<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Sixers began the first day of the rest of their lives again yesterday and things promise to be a little quieter around here for a while. Allen Iverson is out in Denver losing basketball games. Chris Webber announced yesterday that, upon clearing waivers, he will return home to play for the Detroit Pistons. Back here - where the new motto is: Good Seats Still Available - the Sixers played a matinee against the Toronto Raptors before a crowd that had plenty of room to spread out. It will be that way for the rest of the season, a purgatory that isn't scheduled to end until the NBA draft, when the team will hinge its future on three first-round draft picks and the organization's ability to make those good ones. Charitably speaking, confidence in that ability is not at an all-time high. The front office did have the good sense to negotiate Webber's lovely parting gift while the city was still distracted by Eagles fever. To get Webber to disappear, the Sixers agreed that he would receive $38 million of the $43 million he was owed, and in some ways that was a bargain, if just for the peace and stability it brings. Peace and stability are a little overrated, however, when that means watching a team that occasionally puts out a lineup like the Sixers did against the Raptors. At various times, playing a mostly ineffective zone defense, they had a rotation on the court that included Alan Henderson at center and Andre Iguodala at power forward. It was an experiment that got points for originality but few points otherwise. There is little purpose in dwelling on the Webber disaster, although it is tempting to ask what would have happened if the disgruntled player had refused the buyout deal. Would they have given him a raise to leave? Anything is possible, and if the Sixers' karma remains consistent, Webber will become a productive member of the Pistons, pushing through those flat-footed jumpers from the elbow, making a pass now and then, and being sheltered on defense. The Sixers weren't talented enough to make his few remaining skills usable here, and Webber had tired of playing for a bad team, never reaching the conclusion that he was part of why it was bad. Well, good riddance. Every game is Fan Appreciation Night now. No Iverson. No Webber. No problem parking. Amid this gloom - and there is no other way to describe a 10-28 team slogging through three more months of its own personal Groundhog Day - Maurice Cheeks does what he can with this bunch, tries to stay positive and can't help but feel the encroaching shadow that might eventually cover his back. In other news that was slightly buried while everyone worried about William James' calf injury, the Sixers put Larry Brown back on the official payroll with the title of executive vice president.</div> Source
