First of all, let's put what SF76 said in perspective. He says it appears that they have put all of their eggs in one basket, presumably based on his "insider" information. To take it literally that he knows exactly what is going on at the highest levels of the Sixers organization and is speaking for them is ludicrous. I believe he has limited (but useful) insider info that is then colored by his own opinions, in fact you can see that when he posts. I highly doubt that Stefanski, DiLeo and company are sitting there thinking, "Oh crap, I hope this Smith thing works out since we have no other plans. if only we were guys posting on message Boards then we might have had a better back-up plan."
Let's look at exactly what SF76 said:
The Smith visit as you have seen on TV is going well....he will leave town with a verbal offer.....the Sixers are trying to move Green or Evans with the Utah pick as incentive around the league for any bit of cap relief they can get.
Nothing new there, we knew they were trying to do both of those things. They are not even necessarily related. If we clear $4.5 million a year (Evans) or $3 million a year (Green), at best part of that money would be used to sweeten the offer to Smith. We can already offer him a deal starting at $11+ million per year, he is absolutley not worth a contract starting at $14-15 million per year and without consulting the CBA that would be more than they are allowed to pay him I believe. So all or part of the money they would clear with Evans or Green leaving (more than one year for each, meaning ongoing cap savings) would be used for something else now or down the road even if we sign Smith.
Maggette may not wait until the Josh Smith thing is over to sign with a contender for the mid level.
First, he won't sign with a team that has cap room for the equivalent of the MLE, for us he would be more expensive. Second, I don't want him in any case. He stopped playing D years ago, he is at the end of his prime when most of our guys are barely starting to approach their's and he is a good scorer, not a great one. No sweat here, in fact I hope he does sign somewhere else so we are not tempted to overspend on him.
Josh Childress will be wined and dined here on Monday.
We knew that was coming and it is a good thing in my opinion. If we can move Green, I would love to have Childress come here. He is an extremely long, athletic sixth man who would immediately become our best perimeter defender and he is a high percentage shooter and good passer. Screw Ben Gordon, he simply is not that good for the money he wants. Childress will come cheaper and a perimeter bench of Childress and Lou won't cost much more than Gordon wants for himself and offers a lot more versatility, efficient production and value. Ben Gordon is a defensive liability and bench player. I would much prefer to add Hinrich if I was going for someone from the Bulls. The FO is thinking long term, trying to build a contender. Ben Gordon is a knee jerk reaction, immediate gratification signing. Childress is a perfect sixth man on a CHiP contender in the future down the road with Lou as the scoring spark off the bench, think Bobby Jones, and not the recent one, as a comp for Childress. Childress also makes it more palatable to move Iggy in the future for a real scoring wing, not an undersized player with an outsized ego like Gordon.
The backup plan if no PF is to move Thad to the 4 spot again and get a SG moving Andre Iguodala to the SF.
Note that this does not say the back-up plan if we don't get Smith, it says PF. There are other free agents and numerous trade possibilities between the possibility of simply not getting Smith and not getting any PF. These are the areas where you really have to take what SF76 takes with a grain of salt. he knows some general stuff, not all of the plans. He was wrong with Arthur on the draft, didn't know about the Webber deal, etc. His source clearly has limited info and should not be taken as anything more than someone who knows the internal FO scuttlebutt, not the exact and full plans of the team.
WE seem to have all our eggs in one basket right now.
Pure opinion on his part. True to the extent that if we are not trying to do a S&T with Smith and simply choose to make an offer, we are kind of stuck in neutral for a while waiting for his answer, and if he does sign, waiting to see if Atlanta matches. That is the danger inherent in going after a RFA. My belief is that the FO has a list of PF options that they find acceptable for short or long term goals. If that list is exhausted for any number of reasons they go back to Thad at the 4 to start the season. Good, this means we don't make a trade or signing just to make one. That is BK thought and needs to be eradicated form the organization or else you end up with a basket full of Willie Greens, Kenny Thomas's and Brian Skinners. Been there, done that and it sucked.
Worst case scenario is no PF we want can be had for a price in $ and/or assets we are willing to pay. If we add cap space by losing Reggie, or preferably, Green then that cap space can be added to our existig space plus Miller's expiring contract, giving us $23-24 million, although that number may be reduced depending on Iggy and Lou's contracts, of current and future cap space to work with. if we spend some of that on a long term piece like Childress who we want for our contending years, it will still leave a ton of space. We did just draft a potential monster (or potential washout) at PF, so waiting to see how Speights develops and what his realistic upside is in the league is not a horrible idea and see what kind of shooting and scoring potential Thad flashes. Thad might not be quite ready for the full time transition yet to PF, but with Speights, our own J. Smith and possibly Reggie or another cheap veteran on a one year deal also available at PF I think he swings between the forward positions as he transitions to his long-term spot.
As far as pressure to get something done this summer, the fans might bitch if we don't make a big splash, but the ownership appears to be strongly in Stefanski's corner. there is no reason we can't continue to show improvement this year with a young team that should keep improving internally and with the addition of Speights at a minimum. Now, if they waste cap space this summer and/or don't make a big move by the middle of next summer I will be looking for Stefanski's scalp too.
The Sixers think Jamont Gordon or McClellan will make the team this fall.
shows the guy knows nothing, the big find this summer will be the "Bean" man (Callustus Ezikwu for those not in the know).
