Goodbye Billy King!

I had wanted to touch on the past couple of games but today's news is certainly more noteworthy. Billy King's 10-year tenure as the Sixers' GM is over. While many Sixers fans have been calling for his departure for years now, the move comes at a surprising time. King finally sucked it up and traded Iverson last year and bought out Chris Webber's contract, moves that indicated he'd finally realized the need to blow up the current team and rebuild. He was even kept through the draft and helped make the selections and (unsuccessfully) attempted draft night trades. Everyone expected the Sixers to be in the position they are now. In fact, some people are quietly admitting that they are playing better than even thought and King is let go. The man who is in the middle of orchestrating the breakdown and rebuild of the team will not be here to see it through to completion.

Ed Snider has stood by King for many years and even appointed him the President of the team after the spot had been vacant for a couple years following Croce's resignation. Now I admit that I haven't been the biggest fan of King because he seemed slightly more like a puppet than a GM. When he first arrived, with Larry Brown, you got the feeling that Brown was influencing the moves. You think King would have really signed Greg Buckner, a defensive minded role player in the Larry Brown style, to that contract on his own? Now I fully blame him for the signings of Lee Nailon and Kenny Thomas, the trades for Van Horn and Glenn Robinson, and passing on Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce in the '98 draft in favor of Larry Hughes (Like Brown didn't want Paul Pierce?? A stud from Kansas, the very team Brown coached to a championship had to be his pick over a young high schooler who he typically hates). I can't blame him for the signing of Dalembert like most people do because he had to do it. Sammy was a restricted free agent and everyone knew the Hawks were in the market and clearly drove his price up. At the time, there were no centers around and he had just showed promise by averaging close to 12 points and 13 rebounds in the playoff series against the Pistons.

In my mind, King's finest moment was in '98 when he traded Eric Montross and Jerry Stackhouse, a good player who couldn't have been successful next to Iverson long-term, for Aaron McKie and Theo Ratliff. These players, along with Iverson, were the core of Sixers' rebuild and string of playoff runs - culminating in the 2001 season when the Sixers went to the Finals and McKie won the Sixth Man award and Ratliff was traded to bring in Mutombo who won Defensive Player of the Year. (Random sidenote about Stackhouse: Does anyone remember in 2001 when he averaged close to 30 ppg? Probably not but he did.)

Anyway, I'd be interested to see what incoming GM Ed Stefanski's first order of business is. I would like him to retain Cheeks and supply him with players that can develop and compete within 2 years. Cheeks does not deserve to be fired when he does not have the true means to win with this team. I'm all for shopping around guys like Andre Miller and Dalembert who might bring in prospects, picks, or extra cap relief.