With the NBA Draft just a couple of days away, all the talk has been about who the Philadelphia 76ers will draft with the No. 2-overall pick. Ok, there hasn’t been that much talk because the consensus is that they will take Ohio State two guard Evan Turner.
Assuming that’s the case, what could this lineup look like now that Samuel Dalembert is out of the mix?
Jrue Holliday is your point guard with Lou Williams backing him up. I’m fine with that. I don’t love Lou as a starter, but I’m ok with him as a backup. Turner – if not immediately – will eventually be your starting two guard. Fine, but here is where it gets hairy. Andre Iguodala is your small forward, which means that Thaddeus Young has to play the #4 and…Elton Brand as your center? Marreese Speights? Spencer Hawes coming off an injury?
I don’t like this at all. Iggie has all the makings of a shooting guard, except for one problem: He can’t shoot. His jumpshot is beyond inconsistent, yet no one has told him that. He just fires away with that huge rainbow, clanking them in all directions. He especially likes to miss from outside the arc. That’s a very endearing quality.
I don’t know for a fact that this would be your starting lineup because there is still plenty of offseason left to go and Doug Collins probably still has a ton of decisions to make with regards to this basketball team. But I wouldn’t be shocked if it was.
So who is clogging things up in the lineup? Yep…Iggie. Because he is incapable of playing the #2, that forces Young and Brand to play out of position. I’ve thought for a while that Young will never blossom with the Sixers as long as Iguodala is here. Young is not a #4. Repeat: Young is not a #4. Thaddeus is a small forward and I truly believe that’s where he will be at his best.
Brand is a power forward. No, we don’t all love him and I go back and forth from night to night as to whether or not I’m a fan of his. Some nights he’s great and others I wish he never left Duke. I’m like you, I hate his patented move of pumping five times under the basket and then traveling. But, since they got rid of disgruntled center Sammy D, I would have to think that means they are leaning more towards half-court basketball (which Brand plays) as opposed to rebound and then run your butt off basketball (which Iggie and Sammy D play).
It simply doesn’t work when you try to do both. Iggie can’t play half-court basketball. He can’t. He just can’t hit a consistent jumpshot and that kills him. Conversely, Brand can’t run the floor. I just don’t see how these two can play together. I’d rather see Brand at the power forward position and then try to work Speights and Hawes in at center. Will that work? I have no clue, it’s just a thought.
My conclusion is that you already got rid of Dalembert, now it’s time to get rid of Iguodala and start playing a new brand of basketball. This isn’t an endorsement for Elton Brand, trust me. I just know that, while it’s fun to watch, an NBA team based on running the floor can never win at the highest level. That’s not championship ball.
It’s time. Andre Iguodala must be traded. He does have value. He can help another team. But for where the Sixers are right now and where they hope to go, Iggie has to be sent packing. It’s nothing personal, I just want to see some winning basketball. And it starts with moving #9.
The only possibility I see to trade Iggy is to do a sign and trade for someone who is otherwise going to leave as a free agent. Amare Stoudemire would be ideal, but I fear that is a pipedream. Maybe someone like Rudy Gay would make sense. I also think they need to ignore the salary and turn Elton Brand into a 20 minute role player. He is just not what he was 4 years ago. I agree Iggy has to go. Then you start Thad at 3 and have Jason Kapano and/or Nocioni as your designated 3 point guys off the bench. If Mareese can figure out how to play defense, he can get the bulk of the minutes as the 4.
Iggy has value to a team that needs a shutdown defender and has two better scoring options. He is great as a 3rd scoring option, but not so much as your #1.
First Stefanski needs to get fired for giving Iguodala the ridiculous deal he has has making it virtually impossible to trade the guy. The Magic might go for trading Vince Carter for Iggy if they think Iggy can give them a little more defense and youth than Carter. With Carter’s age and probably an salary close to if not the same as Iggy’s I would imagine they might be open and I know Carter’s contract has to be expiring soon which would be good for the Sixers. Unfortunately, with trades having to be salary equivalent the Sixers would have to trade for a bunch of scrubs to equal Iggy’s contract. They’ve already traded for a bunch of scrubs for Dalembert so they can’t add a whole bunch of new players with guaranteed contracts.
teams are calling about chris paul iggy and whoever else they want maybe jrue holiday maybe a lou will nocioni whatever . im not an iggy fan but other teams are offering trash and iggy has a lil more value than guys im hearing about . the best offer i heard was from the griz and if the griz offered oj mayo we can offer iggy and pray they like that. cp3 turner thad brand hawes not a bad 5 wit lou off bench speights not bad at all
I have been a fan of wanting to get rid of Iggy, but lately I have been thinking otherwise. There are only 2 ways I get rid of Iggy.
1. Trade Iggy and Brand to get and elite PF or Center or……
2. Trade Iggy and Hawes to get a elite Center.
What would be the upgrade of trading Iggy? We have a good, young up and coming PG in Holiday. We will have our SG of the future in Turner. Trading Iggy will open up the spot for a good, young Thaddeus Young at SF, so our only positions to upgrade would be starting Center, Power Forward or the bench. I definitely wouldn’t trade Iggy for depth/bench players. It would be impossible to trade both Iggy and Brand (contract wise) together, so our only option would be to trade Iggy and Hawes or maybe Speights for a elite Center, and how many elite Centers are there? Not many, so that would be almost impossible to get a team to trade a position that is probably the hardest to fill.
I like Young a lot and wish he could start at SF, but he doesn’t play D that good, and I think the best teams are teams that play great D, and that is why I rather just keep Iggy and play him at the 3. Having Young, Speights, Nocioni, and Williams coming off the bench is sweet. If Turner can become the #1 scoring option we so badly need and Doug Colling can make Brand the #2 option we all expected him to be? Then Iggy will become a very good #3 option that plays very good D. He shouldn’t be paid like he is, but in that role…… I want to keep him around.
you and bob and gary have a combined IQ of 53
we dont have a good young pg he’s half nice
and where im from if u half nice u half wack
slowest release ever for a jumper no athleticsm can create a shot for himself of course he’s a pass first pg he cant score
im so tired of hearing how he plays d
jrue hoilday aint lockin up no good pgs
if jrue holiday is nice then what r johnny flynn tyreke evans (guys taken after holiday who i wanted instead of holiday) lawson maynor collison his teamate who eons better at ucla if holiday is nice y does he rank last in his class of pgs so if this is our future its pretty bleek
Phillywill, there is no doubt Lawson was the correct pick with the draft slot they had last year. That was a function of today’s NBA draft were everyone takes on “upside”.
However we have to run with what we’ve got.
Anybody on this board who thinks their gonna get any value for Iggy is in the twilight zone. The BEST you could do for Iggy right now is expiring contracts. But this also nets you the ability to start Thadd in the correct position. So you play this year with Holiday, Turner, Thadd, Brand, Hawes. The expiring contracts from Iggy come off the books, and you go get yourself the best Center available. that’s basically your team until you can unload brand about a year later.