5 buring questions

[jsams]

With the draft behind us and free agency less than a week away, here are five questions that are in need of answers within the coming months.

1. Who will be the starting power forward at the beginning of the season?
The answer should be clear cut in a couple weeks. Free agency begins on the 1st, as we all know and Philly is expected to either sign or trade for a star power forward (EB please). If all goes according to plan, our starting power forward is currently on another team. If Stefanski somehow fails to bring in the big name player, the Sixers might be in trouble. Does anyone feel safe with "Shrek" Evans, Jason Smith, Marreese Speights and possibly Thaddeus Young as the options at the four? I know I don't. In my mind are only be two acceptable answers. Elton Brand and Josh Smith.

2. What will happen with Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams' contracts? And what does the future hold for the both of them?
This question has already been partially answered. Both were given qualifying offers, meaning they are allowed to sign an offer sheet with any team, but the Sixers have the right to match any offer. I don't see either one of them signing with other teams. Andre worries me with his nonchalant answers and lack of passion to remain a Sixer, but if he leaves it'll be next year. If an extension can't be reached he'll make roughly 3 million this season and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. That scenario is looking more and more likely. As for Lou, he's not leaving anytime soon. I just hope these guys don't get too greedy and expect ridiculous money and if they do, I hope Stefanski won't take a page out of BK's book by paying role players ridiculous amounts of money.

3. How will the young guys develop?
Lou Williams was the player who took the biggest step this season. He went from an unpolished bench warmer to spark plug off the bench. Iguodala took a small step forward, but was tainted a little with his playoff performance. Dalembert finally put it all together and Rodney Carney showed signs that he could be have a solid NBA career. This season I expect those players to at least maintain, if not improve upon their success. Thad and Jason Smith should also develop nicely. Our playoff chances really rely on Thad's development. I truly believe he'll have a monster year. He has a great work ethic and caught on really quickly last year. With a full season under his belt, along with some playoff experience, I expect nothing, but stud performances from Thad Young. Everyone will obviously be monitoring Speights development as well.

4. It's the Sixers' first off-season with Stefanski at the helm, will he be the anti-Billy King? Drafting Skills? Smart free agent signings?
I took some heat for criticizing Stefanski for not being more active in the draft. I was pretty harsh on the regime for not being more like Kevin Pritchard and Co. over in Portland and for not making a Miami type offer (Two 2nd rounders and cash) for Mario Chalmers or DeAndre Jordan. I still feel the same way, but I still think Stefanski had a solid draft, just not spectacular. Speights was the right pick. No complaints there, but he could have come up with a better excuse for not trading than "we tried hard". That being said, it was the man's first draft as the head honcho. For that I'll cut him some slack. The verdict is still out on his ability to sign free agents and budget money. The Korver trade was brilliant. Let's hope he keeps it up. July 1st Ed, it could be your coming out party.

5. Will Andre Miller be awarded a contract extension? Does he want to remain a Sixer?
Neither the Sixers nor Andre Miller seem too excited about getting an extension done. Miller has said numerous times that he'd like to return to the west coast. He's coming off arguably the best year of his career, but he's not getting any younger. The way I see this whole thing panning out, is both parties avoiding an extension this off-season and waiting until the trade deadline to make a decision. If the Sixers are somehow, out of contention by the deadline, I see them trading him for a couple of young guys and some picks. They should be able to get great value for him, considering he's been incredibly durable throughout his career, he fits on almost any team and he'd be an expiring contract. Essentially a rent-a-player to help a team get over the hump. If everything goes according to plan, the Sixers will be contending in late February and they'll either extend Miller then or wait till the off-season. Of course this all depends on Andre giving up on his west coast dreams. Throw Elton on this young team though and I don't see Miller going anywhere.

5a. How much is it going to take for us to send Willie Green packing?
There's not too much to say about Willie Green, except that nothing would make me happier than to see him cut/traded from the team. If nothing else, reduce him to a smaller role. Please!

How do you think these questions will be answered?

[is1531]

With the draft behind us and free agency less than a week away, here are five questions that are in need of answers within the coming months.

1. Who will be the starting power forward at the beginning of the season?
The answer should be clear cut in a couple weeks. Free agency begins on the 1st, as we all know and Philly is expected to either sign or trade for a star power forward (EB please). If all goes according to plan, our starting power forward is currently on another team. If Stefanski somehow fails to bring in the big name player, the Sixers might be in trouble. Does anyone feel safe with "Shrek" Evans, Jason Smith, Marreese Speights and possibly Thaddeus Young as the options at the four? I know I don't. In my mind are only be two acceptable answers. Elton Brand and Josh Smith.

2. What will happen with Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams' contracts? And what does the future hold for the both of them?
This question has already been partially answered. Both were given qualifying offers, meaning they are allowed to sign an offer sheet with any team, but the Sixers have the right to match any offer. I don't see either one of them signing with other teams. Andre worries me with his nonchalant answers and lack of passion to remain a Sixer, but if he leaves it'll be next year. If an extension can't be reached he'll make roughly 3 million this season and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. That scenario is looking more and more likely. As for Lou, he's not leaving anytime soon. I just hope these guys don't get too greedy and expect ridiculous money and if they do, I hope Stefanski won't take a page out of BK's book by paying role players ridiculous amounts of money.

