Theo Ratliff is back

Ah, a return to the glory days of early summer 2001. When men were men, no one thought Muslim terrorists would do something as crazy as crash hijacked planes into buildings, and the Sixers were playing for the NBA championship with a lineup of Allen Iverson plus 11 other guys, one of whom was Theo Ratliff.

Ratliff signed a 1-year deal with the Sixers yesterday in a move to add big man depth. With Jason Smith on the DL for an extended stay and Marreese Speights being a rookie, they needed someone to strengthen the middle. And as a bonus perhaps he can act as a mentor to young Marreese, teaching him the fine but possibly unteachable art of blocking a ton of shots.

The problem with the signing (and of course there is one) is that Ratliff is as fragile as a Russia/Georgia peace agreement. He's only played 28 games over the past 2 years. Amazingly, he's only played 705 games in his 13 year career, and never played more than 57 in any of his 3 seasons with the Sixers. If he goes down early in the year, or is just so rusty that he's ineffective, then the whole signing will be for naught. But the hope is that he can recapture some of the magic that helped make the 2000-2001 Sixers one of the most improbable championship contenders of my lifetime.

We got a Rush brother!

And it's not JaRon! Kareem Rush signed with the Sixers yesterday. This is exciting stuff. While the Brand signing was obviously bigger than Jupiter and Saturn smashed together, these smaller, Kuiper Belt-sized object Rush and Royal Ivey signings are extremely important to the team too. Rush brings the outside shooting they need in a package that is much like Kyle Korver without his invisible leg irons attached. He's not a very good defender, but as long as he makes them 3's, it's a-okay.

The eventual rotation is looking like Andre Miller, Iggy, TYoung, Brand, and Dalembert starting, with Lou Williams, Royal Ivey, Rush, Jason Smith, and Marresssseeeee Speights backing up. That is a solid group of basketball gentlemen. And it obviously leaves 2 names out.

Willie Green and Reggie Evans are the square pegs (yes, like the old Sarah Jessica Parker show) here. With Rush and Ivey being signed to play on the perimeter, and with Lou Williams being groomed to move into a starting role eventually, it's hard to see Willie getting the 25 minutes a night he's accustomed to. And as hard as it is to admit, Willie was actually okay last year. He won't be kept around though if it means keeping him on the end of the bench. Perhaps they'll get him enough minutes at the 2, but it looks doubtful. A lot of it will depend on how much they believe Ivey can contribute. And of course if Iguodala is completely ineffective as a SG or they decide that it's worth keeping him as their SF, thus unwisely taking minutes away from Thaddeus Young, most of this analysis is worthless. Worthless analysis- always available from your Broad Street Bastards.

Reggie Evans got 23 minutes per game last year, which is about 10 minutes per game too much. He's great as a rebounder and a guy with a beard, but that is all. Perhaps they'll keep him in the rotation until Speights is ready, but his longer-term prospects with the Sixers are pretty dim.

A Sixers Legend

Last Friday at the Sixers/Sonics game, I had to explain to my girlfriend that there is indeed a man who once played for and now works for the Sixers whose legal name is World B. Free. Even after they showed his picture and name on the giant arena video screen during a boring halftime presentation of some award or somesuch, she did not believe such a man existed.

Free had a solid if not spectacular career. He was mostly known for his scoring ability although the man was a bit of a playmaker as well. Even though his best seasons were not in Philadelphia, the Sixers were his first NBA team and therefore have a special place in his heart (according to me). But what else do we know about the man named World B. Free? Very little in my case. So we're done discussing him.

With things occurring like Willie Green lighting things up and Rodney Carney not constantly embarrassing himself on the court, I feel pretty good about the Sixers assembled cast these days, and I feel good about their future too. Iggy is a borderline star, Thaddeus Young continues to give me basketboners, Sam Dalembert no longer takes (many) jump hooks from the top of the key. There are plenty of questions, like "Can Lou Williams take over from Andre Miller and play the point someday?", and "Can Reggie Evans go play somewhere else but leave his rebounding ability behind for some other player who does not have useless, Edward Scissorhands-like hands?" We shall see. The Sixers have not been this exciting to follow in quite some time.

