Wake Me Up When September Ends

John Hollinger wrote a long old piece two weeks ago in which he opines upon pretty much every transaction made this summer.

Well, if he can, I can. From the people you know about, to the insignificant ones you couldn't give a Keith Closs about. That's how I want it, so that's how it's going to be.

If you're the kind of person who is annoyed by long posts, then the length of this post will annoy you. It is essentially done as a compendium of all the relative NBA parts of the Summer Signings sequence of posts, written so that I don't have to do it when I do my season previews. This way, I might actually get them all done this year! Woop!

(Readers note: If the format and opinions contained within this piece are incredibly similar to those of John Hollinger, then that's because John Hollinger is very good at what he does. And that's why he did this first. To a much higher standard. Also, if it gets too long for you to tolerate it, print it off and read it next time you're having a shit. The bonus aspect to this - you can then use it to wipe your arse with! Win win situation. Alternatively, if you hate it and feel like killing yourself for having read it, you can give yourself a nasty papercut with the print-out and then bleed to death in the bath. And, as everyone knows, there's nothing worse than a papercut. Not even cholera. I like to think of your welfare when writing this opinionated bobbins.)

(Instead of this, just search for your favourite team's name for their transactions.)


Big old eight figure deals:

Philadelphia landed a big name free agent, which hasn't happened in the entire time that I've followed the sport. They did so by signing Elton Brand for 5 year and $79.8 million, after Brand reneged on a verbal agreement to re-sign with the L.A. Clippers, a deed for which he will join Carlos Boozer and John Salmons in hell. After this, Philadelphia also re-signed Andre Iguodala to a 6 year, $80 million deal - those two now form the Sixers core, along with Louis Williams, Samuel Dalembert, Thaddeus Young and Andre Miller (who is staring down the barrel of an extension.) But none of them can shoot three's. Just saying.

Baron Davis opted out and agreed to leave Golden State for the Clippers after Brand's verbal commitment, but stuck to his promise even after Brand didn't. So he's going to heaven. His 5 year, $65 million deal is comparative value, in a world where one in every two players averages $15 million now. (Sort of.) Monta Ellis got 6 years and $66 million to replace Davis at point guard, even though he isn't one, and already he's torn his ankle up in suspicious circumstances. So that made for a good start to the Warriors offseason.

Golden State also paid Andris Biedrins $54 million over 6 years, a comparative bargain in a world where people will overpay for unproductive centres in the hope that they start producing. But before both of those re-signings, they brought in Corey Maggette on a 5 year, $48 million contract. This despite having drafted a small forward (Anthony Randolph) will a hell of a lot of promise, while also having Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson, Marco Belinelli, Kelenna Azubuike and Brandan Wright to get some 2/3/4 minutes. Corey Maggette is a good player, and the price for which he has signed represents decent value, but I still don't see the point here. Now you have negative mismatches in your starting lineup. There's not much good to say about a starting guard lineup of Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson. Play, Randolph.

Washington threw a shitload of money at re-signing Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison, commiting themselves to a core consistently good enough to not win the East. Here's hoping for another big leap from Caron Butler, but I don't think he's got one more in him.

Josh Smith signed an offer sheet with Memphis after his negotiations to re-sign with Atlanta got sticky and underwhelming. The offer sheet was of good value to Memphis. Unfortunately, precisely because of that, Atlanta matched it immediately.

Luol Deng went through the rather awkward process of setting an artificial deadline date for his negotiations, but disaster was averted when the Bulls overpaid to keep him.

Emeka Okafor turned a year of improved health and worse play into a 6 year, $72 million contract from Charlotte, the details of which are not listed on this website purely because I forgot. That's how we roll around here.

Toronto re-signed Jose Calderon quickly and easily to a 5 year, $45 millionc ontract. In the opening stages of free agency, the players signed are almost always overpaid. See also: Toronto, Jason Kapono, last year. But this time, that's not the case. I'm teary eyed.

Chris Paul and Deron Williams both agreed to max extensions, in possibly the easiest negotiations in the world.

