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This is from the Philly Inquirer




Sixers Notes: Stefanski says no deals in the works

76ers Notes
NEW YORK - The 76ers have lost 11 of their last 13 games. With a young team, Ed Stefanski is preaching patience.
That means even as opposing teams call about deals, Stefanski insists he won't make a trade just to shake things up.

"We made it known there is no fire sale here," the Sixers' president and general manager said last night before an 89-81 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. "We like our young core of kids, and they will get better as they get older."

Though Andre Miller has been the subject of trade speculation, all signs point to the Sixers' not dealing him by the Feb. 21 deadline unless they are bowled over by an offer.

"We have Andre Miller, who is a glue guy making the players better," Stefanski said. "We have Andre Iguodala, and Sammy [Dalembert] is playing at a high level. We just haven't gotten over the hump."

Despite the losses, Stefanski sees positives for the Sixers and coach Maurice Cheeks.

"These guys are competing, and Mo hasn't lost them," he said. "We're not going to make any changes for the sake of making a change. We're not going to give people away. That doesn't make any sense at all."


Return to the Garden
Madison Square Garden was where guard Lou Williams suffered a frightening fall after the Knicks' David Lee committed a flagrant foul in the Sixers' 105-77 win on Dec. 8.
Williams suffered a broken right big toe. He missed two games and took a while to return to form.

Entering last night, Williams was averaging 10.9 points a game. He scored in double figures in only six of his first eight games after the injury, but he was in double figures in 10 of the previous 13 games before scoring seven points last night.

"I think Louis is kind of on his way back, playing the way he was playing before he got hurt here," Cheeks said. "There are times when you get hurt that it takes you a little ways to get back to where you want to be."


King on the tube
Billy King, the Sixers' former president and general manager, will serve as in-studio host for NBA TV's Game Night Live at 8 p.m. Monday. The show will precede NBA TV's telecast of the San Antonio Spurs game against the Utah Jazz at 9.
This is King's second appearance. He is scheduled to be an analyst each Monday on NBA TV. - Marc Narducci







If your a sixers fan, this is super bad news. WE NEED TO MAKE SOME DEALS. This team never is going to win a championship with Andre Miller and Andre Igoudala being it's one to punch. We at least need to trade Green and evans, if not miller. Otherwise Ed is selling our souls to mediocrity.

I still wonder if ownership has the GM's hands tied

They are not going to be our one two punch. We are going to have another high draft pick and we will be able to land a big time free agent this summer through FA or trade.

I am sure Ed is just blowing smoke with typical GM speak. If nothing has changed after the trade deadline then we can start a fire Ed web page and burn an Ed doll outside of the FUC .

After all he can't seriously believe that Andre is making that big of a difference at this point having lost 12 of the last 15 or something to that affect.

I would much rather continue to lose like we are knowing that Young, Smith, and Williams are getting valuable playing time under their belts rather than seeing Green, Evans, and Miller out on the court losing like this. This is truly pissing me off.

Patience my ass. I would be patient if the kids were playing. I am noot patient watching Evans and Green strink up the joint with our 32 year old floor general!

If your a sixers fan, this is super bad news

What did you expect him to say? This is just him saying "we're not going to give our guys away". I wouldn't trust anything anyone says at this time of year.

first, people really need to realize that green and evans have absolutely no value.

second, there's no reason to just dump miller for expirings and/or a late pick, because that's not equal value. It makes total sense that Eddie would keep Miller for 3 reasons.

1) If Eddie somehow lands a quality PF this summer (which is feasible considering his assets - cap space, high lottery pick, iggy's rights, etc). For example, if there's any possibility to attain Amare (longshot), it would behoove Eddie to surround him with a quality distributor like Miller. Again, look at what Boston did last summer. People were incredulous at the Ray Allen acquisition, but eventually it made complete sense to bring in the veteran. It made Boston a much more appealing destination for KG, and eventually, it made the C's a better team.

2) If they don't land an impact player this summer (which is realistic - be patient... and blame billy, not eddie) - now you have a $10 million expiring contract going into next season. Solid.

3) Miller is definitely helping these young guys. His presence is keeping the team together, he's a very high character guy, and he serves a valuable role on this team.Let's face it. This is a losing team right now. It's important to keep morale high through the adversity. Without Miller, this team would be much more likely to have dissension in the ranks. It's undeniable that he's helping with their development.

Be patient, people.

2 things I get from that article:


1. Ed could be seriously blowing smoke, or.....
2. He could be fully embracing tanking mode.

I agree, ED is either making other GM's think he isn't trading so he can get better offers, or he is going into tank mode seeing how bad were losing so in the summer he can make some deals. I wouldn't start chanting fire ED until we see our starting line up next year.

Honestly it's not just ED if we put any other GM in the league right now, they couldn't trade Green or Evans. Nobody wants these people.

THFM wrote:I agree, ED is either making other GM's think he isn't trading so he can get better offers, or he is going into tank mode seeing how bad were losing so in the summer he can make some deals. I wouldn't start chanting fire ED until we see our starting line up next year.