Our apologies...

William "Willie" Green, who the hell are you? With the exception of his woeful, vintage performance against Golden State the other night, the man has been largely on fire. He's shooting well, drawing more fouls, and, from possibly inaccurate accounts, is working hard with his staff to bridge the divide in the Democratic party in this tumultuous primary season.

For the year, Willie has his PPS all the way up at 1.11, which if it holds will easily be a career high. Now, before everyone gets out of hand with their "I told you so"'s, the man still cannot pass, defend, or rebound. He is not going to be a better pro the Andre Iguodala, like some famous moron said. But what he is doing for now- providing reliable offense- is extremely important as the Sixers make their run to get swept in the first round of the playoffs.

Sadly, with the Rise of Willie, someone else must take his place as the least-favorite Sixer. Rodney Carney, come on down. You can't shoot, rebound, pass, or stay healthy. Welcome.

Where is the real Willie Green?

In the month of December, Willie Green is shooting 57% from the field, and averaging 1.29 points per shot. And in his last 3 games, he's been to the free throw line 10 times, which for him is a huge triumph. His only really bad game this month was against Boston, which is the greatest team ever by most accounts from people who are Celtics fans.

Of course, he still can't rebound, pass, handle, or defend, but this post isn't about that. Instead, it is intended to congratulate our friend Willie for showing that, as we all knew, Billy King is to blame. Billy King was holding him back. "But wait", you say, "that makes no sense. Billy King was the GM and President, not the frigging coach. He's not responsible." Or is he? Something to think about, friends.

In other Philly sports news, Aaron Rowand has signed with the Giants for $219 billion over 15 years. Or something. In any case, they WAY overpaid for a guy with a career.805 OPS and who won a dubious Gold Glove this year. But contrary to popular belief, I'll miss Rowand. He was fun to watch and I did like his approach to the game, even if that approach does not make him the elite player people here like to believe he is.

John Smallwood Must Not Know Who the Sixers' GM Is

From Smallwood's column on the Iguodala negotiations:

If the fourth-year swingman does not continue his progress and perform to the level anticipated this season, or if he suffers a devastating injury, he could have potentially blown tens of millions of guaranteed dollars in pursuit of a bigger payday.

Does he know something about Billy King's future that we don't? Because I don't think he's talking about the Sixers' Billy King and their history of re-signing their own. Let's go into the time machine and go back to the summer of 2005, shall we?

July 2005: Billy King is ready to overpay another player, this time Willie Green. Green is offered a deal for around 6 years, 20 million dollars.

August 2005: Willie Green suffers knee injury playing a pickup game. Apparently it was inflicted by one of his own teammates after Green shot the ball for the 17th time in the team's last 17 possessions.

August 2005: Billy King does not pull the contract offer, instead he puts it on "hold". Because as had been proven before, Billy King isn't addicted to crystal meth or candy. He gets his high from overpaying his own players, and he'll be damned if a minor setback like a torn knee ligament is going to keep him from getting his fix.

August 2005: Green goes under the knife.

April 2006: Green returns from his knee injury. He plays the remaining ten games of the season and shoots a career best 42.4% from the field.

July 2006: Because of the intense demand for unproven shooting guards coming off serious knee injuries, Billy King does not waste any time getting Willie Green's signature on a contract. Based on the 150 minutes that he played in April, King essentially offers Green the exact same contract that he did the previous offseason, five years for 17 million dollars. Rumor has it that Green's agent was so eager to sign the contract that he allowed Willie slice open his artery because they didn't have a pen lying around the desk. The agent survived, but spent three weeks in the hospital.

Currently: Willie Green is still the same lousy player that he has always been. But at least King has him under contract through the 2009/10 season.

Has Billy King learned his lesson? Of course not. It probably took quite a few sessions with the Sixers prescribe hypnotist to restrain King from offering Iguodala a max contract. And come next July, I'm sure that he won't hesitate to offer Iguodala more money than Igoudala was currently asking for to prevent him from testing free agency. But if the Sixers want to reach their goal of consistently being the eighth seed in the playoffs, then there is not better man to lead them than Billy King.

