sixers trading iguodala

[hiero]

alright so it looks like the sixers are looking to really trade iguodala this offseason. I've always loved iguodala's game especially when he doesn't have to carry the load on offense. we have 3 guys who can take over the offense for us and we need a few things, a sf badly. iguodala is a defensive stud something we really need at sf especially if were going to run a backcourt of mainly reke/Marcus. iguodala is a vet, something we really need on the kings right now. Garcia is a vet, but he's also a horrible decision maker and couldn't start on most teams in the league.

this years draft blows also, we very likely won't have a chance at Derrick Williams or kyrie irving and all of the other guys we liked or wanted have withdrawn from the draft (Sullinger, barnes, p jones, t jones). the only guy I really even want in this draft now is bismack biyombo and he's a project, although I do think he's likely to at least be a defensive stud in the league.

personally I think if were picking 6-8 I'd rather trade for iguodala and have his defensive intensity and playoff experience plus as a mentor for our young guys. a vet who has been a captain and on the USA basketball squad plus has been phenomenal on defense.

what do you guys think? trade the pick for iggy? or what kind of trade could we pull to get him without giving up our core of young stars and keeping dalembert. we have the cap to keep thornton and dalembert and get iguodala if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Glenn]

I don't know much about him accept what I read. Salary just a little bit less than $14,000,000. Yikes. He better be good and if he is that good, I suspect no one would want a middlin' draft pick in a poor year but I'd like to hear the experts. Seems like a trade would require a player back and with that salary, I'd want to trade the pick plus our highest priced player at a similar position who happens to be a great leader, Garcia. I fear painting ourselves into a corner moneywise.

Would others call him over paid or is he making what he is worth?

 

[hiero]

dumping Garcia and/or Beno would be amazing. plus any all star caliber player in the league is overpaid assuming they aren't rookies. people were saying dirk was overpaid but what he's done for that franchise is priceless. obviously iggy isnt dirk but everybody is overpaid in today's NBA. especially if you're not one of the few marquee teams you always have to "overpay" if you can even call it that. plus we have a ton of cap space even if we resign Thornton and dalembert.

 

[Bricklayer]

dumping Garcia and/or Beno would be amazing.

er...no. Dumping willing roleplayers who are as close as we have to veteran leaders, and guys who are shooters we would need even more if a player like Igoudala was added would hardly be amazing. Could it be necessary to control salaries? Perhaps. But we have such a low salary base right now that we could make a trade like this, probably involving Casspi I would think, and just take on this salary without coming out much differently than if we were chasing FAs.

As for Iggy himself, I've always considered him one of the prime SF candidates for us, and unlike some of the higher volume scorers, he is still a viable option even with the shift in our needs to a defender. He provides major league defense, more muscle and toughness to make us even tougher to matchup with, and I have always thought he and Reke together would almost be an unfair Jordan/Pippen type combo of physically dominant fill every corner of the statsheet perimeter players (not offensively -- in the rest of the game). The huge x-factor for him is that he has spent many of his years in Philly functioning as almost a point forward for them. It would give us a big burst of ballhandling/passing from that position (although I am not 100% sold he might not be too ball dominant).

Now here's the negatives. 1) He is notoriously shaky from range. He has never shown any real ability at all as a 3pt shooter. If you get him, then you are depending on Thornton to be the lone 3pt shooter in the lineup, and Reke would absolutely need to take a huge step forward to keep spacing on offense. And b) he's paid like a superstar, when he's more of a super glueguy. For us, he is closer to the 14-15ppg defensive focused Iggy of this year than the 18-19ppg Iggy of years past. The good point there is that his megacontract would end the same year we would have to start paying Cousins real money (setting up an absolutely critical offseason in 2013-14 where we'd have to resign them both).

Still, if you told me a couple of years ago that we got to steal any two players from the Philly roster, Dalembert and Igoudala would unquestionably have been the two. If a team wants to trade you all its toughness and defense who are you to say no?

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Yup. Iggy and Granger are the two guys I've been looking at for over a year now. If our pick ends up outside the top 2 (Williams and Irving) then I try and package our pick and Casspi for Iggy and their pick. Would they do it? I dont know. They may want to keep their pick, but as much as I like AI he IS overpaid. They may want JT, who has really grown on me, but I wouldnt be against trading him. There are actually some pretty good 3rd big types out there if we have to package JT. Guys like Kenyon Martin, Joel Pryzbilla, Big Baby, and Fesenko come to mind.