"How many years do you want?"
"Four."
"OK, done."

Easy. Cuts the heartache out of it.

Andrew Bogut took a 5 year, $60 million extension from Milwaukee, one which he'll justify if he makes an improvement like last year's. Unfortunately, Scott Skiles is his coach now.




Reasonably big deals:

The Mavericks gave the full MLE to DeSagana Diop, without changing their core at all. Their core was never good enough, and yet all they do to change it is add Diop, a backup centre who may well start under some misguided "tempo" concept. Hmmm. So when you were nearly good enough to win a title, Diop wasn't enough to get you over the hump, yet now that you're nowhere near one, he's all you need? I don't understand this. Nor do I understand why a man who has never scored above 10 points in a game deserves $32.4 million. And I've tried to understand that, I really have.

Cleveland retained shooters Delonte West and Daniel Gibson for noticably less than the MLE each. Alternatively, you could say that they've both been retained for the cost of one Rick Snow. Either way, I'm worried about this new version of the Cavs. You know, the one that does good business sometimes. And which has some idea of what decent guard play is.

J.R. Smith re-signed with Denver, and George Karl will be gone before J.R. is. Which should please both of them.

Joe Dumars surprised us all when he signed Kwame Brown to a 2 year, $8 million deal. Come on, Joe. You're better than that.

Never bound by society's conformities, the Golden State Warriors filled their backup centre hole with Ronny Turiaf, a power forward. This might not be the best idea, but it's a better idea than using Al Harrington there. In overpaying to make sure that the Lakers didn't match, the Warriors overpaid.

The Lakers paid Sasha Vujacic 3 years and $15 million after three seasons of piss poor everything and one season of fine jumpshooting. Paying someone on the basis of one season is always a risky proposition, and it sure as hell didn't work out for Vujacic's namesake, Sasha Pavlovic. But then again, Vujacic didn't subject himself to an embarassing holdout, and probably won't show up to camp 25 pounds overweight like Pavlovic did. This will help stave off any dramatic Pavlovic-like demise.

James Jones signed a five year deal with Miami that has only two years of guaranteed money, which seems like a rather odd thing to do. His presence will once again ensure that Dorell Wright never actually plays, which seems to be a priority for the Heat.

Minnesota re-signed Ryan Gomes to a very similar deal to that of Jones, with the added advantage that Gomes is comfortably the better player.

New Jersey has enough forwards already, but that didn't stop them giving a four year contract to Eduardo Najera, either unaware of oblivious to the fact that four year contracts to 32 year old forwards who were never any good anyway are usually bad news. They gave a similar sized but shorter contract to Keyon Dooling in a sign and trade, meaning that a man who averages 3.9 assists per 48 minutes is now their backup point guard. I'm not sure what they're trying to achieve, to be honest.

New Orleans were lauded for giving James Posey the full MLE for 4 years, but we'll see how they feel in two years time, when a soon-to-be-34 year old Posey will have two years and $13.4 million remaining. Lest we forget - his importance was magnified due to the Celtics championship run, but Posey himself is past 30 and beginning to decline. Get as much as you can out of him next year, because that's the sole year of value.

New York gave Chris Duhon the full MLE for two years, under the misguided idea that he's the type of player that will reverse their fortunes. Such logic was used on Jared Jeffries, and such logic was wrong. Like Jeffries, Duhon is fatally flawed. He's only pass first because he's a terrible offensive guard, and he only has such a nice assist/turnover ratio because he never attempts even slightly tricky passes. Don't go around thinking that this man is good for your halfcourt offense. He isn't. And if his defense doesn't come back to where it was, you'll be wondering what in the hell you just signed.

Robert Swift took the qualifying offer to return to the Thunder, one which was rather generously extended given that Swift has played only 96 out of a possible 7872 minutes these past two seasons. (That's 1.219%, percentage fans.)

