 One Year A.A.I. (After Allen Iverson) It was a year ago tomorrow that the Sixers traded away their franchise player, Allen Iverson for Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two draft picks which would eventually turn into Jason Smith and Derrick Byars. Here's a story from that seems to twist Iverson's words a little bit from none other than uber-sensationalist (and Rodney Carney apologist) Phil Jasner. Iverson talks about how it seems dull to see the Sixers playing front of half-empty arenas. Jasner leads you to believe that he thinks the Sixers as a team are dull. Either way, Iverson does take a shot at however, here's his quote, "If I was still in Philadelphia, I don't think they would be in the predicament that they're in right now." If by "predicament" he means occupying a playoff spot as we speak, I suppose he's probably right.This isn't a post to blast Iverson, though. I loved watching the guy play and I'm thankful that I got to see him night in and night out for 10 years. I want to talk about the state of the franchise today. Bill Simmons' most recent Louis Williams: If you made a "Top 10 Things Sixers Fans Are Most Excited About Right Now" list, Billy King's firing would be first; Sweet Lou would be second; the next seven things would be left blank; and No. 10 would be the fact we're seven months away from the 25th anniversary of the Fo-Fo-Fo team winning the '83 title. While I'm glad Simmons is out there speaking for all of us lowly Sixers fans, I really wouldn't have a hard time listing 10 things to be excited about. Number one would probably be seeing the Sixers pass the Celts in the standings within 3 years because Boston traded every last shred of young talent it had for two geezers with too many miles on the odometer. Next, Simmons takes a shot at Iguodala: Andre Iguodala: This summer's Gerald Wallace, a quality supporting guy forced to become "The Guy" on a lottery team -- with bad results, of course -- who now wants to be overpaid because he was miscast for a few months as "The Guy." But wait, what would you have done without me. I carried us to 26 wins! Love that logic. Actually, Iduodala led the Sixers to 35 wins last year, more than Ray Allen led Seattle to (32), Kevin Garnett led Minnesota to (32) and Paul Pierce led Boston to (24). Were those three guys overpaid and miscast as "The Guy?" Let's trade everything we have for three guys that make too much money, are too old, and have never won a thing! Love that logic. Finally, here's the coup de gras for Simmons, soak it in... Earlier this month, did you notice the night when Boston blew out the Sixers in Philly in front of about 8,500 comatose fans, and a couple of hours later, Iverson exploded for 51 against the Lakers? The lesson, as always: Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER trade a superstar for less than 75 cents on the dollar. First of all, here's the "blowout" in question, the Sixers lost 113-103. They led after the first quarter 32-26, they led at the half 57-52, the trailed by three after three 83-80, they cut the lead to one at 89-88 with 9 minutes to go, then faded. That's a blowout? That's a laugher? I think it's pretty funny that the Sixers scored 10 points above their season average against Boston, 17 points more than the Celts allow, on average. But that's neither here nor there, let's take a look at the rest of his statement. On the same night, Allen Iverson did indeed score 51 points for the Nuggets against the Lakers. As a matter of fact, he exploded for 51, just like Simmons said. And guess what, the Nuggets lost 111-107. What's the moral of the story here, Bill? The Sixers should've held on to Iverson so he could score a ton of points and the Sixers could still lose? This has been a circuitous route to get to my point, but here it is. On December 18, 2007 the Sixers are leaps and bounds ahead of where they were on December 18, 2006. Their record this year, 10-14, is 4.5 games better than their record at last year, 5-18. They have a core of players who are growing together and being led by an unselfish floor general, Andre Miller. Last year, they had a young core being hampered by Allen Iverson's intense ego and Chris Webber's lazy attitude. Andre Iguodala was a bit player, now he's on the verge of becoming an All Star. Sam Dalembert was an afterthought, now he's a top-five center in the East. Lou Williams never got off the bench, now he's contributing 10.9 points and 3.7 assists per night, while only averaging 21 minutes. His assist-to-turnover ratio is a stellar 2.36 and he's shooting 45% from three. Thad Young and Jason Smith are getting their minutes, earning their way into the rotation. Willie Green has changed from an "Iverson without the talent," to an offensive spark who gets his shot within the offense and plays passable defense. The Sixers will have the cap space to be major players in free agency after this season and next season. Throw all the stones you want at Philly for making the A.I. trade, but before you write this franchise off, how about actually watching them play a couple of games. How about looking at the quality basketball they've been playing for a full year now. This team may make the playoffs this year, without Iverson. I don't think we could say that if he was still here. 
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Did I mention that I hate Bill Simmons?
Good post
He's OK if he isn't talking about the Sox, Celts or Patriots. Which obviously means he writes about 5 decent words per year.
this is not the self loathing post that i expect from such philly fans...which usually annoys me but in this situation you need to stop looking at things being great...simmons was right you have pretty much nothing to be excited about...you can love andre all you want but at the end of the day he'll never be THAT guy and he'll cripple you cap wise with yet another outlandish contracts (see korver, green and sammy d) HA... what billy received for ai? HA...and bash the celtics all you want but id rather be in the position the miami heat are in right now (2 years removed from a ring and having the current tough spot their in now be well worth it) instead of hoping that the sub par talent that you have just magically gels together (its not happening!)...and the shots at ray (injured more than half the season), paul (injured more than half the season) and kg (playing in the west) were pretty incredible reaches by your part comparing them to andre was pretty blasphemous (dont do it again)..so being an optimistic sixers fan is beyond me...at least with ai they sucked but still could fill some of those empty seats...
but hey billy is gone so i guess there is some reason to have maybe a sliver of hope...but only a sliver
The Sixers are in better shape right now than they were this time last year, that's reason for hope.