The defense we would get out of AI, Evans, and Dally .. I want to see that. The lack of shooting could be an issue, but with guys like Beno and Cisco on the bench .. if it becomes clear we need shooters on the court at any particular time we can plug them in.

Lets just say I like Iguodala much better than Prince/Battier/Kirlenko. And I'd be willing to give up Casspi to get him.

 

[LPKingsFan]

Iggy and #16 for Casspi and #5. Sixers fans on realgm think it's fair, for what that's worth.

 

[LPKingsFan]

To expand:

Starters:
Cousins PF/C
Dalembert C/PF
Iggy G/F
Reke G
Thornton G

Bench:
Beno G
Garcia G/F
Greene F
Thompson F/C
#16

is a complete and well-balanced team. Good mix of youth and not-too-old veterans. Salary flexibility when you need it--as Garcia and Udrih come off the books by the time extensions kick in for the young stars.

 

[sackings]

Don't mention trades on these forums. More than half of the people here disagree trading Carl Landry for Marcus Thornton.

 

[SacKings7]

Don't mention trades on these forums. More than half of the people here disagree trading Carl Landry for Marcus Thornton.

That's only partially because of what we gave up to get Landry (Martin), and Thornton wasn't getting minutes in New Orleans.

Anyway I agree with MKF, I like Iguodala and Granger. I think Granger is the better fit because of his outside shooting, but Iguodala fits in pretty good as well. He's also a strong player, and on the same floor as Tyreke would really cause some problems. Heck, whenever Thornton needs a breather, we could realistically have Tyreke, AI, Donte, Cousins, and Dalembert on the floor at the same time. Not many teams could match up with that size

 

[bajaden]

I like Iggy! He's the defensive SF I want. Its the salary thats hard to swallow. Casspi is only making chump change, so essentially your giving up around 1.5 mil, and taking back 13.5 mil for next season. So right off the top, instead of going into freeagency with a payroll that could be as low as 25 mil, if we don't bring back Taylor and Jeter, we would be going in at around 37 mil. That still puts us well under the cap, but say your end up paying Dally 10 and Thornton 6, and now your at 53 mil, with the cap potentially being at 59 mil. Leaves you with just 6 more mil to put on any finishing touches.

So if we were to do this deal, we'd be looking at Iggy as the finishing big piece to get us over the hump. And we'd better be right, because we'd be stuck with him for another three years. The good thing is that his contract expires at the same time as Tyreke's if my memory serves.

 

[Smills91]

I think you're looking at Jimmer at #16 if he slides that far or Klay Thompson. Shooting will be at a premium for our roster with the addition of Iggy.

 

[rainmaker]

I like Iggy, and think he'd fit well. I do wonder in our 1st and Omri would be enough for him though. We can absorb salary, which would offer Phili some salary relief, so maybe they like that idea.

Someone I've been thinkmore and more about at the sf position, given we have to look at all our options this summer, is Caron Butler. Yes he's coming back from knee surgery, but it doesn't appear to be something which will bother him longterm. He's a much better shooter than Iggy, and is a very good wing defender. Also a FA, and I don't know if Dal can resign him with the new CBA. Also at this stage of his career, I don't think Caron needs, or is, a 1st or 2nd option of offense.

I would also assume we could get him for less than 14 per. One reason I like Caron more, is that he's much better catching and shooting off the ball than Iggy. He's closer to a Granger then an Iggy in that respect. Doesn't pound the ball like Iggy.

Caron is a better shooter, vet hard-nosed defender(although not the physical specimen Iggy is), doesn't need the ball to be effective on offense, and is cheaper. The risk is his knee, which I'm not overly concerned about.

 

[Smills91]

I like Iggy, and think he'd fit well. I do wonder in our 1st and Omri would be enough for him though. We can absorb salary, which would offer Phili some salary relief, so maybe they like that idea.

Someone I've been thinkmore and more about at the sf position, given we have to look at all our options this summer, is Caron Butler. Yes he's coming back from knee surgery, but it doesn't appear to be something which will bother him longterm. He's a much better shooter than Iggy, and is a very good wing defender. Also a FA, and I don't know if Dal can resign him with the new CBA. Also at this stage of his career, I don't think Caron needs, or is, a 1st or 2nd option of offense.

I would also assume we could get him for less than 14 per. One reason I like Caron more, is that he's much better catching and shooting off the ball than Iggy. He's closer to a Granger then an Iggy in that respect. Doesn't pound the ball like Iggy.

