Top guy in Philly confirms AI is GONE!

[WayOutWest]

Wow, didn't think it would go down like this.  A.I. has played his last game for Philly, this will definately hurt thier ability to get decent return on trading AI.

Where do you guys think he'll end up? 
Where could he make the biggest impact?
The talk is Minny but AI enough to make Minny a contendor?  IMO AI in Minny is just a patch to keep KG in a Minny uniform, it will not help them enough to make much noise in the playoffs, but then again, who knows.  I really haven't seen enough of Minny to make a call.

[Derek Bodner]

Ed Snider's a flipping idiot.  What little leverage billy king had is now gone out the window.

I think Minny wants AI, and I know the 76ers like Foye (although I'm not as high on them as 76ers brass).  But matching contracts is going to be hard.  They don't have many large, short contracts. 

I think the Clippers might make a little sense.  They're seemingly willing to consider moving Maggette, and I think an Iguodala, Maggette, Carney starting frontline is at least a little intriguing.  If you continue to lose games and end up with a Wright, Durant or Oden, that core can win some games.

[Joe Vancil]

This just in:

In a trade which reaches epic proportions on the scales of both salary and stupidity, the Philadelphia 76ers traded their entire roster to the New York Knicks for their entire roster.

GMs Isiah Thomas for the Knicks and Billy King for the 76ers, in separate statements, each surprisingly had the exact same thing to say:

"In seeing the poor performance of our team, from poor play on the court to poor relations with our coach from our superstar to poor support from our fan base, we arrived at the decision of blowing the whole thing up and starting over. We're getting what I think is a lot of talent that could really vault us up in the standings."

Rumor was that the teams took suprisingly little time to come to this agreement, although it took a while to figure out that they couldn't include the coaching staffs in the deal as well, since that would have left Isiah Thomas in the unique situation of being the GM for one team and the coach for another, and might have caused him some confusion as to which team he was supposed to be destroying during the games where the 76ers played the Knicks.


Anybody else think it could happen?

[Reality]

Could Cuban trade Michael Finleys contract for A.I.?

[Joe Vancil]

No.  There is no "Finley's contract" for Dallas to deal, because Finley was waived as part of the Allan Houston provision.

[rickortreat]

How frikin stupid can they be?  There are very few teams that want AI that can give equal value back to the Sixers.  Knowing that they have to trade him, Billy will be given all kinds of idiotic sucker offers, none of which will result in a better team in Phila.

I don't really blame AI for bailing.  King hasn't done anything since Brown left to put a viable team together.  Webber was a joke, and now hurts the team more than AI. At least Alan can still play at a very high level.

Minnesota would definitely be a playoff team with him and Garnett together, but they have no one Philly wants besides KG.  Maybe we can persuade them to take C-Webb and AI for KG!

If I'm the Clipps, I don't know that I want to mess up what I have by adding in AI. Phoenix could get him as a back-up for Nash,  they have so many decent players Philly would get someone decent back. Maybe Dallas will trade Jason Terry or Josh Howard for AI.  That would give Nowitsky the player he really needs to put him over the top.

[Reality]

How frikin stupid can they be?  There are very few teams that want AI that can give equal value back to the Sixers.  Knowing that they have to trade him, Billy will be given all kinds of idiotic sucker offers, none of which will result in a better team in Phila.

I don't really blame AI for bailing.  King hasn't done anything since Brown left to put a viable team together.  Webber was a joke, and now hurts the team more than AI. At least Alan can still play at a very high level.

Minnesota would definitely be a playoff team with him and Garnett together, but they have no one Philly wants besides KG.  Maybe we can persuade them to take C-Webb and AI for KG!

If I'm the Clipps, I don't know that I want to mess up what I have by adding in AI. Phoenix could get him as a back-up for Nash,  they have so many decent players Philly would get someone decent back. Maybe Dallas will trade Jason Terry or Josh Howard for AI.  That would give Nowitsky the player he really needs to put him over the top.

Gee you think Dallas would be willing to part with Jason Terry for A.I.?
MN taking A.I. and CWebb while giving Garnett?
A.I. as a backup point guard?

DNA testing to see if rt has caught the Isiah Thomas virus.

[Randy]

How frikin stupid can they be?  There are very few teams that want AI that can give equal value back to the Sixers.  Knowing that they have to trade him, Billy will be given all kinds of idiotic sucker offers, none of which will result in a better team in Phila.

I don't really blame AI for bailing.  King hasn't done anything since Brown left to put a viable team together.  Webber was a joke, and now hurts the team more than AI. At least Alan can still play at a very high level.

Minnesota would definitely be a playoff team with him and Garnett together, but they have no one Philly wants besides KG.  Maybe we can persuade them to take C-Webb and AI for KG!

If I'm the Clipps, I don't know that I want to mess up what I have by adding in AI. Phoenix could get him as a back-up for Nash,  they have so many decent players Philly would get someone decent back. Maybe Dallas will trade Jason Terry or Josh Howard for AI.  That would give Nowitsky the player he really needs to put him over the top.

Gee you think Dallas would be willing to part with Jason Terry for A.I.?
MN taking A.I. and CWebb while giving Garnett?
A.I. as a backup point guard?

DNA testing to see if rt has caught the Isiah Thomas virus.

Umm, Jason Terry makes around $9 to $10 mill a year, I believe -- AI is almost twice that -- so who is Philly willing to take from the Mavs that the Mavs are willing to give?  If I were Dallas, I wouldn't give Howard for AI -- that's a huge mistake.  AI is a gifted player but I don't think he fits the Mavs style of bball. 

