Camp...We Talkin' Bout Camp

I'm back...I never really left. I'm just laying low, taking in the overall themes, quotes and culture of camp in Durham. I just have one question before we go forward...what did you want Pat Gillick to do?

Onto SIXER Basketball!

What did we learn this week?

1. While there is no reason to worry about Iguodala's contract, I'd like it to get done. Ladies and Gentlemen...he's the face of the Sixers for the next 10 years. I'd like it to be a happy place for him to be. I'd like to see him get paid too.

I like what the guy brings in terms of tempo and temperament. He plays hard. He's known for his defense. His teammates like him. Oh, and he's a pretty damn good ballplayer. Even if they bring in a better player in terms of talent (and they may have in Thad Young), AI sets the tempo.

2. Andre Miller will not be a PG on a team that loses 60 games.

Phil Jasner's famed "Number" is 30 - that's 30-52. I don't discount that number, but I can't see it being a lot worse if Miller plays all year. Teams that are solid inside will have an advantage on us every night BUT...Miller is the equalizer against marginal teams

3. Let's not get too excited about Reggie Evans yet. If he was THAT good Denver would figure out a way to keep him (would you trust Kenyon Martin if you were a 60 win team? Me neither).

4. I'm very worried about Dalembert. Very.

5. I'm real pumped to watch the kids come along. I'm excited to see how they're playing in February - that's when we'll know what we got. I just want to see them get better.

6. I think the biggest thing that's come out of camp is the Willie Green is back to the level he was at before his injury according to Coach Cheeks - that's REAL good news. He was tough.

Uh Oh

Sorry its been a while - with Michigan losing and absolutely nothing going on in the Association while the players and execs are on vacation, there's not much to say. So I'm not saying it.

Training camp starts in 3 weeks (Oct. 2)...and this was not a good report this morning by Phil J. in the people paper about Sam Dalembert's left foot having a stress fracture.


Here are some other headlines we might see in the coming weeks and months:

• "Dalembert struggling with conditioning"
• "Dalembert continues to have left foot trouble"
• "Dalembert suffers hamstring injury"
• "'I'm shutting it down': Dalmebert"
• "Dalembert has microfracture surgury on ailing left foot, status for 2008 uncertain"

I hope Sammy stays well and doesn't push himself until he's ready (and the staff doesn't let him play...a note to Billy and Mo - guys...please don't hurt Sammy to the point where his contract strangles the cap and the team - if he has to sit out all year to be healthy, so be it!!!!).

I'm not going to lie to you either - I'm excited to see what Young and Williams are going to look like in training camp...to quote Ken Hitchcock, it'd be great if they took a "bigger bite" out of the team than we expect.

More Musings..

First, a big thanks to all the new readers...I really hope everyone comes here for their 76ers information and opinion. My goal is to make this your "Sixers Homepage"...to that, please take advantage of the links on the right --->...if there is a link that you use that isn't there, let me know!

76bigshot@gmail.com

Onto the real stuff...

I was looking at the Sixers Salary Cap ... we all know what it looks like, but to look at it this summer with the salaries lined up it takes on a different form than it might have recently.

There's been a lot of conjecture about what Andre Iguodala is going to cost the team against the cap when his first contract is up - after this season - after what has happened w/ Rashard Lewis and his insane contract.

If you figure the cap remains at 54 million-ish for the next few years, being conservative, the sixers will be at $35 million with AI's existing 3.8 million. That should give them plenty of room to overpay slightly but not blow their cap room up. They would still have over 10 million dollars under the cap, a midlevel exception, and Andre Millers expiring 10 million dollar contract to move.

The other good aspect, to me at least, is that most of the young talent, with the exception being Louis Williams, is locked into low salaries for the next three years. The only albatross is Dalembert, but he's 7 feet tall, blocks shots and is very very very slowly improving.

After the cap situation is flexible, the team will have a good read on all the talent (as it will have played quality minutes in 2007-8) and can make a decision about which direction to go. They will also not win more than 35 games this season, which should yield another high pick in a relatively strong draft.

What if Thad Young is better than we think? What is Louis Williams has to play big minutes because Andre Miller pulls a hamstring and is just good? They could both stink too....point being that Billy King & Co. can make those decisions with more data and their backs not up against the wall with the cap.

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.