Philadelphia 76ers GM Ed Stefanski all but confirmed rumors yesterday that the Sixers were active in trade discussions. When pressed about rumors that their top scorer Andre Iguodala was in the mix of trade talks, Stefanski replied “When I was in Jersey, and here, I don’t think there are untouchables.”
Stefanski Ready To Ship Out Iguodala
Can Stefanski actually trade himself? Because if he trades away the club’s best player, he is going to need a one-way ticket out of town.
Since arriving in town in December 2007, Stefanski has dismantled a team that was on the verge of becoming relevant in the playoff discussion annually. He immediately shipped out their best outside shooting threat in Kyle Korver, brought in the washed up Elton Brand who was coming off a serious Achilles injury, and then sent head coach and beloved Sixer Maurice Cheeks packing.
He now wants to gut the team further by giving away Andre Iguodala. Reports are flying that both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets are close to securing a deal to send expiring contract players to the Sixers in exchange for Iguodala.
Sixers ownership really needs to start thinking about how much further the Stefanski era should last. The answer can be found by driving 90 minutes up I-95 and taking in a New Jersey Nets game. Since his departure from the Nets, they have been the worst team in the NBA. Stefanski’s fingerprints are all over that debacle and an extended tenure in Philly will likely produce similar long-term results.
Top-tier free agents are not interested in joining an organization where everyone is tradable. They also aren’t interested in joining squads where the GM is not held accountable for bad decisions. And this doesn’t even take into account no top-tier free agent will genuflect to an aging has-been in Allen Iverson,.
The Sixers have no chance in securing a top-tier free agent. LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh wouldn’t touch Philadelphia with a 10-foot pole. These guys want to win and they are only going to a place where that will happen immediately. Joe Johnson is unlikely as well, especially if the Iguodala is traded. Johnson is a carbon copy of Iguodala and Stefanski has proven over and over that he places no value in sharp shooting guards despite league play moving in this direction.
The Sixers cannot offer anything enticing to an incoming top-tier free agent. Nobody is out there dying to play with Elton Brand thinking he is the key to a future championship. Nobody thinks Thaddeus Young is going become a star because they play next to him. Nobody thinks Jrue Holiday is the next great point guard. And nobody, I mean nobody, wants to watch Allen Iverson jack up missed shots and help the team rack up losses with his selfish play.
The Sixers need to lock Andre Iguodala in for the long-haul and look to the draft as their only option for improvement. They are assured a lottery pick in the upcoming draft and perhaps they can score a second-tier free agent in Randy Foye or Rudy Gay to fill their gaping outside shooting hole at the guard position.
If Stefanski trades away Iguodala, be prepared for the Wachovia Center to become the NBA’s version of Elba Island, and exile for NBA players that were once desired but will only be taken in by the league worst run team.
Tags: andre iguodala, ed stefanski, nba trade rumors, Philadelphia 76ers
Haven’t seen Iverson jacking up many shots since his return, this blog is BS…
Rodney, denial is not just a river in Africa my friend. Iverson is heaving the ball up at the basket without regard to his team winning. He is shooting the ball 1 time for every 2:45 he is on the floor. In games where both guys played, Iguodala’s shots per minute played is 3:01 comparatively. So when the washed AI is on the floor, the offense runs through him rather than the better AI in Iguodala. Iverson is a travesty to this team and his return has made Philly an even less desirable destination for free agents because they may have to deal with this. Iguodala has handled this situation with class. When you know you are by far the better player and you don’t cry about losing your shots, this is the guy you want to keep around, not get rid of.
Tim you are clueless. Iguodala and Joe Johnson carbon copy? What? They’re nothing alike. Also AI hasn’t been jacking up anything, he’s been unselfish and he’s making every effort to just fit in. Also stop overrating Iguodala cause I watch every Sixers game and I know what kinda player he is, you obviously don’t watch many games.
Johnson and Iguodala bring a similar style to the game. There is no debating that point. I am not saying Iguodala is better than Johnson, just that they play the same way.
And Iverson is absolutely jacking the ball up. What part of the facts don’t you understand? When Iverson is on the floor, nobody shoots more than him. The stats don’t lie. If you are the third option in the offense, you shouldn’t lead the team in shot per minute played.
Stefanski has no interest in finesse players with outside touch. He displayed this in New Jersey and destroyed the team. When NJ needed a bucket, there was nobody to drop it. He single-handedly destroyed that franchise and if he gives away Iguodala for cap room, it would be one of the most regrettable moves in NBA history.