I'm not sure what Minny has to offer -- will Philly be willing to take Ricky Davis, Troy Hudson and Randy Foye for AI?  Doesn't sound like much, does it? 

Phoenix isn't interested in AI.  They already have one of the best PG's in basketball and they like backcourt guys who shoot the 3 well. 

If I were Philly, I'd be calling Portland -- would Portland be willing to let Brandon Roy or Jarrett Jack in order to get AI (if Philly were willing to take Miles in the process?).   

Would Cleveland be willing to trade Larry Hughes and/Eric Snow for AI?  Of course, if I were Philly, I wouldn't like that deal! 

Bottom line is, trading AI just doesn't get much in response.  If Philly were willing to take Davis and Hudson in order to get Foye, it would work but I wouldn't want those two players.  If I were Philly, I'd rather have Roy or Jack -- but is Portland interested in trading (esp. if it means getting rid of Miles)? 

Philly is screwed -- much like the Lakers were when they traded Shaq. 

[westkoast]

They are NOT going to get back what they are giving away.  No one right now is going to part with a player of AI's caliber except for teams down in the standings.  AI plays PG sometimes right?  Maybe Isiah can trade for him?

I would love to see AI goto the Wolves.  The KG/AI combo would be great to watch.  KG would have a legit shot at going for a title and will show the Wolves are interested in bringing him the players he would need.  AI would goto a team with a big man that would actually be a force inside to let him dominate the outside (no wussy Chris Webber jumpers).  I think just about everyone wins in that situation...the fans, KG, and AI.

[Reality]

Word is the Kings.
Could this be part of the new look Kings?

[rickortreat]

But the Sixers can't just give him away either.

We're talking about a former league MVP, Multiple year scoring champion, and currently second in the league in Points per game.  Not too bad with the assists either.  So who really needs a top-flight NBA point guard to put them into contention or over the top?

It's not unreasonable to expect a top 20 player back in return, along with enough to compensate for the salary.

It's not like AI still can't play at a high level.  It would be a big sacrifice for Dallas to give up Howard and Terry, but it might be the difference between comming up second again and winning the Championship. Long term a mistake, but short-term, Dallas' best shot. 

AI has at least 4 or good years left, IMO.  He is now at his peak as a player. That's a good window for any team looking for a title.  He would be a big improvement over Tony Parker in SA...

[Reality]

But the Sixers can't just give him away either.

We're talking about a former league MVP, Multiple year scoring champion, and currently second in the league in Points per game.  Not too bad with the assists either.  So who really needs a top-flight NBA point guard to put them into contention or over the top?

It's not unreasonable to expect a top 20 player back in return, along with enough to compensate for the salary.

It's not like AI still can't play at a high level.  It would be a big sacrifice for Dallas to give up Howard and Terry, but it might be the difference between comming up second again and winning the Championship. Long term a mistake, but short-term, Dallas' best shot. 

AI has at least 4 or good years left, IMO.  He is now at his peak as a player. That's a good window for any team looking for a title.  He would be a big improvement over Tony Parker in SA...

Agree with all but the Parker bit.  AI is better then Parker, however Parker has contributed to two rings and was well on his way to a third last year.  Getting better, if he can overcome Pops system he will improve more.

How long can Philly hold on to him?  I mean i know that is not what they want, but i think they can hold on to him indefinitely, right?
As long as his contract is for.  I would howl if they held him till next year.
I wish Indy would have made Artest sit the whole season.

[Joe Vancil]

I think that while it's not unreasonable to expect a top 20 player back for Iverson, a team with a top 20 player won't give that player up for Iverson;  if they're getting Iverson, the reason that they're getting him is to team him with that top 20 player.  And the old adage about who wins in a trade is that the team that gets the best player is the team that wins the trade.  Philadelphia won't be getting back a player that's better than Iverson.

Iverson is about as close to untradeable a player as there is.  He's high-priced, he's uber-talented, he's injury-prone, he's sometimes a coaching headache, he's got a lot of miles on him already, and he can sometimes be controversial.  The trades that Philadelphia would normally be all over are trades the other team won't be willing to make;  the trades that other teams would be willing to make don't give Philadelphia fair value for a player of Iverson's talent.  There are no "comparable players" to Iverson;  he's a unique kind of player.

The question isn't which team wants Iverson.  The question is which team is willing to pay the price for him.  And the longer this goes, the lower the price will get.  I see Billy King's head on a pike outside the Spectrum (well, they don't play at the Spectrum any more, but I'm too lazy to look up where they do play) when the trade goes through.

[Lurker]

The question isn't which team wants Iverson.  The question is which team is willing to pay the price for him.  And the longer this goes, the lower the price will get.  I see Billy King's head on a pike outside the Spectrum (well, they don't play at the Spectrum any more, but I'm too lazy to look up where they do play) when the trade goes through.

Actually, Joe, the longer it goes the BETTER the offers will get.  I read an article the other day that compared this situation to the Pacers of a year ago with Artest.  The Sixers need to show patience in moving AI.  They need to get 3 or 4 interested teams bidding FOR Iverson's services.  By jumping on the first halfway decent deal that comes along they will hurt themselves.  I'll look later to see if I can find the article.

[WayOutWest]

It's not about what Iverson is as a player, if it was only about that the Sixers wouldn't be considering trading him.  The Sixers, and their fans, have to realize they are trading the Iverson situation, not the player.  Same thing happened with the Lakers and Shaq.  They will not get anything near fair market value because right now it's a buyers market for Iverson and the Iverson package is not as valuable as Iverson the player.  AI brings alot of baggage and it could go either way, he could vault a team to contention or disrupt a contender into 2nd round fodder.