RealGM

If it wasn't for the celtics awesome/historic turnaround, King could've been Exec of the year IMO with the way the Sixers turned it around last season to make the playoffs with their huge run and their flexible capspace this summer (that they used on Brand).

This is essentially his team because he had the vision to sign Brand last season (former dukies). Everyone know before the season he wanted Brand in FA this offseason there was so much talk about it. He cleared the cap space, got the starting 5: he drafted young, resigned dalembert, drafted Iggy, traded for miller, and traded for evans (who was really descent in the playoffs) all of the players on that squad have King's fingerprints all over them.

This (the current team with Brand now) was the team King envisioned when he was GM and although he's made some dumb decisions in the past, I don't think he should've been fired. His past mistakes did not warrant a firing because he STILL had this team in great position to be good. He was fired in early December when the team was struggling mightily, but it turns out it was just a road bump on their learning curve.

Give credit to Stefanski no doubt, but the things were put in place by King (except for korver and carney trade).


I made this thread back during the season when the Sixers were on fire

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=777251

Exec of the year Fired?

magicfan4life05 wrote:I'm talking about Billy King, obviously he's not going to win it, but I believe he shouldve gotten consideration if he was still employed. He built the current sixers team with a solid young nucleus and is poised for a a return to the playoffs with their great play while people considered them "rebuilding."

Was he done wrong by being fired in december?

NOW I ask you REALGM NATION!



Was Billy 'William' Leonard King done wrong by the Philly Sixers?

Its great that he got them out of the hole he put them in, but the rebuild process took too long on his watch.

They went to the finals in 2001.

AI was about the only starter from that run still there by 2003. Had a revolving door with coaches, fired the coach that got them to the play-offs for saying the roster sucked and chris webber was washed up.

Fast-forward to 2006 and they finally trade AI after destroying his trade value by managing him through the press.

The franchise has been in the mud so long, people are happy just to go six games in the first round of the play-offs in the east.

They needed to clean shop of all the contributers to the AI era debacle. LB left, Croce resigned, AI got traded, and BK was lucky to last as long as he did.

I'm a sixers diehard... King gets some credit, but I'm still fully on-board with his firing... Here are some points to consider...

Pro BK

- Billy was left with a lot of issues when he took the reigns... Mutumbo's contract, etc...
- Excellent drafter
- Laid the initial blue print for the most AI era (which stefanski has followed)

Anti BK

- Billy made a lot of bonehead moves on his own... Paying Dalambert $60M plus as a RFA when he hadn't received on offer... Signed willie green to a poor contract. Etc...
- The post-LB coaching carosel was embarassing...
- To loyal to "his guys..." I don't believe BK would have ever traded Korver to clear the additional cap room it took to get Brand... In my estimation he would have tried to get Brand and failed... Stefanski had the b*lls to move Korver to free the cap space...
- Additionally he was loyal to Mo Cheeks and didn't interfere... At the time of the firing the Sixers were a bad team... Stefanski came in told cheeks how he wanted the team coached and to play the change his rotation... That's when things turned around...

All in all, BK takes a little too much blame, but I'm happy he's moved on in favor of Stefanski...

King would not have had the stones to dump Korver for an expiring. He had deemed Korver untouchable and was all about him being part of our rebuild. So we wouldn't have had the cap room to sign Brand.

You make a compelling argument, but deep down inside I still know its Billy King.

So no, they should have fired him.

King was one of the worst GM`s in the league. If he was still in charge Zach Randolph would be in Philly not Brand...

He was decent with drafting (mostly DiLeo anyway), but he gave some very questionable contracts out. Some blame Larry Brown for a few of those, but King is certainly to blame for most of them.

Double or single negative? All the GMs are good enough. Fact is, who took what opportunity at what point? Who refused what salary? Who had what guy at 2 on the draft list? It tales a lot to be a "RealGM", more than talking about PENIS! PENIS! PENIS! PENIS! PENIS! PENIS!

King needed to be fired since he wouldn't have completed what he started. He was involved with hiring/firing too many coaches & signing too many players to bad contracts, i.e. Kenny Thomas, McKie, Snow, Willie Green, Korver, etc. The Iverson debacle & trading for C Wuss were bad moves. He wasted some draft picks including last years #30 & the second rounder that Philly had from NY. However, he did make some good moves allowing the team to rebuild while still competing, i.e. drafting Iguodala and picking up talent in the second round like Lou Williams. That can be overrated as lots of other GMs are successful with low 1st rounders and 2nd round picks.