Andre Miller Talks Trade Rumors

[The Sixer Fixer]

Great post Fire BK

[tk76]

I just saw the Andre Miller and Amare win player of the week.

For a secomnd I though it was going to say Miller, Amare trade in the works... I guess i drank too much cool-aide lkast night.

[76erinSJ]

You must have added some liquor to that koolaid to think that trade would happen lol.

[oakfanintheeast]

miller and evans for garrity, bogans,arroyo, redick and draft pick.. work for you? garrity bogans and arroyo are both expiring.. enough to get the deal done?

[Fire BK]

The silence is deafening.

I'm rather surprised to see no response by G. Party.

Clearly, you pay close attn to these boards....

Do you really still believe that our GM doesn't "get it?"

For if you're going to make such an accusation,

I'd expect some accountability.

Until further notice, I will interpret this as a concession.

[The Guilty Party]

Hold on... let me go read your biblical rant and then I'll post a response. Hopefully you can keep sticking your chest out and continue to sound crazy.... stand by...

[Fire BK]

Interesting.

I was looking for dialogue, not a fight.

I happen to respect your basketball IQ, and was surprised to see your early indictment of Stefanski.

[The Guilty Party]

Alright... I finished your post and you make all solid points that I'm not going to debate but allow me to say this....

mediocrity breeds mediocrity.

I want you to just look at this list of NBA champions.

http://www.nba.com/history/finals/champions.html

Think of each team on that list and think of who the leader of that team is. Now ask yourself where was that player was drafted in the Draft. The answer EVERYTIME going back to at least the 79-80 Lakers is that the leader of the championship team was a Top 3 draft pick.

EVERYTIME for the past 28 years is more than just a coincidence. Even the 03-04 Pistons were lead by Chauncey Billups (Mister Big Shot) who was a Top 3 pick. While he isn't in the class of Magic, Bird, Jordan, and others he was still the leader of that team and still a Top 3 pick. Wouldn't this year have been "the" year for our franchise to get a Top 3 pick? I believed that we were headed there until I discovered that like Billy King, Ed Stefanski fell in love with Andre Miller and the idea of improving our young players and winning some games so that they would gain confidence. Once I found this out and I saw that Pat Riley waved the white flag on his season (Heat are headed toward a Top 3 pick)... I realized that Pat Riley "gets it", Ed Stefanski does not.

I haven't given up hope for Stefanski and already, I think he's better than Billy King but history doesn't lie (at least in this case) and so I'm left asking myself the following questions...

Who's our leader?
Where was he drafted?
Don't most us believe that our future leader isn't on this team?
Where do we get him?
Will Pick #13 be the leader that takes us to a title?
Elton Brand and Emeka Okafor meet the criteria but we don't have the cap space to sign them, why???

Mediocrity breeds mediocrity.

[Johnny Broad-Street]

I usually am right with you TGP, but I think there are more ways to skin a cat than youmight be allowing in this case. Didn't you say that MIller was a stronger commodity NEXT season as a trade prospect? You may be surprised what Ed comes up with, and remember that the moves that get made are rarely foreseen by fans....even ones that pay as much attention as us.

[The Guilty Party]

Miller will have more value than this year... but what's the value going to be???

Right now I think his value is expiring deals and a late 1st. Next year it might be a little more than that... but not much.

Who do you think is on a better path to building a champion? The Heat or the Sixers? The Blazers or the Sixers? Aren't the Sixers really part of the Grizzlies, Sonics, and Timberwolves group? Teams that have a piece or two but right now, you can't say that they look like future champions. The difference is that the Grizzlies, Sonics, and Timberwolves all figure to add a MAJOR piece to their team with a top pick this summer whereas we will not.

[Louis Williams]

TGP:

You could also turn that around and say teams like the Warriors, Clippers, and Hawks have been in the lottery for years and are still nowhere close to competing for a chip. So getting a top 3 pick doesn't guarantee anything.

[Fire BK]

ok-

That makes total sense now... You make a legitimate point. And that's all I was looking for, just an explanation, or at least engaging the conversation further. Certainly didn't intend to wage personal war with you.

I tend to agree that you must hit rock bottom before building back up to the top. And that Beasely and Rose are special players..... And beyond that, it's a crapshoot.

