SPECIAL MIDWEEK EDITION
An exiled King's return
Editor's note: ESPN.com senior NBA writer Marc Stein supplies each item for this midweek around-the-league notebook edition of the Daily Dime.
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Almost one year later, it looks like the proverbial trade that helped neither team.
Looks like.
Examine it with more than a mere glance at the standings and the initial reaction here to last February's Chris Webber trade still applies.
I liked the deal better for the Philadelphia 76ers then, and I like it better for the Sixers now in spite of their own list of issues.
This has nothing to do with Webber's triumphant return to Arco Arena on Tuesday night: 20 points and 16 boards in Philly's 111-98 win. This is the analysis because it's tough to feel otherwise until we see what the Kings can pull off in the big follow-up move they have to make after exiling Webber.
To take such a stance, granted, amounts to second-guessing Sacramento's Geoff Petrie, which nobody ever does. I remember speaking to a few Petrie peers in the hours after the trade and the response from those GMs was almost unanimous: Petrie must know something about Webber that no one else knows.
In this case, though, Petrie remains ripe for questioning some 10 months on, even if you agree with the Kings' contention that they had to trade Webber wherever they could, and for whatever they could get back, to have more financial flexibility to start building back up to elite status.
The problem? The Kings remain at least one more significant deal away from convincing anyone that they've found that direction. It's too premature to say that Petrie won't find it after dealing Webber, especially given his track record. Yet even when you concede that the three players Sacramento took back (Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner) are easier to move separately in future trades than finding a Webber taker, it's not easy to picture where the Kings proceed from here.
The Sixers can thus claim the more hopeful outlook on this scorecard. They have some serious problems, too, and they're not little ones -- Philly doesn't defend or rebound well and fields a suspect bench in spite of the league's No. 4 payroll. Yet now that Webber and Allen Iverson have defied the doubters who said they'd never be able to play together, I'd rather be Philly. I'd rather be the team that has to keep tweaking in search of the right supporting mix as opposed to the club that has to establish a core to believe in.
Iverson, at 30, has three more years on his contract after this one and probably isn't going anywhere if the Sixers haven't traded him by now. He remains a physical marvel, showing no hint of the thirtysomething plague known to afflict little guards, but Iverson's psyche needed the Sixers to make a bold move to believe they were still serious about winning. The gamble on Webber's microfracture-repaired left knee was bigger than most, but the payoff means AI has a sidekick he trusts and respects.
"I did not feel it was a risk," Sixers president Billy King said this week, "because every doctor I spoke with felt he could play with the repaired knee."
It becomes even less of a risk with Webber embracing his second-fiddle status and, as King noted, "playing at an All-Star level." The Kings' desire to move Webber stems partly from the belief that Webber would have never accepted a No. 2 designation in Natomas County. Yet one opposing coach recently told me that Webber is actually "a pass-first player now," willingly clearing the lane for Iverson's drives by frequently operating in the high post and playing set-up man.
We'd be stretching to paint the Sixers' outlook as rosy. The mere presence of Iverson and Webber guarantees that they'll be well over the salary cap for the next two seasons after this one, and they're struggling attendance-wise for the first time in the Answer Era with the team hovering around .500. AI and Webb, furthermore, can expect to keep hearing plenty of durability questions.
However . . .
Iverson, after the failed partnerships with Jerry Stackhouse and Keith Van Horn and Glenn Robinson, finally appears to have clicked with a No. 2. The Sixers also have a promising No. 3 (Andre Iguodala) and a reasonably priced shooter (Kyle Korver) to distract them from the concerns about the D and board work and the $80 million invested in two centers (Samuel Dalembert and Steven Hunter) who aren't producing.
The Kings? They mostly have question marks. The attempt to mesh the holdover, pass-and-cut trio of Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic and Brad Miller with post-up newcomers Bonzi Wells and Shareef Abdur-Rahim wasn't wowing the locals even before the injuries hit. Stojakovic becomes a free agent this summer, but trading Webber hasn't hushed the belief that he'd rather play for the Lakers, Chicago or Miami.
Coach Rick Adelman is in the final year of his contract and undoubtedly wondering what it might be like to coach elsewhere, where he isn't the public's scapegoat for all his team's ills. His bench, incidentally, is thinner than Philly's, and trading Webber away hasn't exactly changed the Kings' injury fortunes.
So . . .
Trade Stojakovic between now and February to make sure he doesn't leave for nothing? Try to trade Bibby instead? Give the new fivesome more time to mesh or blow it all up in the quest for salary-cap room and draft picks?
Petrie probably deserves more than 10 months to deliver some answers, given how he swindled Webber from Washington back in 1998 and gradually built an empire. I simply believe he'll have to be even better now to rebuild it.