Orlando rather foolishly gave Mickael Pietrus the full mid level exception for 4 seasons. The Magic are a franchise that have to severly limit their own budget from here on out after the ridiculous Rashard Lewis contract, and yet now they've gone and overpaid for Pietrus, a miedocre player who also happens to play a position where the Magic already have two vastly superior players (Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu). If Orlando has any aspirations over playing Pietrus at shooting guard, they're about to find out the hard way how bad of an idea that is. I don't care how good Turkoglu is - you can't have Jameer Nelson and Pietrus as your backcourt. Not unless you want Tony Battie to handle the ball handling duties.

Louis Williams re-signed with Philadelphia for a bargain price of 5 years and $25 million. That is less than half of what Monta Ellis got from Golden State, and Williams is not less than half the player that Monta Ellis is. Not sure how they got this done.

Sacramento gave their full MLE to Beno Udrih, on account of his "breakout" season, overlooking the fact that 12.8 points and 4.3 assists with a less than 2:1 assist to turnover ratio is decidedly unremarkable from a starting point guard.

San Antonio, finally with money to spend, replaced the aging Brent Barry with another shooter in Roger Mason, as well as bringing back Kurt Thomas. Both contracts are slightly too big, but both are for only two years, which makes it worthwhile. (Readers note: such logic is also the saving grace of the Chris Duhon deal, and would have been the saving grace of the Mickael Pietrus deal had Orlando gone that route.)

Oklahoma City's first free agency splash involved throwing a hell of a lot of money to the uproven C.J. Miles. The contract was surprisingly large at 4 years and $14.8 million. Even more surprisingly, Utah matched it. Almost immediately after doing so, though, owner Larry Miller voiced concerns about the Jazz's proximity to the luxury tax in the near future. Yes, well, you should have thought of that before you matched the Miles deal. The saving grace is that Jerry Sloan will have to actually play Miles now.




Small, non-minimum deals:

The Clippers signed Kelenna Azubuike to a reasonable three year offer sheet, which Golden State matched once Maurice Evans turned his back on them. Keeping Azubuike represents decent value for Golden State, but after the Maggette signing, one of either Azubuike or Marco Belinelli is going to once again be nailed to the bench, neither of whom should be there. Evans then went to Atlanta for a cheap price, where he'll do a reasonably decent job of replacing Josh Childress in the rotation.

Soon after signing Evans, Atlanta then signed Ronald Murray, for no particular reason. If you want him to be your backup point guard, good luck.

Boston brought Eddie House and Tony Allen for average prices. Reasonable moves free of cynicism.

Seemingly sure that they've got enough, Dallas re-signed Devean George, Antoine Wright and Juan Jose Barea for a combined $11.6 million. Why they keep paying Devean George is beyond me. The others are all right.

Walter Herrmann re-signed with Detroit for only one year and $2 million, and now that Jarvis Hayes has gone, they might actually play him.

Houston's sole free agency signing has been giving the LLE to Brent Barry, giving them an extra needed shooter but doing nothing to resolve their point guard problem. The Rockets are saving their MLE for Carl Landry, who remains unsigned for whatever reason. (Can you hear me, Memphis? Indiana? Charlotte? So what if they match, you can try, right?)

(EDIT: Well done, Charlotte. Now watch Houston match because of how small that offer sheet is.)

Ricky Davis signed with the Clippers. The money's good ($2.3 million next year), but the depth it gives them could be both a blessing and a curse - with Eric Gordon and Cuttino Mobley also at shooting guard, and Tim Thomas and Al Thornton getting small forward minutes, where does Ricky get his minutes? If he's not going to get any, why sign him? Still, it's good to have options.

Memphis signed Marc Gasol and Hamed Haddadi to replace Kwame Brown and Jason Collins at the centre spots, successfully ensuring that Darko Milicic is now their most experienced centre. Doesn't sound good when you put it like that, but as young centre projects go, these two are worthwhile.

Needing a starting point guard, the Heat brought back Chris Quinn, who is in no way a starting point guard. However, resigning The Quinn is a decent failsafe move, unlike what any pursuit of Stephon Marbury will be. The Heat also brought in Yakhouba Diawara, because you can never have too many absolutely awful offensive guards, and they also brought back Dorell Wright on a two year deal so that he can sit behind the two other small forwards that they brought in this year. It's weird that they do this, you know.

