Philadelphia Sixers: No Move is Right Move

On May 24 at the NBA Draft Lottery, Philadelphia Sixers President Billy King, frustrated with having missed the postseason for the second time in the last three seasons, had this to say:

"Regardless of who is on the roster, things are going to be done one way. It's going to be done one way, and it's going to be done my way," King said. "My mandate for myself is to change the culture of how we play, how we approach things," King said. "The players understand where we're coming from. I'm not going into saying I'm going to trade one player. I have to build something the right way… Anybody who works for me will be on board for this or they won't work for me."

"I want to change the culture in how we approach everything we do, on and off the court. There is a culture [that has been] permeating probably the last 3 years, and we've got to change it. The challenge for me is to change how we approach things, deal with the media, deal with our fans, deal with the players on the court.

"I guess the approach I'm looking at is as if I'm almost new to the job, so how would I want to do it? Not looking at it like I drafted these players or signed these guys. It's like now we're coming in new, and how would I want this team built?"

King, when asked if he could turn the Sixers into a contender in one season, cited the Seattle Supersonics and the Phoenix Suns as two teams that virtually came from nowhere. He stated he would be willing to do whatever is needed to make the team better. Would that include making trades?

"We're going to do our best," King said. "I can't say it's a definite, but you never know until you start talking to people. I think it's about chemistry and guys believing in each other, and so we're going to try to shake it up as much as possible - but also come back with a cohesive unit."

These were rough words from a normally smooth and mellow-mannered man. King generally presents himself as an articulate man-about-town, one who chooses his words most carefully and rarely errs when speaking in public. For someone like that, to actually "play the heavy" as one Philadelphia scribe put it, is both out of character and intriguing to say the least. Many media took King's words, such a dramatic departure from his usual M.O., to mean only mean one thing: Allen Iverson has played his last game as a Philadelphia Sixer.

The rumor mills were above with speculation and innuendo. Will Billy King pull the trigger? Who wants Allen Iverson? What will the Sixers be able to get back? Blogs, chat rooms and forums were ablaze with fans feverishly creating scenario after scenario. Most everybody believed Iverson being traded as a done deal; it was only a matter of the details.

Yet, here we are: "At this time, Allen is going to be a Sixer," King said on July 26. "We can now move forward on getting ready for the upcoming season. " I fully expect Allen will be suiting up with us next season. Allen and I talked, and he wants to be here, and is excited to be playing for us.''

The sound you just heard was the collective keyboard of thousands of sportswriters, bloggers and chat room addicts grinding to a stunned halt.

"Just to make trades to be making trades is not the right decision," said King at the Philadelphia Zoo on July 27. "A lot of times you have to sit back and say, 'let's make decisions that are good for us,' and sometimes you have to decide that you have to work a little harder and do things a little better."

King went on to explain that his comments at the end of the season that referred to "changing the culture" of the team, didn't necessarily mean changing the players on the team.

" I think it means everything," said King. "I've been here 10 years, it's my 10th year, and I think sometimes in places there is slippage: in how we deal with our fans from the customer service standpoint, how we play on the court, and how we carry ourselves professionally. Mainly dealing with myself and how I deal with things. That's more or less looking at everything from top to bottom and saying that we can do better ... So I think that as an organization, from top to bottom, starting with myself, we can do a better job for our fans."

" I'm confident, and I've always been confident in my 10 years here, that the fans here in Philadelphia may not believe what you may say, but you have to go out there and prove it on the court. And I'm confident that we will do that this year."

Gary Moore, Iverson's manager, confirmed to the Philadelphia Daily News that King caught a flight to Atlanta yesterday and met with Iverson for roughly 2 ½ hours in a hospitality suite in an area hotel.

Iverson has a home in Atlanta as well as in the Philadelphia area.

King broached the plan to tell Iverson last week. Moore made the arrangements.

"We have never been more excited,'' Moore said. " We couldn't be more excited. Allen is very excited to be part of the team, and is looking forward to training camp."

According to some sources, Iverson was not the only one excited. During the meeting, Iverson and King called Sixers forward Chris Webber with the news. Webber, who has repeatedly said that Iverson is the main reason he did not use his no-trade clause to veto the trade to the Sixers in February of 2005, was ecstatic.

"You won't regret this," Webber told King. "I promise you will not regret this decision."

Now, there has been a large amount of reaction, essentially consisting of the idea that King is just trying to provoke better offers.

Chris Broussard of ESPN.com insists Iverson is still available.

"Believe me, if the Sixers can get a solid deal, they'll trade A.I. faster than you can say 'gunner,'" Broussard wrote.

Broussard uses this as the premise of a number of scenarios, including one that would send Iverson to Minnesota for Wolves rookie guard Randy Foye, newly signed point guard Mike James and swingman Ricky Davis, under the fantasy of watching Iverson chase a title with Wolves star forward Kevin Garnett. Never mind that if King made that trade, the Sixers roster would be so packed at guard, they could change their name to Knicks South.

John Canzano of Oregonlive.com stated one GM told him that Iverson is "still on the block," and uses this as a presumption to suggest and Allen Iverson for Portland Trailblazers forward Zach Randolph and some filler, conveniently forgetting that the Sixers, with Webber and center Samuel Dalembert, already have two high-priced big men with long deals that make them hard to move. Why would they want to add a third?

