Sixers Endgame

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. That’s one way you could describe the Philadelphia 76ers season, but not even I was ready for this. This, of course, being the absolutely meteoric fall from playoff contention over the last two months of the season, dropping 14 out of 24 games, and catastrophically dropping from the potential 5 seed to a bottom feeder in the Adam Morrison draft day sweepstakes.

What went wrong? Hindsight is 20/20, but anybody who knows the game and watches the Sixers could’ve told you this was going to happen along time ago (in fact, I did just that before the trading deadline).

First things first – this off season the Sixers, as much as it kills me to say this, have to unload Iverson. Now, in the NBA you often don’t get equal value when you trade superstars, but not only can Philly get an influx of youth and potential draft picks to compliment the young core group of Iguoudala, Korver and Dalembert, but Iverson’s max contract would be off the books, opening much needed cap space for the Sixers to make moves.

Unfortunately for Philly, they have Billy King, a GM so atrocious and prone to overpay and overvalue talent that he attends Isiah Thomas’ school for management and fiscal responsibility. Because of Mr. Wizard over here, the Sixers are still paying the salaries of Todd MacCulloch, Jamal Mashburn and Aaron McKie, which total over $18 million for this season alone – more than Iverson’s 05-06 base salary.

If they unload Iverson, the Sixers would then have some flexibility in free agency. Despite this class being particularly weak, there are some players that could help Philly, like Rasual Butler and Speedy Claxton, both of which could sure up the weak Philadelphia bench depending on their price tags.

Even if the right players with the right prices aren’t there this off season, and they rarely are with King penchant for overpaying, the free agent class of 07 will be the strongest in recent memory and the Sixers would be in better shape, at least, for that.

Falling out of the playoffs means, at least, one good thing for Philly – a lottery pick in the always exciting NBA Draft. Despite the pick, though, the Sixers have two things going against them; their chance of grabbing the number one spot is .6% and a draft class weaker than the College’s crew team’s drinking stomachs.

Probability would pit us at number 12, which, at that point, it’s likely Duke’s Sheldon Williams will fall to us. Williams, while not by any means an NBA all-star, is a banger that plays good defense and can block shots with the best of them. While he isn’t an offensive stud, his low post game has improved leaps and bounds over his senior year and, given that improvement, can likely do much more. Think of him as a Carlos Boozer type – before the injuries and without the asinine lawsuit against Prince.

The final thing the Sixers could do now to become a better club is to surround head coach Mo Cheeks with a fiery and intense assistant coaching staff for this young and sometimes lethargic squad.

The laid back Cheeks is a players’ coach – something suited about as well for this leaderless team as Barry Bonds is for the home run record – oh, wait.. Seriously though, Philly can’t fire Cheeks. The players like him, the city likes him and the organization needs some stability – with four coaches in four years, the Sixers are the like NBA’s coaching version of the girl who gets around. You don’t build a team around a coach; you hire a coach fit well for your team – and the Sixers need a coaching staff fit for this squad.

Will doing all of these things will by no means make the 76ers automatically a real contender of a team (to be fair, nothing will), this, I believe, is the best plan of action to put a strong young squad on the floor with the highest ceiling for improvement while, at the same time, keeping their options open with flexible salaries to make moves if need be.

Tragically though, this is Philadelphia, land of eternal sports suffering, so the sports gods aren’t exactly in their favor. If the Sixers don’t make these or some moves anytime soon, they’re going to continue be a very average team for a very long time.