3. How will the young guys develop?
Lou Williams was the player who took the biggest step this season. He went from an unpolished bench warmer to spark plug off the bench. Iguodala took a small step forward, but was tainted a little with his playoff performance. Dalembert finally put it all together and Rodney Carney showed signs that he could be have a solid NBA career. This season I expect those players to at least maintain, if not improve upon their success. Thad and Jason Smith should also develop nicely. Our playoff chances really rely on Thad's development. I truly believe he'll have a monster year. He has a great work ethic and caught on really quickly last year. With a full season under his belt, along with some playoff experience, I expect nothing, but stud performances from Thad Young. Everyone will obviously be monitoring Speights development as well.

4. It's the Sixers' first off-season with Stefanski at the helm, will he be the anti-Billy King? Drafting Skills? Smart free agent signings?
I took some heat for criticizing Stefanski for not being more active in the draft. I was pretty harsh on the regime for not being more like Kevin Pritchard and Co. over in Portland and for not making a Miami type offer (Two 2nd rounders and cash) for Mario Chalmers or DeAndre Jordan. I still feel the same way, but I still think Stefanski had a solid draft, just not spectacular. Speights was the right pick. No complaints there, but he could have come up with a better excuse for not trading than "we tried hard". That being said, it was the man's first draft as the head honcho. For that I'll cut him some slack. The verdict is still out on his ability to sign free agents and budget money. The Korver trade was brilliant. Let's hope he keeps it up. July 1st Ed, it could be your coming out party.

5. Will Andre Miller be awarded a contract extension? Does he want to remain a Sixer?
Neither the Sixers nor Andre Miller seem too excited about getting an extension done. Miller has said numerous times that he'd like to return to the west coast. He's coming off arguably the best year of his career, but he's not getting any younger. The way I see this whole thing panning out, is both parties avoiding an extension this off-season and waiting until the trade deadline to make a decision. If the Sixers are somehow, out of contention by the deadline, I see them trading him for a couple of young guys and some picks. They should be able to get great value for him, considering he's been incredibly durable throughout his career, he fits on almost any team and he'd be an expiring contract. Essentially a rent-a-player to help a team get over the hump. If everything goes according to plan, the Sixers will be contending in late February and they'll either extend Miller then or wait till the off-season. Of course this all depends on Andre giving up on his west coast dreams. Throw Elton on this young team though and I don't see Miller going anywhere.

5a. How much is it going to take for us to send Willie Green packing?
There's not too much to say about Willie Green, except that nothing would make me happier than to see him cut/traded from the team. If nothing else, reduce him to a smaller role. Please!

How do you think these questions will be answered?

The 76ers call time out.

[tk76]

As much as I hope Ed can pull off a major positive move (Brand or Smith next week, I don't share your sense of urgency with team. My biggest fear is we invest too much in a vet that isn't good enough to make us a contender (Jamison or Marion w/extension.) I would gladly rent a good player for a year like Sheed or Marion and put off long term commitments with our cap space for another year.

Aside from Sam(26) and Miller(32) our core is so young that it is hard to know how they will all develop in the next 1-2 years. Certainly they will all be better, but one can only make educated guesses about where each player will fall along the continuum of role player-starter-star for this team.

As long as we don't muck things up, there should be a good long window of opportunity to grow with this unit. It may not have the contending level nucleus of Portland, but it is a good core to add to, and could become a contender if some of the cap space and young players are cashed in for established stars.

That could be as soon as this summer if we add Brand, but i'm also fine with standing pat for a year or two and not committing our assets too soon, so we are ready to make the contending move 2 years down the road when Iguodala, Young, Lou and Sam are all nearing their peaks.

[sixer4ever]

5a. How much is it going to take for us to send Willie Green packing?
There's not too much to say about Willie Green, except that nothing would make me happier than to see him cut/traded from the team. If nothing else, reduce him to a smaller role. Please!

How does buying out a contract work exactly? Could we do that with Green or not?

[tk76]

All it does is free up a roster spot and saves comcast some change.

A bought out player still counts 100% against the cap. for example, CWebb cost us all of his cap space this year even though he was bought out the year before. Comcast saved some money- I'm sure they have already passed it along to you by lowering your cable bill or ticket prices. Or maybe Luuko just traded up for a bigger yacht.

[sixer4ever]

oh okay. thanks

[bedjaw]

I'll take #2

There is zero chance Iggy sing with another team. Only Memphis has enough cap room to make an offer he would except. It appears they aren't looking to spend $$$ adn they already ahve Gay. LWill worries me. Every team will be able to make him an offer for he should sign around the MLE. If he signs an offer early what do we do. If we match it will eat into our cap space if we don't...well. I hope Ed already has an offer worked out with the idea of him signing after we make a big move.

[IggyTheBEaST]

Read this post.

We cant let Lwill go. Without him we are screwed at the pg spot. (Miller is as good as gone after next year). It sounds like lou wanted to stay in philly tho. He said he wants to be a name people think of when they hear 76ers.

I agree with tk about jamison. He just isnt good enuf to get us over the hump and would be like the glenn robinson (/webber) disease.

I love Brand, but lets face it, its prob the least realistic of our option.
If we are going the defensive route, Emeka Okafor would be my #1 target. He is rock solid defensively and would do much better at the 4 imo. He isnt a huge post threat, but he has a few go to moves and is more of a presence than josh smith. Biedrins is another option but GS is not going to let him go cheap, if at all.

Alot of people hate on josh smith for being a tweener and thats why he is this far down on my list, but getting him isnt the worst thing in the world(I wont even mention speights) and Ill tell you why. Thaddeous Young showed flashes of being a stud in the post. He has a healthy repertoire of crafty spins, fakes and hooks. He is only 19 years old. I think he will contribute substantially to our points in the paint and we will see alot more from him in the future.


(another big question that should be on the list is outside shooting)