Yeah I linked to the Larry Hughes website a while ago in my NBA mid-season awards post. It is hilarious.

Let me start by saying if we got Brand I feel very comfortable with Dalembert/Brand matching up against both the Pistons and Celtics front line. Mainly because it completely focuses Sam on defense and rebounding. He won’t need to think much about scoring and the less he needs to worry about the better. But what we have to understand is, do we really expect anyone to stop Sheed besides Sheed himself? Do we really think someone is going to stop a motivated KG? These are elite players and I think Sam can do his part in rebounding and defending them. You really believe Ty Thomas would do a better job?

You’re right you weren’t one of the Sixers crazys proposing to blow up the team so I apologize for that.

Lets look at your move from a whole team perspective and long-term view. Thomas isn’t a center he is a PF a thin one at that. Who plays center for the Sixers going forward if you make that deal and Thomas is our starting PF? Please consider the difficulty of getting a top center either through the draft, trade or FA. It is simply the hardest position to fill with a quality player IMO, do you agree with that statement?

So now we have a starting line-up of Ty Thomas, A. Miller, A. Iguodala, Thad Young and who as currently constructed Jason Smith. What center do you bring in if we don’t believe Jason Smith is a starter and I hope we all believe that is the case.

I think many people will quickly say draft Roy Hibbert. Well I think you already know my thoughts on Hibbert, but ok that is a legit thought. You like this team Hibbert, Thomas, Young, Iguodala, Miller better than our current team. I have to insist you consider the fact that our front line would be a rookie and 3rd year player both unproven and both with many question marks. Does that team even make the playoffs? Do you like that front line match-up against Detroit’s and Boston’s?

Just some thoughts.

Dannie – First off, I digress on Larry Hughes, man was he bad last year! Just finished reading a lot of the funny posts on heylarrhugesstoptakingsomanybadshots.com! Worse than Willie! What happened to this guy?

About Sam, I’ll just come out and say it – Sam is an airhead. Airheadedness doesn’t win championships, ever – it keeps you from winning championships. I disagree about Sam’s defense – if it was so good, in the last 2 1/2 games of the Detroit series, you would’ve seen some of it, but you didn’t. Also, I think you’re overvaluing his rebounding – in these playoffs, players not as long and athletic are rebounding just as well, they’re showing that you can beat those bigger guys for rebounds if you just want it more. In the Detroit series, I didn’t see Sam wanting it more, did you?

Let’s say we get Elton Brand, and next year we face the Pistons again. Does Brand and Sammy beat Rasheed and Maxiell/McDyess? How about the Celtics’ Garnett and Perkins? Can you just imagine Sammy turning it over in crucial spots, being outrebounded, and not knowing where to be both on offense and on defense?

About blowing the team up, I don’t think I went there, I thought I was pretty focused in talking mainly about trading Sam for Ty Thomas, and discussing Sam. But you made me think of a good discussion point: how good is our core? And another question, after checking what I wrote: what are the expectations for next year?

Damn, I wish these playoff games were earlier…

I just think that when you get into major overhauling of the roster it leads to more major overhauling. What I mean by that is while we may address certain needs we have now we very well may create other needs. If we trade away too many players it could weaken the bench or another area of the starting 5, which we will need to address next year. Too many changes at one time leads to too many variables to assess in an effort to understand whether or not we’ve actually addressed our needs and are moving in the right direction. Also, no matter how many changes we make to the roster, we eventually have to settle on a core group of players.

I think we already have a core group of players so why can’t we build on that? We all more or less agree that the Sixers need to address 3 spots(PF, SG/SF shooter, PG). The rest is good and hopefully will get better. We can address our needs with the addition of a couple pieces and allow it to develop. I feel going this route will also allow for easier assessment of the team’s development and whether or not we’ve actually addressed our needs sufficiently.

I actually think your list proves my point further. You just showed me 1. a list of completely unattainable players in Howard, Duncan, KG, Sheed, Chandler, Boozer, Gasol, West and you could probably add Odom and Lewis to that list.

Then you gave me some good role players (not on sam’s level). And have you looked at some of the salaries of those role players? Kurt Thomas for one makes over $8M and Ben Wallace over $15M! The guys that aren’t paid that much aren’t really that good are older than Dalembert and provide no where near the defense and rebounding Sam does.

Sam serves a purpose for this team at a position that is difficult to fill with a quality player. What free agents are available that can fill Dalembert’s shoes? Even if we get a stud PF Dalembert provides protection for him on the defensive end so he doesn’t get in foul trouble against bigger and better big men.

IMO Larry Hughes is no better than Willie Green except when he is motivated to play great perimeter defense. I doubt there is any way you can convince me he should be on the Sixers.

Oberto/Thomas + Duncan
Gasol + Odom
Chandler + West
Garnett + Perkins
Wallace + McDyess/Maxiell
Howard + Lewis
Okur + Boozer
Ilgauskas + Smith/Varejao/Wallace

Look at the lesser frontcourt guys – what do they have in common? They are all much more fundamentally sound, and much smarter basketball-wise than Sam. They are much better team defenders than Sam. They pass better than Sam. Is it easy to find guys like that? Yes. If you think about really good teams from the past ten years, did they have anyone like Sam in their frontcourt? No.

We’re paying Sam all this money, and all he can do is provide defense and rebounding. There are obtainable guys in the league who can do those two things and are cheaper, and to boot they have some offense outside of lobs, can pass some, and play much better defense than Sam. He is taking up way too much of our cap space, and will continue to do so for 3 more seasons (unless there’s excessive salary inflation).

I personally think that last season is as good as it’s gonna get for Sam, that his value will never be higher, and that we should take advantage of that. People saw the Sixers in the playoffs, they’re not gonna sneak up on anybody, and Sam won’t be as effective next season. His value will go down, and if we did wanna trade him then, we’d get a lot less back.

I hate Larry Hughes, too, but he’d be an upgrade over Willie Green as long as Mo corrals him some. Getting Ty Thomas is a risk – unproven, like you said. But I’d be willing to take that risk for the potential reward of getting a stud power forward, because Sammy was never going to take you to the promised land.

Sixers fans are definitely smarter than Bulls fans, and their opinion does have some weight as well. But not that much in this debate for me. It is less about Thomas and more about the fact we would be trading a proven, young center (who by the way probably still hasn’t reached his potential either) for a guy we HOPE lives up to his potential and has pretty much done nothing in 2 NBA seasons (guys he shot 42% from the field this year in 18 minutes/game). I just don’t like that gamble. If you can find a way to bring Thomas over without giving up Sammy, Thad, Miller, Iguodala and maybe even Williams (i am not all that attached to him though) than I am cool with that.

Dave T – I like your thought on David Lee much better. If we could find a way to swap Evans for Lee I am all for that. But my god is Jerome James’ contract terrible.