RealGM

First congrats on the team doing so well, I told alot of people earlier in the year to watch out for the sixers this year because of their record last year afterAi was traded. The team has the right coach, the right mix of young and vet talent and they all believe in the system.

Now the question I have is why on earth did you fire the guy that put this all together? Just doesnt make sense to me.

Billy had the tendency (a huge understatement) to dish out contracts like he was trying to set a record for most money wasted. He would just randomly extend basic utility players for 5 years and $25-30 million. It put us in cap hell.

This year its paying off, but there were a lot of people who were pissed off when we didn't make a run at the lottery by trading Andre Miller. Granted we might have gotten the 3rd best player in the draft with Thad Young, but that was definitely a point of concern.

I believe management thought that even though we would be going into this offseason with some capspace, based on history they did not trust BK to make the right signings. Also, Iguodala and Lou Williams are up for extensions, so they wanted to make sure they got some who's a bit more cautious with the money he spends.

I agree with you though, Billy King definitely set the platform for how the sixers are performing today. He pretty much drafted all the players on the team, and held beck on extending Iguodala last season when he was asking for more money.

Either way I don't see the sixers suffering too much because of the change.

Billy King deserved to be fired for what he did in 2002-2006. The timing of it is odd, as his last move before being fired was essentially drafting Thaddeus Young, which is the key to our rebuilding efforts right now, but he earned his firing in years past.

Don't we have like 12 threads in the first page that our titled Billy King.

The one positive thing I can say about King was that he tried.

He would go after players that he thought would be a good fit next to AI....Harpring, Van Horn, Coleman, Mashburn, Robinson, Webber, among several others.

The problem was that some of these guys were either past their primes(often overpaid also), or just did not fit.

Roletagg wrote:The one positive thing I can say about King was that he tried.

He would go after players that he thought would be a good fit next to AI....Harpring, Van Horn, Coleman, Mashburn, Robinson, Webber, among several others.

The problem was that some of these guys were either past their primes(often overpaid also), or just did not fit.

The above statement is true except for Harpring. Larry Brown did not want him and Snow never threw him the ball even when he was wide open. He was let go for zero compensation and he went on to have a very decent carrer at Utah.

Harpring is a tough player who the sixers should have kept.

BK deserves some credit for the current success, but his biggest mistake may turn out to be trading Koponen and Fesenko this season. The Sixers didn't need an immediate contribution from either a PG or C, but he gave away two very young prospects that could have developed either overseas or on the Sixers bench. Those moves will bother me for a long time...especially if they turn out to be solid starters in this league.

The guy had 10 years and the team missed the playoffs 3 out of his last 4 years and was looking like crap early this year. It was time for a new face.

When Did Billy get fired?

Okay in december.
It's obvious they pulled the trigger before the turn around. Well hopefully Billy can get another job if he wants one. Anyway you spin it that's his team out there unless I'm missing something.'

The timing makes me wonder how smart upper management is or isn't

He built the team we have out there right now and we're all thankful to him, but we're also thankful to management for getting rid of him because he definitely would have screwed up the offseason with a bad contract for a player we don't need or won't fit.

Also, I think he would have traded Miller, so this great season wouldn't have happened. Not that it necessarily would have been a bad thing, but in that case, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Welp, there goes are chances at the lotto.

There is no shortage of opinions on whether or not Billy King did a good job while he was with the Sixers. Only those with negative opinions usually comment on this forum so it may appear that most think he was a bad GM. I don't happen to think that is the case. My opinion is that he did just fine. He wasn't perfect but then only those making decisions after seeing the result can be perfect. He had the misfortune of being in charge during that latter stages of the AI era when it became apparent that nothing he did was going to work with AI. After AI was traded, he is responsible for all of the young talent that is blossoming on the Sixers team today. Ed Stafanski comes in, trades Korver and suggests the Sixers play an uptempo style and some feel he is responsible ... I don't buy it. Billy King will get another chance somewhere in the NBA and I wish him well.

dbodner wrote:Billy King deserved to be fired for what he did in 2002-2006. The timing of it is odd, as his last move before being fired was essentially drafting Thaddeus Young, which is the key to our rebuilding efforts right now, but he earned his firing in years past.

sixerscan wrote: The guy had 10 years and the team missed the playoffs 3 out of his last 4 years and was looking like crap early this year. It was time for a new face.

dont you guys think he deserved more time to produce in the "post iverson" era? i think he either should have been fired immediately after we moved iverson, or been given the time to execute a rebuilding plan. do you agree?

I've been wanting someone new for a couple years now, he did nothing up to when he got fired to change that.

psykosacul wrote:dont you guys think he deserved more time to produce in the "post iverson" era? i think he either should have been fired immediately after we moved iverson, or been given the time to execute a rebuilding plan. do you agree?

Well, I think he would not have been fired unless Ed Stafanski was available. Snider liked Stefanski and when he became available it was ... So long Billy .... I love you baby but I gotta cut you loose ...

Stefanski is probably a good GM too ... He will be fine.

Just watched Fesenko in a summer league game...difficult to assess overall skill level as he's not going up against much, but he's pretty athletic and had some decent ball skills around the hoop. Big body, a little heavy legged, but could make moves around the basket and appeared to have soft hands...again, tough to assess in this type of setting.

Definitely still a work in progress, but even if he was the 3rd center behind Booth at this point, it still would be a much better than having Herb Hill on the bench. This kid will develop into at the minimum a quality backup center, and has enough athleticism to be a quality starting center...awful move.

This kid will develop into at the minimum a quality backup center, and has enough athleticism to be a quality starting center...awful move.

How is it an awful move without knowing what Hill will become?

I haven't seen anything of Fesenko to even suggest a starting center.

It's easier to get a Tyrone Hill (best case scenerio) PF than a legit 7'+ center...it's all speculation at this point, but I can't see passing on a 21 year old athletic 7'er with decent ball skils for a workman like PF. I've been wrong before, and could be again, but I think this was a mistake.