<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The 76ers have now lost out on their No. 1 off-season priority, re-signing Joe Smith. As The Inquirer?s David Aldridge reported, Smith opted for a two-year deal with Chicago, totaling $10 million. According to Aldridge, the Sixers best offer was three years for $10 million. This has been confirmed by NBA sources. Smith was a great locker room presence and effective on the court, averaging 9.2 points and 6.7 rebounds in 54 games with the Sixers after being acquired in the Allen Iverson deal. He would have helped the Sixers immeasurably, but with the team being well under the cap after this year, the Sixers didn?t want to tie too much money up to a player who wouldn?t have been in their long-range plans. Smith turns 32 this month and has a lot of mileage on his NBA odometer. This will be his 13th season. So even though he was the Sixers? top priority, we?re not talking about Kevin Garnett here. Last week Sixers president and general manager Billy King talked about signing a free agent, but the class, which was weak to begin with, is slowly drying up. Smith and Darko Milicic, who has signed with Memphis were the top two targets. Even fallback players such as the Nets Mikki Moore have also gone elsewhere (with Sacramento). And Jamaal Magloire, whose production has declined steeply over the last few years, seems ready to sign with New Jersey. Former Shawnee High and Villanova product Malik Allen, a free agent from Chicago, is out there, but the bank shouldn?t be broken for anybody left on the market. Although if Allen could come in at a reasonable price, he wouldn?t be a bad addition. It?s not the worst thing in the world that the Sixers didn?t sign a free agent. There will be young players vying for playing time and even though they have a weakness at power forward, it could hasten the development of 7-footer Jason Smith. And the Sixers have also been impressed by the improvement and grit of Lous Amundson. Although let?s be honest, Eastern Conference teams aren?t going to be staying up at night worrying about countering a group of power forwards that could include Amundson, Smith along with Steven Hunter and Shavlik Randolph. And with a wealth of small-forward/big-guard types, the Sixers may take a page from Golden State?s book and play with a smaller lineup. There is only one problem with this strategy ? rebounds. The Sixers were 25th in the NBA last year in rebounding, averaging 39.66 per game. And of course, King will also work on making a trade, although sources from other teams say that the two most requested players ? Andre Iguodala and Kyle Korver ? are off limits. Smith would have obviously helped the Sixers in the short term, but by saving money and opening playing time for others it might not be a disaster even though it would have made life ? and winning ? easier with Smith on board.</div> LINK
I'm glad we didn't resign Joe Smith. I respect him and what he brought to our team last season, but with him on our roster, it means less playing time for guys like Jason Smith, Shavlik Randolph, and Herbert Hill. Considering we are going on a youth movement, I feel that it was best for both sides to part ways. Not to mention we also save some money for next offseason's big free agency splash (hopefully)
I can only hope BK pulls all the right kind of triggers to help this team. I wish the two "off-limit" players were Iggy and Shav. I think I`m done with Korver.
Shavlik Randolph? Untouchable? You know that on most teams Randolph would be nothing more than a bench player right? I like Randolph. He hustles and plays hard, but no way does that make him an untouchable. Also, what's wrong with Korver? I personally think the only "untouchable" on this team is Andre Iguodala. Anyone else can go if the price is right.
Shav off limits? LOL.... The only players on this team I wouldn't trade is Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young. But this team doesn't really have much need to make any trades. All the remaining free agent PFs aren't much better than what the 76ers have right now. Save money...it will pay off eventually.