I'd take Iguodala over Pierce and Allen right now, and so would about 30 GMs in the league. That should tell you something. The Sixers will have enough cap space this year to sign Iguodala to a max deal (although I don't think it's going to take a max deal) AND add another player like Josh Smith. The following year, they'll have even more cap space. That was a big part of the Iverson trade as well. They got salary cap relief back.
You might want to take a look at the stats before you make fun of the Dalembert contract in the future. Only Dwight Howard, Okafor and Ilgauskus average better points/rebound numbers than Sammy as centers in the East. Only Howard blocks more shots, and Sammy put up the same numbers last year as well. Dalembert is a top 5 center in the East, Miller is a top 5 pg, Iguodala is a top 5 swing man. That's a pretty nice core to be building around.
I know the Celts are off to a great start, but we've got 60 games to go in the season, that's a long time for three old guys to play 35+ minutes/game, especially when two of them have a history of lingering injuries.
Why don't you come back around playoff time and we can talk about the teams then. If I was wrong, I'll admit it. I have a feeling I'm right, though.
The biggest thing Sixers fans should be excited for, is that the team will actually have cap space for the first time in forever.
If they trade Andre Miller for an expiring contract, they can get even more space.
There are some interesting names available. Jermaine O'Neal, Gilbert Arenas, Elton Brand(injured), Ron Artest, Antawn Jamison, Shawn Marion, Gerald Green, Delonte West, Stromile Swift, Baron Davis, Flip Murray, Josh Childress, Eddie House, James Posey, and Corey Maggette.
Then there is always potential trades of big money players they could now actually make fit in the cap.
They do have to sign Igoudala, and Lou Williams too though.
I just hope they're smart with that money, a lot of the names you just listed really scare me. They need to get a guy that's going to complement what they're building, not a guy who's going to come in and completely change the focus of the team.
We are one of the few franchises that have a future, unlike the Celtics, Knicks and all these other teams that sacrifice the future for the present. We are close to being a east contender than people believe. We will probably slip into the playoffs this year. All we should have is hope for the future when Andre Miller is our only player over 30 and he is trade bait at the moment.
Brian,
With Miller's strong recent play (check out my most recent post) and the increasing chance of us making the playoffs, do we still make a deal? I have a feeling as good as he is, Lou won't get us there. I think we better get a whole lot to let him leave because everyone wants him he is hot on the market.
Second, I agree with what you said about not needing someone to take over the team, just to slide and continue what we are building. So should we go after a PF (which we desperately need), or land a Josh Smith leaving the 4 position unimproved?
Aarick,
As long as this team is in contention, I don't think they should trade Miller. As valuable as he is right now, he'll be even more valuable in the offseason and into next year when he's an expiring contract. If they do trade him, they need to get back an expiring contract and a #1 pick in the 2008 draft, nothing less than that.
As for the future, I think you go after Josh Smith hard and you play him at the 4. If our starting lineup is Lou, Iguodala, Thad, Josh Smith and Dalembert two years from now that team will be almost impossible to match up with and almost impossible to score on. 5 lightning quick guys, two lock-down perimeter defenders (if Thad develops like I think he will), and two shot-blockers underneath.
They'd be able to switch pretty much everything because Iguodala, Thad and Smith can all guard multiple positions on the floor. Not to mention the fact that no team in the East would be able to run with them.
How about this crazy(my dream) scenario. Trade Igodaula, Miller, Kyle Korver, and Jason Smith for Kobe Bryant and Trevor Ariza.
Then do everything you can to sign Jermaine O'Neal from the Pacers.
Bring back Lou Williams to start at PG.
Get the best PG available in the draft.
The lineup could be:
Lou Williams PG
Kobe Bryant SG
Thaddeus Young SF
Jermaine O'Neal PF
Samuel Dalembert C
Bench:
Kevin Ollie/draft pick PG
Willie Green SG
Trevor Ariza SF
Reggie Evans PF
Calvin Booth C
I don't know, if they could somehow get Kobe and Jermaine O'Neal I think we'd look an awful lot like the Iverson/Webber team 2 or 3 years down the road.
Unfortunately, I don't think I really have a dream scenario at this point. I just want to see them stick to the current path and keep getting better. Build a champion from the ground up.
Hey Brian,
Nice piece. I did my own retrospective on AI as well. Cannot say I don't miss watching him at times, he was entertaining. But the bottom line is creating a sustainable contender with a good chance at the ring, that was not going to happen with him. And from the looks of things in Denver, they are not going anywhere either.
The one thing the AI trade bought us was time. Yeah, they need that scoring PF, but with a young core with the oldest being Sam's 26 and the rest under 23, you have time to work that out while the team continues to mature.
Regarding the Sports Guy, I thought Simmons used to entertaining, but once the Red Sox won in 2004, he became insufferable and plain ignorant for the most part. He puffs himself up like he is this incredibly intelligent analyst when the things he says often have no basis in reality. One of his more asinine moments of "unintentional comedy" came when he actually said that Detroit would actually entertain trading Billups for Arenas. Billups is the team leader and actually plays D, which is a fundamental part of Detroit's Identity. There is no way that would happen, it would not even be a consideration.
As for your suggested move of acquiring Josh Smith, I would love that. That LouWill, DreDala, Thad, Josh Smith and Big Sam lineup would be murder in the future.
That team would be an absolutely fun, dynamic squad on both ends. Great D creating fastbreak apocalypses on the regular.
Eddie the Shot says he wants us to be "real athletic," that would do it.