NBA

With the Sixers more or less standing pat at the trade deadline -- a trade of former and future second round picks notwithstanding -- the most depressing part about this trade deadline is the finality. More or less, this same team is the one you'll have to endure for another 29 games, and I'm not sure how that can be looked at as anything other than depressing.

In the two weeks leading up to the trade deadline I had a very real fear that Ed Stefanski would panic, making a move as much for fear of public persecution as he would to improve the Sixers future. The rumors of Andre Iguodala being floated about to get rid of one year of Samuel Dalembert's contract particularly concerned me. In this capacity, standing pat isn't exactly the worst outcome in the world.

Even so, the finality of the predicament the Sixers have found themselves in has set in, and it's a dark time to be a Sixers fan.

The Sixers and Bucks have agreed on a trade, with the Sixers sending out Primoz Brezec and Royal Ivey for Jodie Meeks (11th pick in the second round of last years draft) and Francisco Elson. There are conflicting reports of a 2nd round pick, with Chad Ford saying the Sixers will receive the Bucks second round pick and John Hollinger saying the Bucks will receive the Sixers.

Not a whole lot to analyze. If you were looking for a trade to reshape the Sixers future, this one isn't it. Ivey, Brezec and Elson are all expiring, minimum salary contracts and Meeks is a second round salary for this year and next.

Meeks showed some potential as a role player/shooter coming out of Kentucky last year, but he has failed to extend that to three point range this year, shooting only 28.1% from three point distance. He's solid coming off screens, but doesn't show much ability to create, either for himself or for others.

Regardless, any return for two D-League caliber players is decent, and Meeks has a chance to be a 4th guard off the bench.

You know it's hard to be a Sixers fan when who receives a 2nd round pick determines the winner of the trade.

*Update*
Chad Ford has just clarified and stated that the second round pick is Phillies going to Milwaukee, and that he had it backwards before. Makes sense to me, as getting Meeks and a future second pick for the flotsam of Ivey and Brezec didn't seem to make sense. Overall, Meeks is about the quality of a prospect you would expect for a second rounder. Not that the Sixers need another shooting guard, but if he can regain some of the touch he showed his last year at Kentucky, it's not bad value.

Multiple sources are reporting that the Mavericks are close to obtaining Caron Butler (among others) for Josh Howard. How does this pertain to the Sixers?

The Mavericks were one of the teams interested in Andre Iguodala, and acquiring Butler would take them out of the running. Perhaps more importantly, the Mavericks were the only team reportedly entertaining the thought of taking Elton Brand back with him. The rumored deal with the Mavericks taking back both Iguodala and Brand was one of the few of the rumored deals that I had any interest in.

With the NBA off for the All-star break (and with no involvement from anybody on the Sixers), news is destined to be slow. A calm before the trade deadline storm. As such, it gives me some time to discuss hypothetical situations, in this case the rumor from Yahoo! Sports that Larry Brown could be interested in returning to the Sixers.

(It also gives me a break from dissecting the myriad of mistakes Eddie Jordan makes on a game-to-game basis, which I've grown tired of. A Holiday, Ivey, Green, Iguodala and Dalembert lineup to start the second half? Really?)

Essentially, this is a two part question:
1) Would you want Larry Brown back as the coach?
2) How much power would you give to Brown in player/personnel decisions.

For the moment I'm going to ignore any potential rifts developed between Brown and Ed Snider during the previous divorce. This is asking what I would do if I was in charge.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! sports that could very well be the case.

Michael Jordan has until the end of February to match the bid by a Houston businessman trying to purchase the Charlotte Bobcats, and sources say he has some important meetings with potential investors in Dallas during All-Star weekend. Several sources believe Bobcats coach Larry Brown views the potential ownership and front-office shakeup as a chance to free himself for a return to the Philadelphia 76ers, where he sees a vulnerable GM (Ed Stefanski) and coach (Eddie Jordan).

