Player Movement Thread (Was Free Agency Thread)

[tk76-]

Thoughts?

You are BK 

That 3 way deal actually works for all the teams.  The main problem is that the players involved are all flawed with not huge upside, so I wonder if any of the teams would be all that excited- esp with all the salary the Sixers would be taking on.

[Skates]

Thoughts?

You are BK 

That 3 way deal actually works for all the teams.  The main problem is that the players involved are all flawed with not huge upside, so I wonder if any of the teams would be all that excited- esp with all the salary the Sixers would be taking on.

The Kings are in real rebuild mode, they get some flawed young guys, but guys with potential who could use a change of scenery, a first round pick and lots of future cap relief.  Plus they get time for Hawes, Garcia and Thompson, and solidify their own draft pick as being very high in the lottery this year.  Miller might bring them something small in a S&T this summer.

The Bulls are looking to get rid of some of their excess guys who have no future with them.  Thomas and Sefalosha have run out of opportunities there.  Salmons gives them a scorer on a pretty reasonable salary and a guy who might fit what their coach is looking for.  They don't look for their bigs to score and have been looking for a shot-blocking C for a while. 

The Sixers get more skilled, but keep their core young guys in Williams, Speights and Young.  They do limit themselves financially.  I think it makes them significantly better in the short run without unduly (Jason Smith and a protected first) sacrificing their future.

All three teams have core players to build around, none of whom get moved here.  All three fulfill some current needs, although Sacto's benefits are likely the furthest off. 

As for the Sixers, they need to put a winning product out there fairly soon or the Wachovia Center will become a long-time graveyard.  If the team can do that without parting with the exciting young guys, I think the salary load is worth it (besides they move Sammy).  I also think it allows the young guys to develop with Young and Iggy more easily playing the wings with good shooters at C, PF and PG, plus Speights not having Sammy around to learn bad habits from.  Moore is a good guy to have on the bench, sort of a Kevin Ollie type big man.

I know the trade is a little BK-ish, but it is only three teams and no superstars, so call it BK-lite.

[tk76-]

Frank: Sixers GM scouting trade targets

AROUND THE NBA ? By MARTIN FRANK ? January 4, 2009


For years, Tony DiLeo and Courtney Witte have been the 76ers' top talent evaluators. During the season, they would travel around the country and overseas, scouting talent not only for the NBA draft in June, but for possible trades.

DiLeo is now the Sixers' coach, taking over for Maurice Cheeks on Dec. 13. This obviously takes him away from scouting and player evaluations.

Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski is picking up the proverbial slack for DiLeo.

Stefanski is already busy. Jan. 1 always begins a critical time of year for scouting and player evaluation. The colleges are entering their conference seasons, which means the competition steps up a notch. Overseas players are in the meaty part of their seasons. And NBA teams are looking to make trades to improve before the Feb. 19 trade deadline.

"Tony is a great talent evaluator," Stefanski said. "But he has a lot of strengths, which is why I made him the coach. We're just going to have to do it as a team, and everybody is going to pitch in."

Stefanski was on the road all last week. And he'll head back on the road after the Sixers return home from their two-week trip out West. Witte has also stepped up his travels.

Stefanski said he doesn't mind the travel. He got his NBA start in 2000 when he was hired to be a scout with the Nets. He kept scouting even as he worked his way up to New Jersey's general manager before taking the same post with the Sixers in December 2007.

"I've already been on the road more than I was last year, and I've watched a ton of tape on players," Stefanski said. "But I've always been a personnel guy, so I like doing this."

Going on the road also gives Stefanski a first-hand look at players he might want to acquire in a trade.

While Stefanski wouldn't mention any names, it's clear that the Sixers desperately need a shooter. They are last in the NBA in 3-point shooting accuracy at 29.1 percent this season. That's even worse than last season, when they were last at 31.7 percent.

Once the Sixers signed free agent Elton Brand last summer, a good outside shooter became essential to preventing defenses from collapsing on him.

The Sixers' best bargaining chip is point guard Andre Miller, who is in the final season of a contract that pays him $10 million this season. He's an attractive player for a team looking to clear salary, or acquire depth for the postseason.

Stefanski wouldn't say if he's shopping Miller, or Samuel Dalembert, who might be less attractive because he has two years and $23.6 million left on his deal, in addition to a 15 percent trade kicker. But Stefanski did say he has been talking with teams about possible trades.

"We're on the phones a lot, learning what other teams are looking for and seeing if there's anything out there that makes sense for us," Stefanski said.

Will Stefanski's travels continue beyond this season?

That could depend on whether DiLeo is still the coach. If he isn't, DiLeo could re-assume his scouting role. If he remains the coach, then Stefanski might look to hire another scout for the long term.

"We'll review everything at the end of the season," Stefanski said.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090104/SPORTS03/901040353/1023

With his 15% trade kicker, the next 2 seasons Sam would be paid 27M.  It will be hard t find someone to take that on without the Sixers taking back a bad contract.