Caron is a better shooter, vet hard-nosed defender(although not the physical specimen Iggy is), doesn't need the ball to be effective on offense, and is cheaper. The risk is his knee, which I'm not overly concerned about.

Caron is washed up.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

Caron is washed up.

+1 that knee injury is concerning for us long term.

 

[Uncia03]

If we had the opportunity to turn make a trade such as our #1 plus casspi for AI, then I'd make that trade with-out hesitation.
I'd think that the 76ers would want more for AI, but if they are looking for cap-space a good pick and a young prospect, then we would be one of the ideal trading partners for them.

An Evans/AI/Dalembert rotation would be a fantastic defensively. AI has shown that he can be a great facilitator and a good rebounder.
He would not be expected to be the primary option on offense, which would better suit his skills, and probably allow him to flourish even more to do all the things we'd want from our SF spot.

Of course the problem is that he's not a good outside shooter. Hopefully Tyreke can work on his jumpshot to alleviate the spacing issues that AI might cause.
Also, AI is more of a 2/3 than a 3/4, so he can play the SG if needed.
So you could see a line-up of: Evans/AI/Greene/Dalembert/Cousins, which would be a lock-down defensive unit, that could be used in spurts to break up an opponents offensive momentum.

As mentioned he's getting paid way too much, but he's much younger than AK-46, Battier, Prince. His contract will be up when we have to pay Cousins, so if the line-up works, hopefully you'd be able to re-sign both to keep the team together.

He provides all of the hustle/glue things you'd want, is still in his prime, and is a fantastic defender. He can't space the floor, but that's the only weakness to his game.

With the current make-up of our team I'd take him over Granger, AK-47, Prince, Battier, Hill, provided that all we give up is our capspace, our 1st, and Casspi/Greene. I'd love to throw Garcia into the mix, but I don't think Philly bites on that, and it wouldn't be something I'd make a sticking point.

 

[Glenn]

If we had the opportunity to turn make a trade such as our #1 plus casspi for AI, then I'd make that trade with-out hesitation.
I'd think that the 76ers would want more for AI, but if they are looking for cap-space a good pick and a young prospect, then we would be one of the ideal trading partners for them.

An Evans/AI/Dalembert rotation would be a fantastic defensively. AI has shown that he can be a great facilitator and a good rebounder.
He would not be expected to be the primary option on offense, which would better suit his skills, and probably allow him to flourish even more to do all the things we'd want from our SF spot.

Of course the problem is that he's not a good outside shooter. Hopefully Tyreke can work on his jumpshot to alleviate the spacing issues that AI might cause.
Also, AI is more of a 2/3 than a 3/4, so he can play the SG if needed.
So you could see a line-up of: Evans/AI/Greene/Dalembert/Cousins, which would be a lock-down defensive unit, that could be used in spurts to break up an opponents offensive momentum.

As mentioned he's getting paid way too much, but he's much younger than AK-47, Battier, Prince. His contract will be up when we have to pay Cousins, so if the line-up works, hopefully you'd be able to re-sign both to keep the team together.

He provides all of the hustle/glue things you'd want, is still in his prime, and is a fantastic defender. He can't space the floor, but that's the only weakness to his game.

With the current make-up of our team I'd take him over Granger, AK-47, Prince, Battier, Hill, provided that all we give up is our capspace, our 1st, and Casspi/Greene. I'd love to throw Garcia into the mix, but I don't think Philly bites on that, and it wouldn't be something I'd make a sticking point.

Perfect. Covers all the questions except the dependence on Evans becoming an outside threat which, although I think he will be, is not guaranteed. Small problem and the grand order of things. He fits our team and is not liked in Philly which puts him in excellent company with Santa Claus.

Would Fredette make the trade for Iggy look better?

 

[Smills91]

If we had the opportunity to turn make a trade such as our #1 plus casspi for AI, then I'd make that trade with-out hesitation.
I'd think that the 76ers would want more for AI, but if they are looking for cap-space a good pick and a young prospect, then we would be one of the ideal trading partners for them.

An Evans/AI/Dalembert rotation would be a fantastic defensively. AI has shown that he can be a great facilitator and a good rebounder.
He would not be expected to be the primary option on offense, which would better suit his skills, and probably allow him to flourish even more to do all the things we'd want from our SF spot.