I guess these circumstances just called for a different gameplan. I think Eddie was trying to blow it up - but nobody was offering a Gasol-like return for Miller. Therefore, it wasn't worth it. I still think if Eddie will pull the trigger of he gets blown away by an offer in the next ten days (which would have to include any combination of a legit prospect like Critt and/or multiple 1st round picks). But that just doesn't seem to be coming his way.

Also, it seems Riles was legitimately trying to win each game this year, but just couldn't. Whereas Eddie would've been fine with losing 50+ games, but the team just has too much heart.

[Johnny Broad-Street]

That's all I'm saying, too Lou Will. TGP, I just think it's a more complex situation, and I wouldn't be surprised if something changed from our current view of how things will pan out as we move forward. Who would have thought last season that we'd end up with Thad and that he'd be showing signs of top 5 pick talent? Who would have thought that Dirk Nowitzki would turn the Mavs around and change the way people play PF in the NBA? Lots can happen, man....I'm just saying we need to play this through

[The Guilty Party]

Sure, Louis Williams. Just because you have a Top 3 pick doesn't mean you win anything but again....

http://www.nba.com/history/finals/champions.html

That list shows that if we aren't led by a Top 3 pick, you're not holding the trophy at the end of the year.

We have/had a chance to get a top 3 pick who would lead this team this summer whether it be via the draft or via free agency (Brand and Okafor) but because Ed came in and decided to just "review" this season... we've lost that chance. We won't have the money to get either Okafor or Brand and we won't have the ping pong balls to get Beasley or Rose.

I just feel like we're in a boat that has lots of holes in it and rather than abandon ship and go build a bigger, stronger boat... we're trying to plug those holes and stay afloat.

[Johnny Broad-Street]

All of this being said, your logic is correct TGP.

[The Guilty Party]

FireBK... just one more thing. I don't expect Ed to somehow convince a team to give him a deal like the recent ones we've seen. What I expected was for him to come in and immediately blow this up this season.

I think most of us would have been fine if Ed traded Miller for cap space and a late first on Dec 15th. I also think the fanbase would be far more excited about the future if we were only 3 months away from having the following...

1) A good chance at winning the lottery
2) Having close to $20MIL in cap space.

Wouldn't that make most of us happy? Wouldn't you feel like we would be coming into next season with a young, exciting team with two BIG NAME players??

Instead, Ed has been holding to this "I'm reviewing the organization from top to bottom" stance and because of that, Andre Miller the Ping Pong Ball Killer did exactly what he did last year. Ed may be a much better GM than Billy King and may build a solid team but I think he blew a HUGE opportunity to turn this team around.

[Johnny Broad-Street]

Point taken.....TGP, can I just have the right to give you a hard time if something happens down the road to change the course of action you propose?

I promise I'll be kind! hahahaha

[The Guilty Party]

Also... even if Ed went to sleep tonight and woke up tomorrow and said...

"My god, what have I been doing??? I have to get the Ping Pong Ball Killer out of here!!"

Well... the damage is done. We're now at a point in this season in which the BEST we could do is probably get to the #7 spot in the lottery and in this draft, that's not much better than #13.

Then again, increasing that cap space to $20MIL would be encouraging and perhaps convince a player like Brand that he should opt-out or entice Okafor to do more than just accept whatever the Bobcats are offering. I'd rather see the Sixers make the Bobcats match an offer for Okafor than just concede that he isn't going anywhere.

[The Guilty Party]

Point taken.....TGP, can I just have the right to give you a hard time if something happens down the road to change the course of action you propose?

I promise I'll be kind! hahahaha

Listen... if I'm going to go crazy and debate myself on what I said to show that there is light at the end of tunnel.... all you need to do is point to the leaders of the teams projected to win the title this year.

Boston: Garnett (pick #5)
Lakers: Bryant (pick #13)
Suns: Nash (Pick #15)
Dallas: Nowitzki (Pick #9)

Of course San Antonio (Duncan), Detroit (Billups), Cleveland (LeBron), Denver (AI, Melo), and Orlando (Howard) are all contenders as well. And if Phoenix does win it, a lot of people will give credit to Shaq as the man who really led them to a title since he got them over the hump.

[Johnny Broad-Street]

I'll take my chances. Something tells me Ed has his head on straight. Remember he's also letting MIller tear it up and if he WAS going to move him, the silent treatment and Andre's play are only helping things