Recap of Sixers Season, A Look Ahead to the Offseason

The Sixers season was up and down for most of the year, the beginning of the year featured the start of the Elton Brand era in Philadelphia which has been a disaster so far. In a span of about 20 games Sixers fans learned that Brand did not fit in with the up tempo system that the Sixers feature. The Sixers slowed the offense down to accommodate Brand early and we saw that he is not the same player he was before rupturing his achilles muscle. Seemed like a pretty extensive deal to give a player coming off this type of injury and who is now entering his 30's. Atleast I will get to watch Elton Brand play on one good leg for 4 more years and cash in about 60 million dollars over that span, Awesome! (Remind anyone of Chris Webber), Alright maybe not as bad as watching Webber noticeably limp up and down the floor every night for 20 million a year. We might be getting to that point soon, but for the moment I will be optimistic and hope that the shoulder injury he suffered gave him more time to rest the leg and be strong for next year.

I haven't even got to how painful it is watching Samuel Dalembert play the game. The Haitian born Canadian citizen that plays basketball in the USA has no idea what to do with a ball in his hands. Watching him try to post someone up and score is a must see event that only the greatness of Sam Dalembert can provide.

The good part of the Sixers season in my eyes was watching the development of Thaddeus Young. Young filled in very admirably at power forward and gave us a glimpse at the type of player he can be. The 21 year old thrived in the system as a power forward and is becoming a legitimate offensive threat with his ability to score in a variety of ways. Thad can post up the smaller man with great touch on his hook shot, can now hit an open jumper from anywhere on the floor, and can take the bigger man off the dribble. If he can improve his shooting off the dribble and ballhandling this guy could be special.

With that said, I move onto the Sixers offseason;

The Philadelphia 76ers offseason started out with a new coach in Eddie Jordan who was probably the best available coach for the Sixers at the time, and the unveiling of the new logo which was used during the Sixers two championship seasons.

2009 NBA Draft: The Sixers had a great draft picking up a very talented guard in Jrue Holiday who supposedly fell because of a minor shoulder injury. The Sixers needed a point guard and got a steal with the 17th pick. Sixers have acquired some good young talent in the last 3 drafts grabbing Young, Smith, Speights, and Holiday. Add those guys in with Lou Williams and Iguodala and you have a nice core of talented players under the age of 26.

Trades: The Sixers traded Reggie Evans to the Raptors for Jason Kapono. This was a great trade because one of the Sixers biggest needs was a good 3 point shooter and they got one. Even better was it only came at the expense of Reggie Evans who was still owed 10 million over the next 2 years.

Salary Cap Situation: As it stands right now the Sixers have no cap room and can only use their mid level if they choose, or re-sign Andre Miller. Samuel Dalembert (basketball IQ of a 6 year old) and Elton Brand make up 25 million dollars of the cap which has put the Sixers in a bind.

Free Agency and Potential Trades: As of right now Miller wants 3 years from the Sixers and they only want to give him 1 or 2 years which is understandable. Instead of giving up Miller for nothing I would like to see them give him a 1 year deal since there isn't anyone who is ready to take over the starting point guard position on the roster. Since the Sixers aren't going anywhere in the next two years doing a sign and trade with a contending team that has no cap room but needs a starting caliber point guard would be nice. Hopefully then the Sixers can acquire some expiring contracts and maybe some younger players. The other thing GM Ed Stefanski should try to do is trade Dalembert (please!). The Sixers shouldnt even care if they get any kind of impact player back in the deal. He has 2 years left on his deal and trading him for an expiring contract would be ideal. We can all thank good old Billy King for the worst re signing in sixers history, inking Dalembert to a 5 year 55 million extension a few years ago (WOW!). If the sixers can give miller a 1 year deal and get expiring contract for dalembert they could be players in the 2010 free agent class which is deep with big men. Lastly, I doubt Stefanski is going to trade Brand. Nobody is going to want to take on 4 more years and 60 million dollars. I also think he wont try and get rid of him because he wants to give Brand a chance to prove himself again and letting him go would admit he was wrong.