(last post before my offseason break. I will be back at the end of August, hopefully with the new site up)

So after weeks of rumors, talks and non talks, Andre Miller signed with Portland.

I think this departure will make the Sixers worse. Possibly much worse. It’s a huge loss. Probably underrated by most analysts and fans.

If you followed this site you know I am a great fan of Andre Miller. I think he’s a really good player and was instrumental in getting us to the last two playoffs (short, I know) runs and making our kids better.

Portland did a nice move by signing him and expect Miller to have solid seasons there, it will be a great addition for the young Blazers core. I I will try to follow Portland closer next year and I wish Andre the best.

What will happen on Sixers side? I think we have to consider this move (?) from two standpoints.

But I have to be honest, overall I think Ed Stefanski and management blew this one.

FINANCIALLY

Of course NOT extending a 33 y/o PG when you already have a young, promising (?) PG (???) could make sense. Especially with a shrinking economy, low attendance numbers, (reportedly) even lower season tickets renewals.

If you think the Wachovia center had too often too many empy seats in the past two seasons, expect the holes in the standings to be more next year. And it’s not that hundreds of Miller fans will stop buying tickets, of course: it’s more that the team will win less games, I’m afraid.

I think that Sixers could have offered Miller the same 3 year/21 mill deal that he got from Portland, especially with the third year being a team option. It’s a reasonable amount of $ for a player of his value, to me.

I said numerous times that a contract around 2 year/16 mill would have been fine, a right mix between mantaining flexibility for the summer of 2011 - when we’ll have three expiring contracts (Dalembert, Green and Kapono, for around 23 mill) - and the needing to, well, win games, go deeper in the playoffs… those kind of things that in the League MIGHT count, you know ???

To sum it up, the (understandable) need to save money on a veteran’s contract could become a boomerang for Sixers, in terms of decreased box office revenues, depleted roster and so on.

I am just a blogger, I don’t know what were ownership’s guidelines: probably they weren’t willing to spend big money on him, period.

But at the end of the day, we lost Miller and got NOTHING in return, that’s the hurting truth. The “sign & trade mode” Stefanski talked about some weeks ago resulted more into a “sign (with another team) while Sixers are left with crap”. Bad (non) move, really. 

TECHNICALLY

Again, I have to be honest: I don’t feel so confortable with Lou Williams as starting PG next season.

First, I don’t think Lou is a PG. Second, he’s coming after a pretty disappointing season. Third, he’s handed a starting spot after having showed… nothing to deserve it. Not a great message, for him and his team mates, I think. Sixers are basically saying “you will be a starter because we don’t have a better option”.

On the other side, to complete the picture, - and also to throw in some optimism, in pure S4g style… – we have to consider that:

1) in Jordan’s system you don’t need a traditional PG (= Miller), while a combo guard (= Williams) could work well. True.

2) Lou Williams is still very young, extremely talented and can improve. No need to go on details about the areas where he has to improve: defense,  defense, defense, defense; then decision making, looking more for his team mates and less for his shots (even if I think he will NEVER be a pass-first point guard), leadership. And defense, too.  That’s a lot of work to do. But he has all the skills to get it done.

3) Sixers’ will probably sign another PG to fill a backcourt that as of now is not only thin but also overall poor: no disrespect but TODAY Williams, Green & Holiday form probably the worst rotation of guards in the NBA. Wanna go with them vs Rondo-Allen, Nelson-Carter-Pietrus?

The names that I am hearing aren’t exciting (I’d still take Tinsley, even with the baggage, over Flip Murray, Arroyo etc) but it’s crystal clear that an addition has to be done, and will be done. NONE of the available PGs are better than Miller.

4) Iguodala, that is not happy for Miller’s departure: 

“I aint gone lie, I’m still a lil bitter over this dre miller situation. I knew he wasn’t comin back, but reality is settin in…” 

will probably play the two at the beginning of the season. I hope he does good there because we would need that badly.

A line up of Lou Williams – Andre Iguodala – Thaddeus Young – Elton Brand – Sam Dalembert looks good for another playoffs run and another first round exit.

Good luck in Portland Andre Miller, you are a good player, a good guy and I really liked what you did for this team. You will be missed.

Have great holidays everybody, see you at the end of August !!

(via Sixerguy)

Sixers just released this ’shocking’ practice video:

I have few comments to make.

1) nice to see Dalembert practicing in offseason, he has a reputation for being lazy and not working on his game during the summer.

Good sign, he’s showing some serious committment (or fear to lose his starting spot? LOL).

2) his accent (french?) is sweet, I never listened to him speaking in interviews before. He really seems a good dude… too bad he drives us nuts with all his dumb plays…

3) Jason Smith looks BIG. He worked hard in the weight room, evidently. Props to him.

He is still explosive, though (did you check the dunks? similar to the ones he got us used to in his rookie year - like in the pic) and seems on his way to full recover.

I am a Jason Smith fan and I hope he will be back at 100% and contribute next year. Enough of him in press conferences and presentations, we need his arse on a bball court, and with a (classic) Sixers jersey on.

