade and look at all the pieces, the deal looks a lot worse post-draft then it did before the selections were made. I am pretty much apathetic about every move they made… Moving up would have been the best bet. Oh wellz
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Smith says:
Billy King and Pat Cassidy hav a lot in common.
Overpaid, lacking the skills and knowledge to do their current job and neither could actually play the game.
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Cass says:
Thanks Ice Cream Man … haven’t heard from you in a while.
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:05 pm
kudabeen says:
Dalembert isn’t our biggest problem. The problem is we simply refuse to bring in winners. I watch the Bulls, Bobcats take these guys who have won and knows what it means to put in a winning effort consistently, then I look at the Sixers and see hard working talented young men, but none of them have that winning pedigree. We don’t have a Hard Hat guy in the Mark Jackson mold (not his body though). We lack a Heart Beat! For years this has been our probelm. We expected Allen to carry the team on all fronts. He is gone, now what.
I love Iguadola. I think he will be an All-star this year. I like Thad. I think he will be able to score double digits this year given PT. Rodney Carney, where is he, what parts of his game is he working on. Same goes for Willie, Steven Hunter and Louis Williams. I don’t even think Williams knows how to go about winning PT after what 3 years. He is getting beat out of minutes by Kevin Ollie after 3 years. That says a lot about him. If we get Yi or Noah and solid backup PG I’d be totally ellated.
It’s hard watching the Bobcats, Toronto, Orlando, Celtics, Bucks, Knicks and now Atlanta go after it and Vets and Winners to try to win, whenthe sixers are too anxious to be seen as genius, that they forget the reason why Collangello, Jerry West, Spurs Trio, Dumars, Paxson, Riley, etc are cosidered geniuses is because there teams are in the playoffs or contending. This happens because they get vets and Young Winners on their team. We just get these projects and good hard working Role Players and get sold this dream that they are going to blossom into game changers… Still waiting on Willie Green, Dalembert - Hughes come and gone, Speedy Claxton come and gone. Not to mention bad contracts and hasty buyouts disabling any meaningful trades happening.
This season I’m looking forward to watching Andre take it to another level, Thad and Carney run the lanes, Wille step up and be that solid player on both ends for a full healthy season, Kyle show a bit more of his all around offensive moves, that don’t involve more than 2 dribbles, Dalembert make a run at All-star reserve by default (JO hurt or traded, Shaq hurt, Emeka hurt…etc, but Zach Randolph and Al jefferson may snatch that spot even if Sam averages 12 12 and 3 his year), and I look forward seeing what will come of Louis Williams the Iverson Impersonator.
Record Anyone? I think we are a 40-44 win team right now, I’m being very optimistic in Thinking Andre I. will grow into a All-star. Don’t wake me people…
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:32 pm
kudabeen says:
On a side note… Rodney Carney is like that guy on the court with all the athletism in the world and some skill, but will never go hard (i.e. dunk in traffic and drive to the basket) for fear of getting injuried and lossing his Track or Soccer Scholarship… Rodney you are in the league. Make a choice imapact player or that guy who has all the tools but will never be winner (ala Vince Carter).
I guess in the end they rather preserve there bodies and collect NBA money for 10-15 yrs than risk injury. Sensible and Smart financially, but still pu$$% in my book. Why not aspire to Be great! Do it wile yu have chance, don’t go chasing Chips when you game is all but washed up, to preserve your sense of accomplishment. I respect a Barkley way more than a Gary Payton. Yes Payton held his own and one of the best to ever do it, but how much more success would he have had if he worked on his game early on?? Never was able to hit open shots/FT consistently to really open up his full game.
Use your tools young Sixers… Just follow Andre Iguadola’s lead. He wants to be great…He wants to be that guy.
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:43 pm
djKianoosh says:
I still think we’re paying for the deals that Larry Brown and Billy King made with the 2000-1 team. Not just trades upon trades which got us deeper and deeper into this mess, but also all those huge contracts we kept giving out over those years. It’s a shame that team had to go up against that monster Lakers squad. Any other year and those Sixers would have won the championship. ahhh, living in the past.. back to this year..
I have little to no faith in these selections. Let’s be real. The only pick in the past few years that they made right was Iguodala. The other guys are just dreaming. Look at all the top teams in the League. They all have a trio of star players and a bunch of other role players. What do we have? 1 star player and a few role players. Where are the other stars?
Do we have to wait for another contract year to get another star?
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Cass says:
djKianoosh -
you’re totally right - we’re still paying for Larry Brown the first time around (remember the contract he gave Greg Buckner???).
you’re also right that Iguodala was the only homerun pick we’ve made in recent memory, and I can’t help but think he just fell into our laps in that draft. i’d hesitate to label him a star though. he’d probably be best as a 2nd or 3rd option don’t you think?
how do we get that star to Philly? i think we have to hope for some sign-and-trade magic to get a young star in a Sixers uni that we can build around.
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:29 am
djKianoosh says:
Iguodala might turn out to be a #1, but you’re right, even he is a #2. Can Carney be a #3? How about Young? This is what the coach thinks of the Sixers lotter pick, according to the philly papers:
— Cheeks does not expect Young to dominate from the start.
“He’s only 19 - so young - and intangibles will come,” Cheeks said. “At this point, he is trying to learn the game.” —
Excuse me? He is trying to learn the game?!? The intangibles will come?! when, exactly? Aren’t lottery picks supposed to be studs? Shouldn’t they already have the intangibles? I’m tired of drafting guys who are learning the game. Dalembert is still learning the game. Can’t we just get someone who already knows the game? Let’s try that for a while and see how it turns out…
Still, trades are what got the team into this hole. But trades won’t get them out. They just need to let the old salaries come off the books and keep this core together long enough so they learn how to play with each other (I guess while they’re learning how to play the game which they should have already learned… uhm, yeah..)
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:01 am
Austin Burton says:
Let’s see … Al Thornton played 4 years of college. Thaddeus Young played one year. But of course you pass on Thornton because he’s 23 and is closer to hitting his “ceiling,” while Thad has more room to grow. I don’t get that logic. In the three years that it takes Thaddeus to “learn the game,” you could have gotten three quality years out of Thornton.