phrustrated philly phan

Maybe its the overcast weather, maybe its was reading the Daily News Special from earlier in the fall that focused on 23 years without a championship, or maybe it was listening to Greg Anthony and Tim Legler on SportsCenter last night. I'm not sure but I have a feeling that this whole AI mess won't work out for the Sixers.

First off, Billy King has proven to be pretty poor. This is not Pat Gillick we are talking about. I trusted when Pat Gillick dealt Jim Thome to make a good deal, the same can't be said for Billy King. Actually, I don't remember a single trade that worked out for him. Bringing in CWebb was a bad move that is still hurting the Sixers. The Glenn Robinson trade didn't work out. King reminds me of Ed Wade. Wade was known for bad trades and overpaying his players. King does the same. He signed Samuel Dalembert to a contract worth twice the amount he is worth. Korver gets paid handsomely for being a bench player. He overpayed Todd MacCulloh a few years ago. Billy King was good when he was in Larry Brown's shadow and did Brown's bidding. Since Brown left, King has gone through Randy Ayers, Chris Ford, Jim O' Brien and Mo Cheeks. Only Mo Cheeks has lasted for longer than a year but concidently Jim O'Brien was the only coach to lead them to the playoffs.

Second, Allen Iverson is only 31 and still one of the best players in the game. They will have no chance of getting equal value. Billy King could not get equal value during the summer and now that AI has forced a trade, they have no chance. Let me say this: AI is not the problem in Philly. Billy King and the rest of the Sixers both past and present are to blame. King has never done an adequate job of building a team around AI. Name the best player on a Sixers team with AI. Maybe it was a washed up CWebb, Glenn Robinson, Keith Van Horn, or Dikembe Mutombo. Not exactly a who's who of future hall of famers. Think about other teams that have won NBA Championships recently and the players on their team. Kobe Bryant had Shaq, Tim Duncan had David Robinson, and Dewayne Wade had Shaq and not to mention Antoine Walker. Maybe the problem isn't that AI is a ballhog but that he never had another prolific scorer on the team. Can he really be expected to pass up a shoot to pass the ball to a player not even on his planet when it comes to scoring. This is the sentiment Greg Anthony and Tim Legler echoed on SportsCenter last night.

AI was expected to do everything on every team he was on. Think about the 2001 finals team. The starters were AI, Tyrone Hill (think bashed in face), George Lynch, Dikembe Mutombo, and Eric Snow. Not exactly another great scorer in that mix. They all played their roles admirably, but I can't think of another group of five that had such few scorers. AI needed to ballhog on that team to have any chance of winning. I would take my chances having AI shoot 30 shots and Tyrone Hill and George Lynch only getting two each instead of passing the ball around.

Iverson has not been the problem in Philly as the Sixers front office would have you believe. Rather it is their fought for not surrounding him with adequate talent. Do you really think Iverson would have had trouble passing the ball if Shaq was at center or Kevin Garnett was at power forward. I think not.

Whether you agree with trading Allen Iverson or not. Know this. The problem is not AI, it is Billy King and the players that have surrounded him during this time in Philly.

Read this article for furthur proof http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/061213&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos2