SIXERS GET CHRIS WEBBER!!!

[Derek Bodner]

holy s.  For 2 backups and the guy in the starting lineup he's replacing.  I like Kenny, but he's no webber.  WE DIDN'T HAVE TO GIVE UP IGUODALA OR DALEMBERT, OR EVEN KORVER!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/stor...chad&id=1998426

The Sacramento Kings and Philadelphia 76ers have completed a deal that will send Chris Webber, Matt Barnes and Michael Bradley to the Sixers for Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner, two league sources told ESPN Insider Chad Ford.

The Kings have called a news conference for midnight ET to announce the trade.

The fact that Webber was on the block should come as no surprise to Kings fans. General manager Geoff Petrie had been shopping Webber for some time. The Kings have been concerned about team chemistry and how the offense often stagnates with Webber in the game.

The Knicks were trying to acquire Webber for weeks and looked like the only team with an owner willing to swallow the last three years and $62 million of his deal.

What is surprising, however, is what the Kings will get from the 76ers in return. None of the three players the Kings receive are as talented as Webber. Each has been struggling this year and all three have long-term contracts equal to the three years, $62 million left on Webber's deal. In other words, this isn't a salary dump by the Kings.

Thomas has five years and $39 million left on his deal, plus a 15 percent trade kicker that will raise his salary higher. Williams has two years and $12.5 million left on his deal. Skinner has one year and $4.9 million left on his contract plus another year at $5.4 million that is 75 percent guaranteed.

While the Kings lose some star power, they do acquire some depth … something that has been sorely needed in Sacramento the past two seasons. Once the trade does become official, look for it to seriously end discussions of a Peja Stojakovic trade. Stojakovic wanted out, in part, because of a poor relationship with Webber both on and off the court. With Webber gone, his trade demands will likely end.

 

[Reality]

lol.

X mine out if you want to.
Maloofs are bailing on his contract or whats up?

[rickortreat]

Thaks for that info on the Salary levels Dabods.  Now the deal makes even less sense for the Kings.

Yes, this will cool the Peja talk for a while, but the Kings are not going to be as solid down the stretch in games relying on KT or Corliss.

The Sixers are looking a bit more loaded now, with a front line with Dalembert, Webber and Korver, with Igoudala and Iverson in the backcourt.  

I don't know anything about Barnes or Bradley, can you fill us in?
 

[Derek Bodner]

Bradley's a local kid.  'nova I think.  Nice college player, junk of an nba player.

[rickortreat]

Wonder how fast this will happen.   Want to see what happens with AI and Cwebb on the court.  

Like that were getting back another local player, with Bradley, Blue and Marc Jackson the local area is well represented.  

[ziggy]

This trade is surprising, but a trade of Webber was not.  In the end this will make the Kings better.  Allow Bibby, Peja and Miller to become the focus.  Webber took the  Kings nowhere, so get rid of his bloated ego and contract.  The Kings got 3 contracts, two of which are tradeable, Thomas and Skinner.  This helps the Sixers a lot, but it doesn't hurt the Kings all that much.

[Derek Bodner]

Eh...I'll disagree that Thomas is tradable.  That's a large sum for a tweener.

[Reality]

This trade is surprising, but a trade of Webber was not.  In the end this will make the Kings better.  Allow Bibby, Peja and Miller to become the focus.  Webber took the  Kings nowhere, so get rid of his bloated ego and contract.

Which makes last years blunder even bigger.  Kings had it going on, best record in league at like 45-12, flow offense we all were admiring, 6 games ahead of the Flamers, homecourt thruout a lock.

They tossed all that to bring Webber back.  As a starter.  To be the focus point of the offense.  Ball movement stops.  SheWebber starts going 7-24 every other game.  Peja stops getting touches, Bibby is messed up, the whole Kings team was messed up.  All to bring back CWebb to make the focal part of the offense.  Not to mention defense on his then (still?) messed up knee.
Finshed the reg season 6-10 to let the Most Overated Team of All Time win the Pacific Division by a game.

All done to....... trade him now.
For 3 cap unfriendly contracts.  Which might be the best offer they got.

Well i hope it works out for both teams.  

[Guest_Randy]

This trade is a little perplexing -- on Philly's side, it's obvious they got the better deal in talent, however, they just took on the HUGE contract of CWebb, whose health is questionable at best!  When he is healthy, he puts up great numbers but remember, he is a guy who HAS to have the rock in his hand -- he isn't going to move well without the ball (he can hardly move at all) and while AI needs a post player offensively and a great rebounder, AI also needs to the rock in his hands as well.  CWebb's intangibles also come into play -- he will never carry a team to where they need to go, you can't count on him to be healthy when the chips are down and his ego is even bigger than AI's.  Is CWebb going to be content being the #2 guy in Philly?  I can't see that happening!

For SacTown, this trade is obvious -- they are pulling EXACTLY what LA did with Kobe -- LA wanted to keep Kobe long term so they jettison Shaq for whatever they can get (yes, there were other factors -- just like there were with CWebb -- health, huge contract and chemistry issues -- same were true of Shaq) -- SacTown jettisons CWebb to strive to keep Peja and get him back to his All-Star ways.  My question?  Couldn't they have gotten MORE for CWebb?  No, probably not!  SacTown will be BETTER without CWebb, IMO.  They will miss his rebounding -- the Kings really need to get a great rebounding/defensive PF -- one who doesn't want or need to shoot the ball.  Kenny Thomas is a great rebounder for his size but he's too small and not a good enough defender to guard the top PF who reside in the Western Conference.  

One other question for SacTown fans, how does this trade set with Bibby?  Bibby and CWebb were VERY tight -- that tightness once divided the lockerroom with Peja and Vlade on the other side -- will Bibby respond to CWebb's trade the same way Peja responded to the Kings dumping Vlade?  

It will be interesting to see how this trade affects both teams -- I can't see CWebb existing as the #2 option in Philly -- his ego is WAY too big.  It will also be interesting to see how Bibby responds to this trade as well.

Last but not least, the Sixers had BETTER continue to make AI their first and primary option -- I don't want CWebb hogging the ball and killing AI as my primary FNBA player!   :rofl:  

[rickortreat]

Wouldn't worry too much about the ego problems, which I would suggest are often overblown.  Being an LA fan with the insipid Shaq and Kobe show that's understable, but the truth is basketball is a team game,  and AI needs someone else to help carry the load.

Webber is a great choice since he gives the Sixers what they need, more rebounding and a post presence.  AI gets an inside target that defences can't afford to ignore.  When defense collapse on Cwebb, he can pass it out to Korver for a long shot, or to a cutting Igoudala for a layup.  When all else fails, AI can allways get a shot, particularly with both an inside and outside scorer available.

Sixers aren't a great defensive team anyway.  Now, they are in  position to outscore a lot of teams and limit their rebounds on the other end. It's a shame that Cwebb isn't as fleet of foot as he used to be, but that works for the Sixers,  he can focus on defensive rebounds and the outlet pass for AI and AI and Dalembert.  

Not sure how well this will work yet, but I would think this would put the Sixers on top in the Atlantic, and possibly a contender against Detroit and Miami.

As Dabods pointed out, salary wise the Sixers did not get hurt at all with this deal, as they unloaded some long-term contracts they had.  

 

[Derek Bodner]

I wouldn't compare this with la at all.

LA got talent.  Odom is a borderline all-star (if east).  Caron's a nice young player still on his rookie deal.  They got something in return.

Kenny's a borderline, below average starter with a massive contract.  Corliss is an overpaid 20 mpg guy.  Skinner will never be what he was, he's had 3 knee surgeries in the past 365 days.  And he was never all that great.

That's the thing, we didn't give up young talent.  We didn't give up draft picks.  We didn't even mortgage our future financially.  The sum of the 3 contracts we sent out add up to more value, with kenny's deal being longer.  This team won't be under the cap until ai expires, and cwebb's comes off a year earlier.

We risked nothing for this deal.

As for ego, I wouldn't say AI has an ego.  Not at all, actually.  I honestly don't think he cares about his stats.  Watch him give up the rock to korver, give it up to Iguodala at the top of the key so he can be in a pick and roll, watch him drive and dish, where he probably looks to pass too much.  People have always said that because he shoots so much he's a ballhog, but I've never believed that to be true.

I don't think Allen will have any problem taking a backseat on certain nights.  Not at this point in his career.

[Guest_Randy]

We risked nothing for this deal.

What happens if -- make that "when" Webber goes down to injury?  The Sixers didn't give up a lot of talent but they took on a HUGE contract for a player that has proven himself to be injured a lot more than he is healthy.  This year he has only missed 8 games -- last year he played 23, the previous two years 67 and 54 -- not great when you consider his contract and the fact that you traded your bench to get him so who is going to play when he goes down?  And he will go down at some point -- you can tell he isn't the player that he once was -- offensively or defensively.  No, the Sixers didn't give up much -- but the took on a lot!

As for AI not having an ego, come on, I can't believe you seriously believe that!  Just because he shares the rock at times, doesn't mean he doesn't have an ego -- Kobe Bryant shares the ball too but I would never state that he doesn't have a huge ego.  AI has shown over his career that he has an ego -- I don't think it's as large as CWebb's but few egos are, IMO.  

I struggle to believe that AI can give up being "the man" for the Sixers.  You talk about AI sharing the rock but his fga haven't gone down any -- he still, consistently, puts up almost 25 shots a night and that's a LOT of shot attempts per game.  He has done that pretty consistently over the life of his career no matter who is on his team.  

AI's assists have gone up this year -- but it hasn't affected his shot attempts per game!

[Guest_Randy]

And Rick, I disagree that the Kings got "taken" by on this trade.  They got the best deal they could for CWebb.  Here was their predictament:  1) keep Webber (who wasn't going to take them to a championship) and lose Peja; 2) jettison Webber (for whatever they could get for a player who is paid the max but not healthy enough to be desired because of his contract by most teams) and try and keep Peja to build again for the future.  

I thing the Maloof's bad decision was in overspending years ago -- now it's simply damage control because of the chemistry problems with CWebb and Peja.  CWebb made some REALLY stupid comments about Brad Miller and Peja (comments that blamed them for the Kings failures while neglecting his own responsibility in those failures).  Here's hoping that CWebb becomes a better teammate than he did in GS, Washington and SacTown.  Hmm, perhaps his fourth team will be better?   :cheers:  

[Derek Bodner]

As for ego's, all professional athleties have ego, if you want to define that as belief in ones ability.  That AI has.

Does AI care about his numbers?  Does AI care about whether he scores 30?  I don't believe that for a minute.  If AI takes shots it's because he thinks it's the best chance to win.  

And because O'brien tells him to.

FGA's aren't the only indication.  First of all, the Sixers have pushed the pace this year.  A lot.  O'brien stresses taking the first open shot.  The Sixers average 81 shots/game this year.  They took 75/game last year.

Then, on top of that, there's less offensive talent around AI this year.  There's no Robinson, or Van Horn the year before.  There's noone on this team who's ever been a reliable second scorer.  Yet, he's taking less of a % of his teams shots.

No, I don't think AI cares about his shots per game.  And this is really something you can only watch by watching him play.  By watching the tempo of the team, watching some of his field goal attempts (iverson has to lead the league in shots attempted with less than 5 seconds left in teh shotclock, because nobody else can create on this team in that situation).  You have to watch how he interracts with his teammates.

[rickortreat]

While it's true that AI continues to shoot alot, the truth is, the young players around him still lack confidence in certain situations.  He's as happy to get an assist as he is to score, because he's concious of how others look at him as a player, and he wants to be reguarded as a great TEAM player, not just an individual talent, which he has already proven.

With Webber, AI can go after the assist title as oppossed to the scoring title he's already won.  The big thing for the Sixers is they now have two stars on their team, which require constant defensive attention.  You can double one, but not both.

Injuries are part of the game, and Webber is a risk that way, but the Sixers do have some depth.  I was unhappy with O'Briens rotations much of the time, I don't understand why Marc Jackson dissapeared on the bench.  But Marc is an able backup at center as well as forward and can spell Webber for periods.  The Sixers are still light a center, but now that we have a decent PF, that won't be so much of a problem.  I also think Webber will help Dalmebert develop, which is very important for the Sixers future.

My biggest concerns about the team prior to the trade were rebounding, smart interior play and a way to encourage Andre Igoudala to take more shots.  Webber helps with the first two, and I have to believe when he gets hot and demands attention Iggy is going to find himself in isolations against guys he can take to the rack.

Sixers were in something of a bind,  AI probably only has 3-4 good season left.  Typically players reach their peak in years 5,6 and 7,but remeber Iverson came out as a freshman from Gerogetown, so even though he's been in the league for 9 years he's as young as a six year player.  Point is the Sixers desparatly needed to put some real talent around AI if they were ever going to get back to the finals.

In today's watered down NBA, the best teams have 2 top players at best, and that's been enough to win a Championship, as long as your role players are solid.  This is why I think Houston is going to continue to develop into a solid team, and the Sixers now have a shot to become elite.

With solid players in Webber and AI, the Sixers can now focus on developing their young players.  Not just Korver and Igoudala, but Green and Salmons as well as the two players we got with Webber.  If only BIG DOG could/would come back, the Sixers would be a monster team in the East.