Milwaukee made three rather cheap but totally pointless signings. They brought in Francisco Elson as a tiny upgrade to Dan Gadzuric, in spite of Elson's bad season last year. They brought in Malik Allen, apparently not satisfied with their quota of sub-45% shooting jumpshooting 'power' forward pansies. And they brought in Tyronn Lue as a second or third point guard, in spite of the fact that he shares that same weakness as his peers Ramon Sessions and Luke Ridnour - he can't defend. It doesn't seem to me like they've correctly identified their flaws from last year. Still, nice trade they made. (More on this later.)

Sebastian Telfair turned a season of poor shooting, mediocre defense and largely meaningless assists into a three year, $8.1 million contract. If nothing else, last year was an improvement over what went before, which doesn't say much. Aside from that, the Timberwolves also re-signed Craig Smith for the bargain price of 2 years and $4.8 million, meaning that Smith will experience unrestricted free agency at the earliest possible opportunity. One of the better backup big men in the league, and he's signed for that cheap with no real suitors? Really? Why do people keep selling Craig Smith so short? He should never have fallen to the second round, and he should never be signed for less than players such as Francisco Elson and Kwame Brown. So what gives? Who cares that he's a slightly fat 6'7? He's good. Respect this.

New Jersey signed Jarvis Hayes, even after trading for Bobby Simmons and agreeing to terms with Eduardo Najera. I don't know why they did this. Don't be fooled into thinking that Hayes is an outside shooter. He isn't. And if it's an outside shooter from the forward spots that you want, make Keith Van Horn start turning up. He probably won't be much use, but.....well, I won't say what I was about to say because I've vowed to become a nicer person.

Anthony Johnson signed with Magic, replacing Carlos Arroyo as the backup point guard. Bill Walton once said about him, "if Johnson ever gets a jumpshot, who's going to stop him?". Well, Johnson now has one, so I guess he's now unstoppable. Getting an unstoppable player is not bad for the bi-annual exception.

Toronto brought in their former draft pick, Roko Ukic, to be their backup point guard. Ukic is about to turn 28, and isn't nearly the prospect that we think he is, yet his 12.7 scoring average as a shoot first point guard is apparently enough to be a primary NBA backup point guard. M'kay. We'll see. Colour me sceptical.

(EDIT - Um, whoops. Ignore that bit about Ukic. I'm a twat.)



Part two in a minute.

Summer signings, round 14

- Good news: Bobby Jones was claimed off of waivers. Bad news: Miami did it. Why is this bad news? Because Bobby Jones has already spent time with Miami, and going back to a team that he has already been with doesn't help Jones's quest to have briefly been on the roster of every NBA franchise before the start of the 2010 season. So far, in 2 seasons in the NBA - and if we rather generously include the 2006 draft, as Jones's rights were traded that night - Bobby has spent times with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Denver Nuggets, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Houston Rockets, the Miami Heat, the San Antonio Spurs, Denver again, the New York Knicks, and now Miami again. That's 8 franchises in 24 months, a rate that not even an in-his-heyday Josh Davis could match. So, Miami - do us a favour and trade him to Atlanta for his namesake Solomon Jones or something. Don't be selfish.

- Allan Houston wants to make another comeback attempt. Great. Good luck with that.

- The two remaining Oklahoma City unsigned draftees - DeVon Hardin and Serge Ibaka - have both signed contracts in Europe. Ibaka signed a three year contract with Ricoh Manresa of Spain, a deal which allows him to leave and return to the NBA after each year should he so wish. Hardin meanwhile signed with Belediyespor in Turkey on a one year deal. Neither signing is interesting.

- Earl Boykins has signed a one year, $3.5 million contract with Virtus Bologna in Italy, thereby making the remaining available point guard crop even worse. Not that the presence of Earl Boykins really did it much good.

- Filiberto Rivera has signed with Bamberg in Germany, thereby making the remaining available point guard crop even worse. Not that the presence of Filiberto Rivera really did it much good.

