Player Movement Thread (Was Free Agency Thread)

[Skates]

There is a difference between falshy, spectacular play and the excitement of a young team on the rise.  Fans will buy into both for a while.  Attendance really started picking up last year when the team started winning, and having a bunch of fan friendly, mostly up and coming players did not hurt.  Every fanbase is somewhat unique and Philly fans do love to watch guys that are out there busting their butts and going all out.  For a long time Iverson gave the fans both flash and that play your guts out mentality.  but once the winning had stopped for a while it was easy for the fans to disappear.  It did not help that Iverson had off the court issues in both his personal and professional life.

[tk76-]

Sorry Skates, that thing I said about jmon being a similar quality poster to you... well sorry, guess I jumped to conclusions.  I don't always agree with your posts, but you would never post something like this:

jmon wrote:Reggie Evans is actually FAR BETTER at rebounding than Brand. Brand is closer to Jason Smith in rebounding ability than Reggie Evans.

Uggggh

People need to stop using hyperbole- it just makes them look like an idiot.

[sixerscan]

He's basing it on rebounding percentages, which is much better than basing it on how the guy plays in NBA Live.

I guess it's a slight exaggeration but anyone who takes the time to understand WP48 and stuff like that can post on my board any day.

[tk76-]

I was just joking- but the comparison of Brand to Smith was over the top.

I hope Brand is fully back, because he should be a joy to watch after all the years of crappy Sixer post play since Barkley left town.  Its been a long drought.

[anklebreaker]

I was just joking- but the comparison of Brand to Smith was over the top.

I hope Brand is fully back, because he should be a joy to watch after all the years of crappy Sixer post play since Barkley left town.  Its been a long drought.

I'm fairly confident that Brand is back.  He didn't have to come back and play the final 8 games of the season for one of the worst teams in the league... its a credit to his work ethic. 

[Derek Bodner]

Well, it's not like Brand unselfishly went out and played.  He definitely had motivation.  If he wanted to opt out of his contract, coming back for 8 games and showing he was the brand of old alleviated a lot of peoples fears (both on the clippers, and on other teams).

[tk76-]

I figure maybe the Sixers will be on the right side of Karma.  The last time they picked up a name PF who was the reigning western conference player of the month it turned out as bad as possible.  Maybe this time will be the best case scenario

[jemagee]

Carlos Arroyo off to Israel

[Skates]

Chad Ford's summary of summer time moves in the NBA so far.  Sixers at the top of the "winners" column, some interesting comments on various teams.  Have any two franchises full of young talent ever gone in such completely different directions so quickly as the Sixers and Hawks?  Both were teams on the rise last season, now the Sixers look to step into the upper echelons of the league while the Hawks just keep stepping into stuff.  Oh the idfference good management makes.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=Offseason-080804

[TheGuiltyParty]

Chad Ford's summary of summer time moves in the NBA so far.  Sixers at the top of the "winners" column, some interesting comments on various teams.  Have any two franchises full of young talent ever gone in such completely different directions so quickly as the Sixers and Hawks?  Both were teams on the rise last season, now the Sixers look to step into the upper echelons of the league while the Hawks just keep stepping into stuff.  Oh the idfference good management makes.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=Offseason-080804

Obviously the Hawks owenership group is a mess but if they do bring back Josh Smith, I think they're still fine. Childress was a nice 6th man but he wasn't the first, second, third, or fourth best player on that team. They did sign Mo Evans so that should help soften the blow and like the Sixers, that team should get better this season because their young players should improve. Also, while they were slow right after acquiring Bibby... that team quickly got it's act together and did make that push for the playoffs and scare the hell out of the now World Champion Celtics.

I just don't think the loss of Childress is all that great. I think the incompetence of their ownership group was just magnified because they lost him to Greece instead of to another NBA club like many predicted that they would.

Bibby/Law
Johnson/Evans
Williams/Smith
Smith/Horford
Horford/Pachulia

That's still a pretty solid 8 man rotation and again, Williams, Smith, and Horford should all be even better than they were last year. Wow... I almost sound like I like that team.

[Skates]

Chad Ford's summary of summer time moves in the NBA so far.  Sixers at the top of the "winners" column, some interesting comments on various teams.  Have any two franchises full of young talent ever gone in such completely different directions so quickly as the Sixers and Hawks?  Both were teams on the rise last season, now the Sixers look to step into the upper echelons of the league while the Hawks just keep stepping into stuff.  Oh the idfference good management makes.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=Offseason-080804

Obviously the Hawks owenership group is a mess but if they do bring back Josh Smith, I think they're still fine. Childress was a nice 6th man but he wasn't the first, second, third, or fourth best player on that team. They did sign Mo Evans so that should help soften the blow and like the Sixers, that team should get better this season because their young players should improve. Also, while they were slow right after acquiring Bibby... that team quickly got it's act together and did make that push for the playoffs and scare the hell out of the now World Champion Celtics.

I just don't think the loss of Childress is all that great. I think the incompetence of their ownership group was just magnified because they lost him to Greece instead of to another NBA club like many predicted that they would.

Bibby/Law
Johnson/Evans
Williams/Smith
Smith/Horford
Horford/Pachulia

That's still a pretty solid 8 man rotation and again, Williams, Smith, and Horford should all be even better than they were last year. Wow... I almost sound like I like that team.

Most of the good things about the Hawks' offseason are basically things they couldn't screw up.  Most of the team is young and under their control next year, so even after losing Childress and without counting Smith they are guaranteed to have a lot of young talent.  The Evans signing might help some, although he is not close to the defender Childress was and they were lucky his reported deal with the Warriors fell through.  The bigger issue though is the loss of momentum the team has suffered and the ill-will with two of their most important players.  They lost one RFA with nothing in return and there are hard feelings between the team and Smith.  I can't imagine this is impressing their other young talent very much as they approach their RFA years. 

For a team with no cap space it is imperative to lock up their young talent.  Their scenarios are also a little different than the Sixers/Iguodala and Bulls/Gordon who at least tried to get their guys under contract last year.  The Hawks basically took a wait and see approach with the Joshes, even though they had no chance of having cap room this summer.  Now Smith had a break-out season and increased his maket value, but now they don't want to pay him what the market is paying.  The Hawks did the exact opposite of capitalizing on last year's success, it is almost like they can't stomach prosperity.

[jemagee]

Most of the good things about the Hawks' offseason are basically things they couldn't screw up.

Except keeping the coach that almost no player likes and hiring a retread GM who ha failed twice already....the hawks are morons

[anklebreaker]

Kwame signs with Detroit.  1 year, 4 mil. with a player option for a 2nd year. 

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/53871/20080804/kwame_officially_signs_with_detroit/

[TheGuiltyParty]

It's one thing that Kwame didn't turn out to be a superstar, hall of fame player. It's another that he isn't even a starter in the league. He's still semi-young but I think it's clear that he's a bust and has to be right up with the biggest busts of all-time. It's sort of funny that he goes to Detroit where the other major bust of the past 10 years played.

[jemagee]

Michael Olowakandi (#1 pick 1998) waves hello, don't forget me when i'm gone