You don’t trade away your top scorer for cap room.
“Johnson is a carbon copy of Iguodala and Stefanski has proven over and over that he places no value in sharp shooting guards despite league play moving in this direction.”— Are you kidding me Iguodala is a carbon copy of joe johnson, thats not even close. A guy that is a pure shooter compared to iguodala who has developed into an alright shooter but nothing close to johnson(not to mention hes an allstar). The Sixers need a shooting guard, they dont need to small forwards they need a pure shooter who can actually make a shot with somebody defending them and that can play some defense. If iguodala was carbon copy of johnson we wouldnt be having this converstaoin becasue the sixers would be doing great. Point is that iguodala needs to go he’s not a superstar hes a complimentary player. The sixers aren’t going to be contenders untill they get a pure point guard so that probably means we are going to be waiting for jrue holiday to become a star or maybe well get lucky and get john wall(highly unlikely). But the team right now is really screwed up and we can thank Ed stefanski for that, we have to many players that have the same skills, and the players dont compliment each other well because they do the same things well.
So the sixers are screwed this year, We need to rebuild keep Young, Holiday,Speights, Brand for veteran support maybe even sammy, get some good players in the draft maybe get lucky and get a superstar and then were contenders untill then enjoy allen iversons final games as a sixer.
Brian, again as I commented on this post before, they have a similar style. Is there anything in this article where I say Iguodala is better? Style doesn’t mean talent. Stefanski does not like finesse players that shoot outside. He got rid of them all in NJ and will do it here.
Iguodala is absolutely head and shoulders better than Young. Young is a 7th or 8th man on most teams, not someone you build around. He has shown he doesn’t have the shooting touch to play SF in the NBA and his frame is too slender to play PF. When he’s on the court, they begin losing as he is such an incomplete player.
The stats back it up. Check out NBA.com’s plus minus combination for the Sixers.
http://www.nba.com/statistics/plusminus/plusminus_sort.jsp?
What you find is that the Sixers often play their best ball when a combination of Brand, Iguodala and Williams are on the floor. These numbers are the reality of what is happening on the court, not opinion. The minute you add Iverson, Young and Dalembert into the combinations, the Sixers stop performing as well.
Sorry if those facts don’t jive for you, but its tough to support your debate when you aren’t considering what is happening on the court. The numbers in the box score don’t equal. The +/- stats is what you should be looking at when you are thinking about getting rid of players. As a Sixers fan, you should understand this after all the wasted seasons with Iverson.
To Tim Daly,
Andre Iguodala is nothing more than a solid role player. The Sixers organization has chosen to follow a carbon copy of the Detroit Pistons from 2003 that won a title without a superstar on their team. It has only been done once as far back as I remember and probably will never be done again. Iguodala is not a superstar at all. Again your comparison to Joe Johnson is way off. The only similar about them is their height. You have prejudged the potentials of both Jrue Holiday and Thaddeus Young who are I believe but 19 and 22 years old (Baby’s in the NBA as far as i’m concerned). Louis Williams has not tapped his potential yet either and lets not exclude Mareese Speights.
Yes we will be lotto bound this year but all that does is bring in more potential talent to gel for the future with the pieces we have in place. This isn’t all one mans fault it is a fault by committee. Eddie Jordan has done his best (which mind you isn’t very good). This team is loaded with athletes that need to be taught how to defend.
As for the hate on Iverson..How has he possibly stunted the growth of any of our young players? He probably one and done here for 09-10 season so that isn’t going to keep free agents away either. On top of that his team attitude has been great and he has displayed the unltimate unselfish play for us by mentoring our younger players and allowing them to get their shots.
The only selfish player on this team as of right happens to be your boy Andre Igoudala who’s days are number and we will be fine without him. I wish him the best.
BobbyZ, once again, I am not saying Iguodala is better than Johnson. They are both finesse players with similar approaches to the game. Johnson is a star, Iguodala is a very good player.
I have not pre-judged Jrue Holiday at all, other than we’ll likely never see him be an elite PG in the NBA. Find an NBA scout that is say Jrue Holiday is the next superstar…find him. He is going to be what you referred to in your comment as a serviceable role player that is a borderline starter in the NBA.
Young, he is stamped in my opinion as a bust. He’s not very good at anything but slashing to the basket. He has regressed this season and that is a bad sign. Year 3 is when you are supposed to turn the corner and he hasn’t. You gotta be able to play defense and shoot outside as a SF, Young does neither well.
