Philadelphia Rebound Part III of III: Roster Restructure
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by CRS-ONE
New Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski has a lot of work ahead of him. Can the current Sixers roster be saved?
Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks is safe for now. Stefanski even mentioned that in his debut press conference. It's true...the only capable coaches during his tenure with the New Jersey Nets--Byron Scott (New Orleans Hornets), Lawrence Frank (Nets) and Eddie Jordan (Washington Wizards)--are all under contract and doing fine.
Instead, I'd assume that Larry Brown's days with the Sixers are coming to an end. He isn't contributing to the team in the consultant position that Billy King started for him. He's just taking up money and isn't helping.
The Sixers best player, Andre Iguodala, is in a contract year. He will be a restricted free agent next summer. Perhaps King did a good job by not getting him a new contract in the off season. Some RFA's wind up getting ridiculous, maximum contract deals without seeing what their actual worth on the market is. Pau Gasol, Andrei Kirilenko and Zach Randolph all received $100 million contracts without their teams seeing what someone else would be willing to pay for them.
Iguodala is going to get paid, whether it is in Philly or not. The Sixers have the advantage because they can see what other teams are willing to pay for his services and match their offers. A smart new deal with AI will definitely help the Sixers in the long run.
Next summer, the Sixers will also be off the $26 million in waived/bought out contracts from Chris Webber and Aaron McKie. That's a huge amount to pay two players that aren't even playing any more. That will leave the Sixers with $20 million to resign Iguodala and look for free agents.
By the trade deadline in February 2009, Andre Miller will be valuable. His $9,999,999 contract is expiring and he can be traded to a team that's looking to dump salary.
Sadly, the gross contracts of Samuel Dalembert, Kyle Korver, Willie Green and Reggie Evans aren't going any where. They'll be around for a while, for better or for worse. At least it will remind everyone of how bad King was as a general manager.
The Sixers do have a team option on Jason Smith, Rodney Carney and Thad Young in 2009 that would clear up about $6 million in salary. If none of them turn out to be important, I could see them all being dropped.
Based on their current contracts, the Sixers will only have $25 million committed to salaries in the 2009/2010 season. That clears enough for a bunch of talented players.
For now, the Sixers look like they'll be among the worst teams in the league. Hopefully Stefanski can find another Kenyon Martin or Richard Jefferson in the upcoming drafts.
Sixers fans are going to be waiting patiently for their team to get back on track. With wise spending, thorough scouting and some trading creativity, Stefanski might be able to get the Sixers back on track in time for the 2009 season. It's not as far away as it sounds, and might lead to him getting a GM of the year award.
But for now, Philadelphia is going to have to wait.