Of course the problem is that he's not a good outside shooter. Hopefully Tyreke can work on his jumpshot to alleviate the spacing issues that AI might cause.
Also, AI is more of a 2/3 than a 3/4, so he can play the SG if needed.
So you could see a line-up of: Evans/AI/Greene/Dalembert/Cousins, which would be a lock-down defensive unit, that could be used in spurts to break up an opponents offensive momentum.

As mentioned he's getting paid way too much, but he's much younger than AK-46, Battier, Prince. His contract will be up when we have to pay Cousins, so if the line-up works, hopefully you'd be able to re-sign both to keep the team together.

He provides all of the hustle/glue things you'd want, is still in his prime, and is a fantastic defender. He can't space the floor, but that's the only weakness to his game.

With the current make-up of our team I'd take him over Granger, AK-47, Prince, Battier, Hill, provided that all we give up is our capspace, our 1st, and Casspi/Greene. I'd love to throw Garcia into the mix, but I don't think Philly bites on that, and it wouldn't be something I'd make a sticking point.

I don't think it's nearly as cut and dry. I have some serious reservations about adding Iggy. $, knees, height at the 3, inability to hit the 3, etc.

 

[LPKingsFan]

I like Iggy! He's the defensive SF I want. Its the salary thats hard to swallow. Casspi is only making chump change, so essentially your giving up around 1.5 mil, and taking back 13.5 mil for next season. So right off the top, instead of going into freeagency with a payroll that could be as low as 25 mil, if we don't bring back Taylor and Jeter, we would be going in at around 37 mil. That still puts us well under the cap, but say your end up paying Dally 10 and Thornton 6, and now your at 53 mil, with the cap potentially being at 59 mil. Leaves you with just 6 more mil to put on any finishing touches.

So if we were to do this deal, we'd be looking at Iggy as the finishing big piece to get us over the hump. And we'd better be right, because we'd be stuck with him for another three years. The good thing is that his contract expires at the same time as Tyreke's if my memory serves.

Yeah, as I outlined above, I'm not sure you'd need much more out of free agency after adding Iggy. That's a pretty solid 8-9 man rotation (which, as you know, is what good teams have). And, as you say, flexibility emerges as Cisco and Beno expire right as Tyreke and Cousins get raises.

 

[bajaden]

If we had the opportunity to turn make a trade such as our #1 plus casspi for AI, then I'd make that trade with-out hesitation.
I'd think that the 76ers would want more for AI, but if they are looking for cap-space a good pick and a young prospect, then we would be one of the ideal trading partners for them.

An Evans/AI/Dalembert rotation would be a fantastic defensively. AI has shown that he can be a great facilitator and a good rebounder.
He would not be expected to be the primary option on offense, which would better suit his skills, and probably allow him to flourish even more to do all the things we'd want from our SF spot.

Of course the problem is that he's not a good outside shooter. Hopefully Tyreke can work on his jumpshot to alleviate the spacing issues that AI might cause.
Also, AI is more of a 2/3 than a 3/4, so he can play the SG if needed.
So you could see a line-up of: Evans/AI/Greene/Dalembert/Cousins, which would be a lock-down defensive unit, that could be used in spurts to break up an opponents offensive momentum.

As mentioned he's getting paid way too much, but he's much younger than AK-46, Battier, Prince. His contract will be up when we have to pay Cousins, so if the line-up works, hopefully you'd be able to re-sign both to keep the team together.

He provides all of the hustle/glue things you'd want, is still in his prime, and is a fantastic defender. He can't space the floor, but that's the only weakness to his game.

With the current make-up of our team I'd take him over Granger, AK-47, Prince, Battier, Hill, provided that all we give up is our capspace, our 1st, and Casspi/Greene. I'd love to throw Garcia into the mix, but I don't think Philly bites on that, and it wouldn't be something I'd make a sticking point.

Personally, I think a large part of them wanting to rid themselves of Iggy is money. So far that reason alone they wouldn't want Garcia. Its possible that they would do the deal for Casspi and the 5th pick. Lets remember, that although we might not end up with the 1st pick, we could end up 2nd or 3rd, and even 3rd would make the pick more valuable. Maybe someone should ask Dalembert how he and Iggy got along. It would be a little strange to build a possible championship contender with Philly rejects.

Edit: I should point out that if this truely is about them shedding money to get under the cap, then they're limited to dealing with teams that can take back more than they send out. That alone limits them in who they can deal with.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I'm good with the move but not so sure about swapping picks. If we are trading Casspi for Iggy we're unloading a ton of salary for them which is worth at least the difference in picks. Throw in another player or work a 3-way so that Casspi goes to a market where he is overvalued.