Speights is still a question mark as well. While he has shown more confidence in himself offensively, he is still tentative on the court. When you play with the +/- combination numbers on that link I posted, Speights rarely shows up, but Holiday does all over. This signals that Holiday is contributing positively while Young and Speights are not.
Again, why you get rid of your #1 scorer that plays solid defense is beyond me and it is mind-boggling to me that fans are not upset that the Sixers may dump Iguodala for nothing but expiring contracts. The team that Iguodala lands with will benefit greatly from his unselfish approach and Iguodala gets out of his Philly prison. Sixers are going to be challenged greatly to score anyone in free agency market, so dumping Iguodala makes no sense. If you are going to do salary dump, you start with Dalembert, not Iguodala.
Rumors are that Dalembert may be on his way out as well Mr.Daly. The Sixers are very active in trade talks and not all of them are bad. The Cleveland rumor has Delonte West (solid young combo guard) , JJ Hickson (young prospect with upside), Danny Green (UNC product that can defend and shoot), and Zydrunas Illgauskus (an expiring contract) in return for Iguodala, Jason Smith and Dalembert.
Phoenix is said to be involved with this as well in a three way involving Jason Richardson coming to the Sixers as well. I’m not sure of the details or pieces we give up but thats one rumor involving Iguodala. I personally wouldn’t mind that at all if that is what we got in return.
Boston is also looking to dump Ray Allen (another expiring contract). I’m sure they will inquire about Iguodala as well. I personally wouldn’t mind Ray Allen here for the remainder of the season. Although you continue to express what a sharpshooter Iguodala is from long range, Ray Allen is just a tad better in my opinion.
Regardless of what happens we will get some value back for Iguodala be it young prospects or expiring contracts and if a Jason Richardson (1 year remaining) or a Ray Allen land here for however amount of time our offense will flow much smoother than it will with Iguodala trying to be our best long range shooter which is pathetic at best.
Dealing Iguodala and Dalembert along with Green or even Brand would be a great managerial decision on the behalf of Sixer organization. You can’t build a team around Iguodala but you can get some value in return, suffer through the rest of the season and draft a potential superstar with a top five pick this summer. John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Xavier Henry, Avery Bradley, Cole Aldrich, and Craig Monroe are pretty much can’t misses in this draft if they decide to declare and we will no doubt land one of them to build around combined with the pieces we have in place. It makes for a bright future and not the dismal one that you speak of because of one good role players (not a superstar mind you) departure.
BobbyZ if you get nothing in return for Iguodala but expiring contracts and no free agent come to town, then that is an awful trade. That has been the point of my article from the beginning. Not once have I called him an All-Star, I’ve made the point that you don’t give away your top scorer and solid defender for zero. What part of that am I wrong on? Are you telling me that if Sixers clear space and don’t upgrade over Iguodala that this is good for the ballclub?
I’ll state again, if they dump him for nothing, the chances of a top tier free agent having faith in the Sixers executive team to build a winner will evaporate. No top NBA player in their right mind wants to play under a GM that is on pace to destroy his second team in less than 5 years. His handy work rates up there with Isaiah Thomas. You don’t dump the contract of a productive player.
Tim you aren’t giving him for away for nothing. First of all i’ll answer your question quoted “What part of that am I wrong”?
You are wrong in a sense to how you rate Iguodala. I rate Iguodala in a third tier class of players. He’s not in a Kobe Bryant or Lebron James class. I’m not sure he is in the Joe Johnson, Kevin Martin, Monta Ellis class either, mainly because he has never been a player that can carry a team on his back by himself and take over a game offensively. Name one time where Igoudala carried this team on his back to a win?
His success in recent years was largely due to Andre Miller and now that Miller is gone Iguodala’s misques are showing up a lot more. He can’t carry this team Tim, and that is what he has been asked to do.
What he can do is bring major value to a team that already has an MVP caliber superstar in place like a Cleveland Cavs or like the Phoenix Suns with Steve Nash.
The Sixers are a team of role players right now without a superstar. Keeping Iguodala here will only keep us in mediocrity or late lotto bound every year which doesn’t get you very far. After that his value will start to fall. In other words Iguodala has tapped his potential at this point. Yes Iguodala is a stat filler, and yes he is one of the best on the ball defenders in the NBA (top 3 in my opinion). However he is still not a leader. Iguodala would have been perfect for this team during the 2000-2001 run. In fact we would have won the title that year with him teamed with then MVP Iverson. Unfortunately Iguodala was the perfect complementary player Sixer fans longed for during Iverson’s glory days but now they are gone as well.