4) I like Jrue Holiday’s shooting form. He has nice mechanics. He has to extend his range clearly but he has a solid ’shooting fundamentals’ base to build on.

He’s working with Mc Kie, let’s hope he doesn’t imitate Blue with the ultra-slow shot release (LOL).

In a period with few real Sixers news, this was a nice break.

Short recap.

Andre Miller, through his agent, says he wants to stay in Philly.

“Andre has a strong interest, a strong desire to come back”.

Ed Stefanski likes Andre Miller and thinks Sixers are a better team WITH him.

Ricky has always been a great fan of Andre Miller too and would like to have him back next year. And the year after.

In the meantime, the first day of free agency in the NBA was extremely interesting, with Pistons throwing crazy money at Ben Gordon & Villanueva (!), Clippers getting Q Rich for Zach Randolph (!!) – another proof that the “There must be a reason why they are GMs in the NBA and you are just a blogger” is wrong – and Portland reportedly close to make a huge offer to Turkoglu.

Rumors pile up, and since we are talking PGs, the three year offer ready for 36 y/o Kidd is the most shocking one to me, especially coming from a team in rebuilding mode like New York.

Back to Sixers’ PG situation, if the request of 30 millions for 3 years reported by Tom Moore is true, I would say ‘goodbye Andre’.

I assume the Dalembert+Green-for-McGrady trade will not go down, so Sixers have to mantain their flexibility for the summer of 2011, when with Dalembert, Green and newly acquired Kapono coming off the books they will have around 23 millions in expiring contracts.

So the third year, in any Miller deal, should be a TEAM option. Which of course the Millers (Andre & Andy, his agent) will be reluctant to accept.

Any two year deal with Andre Miller is fine for me. I’d leave the GM to decide the amount of $: 16, 18 millions? You pick, I think those would be fair deals for current NBA standards. With two more years of Andre, Jrue Holiday will have the chance to grow as a PG – with Miller as tutor – and (hopefully) be ready to take the helm in 2011.

There might be another possibility: sign Miller for ONE year. For a higher amount of money, perhaps. 10 millions? 11? I would like that, also. Then again, that’s not what Miller & Miller are looking for, but one year from now the situation might be totally different and surely there could be more options for a very good PG like Andre.

There are two facts that can play a role during the (long, they say) negotiations with Miller:

1) the US economy. But we have seen different signs in this sense. For all the Boozers & Korvers (wisely) picking up their player options for next year, you see Portland on its way to give a 30 y/o player a (too) large five year deal, NY willing to sign a free agent until he will turn 39 (that would make Darrell Armostrong look like a rookie), or a franchise UNDER the cap, that seemed to be in financial troubles – and uninterested in seriously making the team better - adding a loser like Randolph and his 35 millions owed for the next two years. The NBA is crazy. 

2) the boatload of PGs just landed in the NBA through the draft (9 in the first round). This can help the Sixers. Not saying every rookie will start and kick out the former starter, but, you know, a lot of teams now have many options for the spot and can entertain trades.

A solid veteran like Miller will always find a job and get paid big $ for it, but maybe his requests will be downsized a bit. This year, I mean.

To sum it up, I think Sixers are better off WITH Miller, but not at any price. I have faith Stefanski will do the right choice.

Yes, Miller has his well known flaws (defense vs quicker opponents, 3 pt shooting etc) but watching the team WITHOUT him has always been a pretty awful show. I like his silent leadership, the ability to always make the better choice, the clutchness.

We need him to continue in our process of growth, and I think Thad Young, Speights, Jason Smith, Lou Williams and the same Iguodala will greatly benefit by playing another year with Miller.

NOTES: I received an email announcing that on July the 4th there will be this ‘The best dunker in Philly’ event.

We are setting up an outdoor basketball court on Ben Franklin Parkway between 21st and 22nd this Saturday (July 4th), and will begin the competition at 4pm.  The event is FREE and is part of the “Party on the Parkway” event already happening that day.  (Btw…I heard Sheryl Crow and The Roots are doing a free concert that night!)

If anyone is interested, it should be fun. For me, getting there is a little complicated (LOL).

Reportedly, former Sixers Marc Jackson & Reggie Evans will NOT compete in the contest

Apparently, yes. And welcome to Sixerland dude.

(NOTE: please give me credit at least for avoiding any pun in the title… Holiday time, Sixers go Holiday etc).

I always admitted I don’t know shlt about college bball. I confirm it again, of course, I cannot pretent to be an expert now, it would be silly.

I just don’t have the time to follow NCAA hoops, watching and blogging the Sixers from here requires a lot of time and dedication, so no room for junior overseas bball (LOL).

That’s why I really don’t know what to say about Jrue Holiday, Sixers’ latest draft pick.

He was expected to be a Top 10 pick, I read almost everywhere. That’s why I used the verb “fall” for the title. I guess that is said every year for many, many players.

But what I am 100% sure of is:

1) in recent years, very rarely Sixers completely f’d the draft up. Instead, they often found good/very good players and also some gems, even with late picks.