Honestly it's not just ED if we put any other GM in the league right now, they couldn't trade Green or Evans. Nobody wants these people.

your telling me the magic won't give up on expiring for him? I mean come on guys, Evans is a good rebounder and the magic need rebounders.

I agree with Fire BK that it would be nice to have miller be a ten million dollar expiring, however, the faster the rebuild the better.

Fire BK wrote:
If Eddie somehow lands a quality PF this summer (which is feasible considering his assets - cap space, high lottery pick, iggy's rights, etc). For example, if there's any possibility to attain Amare (longshot), it would behoove Eddie to surround him with a quality distributor like Miller.

It's difficult to know if Ed is telling the truth or not, but this strategy makes a lot of sense if he believes there is a good chance of getting a star PF this offseason.

I started to write a thread when I first read this article this morning. I think it's smoke, and I think Miller will be dealt before the trade deadline. There are too many playoff/borderline playoff teams that could use him for the next two seasons (Orlando, Atlanta, Cleveland, Denver, Chicago and even Boston could use him as an upgrade at the point just off the top of my head). Who knows what will happen, but I won't be shocked if he's elsewhere in the next few weeks.

ES is right, we do not need to make a deal for the sake of making one.

But, what he didn't say is that we won't make a deal. (ie. step up with a good affer, or stay away)

He is waiting for the best offer. There are many teams contending and 1 team will eventually realize that Miller is the PG they need. ES will likely score a very good deal AND include either Green or Evans in the deal.

Also, there are consistent rumblings that Dalembert is being discussed... where there is smoke there tends to be fire. This may be a situation where ES may want to sell high. Centers are scarce, so again a team may overpay for Dalembert thinking he is the last piece. Phoenix? Toronto? Again ES could demand that Green or Evans be included in the deal.

Deal with Toronto- we get this year's #1 also
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/t ... &te=&cash=


Deal with Lakers- we also get a #1

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/t ... &te=&cash=

Watching Okafor tonight just makes you think what a difference a strong post presence may make. Say they make no additional moves, but sign Okafor in the offseason and draft around #6. Go into next season with...

PG: Miller/Williams
SG: Iguodala/Batum/Green
SF: Thad/Carney
PF: Okafor/Smith/Hill
C: Dalembert/Evans/Booth

Moving Evans into a less prominent role, and having a low post presence in Okafor would make a huge difference for this club.

freshie2 wrote:Watching Okafor tonight just makes you think what a difference a strong post presence may make. Say they make no additional moves, but sign Okafor in the offseason and draft around #6. Go into next season with...

PG: Miller/ Bayless/Williams
SG: Iguodala//Green
SF: Thad/Carney
PF: Okafor/Smith/Hill
C: Dalembert/Evans/Booth

Moving Evans into a less prominent role, and having a low post presence in Okafor would make a huge difference for this club.

I'd rather see bayless in there and trade Miller for something good

As an outsider looking in (a Knicks' fan living in Philly - but I have a lot of respect for the Sixers organization), I can't believe that Stefanski would make a set-up trade, like the one he made with Korver, which sent a signal to the team that management was going to make bigger changes and caused the recent slide that has taken place, and then not make any more moves. Doesn't make sense to me.

freshie2 wrote: Say they make no additional moves, but sign Okafor in the offseason

Is 10 million enough to get Okafor?

Narducci was on WIP tonight. He said he doesn't see them moving Miller. He also said he doesn't think Cheeks will be back next season. He said talking with Stefanksi he gets the impression he wants to bring in his own coaching staff.

Okafor does not satisfy the criteria of being a serious threat down-low. Besides he is pretty much an injury-prone player. If we can obtain him relatively cheaply I would not be that opposed but otherwise I have really no interest in him.

That said, I think we are pretty much set for the offseason. I do not think we will find a taker for Evans or Green. We should rather pay attention how we could use our roughly 10 millions and some young chips (LW, Smith) for a legitimate big man, especially for Gasol or Brand.

I don't think Okafor is perfect, but he would be a huge upgrade over Evans in that role. It was just a hypothetical to think about how an upgrade at PF changes the team. Place him next to Sam, and that is a huge upgrade than Sam/Evans.

You could put anyone in the draft pick slot to upgrade the depth...the BPA at that spot may be a big man, which is fine as well.

Wingy22 wrote:As an outsider looking in (a Knicks' fan living in Philly - but I have a lot of respect for the Sixers organization), I can't believe that Stefanski would make a set-up trade, like the one he made with Korver, which sent a signal to the team that management was going to make bigger changes and caused the recent slide that has taken place, and then not make any more moves. Doesn't make sense to me.

I tend to agree with you on this one. Trading KK gives them enough cap space, especially if they are not interested in Arenas, Brand or one of the RFAs. Just seems like Miler's value is at the peak right now. I still expect him to be moved but not just for expiring contracts. I think Stefanski expects a younger, starter caliber player in return though.

Any Miller trade must involve the following:

- an expiring coming back
- a young player coming back
- a draft pick
- the team acquiring Miller also takes Green or Evans

The Lakers?