It's clear as day to me now...

[Diesel]

After reading DA's article on Iverson, I can see what will happen..

Al to GS.

Murphy/Pietrus/Lue to Philly.

Iverson to Atlanta.

This is probably what Belk is pushing. I think the holdout is us.

[swolehawk2]

So all we have to do is give up Lue/Al to get AI?

[mountain_jim]

Well if that were true I can see why Chills for Magliore would need to happen as well.

[KB21]

Philly isn't going to give up AI and get only Murphy, Pietrus, and Lue in return.

If anyone is stupid enough to trade for AI, Philly is going to get a young star in the deal, which will basically mean that they will rape anyone they deal with in a deal. Philly has already turned down Andre Miller and Marcus Camby for Allen Iverson.

[Diesel]

Explain that part to me...

I don't understand a Chillz for Mag trade.

Mag is going to be a free agent at the end of the year and probably won't be resigning with us.

[sinctybldh]

wow. the madness never ends. We get an all star player back and we are only giving up a back up pg and tweener forward. Unreal.

[Diesel]

Click.

Quote:

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Philly isn't going to give up AI and get only Murphy, Pietrus, and Lue in return.

---

DA Says...

Quote:

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Anyway, the Sixers are having trouble finding a suitor outside of the Atlantic Division, where they don't want to repatriate Iverson and have to face him four or five times a year. And maybe that's a good thing.

The Sixers surely realize that teams are trying to rip them off at the moment, and will only get serious when their own seasons begin to blow up - a realization that usually takes hold around Christmas or so.

Maybe, if the Warriors have gone south again, Golden State might cave in and give Philly what it wants - either Troy Murphy or Jason Richardson.

And by then, we'll also know which way the Sixers are going.

---

[Diesel]

If what Philly truly wants is Murphy...

and what GS really wants is Al...

then we're the hold up.

[sturt]

Quote:

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After reading DA's article on Iverson, I can see what will happen..

Al to GS.

Murphy/Pietrus/Lue to Philly.

Iverson to Atlanta.

This is probably what Belk is pushing. I think the holdout is us.

---

1) BK will resign before he'll dismantle what he's been working years to build.

2) As a group, we're so hung over on this SNT thing that the least little crumb we see lying on the journalistic floor, we're all over it and making vast assumptions... then... *laughing*... making vast declarations that "this makes sense"... which it does... if one is willing to swallow the assumptions that we so conveniently downplay.

A little sanity, please?

[Diesel]

Well, I will put it like this.

If this is the deal breaker for Belkin and the Spirit, then maybe this is the deal that gets made regaurdless of How BK feels about it.

First off, you can't say that we're destroying the franchise. Hell Iverson is a 29/8 player for God's sake. Despite all the distractions that follow, he's very talented and he's not Rider. Moreover, he's mellowing in his age.

Secondly, he makes the franchise profitable again. That's our main ownership problem. The team is not making a great profit. This whole rebuild through youth and wait stuff is good for the Bball purist (no offense)... but for the paying customers who would buy luxury boxes, the corporate sponsers.. They don't give a damn about some young guy putting up 8/4 but is projected to be great.

[Diesel]

"I want to be a Sixer and I've said that since day one," Iverson said during an 11-minute session with reporters at the ESPN Zone. "But if I'm not wanted, I definitely don't want to be a Sixer and I'm willing to start my career all over. But everybody knows that I want to be a Philadelphia 76er."

Iverson said he has grown weary of being stopped on the street, whether in Philadelphia or "no matter where in the world," and asked whether he will remain with the Sixers next season.

"I'm used to it, but I'm also tired of it," he said. "Sometimes I even think that leaving might not be such a bad thing, because I might not have to deal with this every summer. My kids might not have to deal with this. My wife might not have to deal with this. So it might not be a bad thing. But I honestly want to be a Sixer."

[sturt]

Quote:

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Well, I will put it like this.

If this is the deal breaker for Belkin and the Spirit, then maybe this is the deal that gets made regaurdless of How BK feels about it.

---

By the word "if," can I infer you mean that you are making an *assumption*?

In fact, citing the word "maybe," can we make it two assumptions?

Quote:

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First off, you can't say that we're destroying the franchise. Hell Iverson is a 29/8 player for God's sake. Despite all the distractions that follow, he's very talented and he's not Rider. Moreover, he's mellowing in his age.