Personally, I've always been a Larry Brown aficionado, even with his warts. I would absolutely love to see how this team could defend with Brown at the helm, and think he would be good for Holiday's development.

And, frankly, anyone other than Eddie Jordan would be welcomed with open arms at this point.

Allen Iverson will miss the remaining two games before the all-star break due to personal reasons. Iverson has missed the previous 3 games due to a family illness, with Eddie Jordan starting a Jrue Holiday/Willie Green backcourt. His status for Sunday's All-Star game is uncertain.

The Arizona Republic has brought up the possibility of a three team deal, with the Pistons jumping in on the Iguodala/Stoudemire trade discussions. Such a deal would send sixth year guard Ben Gordon to Philadelphia.

I suppose if the goal is to play absolutely no defense, getting both Gordon and Stoudemire would be a good way to go.

Actually, I had some interest in Gordon. He would be a good fit next to Jrue, Iguodala and Young, and his skillset would be a much better fit than any of the three other combo guards who are currently comprising the bulk of our guard rotation.

Two things have completely soured me on him:
- His contract. If that starting 5 doesn't work out, and we're left with Brand and Gordon's contracts, we've made a sizable commitment to building around those two. Gordon's contract runs up to $13 million per year and runs through the 2013-2014 season.
- Defense. I want Gordon playing alongside Iguodala, not instead of Iguodala. A Gordon/Young wing lineup, while having offensive potential, would be dreadful defensively, particularly without Samuel Dalembert back there erasing mistakes.

In my opinion, this would be a rare trade that neither improves our salary situation in the future or improves us on the court in the short term. I would not have significant interest in this deal, and hope this is writer's speculation.

Many more Sixers rumors coming out in the past few days, mainly revolving around Andre Iguodala and whatever bad contract the other team is willing to take back with him.

I'll quickly summarize, and then provide my thoughts on the various scenarios:

• Phoenix is reportedly very interested in Iguodala, and is willing to take back Dalembert, and may be willing to include Barbosa along with Stoudemire. The hang-up, the Sixers are reportedly the ones holding back, and Stoudemire's apparent newfound willingness not pick up his $17.7 million option for next year may in fact be a method to scare the Sixers from making a trade.
  
• The , and here's the kicker, may be willing to take back Elton Brand as well. The article makes it seem like Dallas is unwilling to include Rodrigue Beaubois, but that seemed largely the authors opinion.
  
• And, of course, there's the continued rumors of Cleveland being a possible destination
  

So, what's this all mean?

Thoughts after the jump.

Allen Iverson will miss tonight's game against the Bulls due to a sickness in the family. He is expected to be back Friday against New Orleans. Louis Williams will start in his place along with Jrue Holiday in the backcourt.

My spin
Williams and Holiday will start, Green will play 2x as many minutes as Holiday, and we'll still see a lot of small backcourt.

Nothing earth shattering, but as the trade deadline gets closer and closer, you'll start seeing much more of this.

According to the Sacramento Bee, the Sixers and Knicks are the most active in trade talks. Perhaps more relevant, the rumor that can't keep going away has popped up again, and they're claiming the Kings still have some interest in center Samuel Dalembert.

League sources polled this week said Philadelphia and New York are the most active. The 76ers are shopping the likes of small forward Andre Iguodala (four seasons and combined $56.5 million beyond this season) and center Samuel Dalembert ($12.9 million next season), with the Kings having shown some interest in Dalembert.

Link

If you were handed the keys to the Sixers kingdom, what would be your plan?

With trade rumors swirling, this is the question I asked myself this weekend.

Surprisingly, my first reaction would not be to blow it up. Trade Igudoala? Only if it gets Brand's contracts off the books as well.

After the jump I'll go over my short and long-term plan.

For once, I'm not going to sit down and complain about Eddie Jordan and his perplexing rotations the entire recap.