Keith Van Horn=Kevin Garnett???

Phil Jasner writing in the Daily News today-

"I haven't exactly gotten a flood of e-mails asking why the Sixers weren't players for a Garnett-quality acquisition, but the ones I've gotten openly wonder why "the Sixers never do stuff like this?" They did. Or have you forgotten Chris Webber? Keith Van Horn? Glenn Robinson? Or $50 million for Kenny Thomas?"

While the wisdom of the Celtics trading their entire future for one player is questionable, the fact that Kevin Garnett is one of the GREATEST PLAYERS IN NBA HISTORY is not. And he's still got a good 3-4 years of high-level play left in him (unlike the overrated and poorly aging Ray Allen).

So how exactly have the Sixers gone after players of Garnett's caliber? Keith Van Horn and Glenn Robinson, while pricey, are not Hall of Fame players like KG. And Webber, who may actually make the HOF (stop laughing), looked like he was playing on a wooden leg when the Sixers got him. Also, without Kenny Thomas' awful contract the Sixers would never have been able to trade for Webber anyway.

There's a big difference between going after pricey players and elite players still in their prime. The Celtics may have done a dumb thing getting rid of most of their franchise this offseason for basically 2 players (prove me wrong, Big Baby), but it automatically makes them the best team in their division for the next 2 years. And KG, Pierce, Allen, and a bunch of rodeo clowns could make the Finals out of the crappy Eastern Conference. They didn't go out and grab a Webber or a Van Horn; they got themselves a game changing force. The Sixers haven't done that in a long, long time.

Question of the Day?

Who is the worst Sixers draft choice of the last 15 years?

I presume the majority of people would answer Shawn Bradley, given the hype that came with him and the fact that if they had played their cards right, they could have gotten Webber instead, as Don Nelson was in love with Bradley.

But if you ask this fellow, I will argue Larry Hughes. This selection is why Larry Brown should never even be allowed in a building where a NBA draft war room is, let alone the room itself. The Sixers were coming off their second season with Allen Iverson, their first with Brown as the coach. It had become painfully obvious that Iverson was a shooting guard in the body of a point guard, which is why Jerry Stackhouse was shipped out of town. While Brown had not figured out how to properly use Iverson, he had learned that they could not build the team with Iverson as the PG and another slashing guard at the 2. Right?

Wrong. Sort of. Even as Paul Pierce made a monumental slide from a potential Top 3 pick to being available to the Sixers at 8, and even despite Billy King raving about this blonde kid from Germany who could shoot lights out, some guy named Nowitski, Larry Brown made the decision that Larry Hughes was the perfect back court partner for Iverson. Hughes would be a tall point guard and Iverson would be an undersized shooting guard. The only problem? Hughes wasn't a point guard. He was a 19 year old, slashing shooting guard who jump out of the gym but couldn't shoot.

So while Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitski became two of the top 15 players in the NBA in a few short years, the Sixers kept trying to jam the square peg into the circular hole with the Iverson/Hughes back court. Until the finally came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work, and shipped Hughes out for Toni Kukoc.

And the decision that Larry Brown made on that fateful June evening in 1998 probably cost the Sixers at least one NBA championship, if not more. But hey, at least Jim and I got to see Larry Hughes throw out the first pitch at a Phillies game after he was introduced to the local media. So all was not lost.

MORE ON THE NBA DRAFT

Since Mark so deftly covered the Sixers, I'll only speak about them briefly. They have one obvious need at power forward, and they always seem to need help at the 3. And if they trade Andre Miller, they'll need a PG (Louis Williams is not the answer, at least not yet). I'll name the 3 players I'd love them to end up with and the 3 players I will cringe if I hear their name called-

Players I really want(non-sexually)(and other than the big 2)(parentheses)

1. Al Horford (if they magically trade up to 3)
2. Al Thornton (at 12)
3. Al Coholic, or maybe Julian Wright (at 12)

Horford is the best PF in the draft, an excellent rebounder and good defender with decent scoring potential. Thornton is a super-efficient scoring SF. Julian Wright is, from what you may hear, versatile. As is Jeff Green, who would be 4th on this list.

