For the second time in as many weeks, the Sixers organization set up a conference call for a group of bloggers. This time, Rod Thorn was on the line and answered a bunch of our questions. Check after the jump for my notes.
Bloggers on the call: Derek from
Liberty Ballers, Tom from
Philadunkia, Dannie from
ReclinerGM, Ricky from
Sixers 4 Guidos and Andrew from
The 700 Level.
Thorn was on the line for about 25 minutes, I'll try to hit the highlights below:
My question: "Are there any plans to offer extensions to Thad Young, Spencer Hawes or Jason Smith prior to the Nov. 1st deadline?"
Thorn: "We've had preliminary discussions with some of them...The CBA runs out after this season, so I think you aren't going to see many extensions handed out. You've got guys like Durant who are already considered great, but outside of maybe 3 or 4 guys, I don't think there will be as many extensions as usual."
Derek followed up asking what he was looking for from Hawes and Thad this season to see if they deserved extensions, but the question was kind of dodged with some talk about what each guy's strengths/weaknesses are. He did compare Hawes and Dalembert, talking about Hawes' passing ability and (fictional) outside-shooting prowess.
Tom from Philadunkia asked about statistical analysis, Thorn said virtually all teams use advanced stats to some degree, they are using them in Philly and they actually use different numbers in Philly than they used in New Jersey.
Thorn said he came to Philly because he liked the personnel and he saw a good chance for improvement in response to a question from Dannie (ReclinerGM).
He dodged a question from Ricky about the financial situation, and the financial result of the Dalembert trade.
At some point, someone put their phone on hold and we were stuck listening to YSP on the line. Thanks, whoever that was.
Tom asked whether Thorn would look to trade now or look to build from the ground up. Thorn replied that you never know when a trade is going to happen, but the team is not going to blow it all up and start from scratch.
My question: "What's a better value, Andre Iguodala for $56M over the next four seasons, or Carmelo Anthony for $82M over the next four years?"
Thorn's response was that Melo is one of the best scorers in the league, a decorated veteran, gold medalist, all star, etc. Iguodala is a great all around player, but not the offensive player Melo is. Toward the end of his response, I think I heard this quote: "Carmelo is a great player, Iguodala showed with Team USA this summer that he can play with great players." (emphasis mine). He didn't directly answer the question, saying it's comparing apples and oranges, but that quote stuck with me.
Later, I asked Thorn who's decision it was to draft Favors in NJ. He said he always had the final say, went on to say that Favors, Cousins and Wes Johnson were all in the discussion. Cousins was off the table because Brook Lopez was their center. They went with Favors because he, "has the a chance to be the prototypical power forward in the league from a rebounding and defensive perspective." He also said if Favors reaches his potential, he and Lopez could make one of the best PF/C combos in the league. I agree.
Thorn also said, "Miami is the best team in the East. They have 2 of the 3 best players in the league, in my opinion." I don't think he was talking about Chalmers, though.
When asked what measurement was the most important when evaluating players, Thorn talked about length and body type, but ultimately said he just looks at talent.
Thorn has had decades of practice in the skill of evading questions, and he did a fair amount of dancing around them during the call, but there were definitely a few telling things to come out of the interview.
As always, my thanks to Michael Preston, Rod Thorn and the Sixers organization for setting this up.
Thinking about the advanced statistics...
Funny thing is Philly sort of pioneered all this years ago. Wasn't Harvey Pollack the first guy to keep track of things beyond simple points and rebounds? Of course thats like saying Philly is like Silicon Valley becasue Univac was built here in the 50's ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_I )
Yep. Has anyone ever gotten Pollack's book? The excerpts I've seen always seemed kind of trivial to me, like the Sixers win 60% of games in which they win the opening tip.
That's why they signed Bol, right :)
So yes, it wasn't only me thinking that by saying Sixers are "a cap team, not a luxury tax team" (if I understood correctly) he actually didn't answer my question about our current financial situation...
Some other points on my last post:
http://www.sixers4guidos.com/2010-archives/september/thorn-conference-call.html
while I missed 2-3 that you covered, thank you Brian
"but the team is not going to blow it all up and start from scratch."
this disappoints me greatly :(.
I wouldn't take it that seriously. If they get an offer they like that's a rebuild, they'll just spin it some way by talking about meaningless stuff, like Argentinian toughness, or a center's passing ability.
I think he's correct on this, usually teams with many players past their prime (+ perhaps a veteran superstar) with no high picks and in cap hell have to rebuild and start from scratch.
We were in that situation in the last years of the Iverson era, with Snow, Mc Kie etc etc now it's totally different.
I think he meant something like "let's keep our young core and build from it".
I also had the impression that he would have NEVER made the Dalembert trade if he was in charge.
I hope you and Brian are right on this, but if he's not willing to move iguodala for a young prospect like favors then i won't be pleased.
I kind of got that feeling too, like he continually has to spin it, but he's not really behind it. He pointed out a couple times that he wasn't here when they made the deal.
Take it a step further, and he talks about how the defense was particularly disappointing last season, and he keeps stating the obvious, Hawes is an offensive center, Dalembert was a defender.
So he didn't answer any questions really. But he did go out of his way not to throw Iguodala a bone?
Sounds great...
I may have missed a bit in that Iguodala quote, Dannie has a different account of it over at recliner gm. He was basically saying they're both really good, but different players.
Hey Derek,
who do you think is the better actor: Paul Peirce or Derek Jeter?
Thanks for the question, Mitch. I'd say the better actor is Eli Manning.
since the yankees were brought up. Are you at all concerned about AJ Burnett and his 5 and a half ERA, Pettitte coming off an injury, and Phil Hughes and his smoke and mirrors success in a playoff series?
Concerned? Not really. It's basically Sabathia and then hope you can score 10 runs in the other games. All I can do at this point is watch quietly and hope this is the last season I have to see Joe Girardi managing this team.
De-Rek
Chea-Ter
De-Rek
Chea-Ter
I can't stand the Captain, but there's nothing wrong with what he did, that's a heads up play. The umpire should be the one getting all the criticism for missing a blatantly obvious call, not Jeter
If it were A-Rod, or Manny, or Someone on the white sox i guarantee you 95% of america would be saying how horrible they are.
Jeter is grossly over worshipped and this is just more evidence, like that disgustingly idiotic fawning yahoo piece the other day.
The only Good part is that the yankees are going to pay him way too much money next year so he can ripken the team
Don't be bitter. It's not like the Yanks ever did anything to the Phils...oh, nevermind.
This is a Sixers blog isn't it ? Oh okay I thought I was at the wrong place. Thanks for getting the conference call on the blog.
Blog comment sections are new to you?
How is Eli a good actor?