- For those keenly following the progress of Ivan Radenovic (if such people exist, I keep them well fed), Radenovic has upped sticks and moved to Greece, to play for Panellionios. If you couldn't be bothered to read previous posts on the subject of Ivan Radenovic, the Spanish team that he played for - Akasvayu Girona - extended his contract, and then went bankrupt, which was hopefully nothing to do with the size of Radenovic's contract. I'll miss Girona, you know. We got a few games of theirs on TV over here last year, and every time they were on, a staggeringly hot Spanish woman was the sideline reporter for the night. She spoke broken English in a hot accent, which just made the total package that much more enticing. You know how it is when women are so unbelievably good looking that it becomes impossible to rank their beauty when compared to other unbelievably good looking women? Well, she was one of them. So it's a shame that I won't be able to look at her talk four times a year for twenty seconds at a time A damn shame. And that's why I'll miss Akasvayu Girona.

- Jannero Pargo was reportedly on the verge of signing with the San Antonio Spurs, but now reports say that Miami has made a late bid for him. Since the Heat have spent most of their MLE on the unflinching duo of Mario Chalmers and James Earl Jones, the most that they can offer Pargo is the Bi-Annual Exception, which starts at $1.91 million, you have to wonder why Pargo opted out of the contract that would have paid him $1.976 million next year. Pargo has now opted out of his contract for two straight seasons, yet he remains unable to get the one massive paycheck that he's looking for. The chances of him signing a third straight two year contract with a player option, and then opting out after the first year, look impressively high. And that's got to be a world first. These are the things that I think about, by the way.

- Louis Williams re-signed with the 76ers, ensuring that they will have at least one shooting guard who will score more points than he will have attempted field goals. No, I haven't gotten over the Kareem Rush move yet.

- The Bobcats signed Shannon Brown, a move which doesn't seem to solve anything. By the way, if you are Shannon Brown, and you've just had your rookie scale contract cut down to only two years by Cleveland, and you're allowed to walk away unchallenged by your hometown Chicago Bulls, what reason would you possibly have for not joining on with a summer league team? Wouldn't it be a good idea to get in as much shwocasing as you can? This is what I would do, I'm pretty sure. (Note: if Brown was injured or otherwise incapacitated, therefore making my rant unjustified and ill-founded, please do not hesitate to keep that information to yourself.)

- The Rockets traded Steve Novak to the L.A. Clippers in order to save some money, so that they can try to re-sign Carl Landry and pay as little tax as possible. Or, ideally, none at all. It makes sense for Houston to dump the guaranteed money of an inconsequential player, but if someone could explain to me why the Clippers held onto Nick Fazekas for an unnecessarily long time, just to then trade for his older brother in Steve Novak, then please do that. Where's the vast gaping chasm of seperation between Fazekas and Novak, exactly? Is it a bigger or smaller gaping chasm of difference than the one that the Clippers saw between Jason Hart and Brevin Knight? An answer on those would be good, because I'm clearly not smart enough to get it. By the way, God bless Steve Novak. Class.

- Tarence Kinsey signed with the Cavaliers. Have I mentioned that Memphis waived Kinsey in preference to waiving Casey Jacobsen? I have. Will I mention it again? Probably. i just think it bears repeating, you know? The Memphis Grizzlies, everyone.

- And finally, what you've been waiting for - recently cut Nugget (so to speak) Taurean Green is about to sign with some team in some country in Europe. And I forgot to write down who and where.

What you've just witnessed, ladies and gentleman, is the work of an amateur. Be proud. Give generously.

30 teams in 36 or so days: Philadelphia

Philadelphia 76ers


Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Jack diddly crap



Players acquired via draft:

First round: Thaddeus Young (12th overall), Jason Smith (20th overall, acquired in draft night trade)
Second round: Derrick Byars (42nd overall, acquired in draft night trade, unsigned), Herbert Hill (55th overall, acquired in draft night trade, unsigned)


Players retained:

Louis Williams (exercised team option), Shavlik Randolph (exercised player option)


Players departed:

Joe Smith (signed with Chicago), Alan Henderson (unsigned, might yet return)


Bobbins:

Trivia question: Which player did Billy King either sign or re-sign this offseason for way too many guaranteed years and guaranteed money, as is his yearly custom to do at least once?

