Now we know The Plan

So what have we learned since draft night?

• The fans "plan" and Billy King's "plan" aren't the same. I, for one, like Billy King's plan. I'm going to call it the "Chicago Bulls" plan...keep drafting good players, let them develop into assets and TADA!, you've got some flexibility to improve. They got rid of Chandler and Curry when they were at their "upside" peak in exchange for Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and got the cap space to sign a premeire free agent (although thats now a questionable signing). The fans want to do what I'll call the "WIP" plan...fire everybody, its their fault, and get someone in here who knows what they're doing, and try to get the first overall pick while worrying about every free agent out there. Both plans do not follow Larry King's "today is worth 3 tomorrow's plan", which is good for all. People...Ed Snider is running a business. Right now, the business simply isn't in good condition relative to the competition within the league and on the open market (vs. NFL / MLB teams). I'm sure after sitting down with the team, the plan was to try to move up in the draft, but if not, Thad Young was their guy. We all HATE upside...but we need it right now. Its got value to other teams. Case in point - Darko. I mean, he's marginal, and might turn into servicable...we all know this. Memphis gave him a contract based on UPSIDE, not what he's worth now. One more thing in defense of the scouting and drafting - they haven't missed too much in the last few years since Larry left.
  
• Let's not get too excited about the Summer League. Please. Sure its neat to read the stories etc...but who is guarding Lou Williams? Let's see LW play some defense and not turn the ball over consistently in the winter. I hope they don't trade Andre Miller and let Williams get his backup minutes....its really too much for a 21 year old to be put in that spot. (Tony Parker has Tim Duncan)
  
• 2007-8 is a throw away year. Every team has to have one to "purge" a former core of players and develop a new identity, both within and without. The culture change promised by Billy King is taking place before your eyes...just a hunch, but Thad Young's att-I-tude definently endeared himself to the brass. I posted earlier that the starting lineup in 2009 could be Williams, Igoudala, Young, Smith, Dalembert ... if I told you that a year ago, you almost wouldn't believe it. Getting back to my first point, until the team generates wins (Wins = TV ratings), the team will be undervalued in the marketplace. The brass decided that they were going to need to take a step back to take three steps forward. The plan is to let that young core develop, get another draft pick, maybe find a D-League type free agent, and save cap room for 2008. I wouldn't run out to get a FA unless it was a perfect fit in 2008 either (Elton Brand!)
• I'm excited to watch the young guys play...hearkens me back to 1997/98 when the team was developing a personality.
  
• This planning takes some patience from management. The executives in Boston and New York are going with the WIP plan and its going to bite them while the Sixers are young and improving. Within 24 months, the Sixers will be better than both those teams for the better part of the decade. So my kudos to Ed Snider for fixing my favorite team
• Now that we don't have Joe Smith, our rebounding is really bad. Like worst in the league bad. We stunk last year and he was one of the better rebounders on the team.