If you want the complete ESPN Article : http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dailydime-060104
An exiled King's return
Editor's note: ESPN.com senior NBA writer Marc Stein supplies each item for this midweek around-the-league notebook edition of the Daily Dime.
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Almost one year later, it looks like the proverbial trade that helped neither team.
Looks like.
Examine it with more than a mere glance at the standings and the initial reaction here to last February's Chris Webber trade still applies.
I liked the deal better for the Philadelphia 76ers then, and I like it better for the Sixers now in spite of their own list of issues.
This has nothing to do with Webber's triumphant return to Arco Arena on Tuesday night: 20 points and 16 boards in Philly's 111-98 win. This is the analysis because it's tough to feel otherwise until we see what the Kings can pull off in the big follow-up move they have to make after exiling Webber.
To take such a stance, granted, amounts to second-guessing Sacramento's Geoff Petrie, which nobody ever does. I remember speaking to a few Petrie peers in the hours after the trade and the response from those GMs was almost unanimous: Petrie must know something about Webber that no one else knows.
In this case, though, Petrie remains ripe for questioning some 10 months on, even if you agree with the Kings' contention that they had to trade Webber wherever they could, and for whatever they could get back, to have more financial flexibility to start building back up to elite status.
The problem? The Kings remain at least one more significant deal away from convincing anyone that they've found that direction. It's too premature to say that Petrie won't find it after dealing Webber, especially given his track record. Yet even when you concede that the three players Sacramento took back (Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner) are easier to move separately in future trades than finding a Webber taker, it's not easy to picture where the Kings proceed from here.
The Sixers can thus claim the more hopeful outlook on this scorecard. They have some serious problems, too, and they're not little ones -- Philly doesn't defend or rebound well and fields a suspect bench in spite of the league's No. 4 payroll. Yet now that Webber and Allen Iverson have defied the doubters who said they'd never be able to play together, I'd rather be Philly. I'd rather be the team that has to keep tweaking in search of the right supporting mix as opposed to the club that has to establish a core to believe in.
Iverson, at 30, has three more years on his contract after this one and probably isn't going anywhere if the Sixers haven't traded him by now. He remains a physical marvel, showing no hint of the thirtysomething plague known to afflict little guards, but Iverson's psyche needed the Sixers to make a bold move to believe they were still serious about winning. The gamble on Webber's microfracture-repaired left knee was bigger than most, but the payoff means AI has a sidekick he trusts and respects.
"I did not feel it was a risk," Sixers president Billy King said this week, "because every doctor I spoke with felt he could play with the repaired knee."
It becomes even less of a risk with Webber embracing his second-fiddle status and, as King noted, "playing at an All-Star level." The Kings' desire to move Webber stems partly from the belief that Webber would have never accepted a No. 2 designation in Natomas County. Yet one opposing coach recently told me that Webber is actually "a pass-first player now," willingly clearing the lane for Iverson's drives by frequently operating in the high post and playing set-up man.
We'd be stretching to paint the Sixers' outlook as rosy. The mere presence of Iverson and Webber guarantees that they'll be well over the salary cap for the next two seasons after this one, and they're struggling attendance-wise for the first time in the Answer Era with the team hovering around .500. AI and Webb, furthermore, can expect to keep hearing plenty of durability questions.
However . . .
Iverson, after the failed partnerships with Jerry Stackhouse and Keith Van Horn and Glenn Robinson, finally appears to have clicked with a No. 2. The Sixers also have a promising No. 3 (Andre Iguodala) and a reasonably priced shooter (Kyle Korver) to distract them from the concerns about the D and board work and the $80 million invested in two centers (Samuel Dalembert and Steven Hunter) who aren't producing.
The Kings? They mostly have question marks. The attempt to mesh the holdover, pass-and-cut trio of Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic and Brad Miller with post-up newcomers Bonzi Wells and Shareef Abdur-Rahim wasn't wowing the locals even before the injuries hit. Stojakovic becomes a free agent this summer, but trading Webber hasn't hushed the belief that he'd rather play for the Lakers, Chicago or Miami.
Coach Rick Adelman is in the final year of his contract and undoubtedly wondering what it might be like to coach elsewhere, where he isn't the public's scapegoat for all his team's ills. His bench, incidentally, is thinner than Philly's, and trading Webber away hasn't exactly changed the Kings' injury fortunes.
So . . .
Trade Stojakovic between now and February to make sure he doesn't leave for nothing? Try to trade Bibby instead? Give the new fivesome more time to mesh or blow it all up in the quest for salary-cap room and draft picks?
Petrie probably deserves more than 10 months to deliver some answers, given how he swindled Webber from Washington back in 1998 and gradually built an empire. I simply believe he'll have to be even better now to rebuild it.
If you want the complete ESPN Article : http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dailydime-060104