Answer: No one.

This is extremely unusual behaviour from the man who in recent years has given out or taken on the contracts of Aaron McKie, Allen Iverson, Chris Webber, Samuel Dalembert, Dikembe Mutombo, Todd MacCulloch, Greg Buckner, Kevin Ollie, Derrick Coleman, Marc Jackson, Keith Van Horn, Eric Snow, Steven Hunter, Jamal Mashburn, Glenn Robinson, Brian Skinner, Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson, George Lynch and Willie Green, amongst others. Years of piling on payroll and trying to manoeuvre his way out of previous bad personel decisions have left his team with a big tab to pick up, and not much to show for it. This, it would appear, has stymied King's spending habits, if only for a bit (next year, the Sixers payroll predicts to be about half of where it is now).

The offshoot from this, though, is that King has not improved his team in any capacity via trades or free agency. And this leaves him with all his eggs in one basket, having to address his team needs via the draft.

Historically, this is where King does his best work. Having not had much in the way of high draft picks during his tenure, on draft night King has acquired players such as Larry Hughes, Speedy Claxton Nazr Mohammed, Kyle Korver and John Salmons, as well as Green, MacCulloch, Dalembert and Iguodala, the majority of whom turned in great value for their draft spot. This season, armed with three first rounders as a result of the Iverson trade and also a second rounder, King figured to improve his roster notably in one hit.

Did it work? Did it bollocks.

In the 2006 draft, King made a draft day trade that wound up with him selecting Rodney Carney in the first round. It was a strange pick - a backup at best with playes in front of him, and with no standout skills to really speak of outside of his athleticism, Carney didn't add much to a roster which, at that time (and even now), needed a big infusion of talent. The pick was made just that little bit more pointless when King then selected another small forward - Bobby Jones - in the second round. He also signed free agent small forwards Steven Smith and Louis Amundson at various points in the season.

You could say he has a thing for small forwards with decent to debatable talent. And you'd be right - in this year's first round, he saw fit to draft another one, selecting the phantasmogoric Thaddeus Young with his first pick.

His second first round pick saw more of the strange duplication tactic going on. Already stuck with paying multiple years and a whole arseload of money to Dalembert and Hunter, King decided that he needed a third tall athletic shotblocker with mediocre offense, drafting Jason Smith out of Colorado State. Whether Young and Smith go on to become good picks isn't really the point - with a number of issues to address on his roster, King chooses to select another player who is predominantly a mere duplication of what he's already got in place.

How illogical.

King's other draft night moves involved swapping his third and final first rounder (subsequently used on Petteri Koponen) for a mid second rounder (subsequently used on Derrick Byars), with players such as Josh McRoberts, Glen Davis and Jermareo Davidson selected in between the two. And Philadelphia's own second rounder - number 38, used on Kyrylo Fesenko - was traded to Utah for their number 55 selection - Herbert Hill - and "future considerations".

Due to a roster spots crunch, it looks as though Byars and Hill will be coming to training camp to battle for only one spot, which isn't exactly an efficient return when you consider that we're talking about what began as the #30 and #38 picks in a deep draft. Oh and what's more, Byars is a small forward, and Hill is a centre. So more duplication there.

After trading Allen Iverson to Denver fairly early during last season, and following that up by buying out Chris Webber, Philadelphia went from being a 5-18 team at the time of the trade to ending with a 35-47 record. For you maths fans out there, that's a 30-29 record after the trade - above .500.

How they did this continues to baffle me. And why they did this is also dumbfounding. Perhaps it would have more fiscal - if somewhat irresponsible - to tank the blue blazes out of the remainder of the year, as was done by other teams, and try to win a top 3 lottery spot. They had the sufficiently shit team with which to achieve it, after all.