Iverson and Williams did not spend one second on the court together, and that was key. Young played more at small forward than he did at power forward, and Jordan really only went small when Odom came in at power forward. Dalembert played the third most minutes he has all year, a large portion with Brand at power forward. We even saw considerable time with Young and Iguodala on the wings together.

That's not to say it was perfect. I would have preferred more Holiday and less Green, not only because my primary objective at this point is player development but also because I think he could have come in handy down the stretch. I also thought the small amount of time young played at power forward was too much, , and was generally exploited every time it happened.

But, because of my low expectations (reinforced by his continual mistakes), I grade Jordan on a curve. He wasn't the reason they lost this game. The Lakers are simply better, and it would have taken a near perfect game for the Sixers to win. They're simply outclassed from a talent level.

Short pre-game post. If there was ever a time to test Jordan's stubbornness, tonight's the game. With the mismatches the Lakers through out there, with Kobe at SG, Artest at SF, Gasol at PF and Bynum at C (with Odom off the bench), this is a classic game to play a "big" wing rotation (with Andre Iguodala at shooting guard). If Young plays at the power forward against Gasol, or if either Williams or Iverson are on Kobe (or really anyone other than Iguodala, Jrue or possibly Carney), we're in trouble. This is the perfect game to get Young at small forward and find minutes for Carney.

Will Jordan? Doubtful. We need to score the ball, after-all.

Prediction: Lakers by 20.

Following up on last week's report by Marc Stein that the Sixers are determined to make a move, Adrian Wojnarowski has reported via Twitter that the Sixers are making pitches to the Cavaliers about an Andre Iguodala deal. Below's his full Twitter chain:

The Cavs have been listening intently to Sixers pitch of Andre Iguodala for several days, sources say. Unclear what Philly wants back...
The Cavs still prefer PF's such as Antawn Jamison and Troy Murphy, but Ferry always listens and thinks hard. Iggy is a tough sell for Cav...
The Sixers are in a tough spot, cause it's very unlikely they can move Brand contract. To get much cap flexibiity, Iggy probably has to go....
In the end, most league execs still believe Cavs ultimately do a deal for a 'stretch 4-man,' who can shoot -- not another SF like Iggy.

The interesting part is the continuing implication that it's the Sixers pursuing the trading of Iguodala, and the other teams turning it down. The desperation the Sixers apparently have to move their best player is disconcerting, at least to me.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Sixers are one of the teams with strong interest in Suns big man Amar'e Stoudemire. He provided no indication of what the Sixers are offering or would be willing/unwilling to give up (or really how far the talks were, outside of the Sixers having "strong" interest).

Unlike previous rumors (such as the Tracy McGrady rumors), Stoudemire still has relevance on the basketball court, averaging 20.9 points per game and having just turned 27 years old earlier this season.

My thoughts are any such deal would be extremely unlikely, but merits discussion just because of the sheer impact (both on the basketball court and on the teams salary cap structure) such a move would make. Not necessarily saying it would be a positive impact, but more on that in a bit. First, let's get to the tidbit from the Yahoo Sports report:

League executives say the Suns have become more active initiating talks over the past few days, and believe the franchise will take the best offer for Stoudemire before the Feb. 18 trade deadline. The Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets and Detroit Pistons are among multiple teams that have a strong interest in Stoudemire, sources say. The Arizona Republic reported Sunday night that the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers have also inquired about Stoudemire.
...
As they did when shopping Stoudemire last season, the Suns want a combination of young talent, salary-cap relief and draft picks for him. Some teams are hesitant to trade for Stoudemire for fear he won’t want to re-sign with them this summer. The Minnesota Timberwolves lead that group of teams, sources say. The Wolves are mostly eyeing small forwards, including the Memphis Grizzlies’ Rudy Gay(notes), the Bulls’ Luol Deng(notes) and the Washington Wizards’ Caron Butler(notes). No one is untouchable on the Wolves roster, sources say.