 

[bajaden]

I don't think it's nearly as cut and dry. I have some serious reservations about adding Iggy. $, knees, height at the 3, inability to hit the 3, etc.

Well to tell you the truth Smills, I can't find a player that might be available that I can't find some fault with. With me, the question isn't Iggy as much as it is his salary and length of contract. And if he can stay healthy, which you've aluded to, then I can swallow the contract. Everyone knows his outside shot is inconsistent. Thats something you have to live with.

Height wise, he is a little undersized for the SF position, but he is, for all intents and purposes 6'7", unless you want to quibble over a quarter of an inch. He also has a 6'11" wingspan and a standing reach of other SF's that are 6'8" and 6'9". When you add in his athleticism, it more than makes up for any height disparity. Until this last season he's been very durable playing all 82 games in every season but one.

Is he perfect? No! But he's a very good defender and a good rebounder for his position. He'll get you between 12 to 15 points on a nightly basis without affecting the offense, and he can play two positions if needed. As I said, my only problem is that he's overpaid.

 

[hiero]

Don't mention trades on these forums. More than half of the people here disagree trading Carl Landry for Marcus Thornton.

I was dying for that trade most of the year. Kevin Martin for Marcus Thornton is a steal IMO. especially on a team that was going to take a year or two to rebuild.


I'd rather give up beno than casspi for sure, casspi leaves us a good 3pt shooter and young guy who still has room to grow. if casspi is the only guy who can make it work I'd definitely still do the trade but I think iggy/casspi at sf would be a good combo.

reke/ai on the court at the same time would give us matchup advantages on offense and defense. we'd have a really big roster other than Thornton who while short is still strong and quick. plus adding Whiteside next year, we could have one of the better defensive squads in the league.

there's no way I'd add Caron butler to this young and growing team. the last thing we need is an old washed up guy with injury issues eating up our cap. if were going to take on money this year iggy could probably be our best option. and I don't think any real free agents are going to come to Sacramento at this point because were still win wise one of the worst teams in the league. the only way we could get a guy of this caliber is taking on salary which a lot of teams could look to shed salary this year especially with a new cba.

 

[sackings]

That's only partially because of what we gave up to get Landry (Martin), and Thornton wasn't getting minutes in New Orleans.

Anyway I agree with MKF, I like Iguodala and Granger. I think Granger is the better fit because of his outside shooting, but Iguodala fits in pretty good as well. He's also a strong player, and on the same floor as Tyreke would really cause some problems. Heck, whenever Thornton needs a breather, we could realistically have Tyreke, AI, Donte, Cousins, and Dalembert on the floor at the same time. Not many teams could match up with that size

 

[KingsCitizen]

If Kings are to get AI, I wouldn't support him to play SF. Sixers tried that but it just won't work. Let him be a SG that's the position he played the best seasons of his career.

It won't hurt acquiring him if we can unload maybe Cisco's salary in the process. Then you sign a guy like James Jones (3pt specialist SF, that can play tough defense) if you want cheap vet at SF or maybe Prince or someone who can hit from beyond the arc coz AI and Reke aren't perimeter players. In that way, we could have solid wing defenders and wing offense that can play to its strength. Not to mention we will still have enough cash to sign Dally.

But question is will the 76ers be ok with just a straight dump? Rumors are that they want a legit star in exchange say Gay-AI or AI-Kaman exchanges have surfaced.

 

[captain bill]

Well to tell you the truth Smills, I can't find a player that might be available that I can't find some fault with. With me, the question isn't Iggy as much as it is his salary and length of contract. And if he can stay healthy, which you've aluded to, then I can swallow the contract. Everyone knows his outside shot is inconsistent. Thats something you have to live with.

Height wise, he is a little undersized for the SF position, but he is, for all intents and purposes 6'7", unless you want to quibble over a quarter of an inch. He also has a 6'11" wingspan and a standing reach of other SF's that are 6'8" and 6'9". When you add in his athleticism, it more than makes up for any height disparity. Until this last season he's been very durable playing all 82 games in every season but one.

