Fill Out That Roster Ed!

The Sixers recently signed two free agents to begin the process of addressing their needs and rounding out the roster. It should come as no surprise to anyone that we picked up two cheap guys who will seem to have limited roles. We let a lot of people go prior to this for two reasons: first, in order to make the money work for Brand and second, because they weren't any good anyway. I simply could not take this team seriously if they resigned Louis Amundson. Now there are certainly spots for players like him and it's at the end of the bench or the D-League. We need to move forward. Royal Ivey is probably going to be a player somewhere in between Willie Green and Kevin Ollie but we need him as a backup. Actually, I'm mildly surprised that we did not resign Ollie to a cheap deal. Where else is he going to go at this rate? Why not keep his steady play and veteran locker room presence around? Plus, he's the Chaplain of the team and therefore an automatic "glue" guy. Oh well, not a big overall loss.

I actually like the signing of Kareem Rush. I remember watching him in his rookie year for the Lakers and he could flat out shoot the ball. I always wondered why he fell off the map for several years. I think it's probably one of those things that we saw with Korver at the early part of last season: you can't all of a sudden force a strict, roleplaying shooter into becoming a versatile wing player. It just does not happen that way. It's much easier to get a wing player to develop an outside shot to diversify his game. Either way, we needed some kind of shooter and everyone was acting like we were going to some how be worse off compared to last year by basically adding Brand, taking Evans out of the starting lineup, and trading Carney. People need to realize immediately that we became a better shooting team by doing those aforementioned things so I'm not that concerned. Either way, nice to have a threat off the bench for.

Real Mature, Clippers

Reports have surfaced that Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy has made some form of contact with Sixers' restricted free agent, and integral component, Andre Iguodala. This is common at this time of year with valuable players, even if they are restricted free agents. Of course initially we think "how dare you think about sticking it back to us Clips" but we can't worry about this...yet. It's probably true at this rate that Andre was not smart in turning down the 5 year, $57 million offer we gave him last year but he doesn't necessarily deserve more than that. I'll be the first to say that he is a great player and great for our system and it would be killer to lose him, but he isn't worth that money right now. It's tough to say because I am a big fan of his but we have him slated for a shooting guard role that he might not be the best for. He isn't exactly a deadeye shooter or one that moves great off screens without the ball. He succeeds on size, length, and sheer power. Having said that, I absolutely want him to stay here and be part of this team. The Clippers have a right to offer him a contract but Andre might actually make a worse move then he did in turning down that extension by running to LA. He has the potential to really break his career into the next level by staying here and playing with Elton Brand. I think he is excited about that chance and wants to stay and knows the fans want him to stay here. Let's see how it plays out but I'm personally not too worried. Let the Clippers make a run for him, it will only make me mad if they needlessly drive up his price to stick it back to us for taking Brand when in reality they are inept at running a franchise.

Rumor.....

There is a rumor surfacing (and I have a love/hate relationship with rumors so I'm reporting this one) that there are talks, or "musings" if you will, of a possible sign-and-trade involving Iguodala and Richard Hamilton. I can see the Pistons thinking of this because they have a decent player in Rodney Stuckey, are clearly looking to get younger, and have always respected Iguodala. It's much easier for Sixers fans to envision life with Iguodala than without him but let's think about this for a minute. Hamilton is an incredible shooting guard who plays in a team flow offense and is lethal from mid-range. Yes, he is not very good from beyond the arc but he also is good at defense. Iguodala is going to be forced to play the shooting guard and many feel he doesn't have the shot ability we need. He will succeed more on drives and power moves to the basket rather than picking apart defenses. I love the argument this brings up but I also then see how we instantly make our team MUCH older in a short time and it's not thrusting us into championship talk. This is largely due to the depth of our bench. Andre Miller is not guaranteed after this year and we don't want to be holding the bag should he leave. I'd prefer to develop this youth more and then decide if we need to move pieces as we round out a bit more.

Next Order of Business: A Shooter

Without the luxury of Kyle Korver in the lineup to knock down every long shot, and players like Andre Miller and Thad Young not being deadeye shooters from long range, the Sixers need to address the new weakness in the lineup: a shooter to stretch the defense. Most people think getting a shooter will automatically change the way defenses play us, but that guy has to actually be on the floor to command attention. It's true the best scenario would be that we improve from within and have guys like Williams, Iguodala, and Young get better naturally. This can certainly happen but we still need to find a shooter somewhere. James Jones would have been nice but he ran home to Miami. We don't have any other money to throw at people so we have to be creative. I've been thinking more and more about taking a look at J.J. Redick. He is under contract in Orlando but hates his role (or lack thereof) there and has publicly asked to be traded. The Magic drafted a shooting guard in Courtney Lee and signed another one in Mikael Pietrus. That's in addition to the other players they have in Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis, and Hedo Turkoglu. I just don't see Redick getting any playing time or enjoying this situation at all. Who knows what we would possibly send the Magic but it's something to think about. That would give us a player who definitely can knock down shots from long range if he comes on the floor for spot minutes. In the end, it's about instant offense which is what Korver was great at. There will be late game situations where we need a basket or a 3-pointer and will need to have all shooters out there. Redick seems like a good alternative for this team.

Sixers Sign Elton Brand!

It finally happened. The Sixers put years of frustration and terrible contracts behind them and pulled some big moves to drastically change the future of this franchise....quicker than most expected. Today's signing of Elton Brand was one that will go down as a great moment in Sixers history. I know not to rush into anything before we have even gotten on the court but this signing is huge. With this young nucleus, our glaring weakness was a post-playing power forward who is reliable. We solved that by signing Elton Brand, a proven 20 pts, 10 rebs player. Many people feel that the most important positions on a basketball team are point guard and power forward. Our PG was team MVP last year and now we just signed Brand. I just love saying it over and over. The Iverson trade, with it's taking on of new players and expiring contracts, as well as the Korver trade and the last minute Carney/Booth trade were what made this possible. It was a long time coming and it needed to happen this way. We could not settle for anything less than Brand. This year we controlled a good portion of the free agent market as buyers and we landed the best available free agent, one who also just happens to fill our primary need, fit in with our style, and is one of the best players in the league. Anyone else wish the season was starting much sooner than the fall??

It will be interesting to see if we play a typical post-style with Brand and let him create or go more for the old-school Kings look with a fluid offense that uses the athleticism of our team and allows for drives more so than kick outs with outside shooting. We still need a good shooter if we decide to play that way so we'll have to see. Brand does not detract from our fastbreak in any way. We don't necessarily need him running the floor with all the others we have. He in fact improves it by being a great rebounder and smart player. Brand now gives us the halfcourt offensive piece we were sorely lacking and one that was exploited by the Pistons in the playoffs. Dalembert should improve from this because he can feed off Elton's propensity to attract better defenders. Iguodala can settle into the role as glorified #2 man that we've all seemed to say he's better suited for. Evans can now come off the bench and play 15-18 minutes a game and maximize the type of role he is best at - keeping energy high and pulling down rebounds....doing the dirty work while Brand sits. Young settles in and develops at the small forward position and hopefully blossoms there.

It's really, really hard to find a negative with this but in the sake of parity I will try to identify one..... Hmmmmmmmm. Ok scratch that, we all know that not one jumps out and this is a day to enjoy a great signing and an optimistic look toward the future. No one says we are going to win it all this year but this is a huge step in the right direction. Don't you like being under the radar anyway??