Players who will make me cry if the Sixers take them-

1. Mike Conley, Jr. (if they trade up for him)
2. Brandon Wright
3. Spencer Hawes

Conley would be a fine addition as a PG but I think teams are fooling themselves into believing he's a top-10 pick. So chances are if the Sixers get him it's because they reached. Brandon Wright is just another talented guy with no motivation; he can score, but is pathetic on the glass and on D. Spencer Hawes is 7 feet tall and white. And he plays like it.

Honorable Mention- Any SG they take with the 12th pick or lower.

Regarding their other picks, they need a SG or combo guard for the bench because Willie Green is awful, or hopefully is traded. If they can't get a good 4 at 12th or before (via trade), they'll need to pick one up. And if they can get a decent backup for Dalembert somehow, make the damn pick. Steven Hunter stinks. I'd be fine with Kyle Visser or Aaron Gray with the 30th pick; stiff white guys are fine to pick that low.

In other sports related news, I met Marty Schottenheimer this weekend when I called 911 for his grandson in a hotel lobby in Pittsburgh. Let's hope the little guy is okay.

Reinstate the Draft

We're within hours (albeit numerous) from one of the most exciting events in sports, the NBA draft. It is the one draft in where the viewer at home can offer an educated opinion on the players being drafted, if the team drafting is making the correct move, and can get excited when meaningful trades are completed during the telecast. There is also so much gossip leading up to the even that it's a surprise that E! or TMZ hasn't started covering it.

This year's draft will either truly start re-building the Sixers into a playoff team or be the event that everyone points to when Billy King is finally, and mercifully, put out to pasture (ignoring his years of fire able offenses). Realizing the importance of this year's draft to the future of the Sixers, here are the five most likely situations that may occur on Thursday, and the possibly way each one will play out.

Scenario One: The Consensus. Sixers use all three of their first round picks and draft Al Thornton, Josh McRoberts, and Glen "Big Baby" Davis.

Best Case Scenario: Thornton immediately steps in and starts at the 3, averages about 30 minutes a night and 18 points per game in his rookie year. Is able to defend the position and is a beast on the offensive glass. He gives Mo Cheeks a lot of flexibility with the roster. McRoberts continues to improve and fill out his frame so he not only stretches out defenses, but he is able to guard power forwards, becoming a more talented Christian Laettner. Big Baby turns out to be the steal of the draft, averaging 10 and 8 in his rookie year, and eventually becomes the reliable back to the basket scorer that the Sixers have been looking for since they traded away Charles Barkley.

Worst Case Scenario: It turns out that Thornton has peaked at age 23. He has a difficult time creating his own shot and becomes a liability on the defensive end. Regardless, Billy King still ends up rewarding him with a six year extension for triple the money that any other team was even considering offering him. Minutes after signing the contract, Thornton falls off the podium and tears up both of his knees. McRoberts continues the popular Duke Tradition and lays an egg in the pros. He starts writing a blog on MySpace, dishing gossip on the other players, and that leads to a fight in practice with Rodney Carney, in which Carney is heard yelling out "Snitches Get Stitches". McRoberts retires after three years and takes a position in the Sixers front office as Billy King's protege/lackey. Davis immediately invests his money in a giant refrigerator and the world's largest deep fryer. He reports to training camp like he is actually carrying a big baby to term. After losing a posedown on TNT to both Charles Barkely and Mike Sweetney, Davis is out of the league after two years and becomes the first former professional athlete to win Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest.

What Actually Happens: Thornton becomes a nice scorer off the bench as a sixth man. McRoberts presents matchup problems on the offensive end, but is unable to guard anyone. Davis becomes one of the many undersized power forwards that bounces around the league.

Scenario Two: The Sixers trade the #12 and the #21 picks to Minnesota for the #7 pick. They select Spencer Hawes with the #7 pick.

