The Sixers free agency thread.

[tk76-]

I'm disappointed the Sixers did not go after Sessions.  I think someone could get a steal with him.  I'd rather have Sessions than Lou since he can actually play the point in addition to being a gifted scorer.  It would have helped both our starting line-up and bench (by moving Lou to the 2nd unit.)  Sessions can also play a SG type role next to Jrue, helping him develop like when Miller played next to Lou.

Ultimately, I saw Sessions, Lou, Jrue and Iguodala being a nice PG/SG mix and match combo within the P.O.  Definitely weak in terms of shooting range, but having potentially good/great shooters at SF and PF (Young, Kapono, Brand, Speights and Smith) could mitigate this.

PG:  Sessions/Lou/Jrue
SG:  Iguodala/Lou/Jrue
SF:  Young/Iguodala/Kapono
PF:  Brand/ Speights/Smith
C:  Sam/Speights/Smith/Brand

A very versatile line-up that can be mixed and matched to emphasize scoring, shooting or defense.  If you are going to lack overall talent having a versatile line-up can help a coach make up for it.

[anklebreaker]

TK, I agree.  I've been saying I think Sessions will be the steal of this free agent class.  He's young and he has shown that he's capable of running an offense, as well as taking over a game offensively.  When we decided to let Miller go, we should have made an effort to replace him with a young up and coming point guard who could be had at the MLE.  I know the lowered cap makes things difficult for us, but he's a guy that could have made us better. 

I also hear what you're saying regarding our 2nd unit.  A lot of people overlook that void that's been created with Lou moving to the starting lineup. 

[Skates]

Sign Sessions then trade Lou, better talent and fit, no tax problems, Lou should have trade value at his salary.  It just makes too much freaking sense.  If Holiday develops, Sessions could either me moved later or become a better combo/third guard than Lou is.  It is just that simple.

[anklebreaker]

sign me up. 

[tk76-]

My hunch is ES knows this, but his credit card was taken away.

[Skates]

My hunch is ES knows this, but his credit card was taken away.

I think this is exactly the case.  Everyone is down on Stefanski, but I liked all of the moves he nade last summer, Kapono for Evans was a decent trade, Holiday was a steal in the draft and Snyder has clearly decided that they will spend money of the Flyers, but not the Sixers.  Everything this summer has clearly been financially restricted.

My two biggest complaints about ES are not trading Miller at the deadline (was probably told by the bosses that the team needed to make the playoffs) and not being able to grab an early second rounder for two years in a row.  Deandre Jordan as a developmental back-up C and Jodie Meeks as a shooter off the bench would have been very cheap, high upside alternatives that really filled the need for depth at those positions.

[anklebreaker]

I would add re-signing Ivey to that list of Stefanski negatives. 

[tk76-]

I think the main reason they held onto Miller was that his expiring was too valuable to give away.

they wanted to clear that space off the cap, and trading him would have meant taking salary back.

[bebopdeluxe]

Bingo, tk.

And THAT is why nobody gives a shit about the Sixers.

I did not know that it was possible for the Sixers to fall lower on the radar screen of Philadelphia sports fans, but Comcast and Ed Snider have lowered interest in the team to subterranean levels.

Congrats, guys.

[rickortreat]

So you want the Sixers to go over the salary cap to win like Boston and LA? I don't blame them for trying to hold expenses down since the league as a whole is under strain. Besides there was no way for Ed to be sure how close he was (IS) now to justify acting aggressively, as none of us were able to see Brand with the rest of the team at the end of the season and in the playoffs.

If Brand hadn't gone down, and we won over 50 games, we might have gone after a good-fitting free agent this summer.  As it is, with what Ed inherited, he has to wait until next summer when Green and Dalembert come off the books.  It's not fair to criticise Ed for having his hands tied by BK.

[tk76-]

1.  Ed was the one who went to the Philly Max and committed 185M to Brand, Iguodala and Lou.  There are some bad contracts left on the team, but there was plenty of financial flexibility when BK left.

2.  I'm not expecting them to be the Yankees.  They will have lots of expiring contracts in 2 years, but not enough to make a major signing.  They also have 10M under the tax this year.  So if tehy sign a worthy player (like Sessions) to a long term deal they will at most pay the tax for one (2010/11) and then be fine after that.  Asking them to extend a 5 year deal at 4-5M/year is not going to make them have to raise our cable bill.

3.  The Flyers spend like there is no tomorrow.  There is a double standard with Snyder and the Sixers.  They looked to sell 2 years ago.  That is the time the stopped spending (had been a top 7 payroll team prior.)

[bebopdeluxe]

rickortreat:

You are not serious - are you?

I'm not talking about them being a tax-payer.  I think that the primary reasons why they did not try harder to trade Miller at the deadline were 1) it was more important to insure 2-3 home playoff gates than it was to bring in assets that could help the team in 2009-10 and beyond and 2) they were FULLY PREPARED to simply let him walk after the season and get ZERO back for him.  F*ck the S&T...what kind of S&T could we have reasonably gotten for him...even if we only wanted one year?  Huh?

(Steve Blake, come on down!)

They aren't even spending the MLE, for crissakes.  And while I understand that if they used the full MLE, they would have a problem in 2010-11 (until we get cap relief), but c'mon, bro...if you want fans to put out THEIR money to support the team, the team needs to put out THEIR money to put a competitative product on the floor.

I hear a LOT of people saying that the "Lou and Jrue Show" may not be so bad this season.  Wishful thinking, if you ask me...and it's not like we are some rebuilding 30-win team trying to get through a transition year - we are going to piss away a VERY expensive year of Brand's contract going with a PG rotation of two guy with a combined NBA/college experience level at PG of around 1000 minutes.

Pathetic.

[Derek Bodner]

Snider.

Sorry, bugs me.

[tk76-]

No problem.  I guess I just prefer pretzels over Flyers... if that makes any sense.

At least its easier than Holiday, Holliday and Halladay.

[anklebreaker]

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/60975/20090804/source_knicks_will_get_sessions/

Each day it sounds more and more like Sessions to the Knicks is imminent.  It's painful to watch an Atlantic Division rival take a player that would fill an obvious need of ours, at a price that we could probably afford.