Eric Williams of AssociatedContent.com believes that keeping Iverson after all the speculation shows that Billy King "is one of the most clueless GM's in, not only the NBA, but in all of professional sports."

"First of all," Williams wrote. "I don't think King should just give Iverson away for a bag of trinkets and a couple of warm bodies. However, if King could have suckered the Celtics into giving up one or two of their young players - not named Delonte West - then that would have been a coup in my mind. Say, some combination of Tony Allen and Al Jefferson and maybe a draft pick."

Now, one must keep in mind that the Celtics young players are, as of right now, just potential. None of them have done much of anything in the league. Al Jefferson has flashes, but he's been injury-prone and has regressed, to the point that several Celtics insiders have been concerned. Tony Allen is actually awaiting trial for legal issues. Another Celtics young player, 21-year-old guard Gerald Green has also shown flashes mixed with the inconsistency of youth. He also plays the same spot as recent Sixers draft choices Andre Iguodala, Rodney Carney, Bobby Jones, Willie Green and Louis Williams. And, due Iverson's $18 million salary, to even receive any of these young players the Sixers would be required to take on a high salary throwaway filler like center Theo Ratliff or forward Wally Scerzerbiak, both of whom have major knee issues and contracts that run at least the length of Iverson. Again, not a good idea.

The fact is that not trading Allen Iverson was the best move Billy King could make. What most of the speculation seemed to forget is that King's stated goal was to improve the team NEXT YEAR. Not blow it up for the future, nor totally rebuild from rock bottom, King wants to find a way to make the team better immediately. To that end, there was no deal out there that would provide an instant dividend, so King reeled in his bait and decided to go another way.

Moreover, not simply dumping Iverson for "a box of rocks," as one Philadelphia area columnist put it, was the right move. First, Iverson is still a top-10 player, evidenced by his 33.0 points per game scoring average combined with 7.4 assists. History teaches us that, in order to be successful, a team must have at least one Top-10 level player to compete for a championship.

An example: out of the 52 teams that have made it to the NBA Finals since the 1979-80 season (NBA Hall-of-Famers Magic Johnson & Larry Bird's rookie year), only 3 teams reached that level while featuring players who would not be considered a top-10 level superstar (Detroit Pistons in 04 & 05, New York Knicks in 1999). Only one of those teams (Detroit in 04) actually won the ring.

That tells us that of the last 26 NBA champions, only one did not have a superstar, though they featured good to very good players who were better as an ensemble than as individuals. Ironically, that Pistons team defeated the "star-laden" LA Lakers, who featured Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton and Karl Malone. The Lakers imploded during the Finals under a perfect storm of egos and injury (Karl Malone), which allowed the Pistons to run roughshod over the ashes.

What does this have to do with the Sixers? Everything. When a team actually has one of those game-changing studs, it would behoove them to ride that horse until he can't be ridden any more. One thing this year's playoffs taught us is that one stud, like a Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade or a Cleveland Cavalier forward LeBron James, can overcome many of his own team's flaws against a more talented overall squad, whether that team would be the Detroit Pistons or the Dallas Mavericks. Iverson, who, at 30.6 points per game, owns the second-highest career playoff scoring average in NBA history behind only Michael Jordan, can be that stud. Especially when considering all the calls given to Wade in the postseason, Iverson, a player who took 858 free throws, which was 29 less free throws then Chicago Bulls guards Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich and forward Luol Deng took combined, would get his share of calls in the clutch.

The bottom line is that the Sixers, contrary to popular opinion, were not running a fire sale bobble head giveaway. The objective was to improve the team while not damaging them in the long term. The fact remains that by keeping Iverson, the worse case scenario still has the Sixers running approximately $14 million under the salary cap once Webber's deal expires in 2008. This would make them a definite player in the free agent market while also neatly avoiding the backlash of dumping an iconic superstar. You don't believe in backlash, you say. Okay, just ask the Chicago Bulls. They created massive cap space by essentially shoving Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman out the door, then watched as star after star flirt with their millions before signing elsewhere. It has been over eight years since former Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause broke up the dynasty, the recent signing of center Ben Wallace represents their biggest free agent acquisition since Toni Kukoc signed with them way back in 1993. Even then, there are questions about whether they might have overpaid Wallace since the Bulls are not championship contenders even with $60 million Big Ben in the house.

The Sixers avoid the fate of making the wrong move for the sake of just making a move. According to sources, Iverson is highly anticipating the season while Webber is said to be in the best shape of his career. Sixers Head Coach Maurice Cheeks has told the team that only Iverson, swingman Andre Iguodala and Webber are assured to start. Cheeks has also said the other two starting spots are completely up for grabs and will be won in camp primarily on defense. The summer league team, in an arena that is notorious for a lack of defense, held opponents to around 70 points per game while posting the best record in the Rocky Mountain Revue.

King has often said he wants to change the culture to a more defensive philosophy akin to the 2001 team that went to the Finals. Iverson was the MVP centerpiece of that memorable run. Ironically, Iverson was almost traded to the Detroit Pistons the previous summer, a deal that fell through when Sixers center Matt Geiger refused to waive his 15% trade kicker bonus, causing the deal to fall through. Iverson, invigorated by that near-departure, wrecked havoc on the league. Maybe, Billy King is hoping lightning just might strike twice