Think Willie Green, Korver, Lou Williams, all excellent players in terms of # of pick/efficiency ratio. Dalembert as well – not his fault if he was eventually overpaid, we are talking about what spot he was drafted at. Jason Smith had a promising rookie season and then got injured, but he showed he can play.

Thad Young and, to a lesser extent – but only because he played only a full season - Marreese Speights, can be considered real steals. Very good players that many teams passed on - and now regret it.

The only Rodney Carney could perhaps be labeled as a bust so far, but it’s not completely excluded yet that he will lately turn into a good/decent NBA player (think Matt Barnes or John Salmons, also former Sixers).

That’s why I am confident that DiLeo (almost a genius in evaluating young talent) & his staff did a good job once again. Also I am always optimistic, so no reason to panic or complain.

2) we needed a PG and we drafted a PG. Makes sense.

3) in a day where a lot of blockbuster trades were completed (Darko to NY, Shaq to Cavs, Carter to Magic – I like this for Orlando – etc), we didn’t make any dumb, hurried move and we decided to stand pat, which I think was the best thing to do given the circumstances. I didn’t like any of the possible trades I’ve read in these days, Dalembert for Radmanovic/Mohammed, moving Brand etc. Lateral moves at best.

My idea: keep this core intact, make it work with the new coach, let the young guys continue to grow, try to fit a 100% healthy Brand into the team and see what happens.

In mid December, we can talk again about trades. Ouh, and by the way, Dalembert’s trade value will be IMMENSELY higher in January, the highest next summer.

I am not a great fan of Sam, as you might know, but whoever thinks that it’s possible to play Brand at C for a season, or is ok with Nazr Mohammed as starter, should have his brain examined. Want to get rid of Sam? Fine. But give me a half decent, REAL CENTER to replace him. A Kendrick Perkins, a Brendan Haywood (= Dalembert’s efficiency/numbers, but for half the price). 

But these are different stories. So instead of trying to analyze a player that I actually don’t know, I decided to make a little collection of comments about Holiday: it will be fun (or sweet, depending on his efficiency) to read them at the end of the season.

Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel first puts Holiday among last draft’s winners…:

Last year UCLA had a point guard battle between Holiday and Darren Collison. Bruins coach Ben Howland went with the experienced Collison rather than the freshman Holiday, who played shooting guard.

So, for at least a night, Holiday got a little friendly revenge. He wound up on top, getting picked by Philadelphia at 17. Collison had to only wait until New Orleans grabbed him four spots later. Those must have been some pretty good practices in Westwood.

.. then describes him like this:

Analysis: This isn’t to bash UCLA, a premier program with a great coach. But why Holiday ever went there is a baffling. He’s a point guard who had to play shooting guard (out of position) because the Bruins already had a starter. Had he gone somewhere else (every school wanted him) he could’ve started and probably would’ve been a higher pick, which based on the fact he left after his freshman year was clearly his only goal in college. Very well may be a steal at this spot.

On Kate Fagan’s report we can enjoy DiLeo’s enthusiasm:

“We tried to move up a little bit, we couldn’t move up, we feel very fortunate because most people had him going top-10,” said Sixers assistant general manager Tony DiLeo. “For him to drop to us, we’re ecstatic. He’s exactly what we wanted.”

“Our scouting staff was unanimous,” DiLeo said. “Looking at the players in our area, players we thought might drop down to us, he was a wish player to us. We didn’t think he would drop down. But we were unanimous as a staff that if he dropped down, we were going to take him.”

On DraftExpress’ Holiday page you can read his strenghts and his weaknesses (3 pt and FT shooting woes worry me a bit, I have to be honest…) while Hoopshype has Rodney Stuckey and Keeyon Dooling (LOL) as best case/worst case scenario comparisons:

Still a work in progress. Possesses a high basketball IQ and shows the ball handling skills and unselfishness to project as a point guard down the road.

Let’s go on with Kate Fagan’s post on her blog, I like these excerpts:

Holiday’s strengths appear to be his versatility, his court vision, and his ability to execute, especially off the pick-and-roll. He doesn’t seem to be a guy with explosive athleticism and game-changing skills in transition (like Ty Lawson), but as far as strong point guard skills and upside (let’s keep in mind this kid is 19), Holiday has plenty of that.

The knocks on Holiday are that he is unproven (and this is very true, with what was seen at UCLA), that he doesn’t have a go-to scoring mentality (although that might not be a bad thing on a Sixers roster filled with guys who think they are go-to scorers), that his outside shot needs work (although I heard from a number of people that his form is textbook and he just needs more repetition), and that he has average athleticism and explosiveness

A sweet end of this post could be Chad Ford’s analysis on ESPN:

I really like what the 76ers did, taking an opportunity to nab a lottery talent who was falling because of injury concerns. Holiday is in a long line of players who slipped when team doctors got nervous, with Danny Granger as a prime example. The Sixers could’ve gone with a more proven guard like Ty Lawson or Eric Maynor, but Holiday has more upside and could turn into a terrific pick for them.

A steal? A stiff? A player that will contribute immediately? Lately? A project? We’ll see.

Welcome Jrue (?), can’t wait to see you in a (old, of course) Sixers uniform.

In UCLA he was like this (I like his shooting form !):