My point Tim is that we arent going anywhere with him here. If we sell now while his value is high we will get some young talent in return and some cap space as well. You say that free agents will fear coming here because of the way management has handled things? You have compared it to New York as well and I am willing to bet top dollar that the Knicks will land either Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, or Chris Bosh this summer despite the chaos. My point is that players will go where the money is. The Sixers without Iguodala will still have plenty of young pieces to build around (Holiday, Speights, Young, Williams, + whoever we get for Iguodala+a high lotto pick in this draft. With a young cast like that to build around whats not to like for a star free agent like a David Lee, Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer all UFA’s or even some of the RFA’s like Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, and Randy Foye?
Bobby, I agree with you that Miller’s departure has hurt Iguodala. I go to a few games a year courtside and you absolutely see the difference. He is not your #1 option, he needs to be a #2 option on the floor. But I do believe he has a lot of respect from other players in the league which does carry weight. If you are going to build a winner, the guys need to like who they are playing with.
Stefanski has not endeared himself with NBA players and that does raise concerns on free agent front. Holding on to Iguodala in my opinion makes more sense for a sign-and-trade deal that might be the only way to get a deal done. Getting just cap room to pursue free agents who will be paired up with Brand and Holiday is a tough sell, especially with Eddie Jordan at the helm.
I get your points, all valid, but it just doesn’t make sense to me that you give away a player that certainly would be desired by a number of team for just expiring contracts.
I had high hopes for Stefanski when he first got here, but I immediately questioned the Elton Brand signing. I didn’t like it. Brand wasn’t coming off of his 05-06 season where he put up 23/10 a game, he was coming off of a horrible injury that limits players for the rest of their lives see (Chris Webber, Amare Stoudamire).
Stefanski then decides to fire Cheeks (also a questionable choice). However he seemed to fix it by bringing in Dileo for the rest of the season. While Dileo has no interest in coaching from what i’m told the last person I wanted to see coaching this team was Eddie Jordan. I mean the LAST option. Again Stefanski would have been better suited to bring back Jim Lynam who has happened to be the only defensive minded coach to have a tenure in Philadelphia other than Larry Brown (as far as I can remember). Keep in mind i’m 28 and have been watching Sixer ball since the Lynam era back when Barkley, Hawkins, and Ron Anderson were our core.
Tim,
Stefanski has a chance to fix this situation….
1. Jordan needs to go right now while we still have a young teachable team.
2. A coach from within this organization needs to step up. Someone that has been here for a while like a Jim Lynam.
3. It’s inevitable that Iguodala is going to be dealt like it or not…. However it is what we get in return and how we handle it that will ultimately decide Stefanski’s future here.
The concensus around the Sixer forum and amongst fans is that they need a scorer on this team to lead these other role players. They wont get that scorer unless they make some deals to clear cap space, move up in the draft, and go after a free agent that can fit with this team. We seem to be ok in the frontcourt and set in stone there with Brand, Speights, and Young so the scorer has to come from the guard position in theory. That is why I mention a Randy Foye. A young talented player that still has a ton of upside.
Things are a mess right now from Jordan’s standpoint. He is the one hurting Thaddeus Young, and Jrue Holiday. He’s played Speights the right way, but Young is playing out of position and Holiday is not playing enough. Willie Green seems to get about 30 minutes a night, and instead of him out there i’d rather see Carney or better yet just pluck a lucky fan from out of the crowd and give that person Greens minutes.
I really could rant on and on but my point is that Jordan does not handle the rotation well at all. He’s failed to be consistant which is a major sign of being unorganized as a coach. He preaches no defense whatsoever, and we are not the Washington Wizards from a few years ago (also a team that never impressed me even though they sometimes won).
I think fans and management see Igoudala as a way out of this. After a lot of meditation on the matter I happen to agree that dealing Iguodala to a winning team for some young decent talent/cap space may help in the not so distant future.
Think of it this way…..We do the three way with the Suns/Cavs we get Hickson, Green, West, and Richardson in return along with ZIll (who will be bought out). We suffer through the rest of this season.
Richardson keeps fans in the seats but I think he and West walk at seasons end. Hickson and Danny Green are keepers.
The Draft….. Lets say we miss out on John Wall but we land our future center in Demarcus Cousins. A fine consolation to Wall… Watch this kid sometime he’s good.
We also have cap space… What do we do? Does Richardson play so well that we keep him? Do we sign a Randy Foye? We have the money……thats a plus
10/11 lineup
Holiday/Williams
FA/West/Carney
Young/Danny Green
Brand/Hickson
Cousins
What would you think of that?