---

Didn't say Iverson has no value... not sure anyone would deny he remains one of the best.

No, what we're getting at is that, to obtain him, you must be willing to eat one of the NBA's larger salaries and you must be willing to make room by dismantling an important part of the current team.

Whether that "destroys" the franchise, I couldn't say. But what I can say is that it destroys the blueprint we've been working from, and I think you would agree.

Quote:

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Secondly, he makes the franchise profitable again. That's our main ownership problem.

---

Now c'mon, Dies.

You're smart enough to know that the "main" ownership problem goes beyond last year's or this year's or next year's profit or loss.

What we have here is a failure to communicate... at the highest degree. These guys got together, then found that one of the group is someone the others can't work with amiably.

You can dress it up and paint it up, but a Phyllis Diller relationship is ugly to the bone, and nothing is going to change that, especially in light of the egos involved.

Look, we're all starving for some answers here, you're diving at the crumb on the floor... there is OH so little basis for any of this that it's ridiculous to call it "clear" by any stretch of the imagination.

Just be patient. We'll know soon enough what's up.

[bird_dirt]

i'd do it. i'd bring AI here. i know i'm in the minority here, but i like him. i love watching him play. i'm tired of seeing the hawks slowly plodding along, and they need something to shake them up. i don't think it's mortgaging their future with one heavy contract. hell, pretty much every team in the league has at least one major contract, except the hawks. yes, jj's was big, but it was big last season, not so much for the remainder of it. you need numerous bad contracts to underachievers to bring you down (i.e. gs and nyk). maybe i don't know sh*t, and i'll admit that, but at least i would enjoy watching them play more, and living away from atl now, i would like more chances to get to see them play.

[Diesel]

Actually, in that first part, it was only one assumption. And assumptions are what they are, as much possible as not possible.

But let's focus here...

Quote:

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Didn't say Iverson has no value... not sure anyone would deny he remains one of the best.

No, what we're getting at is that, to obtain him, you must be willing to eat one of the NBA's larger salaries and you must be willing to make room by dismantling an important part of the current team.

Whether that "destroys" the franchise, I couldn't say. But what I can say is that it destroys the blueprint we've been working from, and I think you would agree.

---

The trade I looked at was AL and Lue for Iverson.

Which part of that " makes room by dismantling an IMPORTANT Part of the current team." I know that Lue has fans but come on now.

[Diesel]

I think the thing that everybody else loves to key in on is the money aspect of Iverson.

We can trade for Iverson and produce a team that will get more attention because of how they play than if we continued this build through draft.

Think about it.

We're collecting "assets" in search of a Superstar... That is why we picked Marvin over Paul right?

Well, Ai is a superstar.

Ai does for this franchise what 6 lottery picks cannot. That's get us some national attention and create an identity for this team.

[sturt]

Okay... we have a deal.

If you can get Iverson for just those two, go for it.

Laying all of the *assumptions* on the table... I'm *assuming* that's not nearly enough, but I could be wrong... maybe BKing can't do any better than that from the Celtics. But if I were he, I'd sure be holding out for more than Lue and Harrington... I can't imagine the scorn the man would face in that city to give up the soul of his franchise for seemingly so little.

[tmac13]

How would giving up AL and Lue be dismantling?

[Diesel]

Again, like everybody here, All I have is the word of the Journalist who printed the story..

However, it's not Sam Smith or that guy in NY. This was written by David Aldridge. A guy I trust moreso than the Peter Vecsey's and Chad Fords of the world.

Value wise, there's some reason to be a little skeptic.

But if Philly wants a young PF who puts up 14/10 per game for an aging PG who is about to make so much money that it will hurt them... Who am I to say that it can't be done?

I think every deal has purpose. I also believe that there may have to be draft picks attached, but then again, DA started with the lack of suitors for Iverson's contract... that kind of thing will make his asking price go down.

[Dragitoff]

The biggest ? I have is if we traded Lue/Al essentially for AI, we wouldn't have enough money under the cap to trade Chillz for Magloire would we? Even if we didn't, I like that team

AI/Speedy

JJ/Slim

Marvin/Chillz

Smoove/Shelden/Jones

Zaza/Batista

[Diesel]

No. We would be cap strapped...

Plus, I don't want to try to resign anybody for a couple of years. That's why I'm not against getting Iverson. His contract is up in 3.

That's just right for us.