Best Case: Moses Malone takes Hawes under his wing and after his rookie year, Hawes shows a lot of potential on both ends of the floor. Next season he becomes a real offensive threat and in year three he makes the All-Star team. Hawes spends the next ten year in a Sixers uniform, battling with Bosh and Howard as the best big man in the East.

Worst Case: At the initial press conference, it is revealed that Hawes will wear the number 76. Ends up as another tall white stiff that is drafted too high based strictly on his size. Gets fed up with the fans and makes fun of how they refer to water as "wooder". Ends up the most hated athlete in Philadelphia until he is traded for a second round pick.

Actual: Has a rough adjustment to the NBA, especially on the defensive end. Works hard and ends up as the first big guy off the bench for a good NBA team, just not the Sixers.

Scenario 3: The Sixers trade Andre Miller, the #11 and #21 picks to Atlanta for Marvin Williams and the #3 pick.

Best Case: The Sixers draft Horford with the #3 pick and make an additional trade with the Bulls to obtain Chris Duhon. They open 07/08 with a lineup of Duhon/Igoudala/Williams/Horford/Dalembert with Carney, Korver, and Hunter coming off the bench. Horford steps in immediately and produces on both ends of the floor, earning comparisons to Elton Brand. Marvin Williams matures into a very good player, rebounding, scoring and improving his shot. Sixers with the Atlantic Division next season, use the freed up salary cap room in the offseason to sign a top level point guard, and are in the Finals the next season.

Worst Case: End up using the #3 pick on Mike Conley, who turns out to be a faster version of Eric Snow. Marvin Williams decides to not report and the Sixers have to trade him to Portland, and in return they take on Darius Miles, who ends up strangling Mo Cheeks. The Hawks use the #12 pick on Julian Wright, who ends up winning Rookie of the Year. Miller ends up being the catalyst for propelling the Hawks to 50 wins and the Eastern Conference Finals.

Actual: Horford ends up being a stud and the Sixers are able to build around Igoudala/Horford. Williams and Carney end up being the exact same player, and the Sixers trade one of them away and the other becomes a role player that can't really shoot, rebound, or defend. The Hawks screw up the pick, get the first first pick in the '08 draft which is owed to Phoenix as part of the Joe Johnson trade. Because Billy Knight is the worst GM in all of sports.

Scenario 4: The Sixers trade the #30 pick to any team that willing to take Willie Green in return for an expiring contract.

Best Case: Willie Green is gone!! The nightmare is over!! With the added salary cap room that the Sixers obtain from moving Green, they are able to sign Elton Brand in the off season. Willie Green is exposed to another city as the worst offensive player in the NBA. And you never have to hear another Sixers fan tell you that "Green is a decent scorer off the bench".

Worst Case: The Sixers have all this salary cap room and end up overpaying two mediocre players in both money and years. Willie Green realizes that it's not a bad thing to pass the ball or take free throws, and actually ends up as a decent scorer off the bench.

Actual: I become a fan of whoever Willie Green is traded to just so I can enjoy watching him lose games for them. There is nothing better than seeing Willie Green's box score of 13-30, 14 points, and trying to figure out how a coach would allow him to shoot the ball 30 times.

Scenario 5: Ed Snider comes to his senses, fires Billy King before the draft.

Best Case: Tony DiLeo steps in and drafts two college kids and one Euro, who is stashed away for a year. The Sixers go out and hire a GM with a plan to make them a Championship team. He is able to sign players to one year deals for 07/08, trades Willie Green, gets a great return for Andre Miller, and signs Igoudala to a sensible contract extension.

Worst Case: Ed Snider turns to the one man he trusts with basketball decisions, Larry Brown. Joe Smith is signed to a three year deal and the Sixers have no money to spend on free agency. After two consecutive years in the lottery, Brown decides he has seen enough and trades Igoudala to the Pistons for Chauncey Billups. After four years of Brown as GM, he decides to take a job with a European team, leaving the Sixers in a worse position than they were in before the start of the 06/07 season.