Still, in a sense, you have to admire them for trying to do the right thing, and play the right way. Yet, as one Philadelphia fan said to me towards the end of last season after I mentioned that I admired Philadelphia attempting to try and win games, "I want them to try as well! I just want them to fail."

It's a good point well made, and speaks to the questionable direction taken by management in recent times. When built to win, they lose. And when built to lose, they win. How bizarre.

In return for superstar Allen Iverson, Philadelphia received a half-year of Joe Smith, signed by Chicago in a particularly unspectacular bidding war (Joe didn't even get the full MLE for the two years that he signed. Gotta love GM's that lose out on important players because they overspent less deserving players and ran out of budget). They received Andre Miller, a nice player, and the later two first rounders, parlayed as described above into Jason Smith and Derrick Byars. And a bit of cap relief.

That's all. That's all they received back. For Allen Iverson. How......bizarre. And given the way that they didn't tank out the season, they wound up with Thaddeus Young over the Al Horford and Mike Conley types of this world. Or better, if they were lucky.

What a strange, strange year they had last season. And by "strange", I mean "bad". Here's to more of Kevin Ollie as a backup point guard.




Next season:

As mentioned above, Philadelphia played basically .500 ball for the final two thirds of last season. And I don't get it. The argument which states that it is the sum of the parts that equates to success rather than the value of the actual parts itself holds very true, and always has done. It certainly seems to have applied to the Sixers of last season, and to the neutral it was great fun to see an offense based largely around Kyle Korver succeed quite as it did.

But can it succeed again? If you're a Sixers fan, you have to hope so, because little help has come from outside.

The starting backcourt is talented, but the backups are weak. Kevin Ollie is awesome, but terrible. Louis Williams still hasn't shown an NBA calibre game. And while Willie Green can score, he's more inefficient than an American muscle car. This didn't get addressed this offseason, other than to add the swingman Byars alongside Carney as crossover artists at the 2/3 spots. Outside shooting comes in the form of Kyle Korver and Green, yet not much from everyone else (Iguodala has his days, but it's not a strength yet).

Front court scoring isn't particularly noteworthy, either. Shavlik Randolph will return, but Joe Smith departs, and no offense really replaces him. Jason Smith and Dalembert offer occasional yet inefficient offense at best, and Steven Hunter is bloody terrible.

They have the league's worst power forward rotation, worsened since Smith left for Chicago, and they also don't feature a particularly consistent or hardy centre spot.

There's a lot of flaws on the roster, is what I'm trying to say,

But then again, there was a lot of flaws on the roster last year, and they played mostly .500 ball. I don't know how they did it, but they did it, and circumstances have not changed much. They can do it again.

And besides, they're still in the Eastern Conference. So they still have a playoff chance.



EDIT - Ok, so after I wrote this, the Sixers decided to have a quick flurry of action. Having done toss all for over two whole months, they waited until the short window that it took me to write and post this to do the damn thang. Thanks for that, Billy. Show me up, why don't you.

The Sixers made three moves in this time. They signed Herbert Hill and Derrick Byars (albeit to unguaranteed deals), agreed to sign Calvin Booth, and traded Steven Hunter and Bobby Jones to Denver (apparently their favourite trading partner now) for Reggie Evans and the draft rights to Ricky Sanchez.

The trade opened up a roster spot, as Sanchez is unsigned (although only a fraction of Jones's salary was guaranteed anyway, but whatever), and helps alleviate some of the duplicaiton outlined above. Meanwhile, Reggie Evans may be perhaps the most one-trickish of all the one trick ponies out there in the league today, as well as being quite poor and overpaid. But he is, for what it's worth, the superior player to Steven Hunter. It's one extra year of salary, but hey, this is Philadelphia, who cares about that sort of thing?

But as for the Calvin Booth thing.....

.....they traded the number 30 pick for the number 42 pick under the guise of saving money, and then go and spend that money on Calvin Booth?

And Reggie Evans for that matter?

You're still the master, Billy King. You're still the fucking master.