[Skates]

Sammy has a 15% trade kicker?  Wow, I just threw up in my mouth.  The contractual ghosts of BK continue to haunt us.

[tk76-]

Maybe the 15% goes into a trust fund for BK.  I think WG and Sam definitely should kickback some to their sugar daddy.  BK made them Sixers for life, and aren't we all a bit more lucky for it

[Skates]

Sammy seemed like a very difficult trade before I knew about the trade kicker, but how bad of a contract do you need to take back now?  Is there any GM bad enough to give us something of value in return?  Will our GM be impatient enough to attach one of our young talents to Sammy in order to move him?  Well, this should ensure that Miller gets moved at some point.

[tk76-]

His contract is Larry Hughes bad.  Expect to see Hughes/Lou running with the second team.

Maybe we can pull some sort of super dump.  Like Sam/Evans/Green/Miller for Hinrich/Hughes/Gooden

[Skates]

His contract is Larry Hughes bad.  Expect to see Hughes/Lou running with the second team.

Except Larry Hughes' contract will expire in the magic summer of 2010.  Vince has 4 years left, but the Nets have already cleared a lot of salary and don't need a center anymore.  The trade machine is down, so I can't easily search for other bad contracts.  Smaller ones like Matt Carroll and Jason Kapono come to mind.  Gilbert Arenas is likely going to fit into this category eventually, but I doubt the Wiz have admitted that to themselves yet.

[Skates]

Scanning through the league salaries it is hard to find contracts as bad as Sammy's.  Given his recent decrease in productivity (which apparently is not caused by the presence of Elton Brand as had been postulated at times), length and size of contract, including the trade kicker here are some of the comparable guys:

1.  Zach Randolph - facially productive on offense, but cancer is insulted when he is called one.
2.  Vince Carter - Again, productive, but his contract is longer, he is older and his hear is even smaller.  Admitted to tanking his game to force a trade to NJ.
3.  Gilbert Arenas - injuries are destroying his career, might eventually top this list due to injuries, contract size and length.
4.  Kenyon Martin - And he dunked in Sammy's face.  Injuries and being a blowhard land him on this list.  Hmmm, one current and one former Net on this list.  Why does that bother me?

Some other guys like Kirilenko are considerably overpaid, guys like Shaq expire before 2010 and the Pryzbilla/Jaric/Gadzuric/Matt Carroll class all make about half of what Sammy does in a year.  The best we can hope for is a pure salary dump like Randolph or an exchange of bad contracts.  That is depressing.  We need Kevin McHale to do some of his special magic to help us out of this one.

[tk76-]

I'm starting to think it would be better to just hold onto Sam.  Whatever we get back sounds like it might do more harm than good.

[Skates]

Problem is that it leaves Miller as our only viable trade option without touching the youngsters as I doubt they trade Brand and Iggy is untradeable as a BYC player for now.  That would leave us with no PG unless we get one back in such a trade, although that seems unlikely unless we are simply taking back a worse contract.  If Sammy stays pairing Theo up with Miller might entice a contender or a team looking for just a little D up the middle plus expring contracts.  Presuming we move Miller for a shooter, who would it be?  And how do we get a replacement PG for the rest of the season?

BTW, somehow I forgot to put Dalembert's fat, bizarro twin Eddy Curry on the list of bad contracts.  he is definitely top five material.

[tk76-]

Yes they are sort of stuck.  Even most of the Sam trades seem to be more about freeing up cap space then finding a legit future option at PG.  I just think they need to be really creative.  I can see the Sixers being part of some larger multi-team Waste Management type deal.  Maybe they can pick up a stopgap PG like Telfair, and then maybe look to find a PG this Summer.

Even if they do land a shooter, I'm not convinced they have the PT for Lou, Iguodala, Thad and the new shooter (Mike Miller?)  I don't like having Thad play to much at PF.  That new shooter really should be a PG and not another swing.

[tk76-]

The Raptors are still struggling and Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo is looking to shake things up.

Colangelo is reportedly trying to trade Jermaine O'Neal, having spoken with at least a half dozen teams about the big man.

The Raptors acquired O'Neal in a trade with the Pacers this past July. Scouts claim that he lacks any lift in his legs.

Miller/Sam for JO works.  Then they can go after Amare or or Bosh in 2010. 

Who needs a PG anyway?

[Skates]

I was thinking of Telfair as well, he could get you through the year.  A multi-team deal seems the most likely way to go if Sammy is dealt.  We are also back to the hope they improve if you acquire them types like Foye, Rodriguez or Conley - and those would be the harder to get guys.  Amare seems to be more of a team killing ass with every breath he takes, I am getting rather wary of him.

[tk76-]

I could deal with the attitude if we put him next to Brand.  Speights/Brand/Amare would be a half descent frontcourt rotation.  I think we could get by with that.