Is he perfect? No! But he's a very good defender and a good rebounder for his position. He'll get you between 12 to 15 points on a nightly basis without affecting the offense, and he can play two positions if needed. As I said, my only problem is that he's overpaid.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I think he's exactly the type of player we need to add to our team right now, but honestly I don't think we should be trading for anyone. We need to draft well and potentially pick up some guys through FA, but I think we're in a position to keep all the talent we have, see what meshes, and jettison/salary dump the leftovers later.

 

[swisshh]

Iggy's trade value is probably lowered by his wanting out, which is advantageous to the team trading for him, but I am not sure he fits the Kings right. Right now, the Kings need ball IQ or shooting, and I'm not sure he brings enough of either.

 

[Bricklayer]

Iggy's trade value is probably lowered by his wanting out, which is advantageous to the team trading for him, but I am not sure he fits the Kings right. Right now, the Kings need ball IQ or shooting, and I'm not sure he brings enough of either.

The league's 6th worst scoring defense, and 3rd worst FG% defense also says hi, and that he brings a lot of.

Besides which, as a SF, which is the position we have open at this point, he was easily second in the whole league in assists to LeBron. And no, he may not be a genius with the ball, but for a team trying to squeeze in extra creative ability and passing, an extra guy who can bring it up, he's got to be one of the guys on the list.

I do agree I've never liked hiz size at SF though, and would like him better if he were more of a SG. But given that he rebounds and defends whatever size he is, it can only be so much of an impediment. Biggest thing is that unlike a Kirilenko or Prince, you would lose flexibility to swing your SF up to guard the "stretch 4s". But maybe that's where Donte comes into play off the bench.

 

[gunks]

Iggy and #16 for Casspi and #5. Sixers fans on realgm think it's fair, for what that's worth.

I can see that going down, and wouldnt complain one bit if it did.


And at 16 we might be able to nab a legit roleplayer type like Fredette or Faried.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I love the idea of nabbing that 16th pick and bringing in a player who can contribute right away. I'd look for Faried to take up Darnell Jacksons spot or Nolan Smith to take up Poohs spot. Im fairly confident both guys can and will carve out solid NBA careers.

As for Iggys size .. sure, he is probly best suited as a 2, but when you consider having him on the court with Thornton and Reke ( who are monster matchups for the other team, who will probly have the PG cover Thornton and the best defender guard Evans ) I dont think it would be problem. We've seen Marcus Thornton power through smaller guys in the post .. If he gets that matchup every night .. loooooook out.

And like someone else said .. just being able to put Evans/Iggy/Greene/JT/Dalembert out on the court together for last minute defensive situations will really help us close out some of these games.

 

[Uncia03]

I do agree I've never liked hiz size at SF though, and would like him better if he were more of a SG. But given that he rebounds and defends whatever size he is, it can only be so much of an impediment. Biggest thing is that unlike a Kirilenko or Prince, you would lose flexibility to swing your SF up to guard the "stretch 4s". But maybe that's where Donte comes into play off the bench.

I'd prefer to have him at the SG along-side Tyreke, but right now our shooting is going to have to come from Thorton at the SG spot, so that is going to force AI to the SF spot.
Here is something to think about. If we got AI, then we could look around for a knock-down shooter who can play some defense at the 3 spot(Posey-Type). If you could find a role-player like that, then you could move Thorton to the bench to play the Jason Terry role.

Although AI won't be able to move up to cover the PFs, I think it's actually better for our team if he is able to guard the 2/3 position, precisely because we would have Donte who can come in and cover the 3/4 position.

We can all agree that at the moment Tyreke is our best defender to guard the SG spot, and we can also agree that we don't want him taking on that sort of match-up for huge stretches as we need to keep him out of foul trouble. Having AI, would give us a lock-down SG defender if we need it, and combining him with Greene who can come in for the SF/stretch-4 would give us far more defensive options than what we had this year at the guard spot.

I don't think that Philly is looking for capspace/pick/youth, but if they were, then we'd be a good trading partner, and I would love to see this deal come about.

For all intents and purposes, if we re-signed Dalembert & Thorton and then traded for AI, that would be our team. They would have a few years to gel, and see how far they could get in the post-season. If the players mesh well, and our youth continue to move towards their potential, this is a team which could be in position to make the deep runs year after year.

I'm just a huge AI fan because he's such a great glue guy and does all the things you would want. You could tell him not to worry about scoring at all, so that pressure that's been on him his entire career in Philly would be gone. He can hustle, rebound, defend, and facilitate, play his glue game and see where it carries the team.

He costs a lot, but considering where he could help take this team, it would be worth it.