Actual: Billy King is gone. That would be enough for me.

So now we wait to see how things play out on Thursday. Fan-tastic.

Let's Reward Mediocrity!

Ed Snider had the following to say about the NBA Draft Lottery:

"There should be just one Ping-Pong ball per team," Snider said. "Teams should not be rewarded for being inept."

You're right Ed. Instead of trying to improve teams that are currently not competitive, let's help out the teams that aren't good enough to make the playoffs, but yet not bad enough to have a chance in the current lottery system.

This obviously has nothing to do with the fact that the Sixers are looking at a few years of being in the 10-14 position in the lottery does it? If a team like Charlotte or Memphis drafts at #4 or worse every year, it is unlikely that they will get better. If teams in these small markets don't get better, their attendance will drop and the team will eventually have to move.

If they are going to change the lottery, I would recommend grouping the teams into four "slots". The teams with the worst, second worst, and third worst records are grouped together have the same chance of winning the lottery, teams 4-6 have the same chance which is less than teams 1-3, etc. This way the only dumping that teams do is between "tiers" and it doesn't give teams as much incentive to drop games.

And with the 12th pick in the draft, the Philadelphia 76ers select.......

If I said the following three sentences to a stranger,

"The Sixers are playing at Detroit.

Willie Green, Bobby Jones, and Louis Williams will combine to shoot 48 times in the game.

The Sixers will win by 11 points."

the first thing you would ask me is, "When did Willie Green, Bobby Jones, and Louis Williams get traded to the Pistons."

The Sixers are now one game behind the Pacers, which would mean they would draft twelfth barring some sort of post-Easter miracle that vaults them into the Top 3. I am already envisioning Billy King's press conference explaining why he reached on Josh McRoberts with the 12th pick.

The Legend of Willie Green

Just a short post to explain something- we love Willie Green around here, even though "around here" is not a real place. We will often talk about him, berate him, and use him in other ways as we see fit (the idea of him, not his physical person). So why Willie Green? Well, he's quite fascinating. In many ways, he represents the ineptitude of the Sixers, and also helps demonstrate why it can be so hard to talk sports with people in Philly (or anywhere).

Green is a guy who looked like he could eventually morph into a steal from the awesome 2002 draft. But instead of getting better, he's gotten worse every year, culminating with this season's amazing 10.7 PPG on 11.4 Shots Per Game. And he's also a guy who, after blowing out his knee, was rewarded by the Sixers' brilliant super GM from Planet Basketball, Sir Billy King, with a 4-year deal. At least King didn't go through with offering the still-stupid 6-year deal Green had originally agreed to before he decided to go dunk on a 6th grader in a pickup game.

Green is an awful shooter who takes tons of woeful shots, and who also lost a step after he jammed his kneecap into some 3rd graders skull in a playground game. But you know who still loves him? Tons of morons around here. They see his "energy" and "desire" as making up for his "terrible, terrible shooting" and "team-ruiningness". When awful shooters like Willie Green are supported, Don Imus wins.

So as the Sixers' season comes to an unfortunate close (they can't win shit, but they can't tank properly either), I'll miss having Willie Green to knock around. But I'll be ready for November, and this year I'll finally have my cats trained to hiss at the sight of him or mention of his name. Right now all they do is poop on the floor when Samuel Dalembert shoots from further than 7 feet out, as do I.

These Are Your Philadelphia 76ers

No Igoudala.

No Korver.

Bobby Jones starts and plays 25 minutes.

Louis Williams plays 30 minutes.

The Pacers are still fighting for the 8th seed in the East.

And somehow the Sixers manage to win. Even more surprising, Willie Green only takes 9 shots in the 35 minutes he is on the court. He must already be looking forward to his summer pickup games where it is actually acceptable to score less than one point per shot attempt.

Right now the Sixers are tied with Minnesota and Sacramento for the 9/10/11 spot in the lottery. Things are not looking good for getting a player even in the second tier of this year's draft crop. But hey, at least that second round pick they get from the Knicks this year will be a little bit higher.