By:Ryan Clement...76pack.blogspot.com
Well with all of the talk about the draft and Jrue Holiday as our point guard of the future,im going right ahead and shifting ahead to July 1st when Free Agency begins in the NBA and the remainder of the offseason as well.In my opinion, we need to address a couple things:
-1.Figure out the starting PG situation(Miller,another vet?,Lou or Jrue?)
-2.Add another shooter to the roster.
-3.add a veteran 5 to the roster.
-1.Andre Miller, the teams starting point last season, is an unrestricted free-agent and his future as a Sixer is certainly up in the air.Rumor has it he wants somewhere around 9-10 million per year and at least a 3 year deal.Some big questions you have to ask yourself about Miller:
A. Its alot of money, and would put us very close, if not over the luxury tax
B. Is Miller even worth the 10 million? and if you think so does he really have 3 more productive seasons in him?
C.Does Miller fit in with the new "princeton" offense which will be instilled by Eddie Jordan?
For me, its seeya later Andre Miller. While he is an underrated player in the NBA and really carried this team at times last season, I just dont see how he is worth a 3 year 9-10 million dollar deal. Hes 32 and often plays his way into shape and runs out of gas come playoff time.If he would sign for MLE (5.5 million per) type money, id consider it as hes a solid veteran point guard....but I dont see him as a particulary good fit for the princeton offense and think we will either have to try and get something for him via sign and trade or just let him walk and hope we can convince a veteran to come here for the MLE or just go all out and try a Lou Williams/Jrue Holiday young backcourt for the first half on the season.
Some possible ways we could try to trade/replace Miller:
A.Sign and trade Andre Miller to the Portland Trail Blazers for some type of package of Steve Blake and either Travis Outlaw or Martell Webster.
"Portland is in need for a veteran PG.Miller makes alot of sense there and while Blake is no franchise PG, he does all the little things right. He can hit the open man, knock down the open shot and not turn the ball over...A shared backcourt of Blake/Lou Williams/Holiday could certainly keep this team on a winning track while Jrue develops.Blake also adds another shooter to the lineup which we need. Outlaw or Webster would bring some depth and athleticism to the perimeter off the bench, Both can knock down the jumper and also fit in with our transition game, plus neither are really financial hits."
This trade would really give us a nice, young deep bench as well:
Starting Lineup:
G-Blake
G-Iguodala
F-Young
F-Brand
C -Dalembert
Reserves:
G-Holiday
G-Williams/Green
F-Kapono/Outlaw
F-Speights
C-Smith
add a veteran in 5 and Dionte Christmas as a undrafted rookie FA and thats a solid young 14 man roster.
B.Make a pitch to Mike Bibby whos an unrestricted FA.
"The Hawks are awfully close to being over the Lux Tax and recently traded for Jamal Crawford who makes around 9 million per year and also drafted Jeff Teague out of Wake Forrest. Add in Joe Johnson and Mo Evans and Id have to think the chances of Atl resigning Bibby are slim to none. Maybe we could make a pitch to Bibby and sign him to a 1 or 2 year MLE deal or some type of Sign and trade for Louis Williams.
He has a working knowledge of Jordans offense from his Sacramento days, is a veteran pg whos won playoff games and can also shoot the ball which fits both a need for our team and a strength for the princetons success in Philly. He could be a solid pickup as a 1 or 2 year rental untill Jrue Holiday is ready to take over the reigns."
C.Let Miller walk.
"Letting Miller walk would be tough...and would leave us with pretty much the mid level exception(5.5 million) to add a player. With Andre Iguodala being such a solid facilatator he could help with the ball handling duties,and we could potentially target another shooter at the SG spot like Anthony Parker, reach out to good ol' Kyle Korver and bring him back...keeping one of him or Kapono on the court at all times would really help with this teams perimeter shooting and spacing...but we'd have a really young PG rotation though, with Lou Williams likely starting off the season and splitting time with rookie Jrue Holiday and a possible veteran addition like Kevin Ollie.Somehow we have to find some type of veteran point for the roster just to stabilize the probable growing pains of 2 young players learning the position"
-2.Adding another shooter is necessary too. Jason Kapono was a solid pickup and certainly helps boost our horrendous perimeter shooting, but we need another player to drill the 3 as well.
Maybe we can land a shooter via sign and trade for Dre Miller,If Miller walks possible with the MLE or even just an undrafted rookie like Dionte Christmas whos accepted our invitation to the summer league. Somehow, someway we need to add another shooter to the roster tho, ideally at the PG spot.
-3.Theo Ratliff would be have been a great resign as a reserve 5, but he exploded after the embarassing loss to Orlando and is likely gone. There arent too many solid Defensive 5's out there that can be had for the veterans min., but with Dalemberts future up in the air and no other true center on the team, we need to add at least a big body down low. If not you can kiss a playoff series goodbye especially with Shaq coming to the east, KG coming back from injury and Dwight Howard's only getting better.
it should be an interesting Off season for the Sixers as they have a big decision to make about Andre Miller and then figuring out who replaces him if he leaves and also filling the minor holes/spots in the roster.Hopefully Ed Stefanski will stay aggressive and try to put together the best possible lineup for October.