Good stuff. Too me, I am not sold that Young has a true position in the NBA. He’s not a strong enough shooter to play SF and he will get broken in half playing PF. He’s the type of tweener that rarely makes it as a starter. In my mind, he is a 7th man at best for any team that can be used wisely with the right matchup on the floor.
If they trade Iguodala, you gotta get more than cap space in my opinion. Dalembert is worth just cap space, but Iguodala. There are a log of teams out there that would like to have him, so you just don’t dump him for contracts with guarantee you get that shooter. I think Foye and Gay are the logical targets, as I don’t see anyone of high quality standing signing on to play alongside Brand. The Celtics and Lakers have proven that you gotta pair 2-3 guys, I don’t see people pining to play with Brand.
Totally agree about Young. An instant offense type player off the bench used the same way Jamal Crawford is used in Atlanta. Young will never have a true position until he learns how to handle the basketball. The same fault has hampered Rodney Carney from becoming the player I personally thought he could end up being as well. We are of team of “could be’s” but “have nots”. While we are still young I still have high hopes for some of these guys.
As for Iguodala… The rumors seem to change by the day. It no doubt has to be a distraction for him and i’m not sure that he even wants to be here at this point anyway. I know that this organization will carefully think this out as far as dealing him is concerned, and probably still wind up shooting themselves in the foot but we shall see.
Some other info for you…. Eddie Jordan is gone at the end of this year for sure.. That I believe whole heartedly. Also as far the draft is concerned as of right now (I know it’s early) but we are dead set on finding a shooting guard, much like we were dead set on finding a point guard last draft. It’s clear cut at this point, that we want a scoring guard. So if you are interested in some prospects check out some of the college youngsters like Avery Bradley, Xavier Henry, Evan Turner, and Willie Warren.
Hey could I use some of the insight found in this post if I link back to you?
I was a faithful fan of lebron in cleaveland. can’t stand him on the heat…his largest problem is he tries to do too much
I would like to consider the ability of saying thanks to you for the professional instruction I have constantly enjoyed browsing your site. We are looking forward to the particular commencement of my school research and the overall preparing would never have been complete without visiting your web site. If I may be of any assistance to others, I might be happy to help by what I have gained from here.
Reading this I believed it was highly enlightening. I appreciate you finding the time and energy to place this post together. Once more I find myself spending way too much time both reading and leaving comments. Although so what, it absolutely was nevertheless of great benefit!
“;” I am really thankful to this topic because it really gives up to date information ~,-
I really like the colors here on your blog. did you make this yourself or did you have it done by a professional?
Good luck with new posts
Hello there, my name is Janene Laneaux and I just adore http://www.benchwarmersunited.com/wordpress/2010/01/29/iguodala-trade-rumors-heat-up. It coveres quite much every thing that I desire to do in my spare time and Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United is simply wonderful. A great deal of folks do not think that they can in fact function from property but a simple Google search shows quite some possibilities. My favorite place for such methods and their reviews is Surveys for Cash Vault. It’s got some fairly very good suggestions. I wish it helps you as well. Anyway, maintain updating http://www.benchwarmersunited.com/wordpress/2010/01/29/iguodala-trade-rumors-heat-up, it is awesome.
How do I change firefox from remembering my facebook info?
Hi! I simply want to give a massive thumbs upwards for the excellent data you might have here with this post. I would become coming once again to your website for added shortly.
Heyyy. Are you looking for a Assisted Living Facilities?
sites n stores support…
[...]Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United[...]…
Aged Care…
[...]Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United[...]…
What?s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have discovered It absolutely useful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to contribute & help different users like its helped me. Great job.
brainwaves…
[...]Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United[...]…
klađenje uživo…
[...]Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United[...]…
99% of site managers are committing these five mistakes. You will be suprised how easy they are.
leather cleaners…
[...]Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United[...]…
how to trade, how to trading…
[...]Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United[...]…
how to study effectively…
[...]Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United[...]…
Wonderful beat ! I would like to apprentice whilst you amend your website, how can i subscribe for a weblog website? The account helped me a acceptable deal. I have been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear concept
How to Make Animations on Photoshop…
[...]Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United[...]…
attractorgenie…
[...]Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United[...]…
shoulder pain at night…
[...]Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United[...]…
Your website is beautiful, which is popular among customers. I’ll come to visit again. Thank you very much!
cracked software…
[...]Iguodala Trade Rumors Heat Up | Benchwarmers United[...]…