Ratliff and Miller ditch exit meeting

[anklebreaker]

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/58908/20090501/miller_and_ratliff_ditch_final_team_meeting/

Miller as good as gone?  Appears that way. 

[DuckyNinja]

I love how both of them, plus Iggy, threw DiLeo under the bus.  I guarantee you that Miller, Ratliff, and DiLeo are not back.

[anklebreaker]

I really wish we could rid ourselves of Ivey as well... just get rid of all 4 of those bench signings all together (although I have no beefs with the Marshall.. just too old to bring back). 

Now, who's gonna follow these guys out the door?  Someone's more than likely getting the axe this offseaon.  I feel like Lou, Speights, J. Smith, and our 1st rounder have the best chance to bring us something of value in return... either netting us a better overall player in return or entice other teams enough to possibly unload the likes of Green, Evans, or hopefully Dalembert.  I can't see us parting with Iguodala, Thad, and Brand... nor do I think they should, but as far as I'm concerned the rest of the team is expendable. 

[rickortreat]

I would hold onto Iguodala, Young, Brand, Speights and Williams.  You don' trade away young talent until you know what you have, and I'm not ready to give up on Williams yet, besides he'll be our best point if Miller leaves.

As far as Miller goes, he was a liabiliy on defense, too slow to make a quick inside pass to a cutter (He never even attempted the pass!) Slowed the game down with his offense, and did not run the team with discipline.

Let's see what the demand is for on old slow self-absorbed point guard.

No one else is really worth keeping, and if the Sixers can find better replacements that would be good.

BUT YOU DO NOT TRADE AWAY YOUNG TALENT. You usually end up giving away more than you get back. Trade a potential 20 and 10 player like Speights = a fired GM.

[anklebreaker]

I don't see Lou's ceiling being all that high, especially after he failed to grow from last year to this year and completely completely stunk up the playoffs.  I also think his youth could fool some GM's into netting us a better overall player, who won't take games off, which this team absolutely needs. 

Let me ask you this, if we don't trade away young talent, and we hang onto Brand and Iguodala, then who do we trade?  Who can we trade?  I know that young players can get better... I know this... but we won 40 games in 08, and only 41 in 09.... not exactly the quantum leap you'd expect out of a young team.  In my opinion, we HAVE to look into trading some of our young guys.

[rickortreat]

You do realize a lot of unrestricted free agents are on the market this summer, right? There will be an abundance of talent, and not enough money to go around. The Sixers should be able to pick up some quality players on the cheap.

Are we going to loose every decent guard on our team, aside from Iguodala? I admit I'm very disappointed in Williams, and hoped to see more from him.  We didn't overpay for him, IMO, and I think with better coaching he could become a decent player.  He needs to work more on his outside shot, and also needs to develop better passing skills, particularly when he is driving to the basket and drawing a crowd.  He is much faster than most guards, and that makes him worth keeping around, IMO.

Figure we have the same team next season with Brand back as a healthy 20 and 10 player. Hope that Speights learns how to play defense and stay attached to his man over the Summer. And, we get Smith back as well.  Thad gets better, Iguodala adds a few more wrinkles to his game. Get a little help at guard to replace Miller, see if any bigs are available. Peddle Evans and Willie and see what happens.  Probably good enough to contend for the title.  But we have to get a good point guard.

[anklebreaker]

Figure we have the same team next season with Brand back as a healthy 20 and 10 player. Hope that Speights learns how to play defense and stay attached to his man over the Summer. And, we get Smith back as well.  Thad gets better, Iguodala adds a few more wrinkles to his game. Get a little help at guard to replace Miller, see if any bigs are available. Peddle Evans and Willie and see what happens.  Probably good enough to contend for the title.  But we have to get a good point guard.

What title are you referring to?  The NBA title?  With practically the same team minus Miller?  Your optimism truly amazes me.  Also, you can't just figure that Brand will come back and put up 20 and 10.  That's a long shot if I ever saw one after coming off of two major injuries that kept him off the court for the better part of 2 consecutive seasons.   I'd expect something more like 16 and 9 from him... and you can hope all you want that Speights becomes a solid defensive player over the summer, but the likelihood of it actually happening does not appear favorable as of right now.  One more thing, teams can find the same things that Willie and Reggie bring in either free agency (for the MINIMUM) or the NBDL.  If there was any kind of demand for these guys throughout the league, I'm sure they'd be gone. 

[rickortreat]

According to Miller's rep, Andre thought the team meeting was optional and said that he would like to sign with the Sixers.  If he's willing to take backup money with incentives if he ends up starting again, that would help a bit.

Apparently most of the Sixers weren't all that thrilled with Dileo, although none of them were quite as outspoken as Theo.  A new coach with this crew can do a lot.  I didn't like the Sixers offensive or defensive schemes or match-ups.  They force a lot of turnovers, but leave way too many open shots.  The offense was stagnent a lot of the time, and almost always against good teams who focus on trying to double Iguodala, and keep players from running out or finding easy lanes to the basket.  A good point like Rose could thread passes through a defense to Andre or Thad, and the Sixers would be monsters with Brand and Speights around to clean up, and he would also be able to set-up Brand in the high post. 

Brand will have 2 years of rehab on his leg, and plenty of time rehabing his dislocated shoulder.  There aren't a lot of teams in the East with defenders capable of keeping Brand from scoring or being effective.

If our schemes were as good as Orlando's we may have beaten them.  They are a much better defensive team because of their coaching.  It obviously wasn't Howard, since even without him the Sixers still couldn't get to the bucket.