Iguodala Stays a Sixer to the Tune of Six-Years, $80+ Million

I love it. I’m definitely relieved to be done with all the Iguodala talk. All the pieces are now locked up. The only thing to do now is sign a veteran big man and that’s not even that big of deal.

Brand, Iguodala and Williams are locked up for the next half a decade. Just thinking about that makes me giddy. Not to mention the fact that they are all resonable/non-Billy King-like contracts.

Iggy could’ve signed for less, but at least the numbers are down from his reported 5 yr/ 72 million dollar from about a week ago. Plus, I think he deserves it. I mean the Lakers are a pretty successful franchise and they have Odom on the books for about 14 mill and I’d take Andre over him any day.

Iguodala’s got nowhere to go, but up and he’s done just that in each of his NBA seasons and there’s no reason to think he won’t continue, especially with Elton down low. I’ve also read numerous reports about him tirelessly working on his jumper.

If he’s not worth it at the moment, he’ll get there.

i couldnt be happier right now. my favorite team just stunned the basketball world by making the playoffs and making a series out of the pistons. they continue to to make moves to free up cap space. such as the korver trade. they have a really nice draft with speights. then they pull off the deal of the year with the signing of elton brand, and then they lock up iggy and lou for quite a while. in my opionion the sixers are on the verge of playoff contention, with the signing of a vet big man. im excited as can be just to see if iggy has improved his jumpshot, and to see if all these new additions can be used effectively in maurice cheeks offense.

Good job E.S., now give A.Miller a call. If our core, Brand, A.Miller and Iggy isn!t top 5 in the league than our 2nd tier guys [L.Will.,Reggie, Thad ] should make up for any deficiences.

If the deal is as reported, I am happy with it as well. One of the biggest reasons I am happy with it has to do with ES. We know now that he is a man of his word. He said he had a plan for the team going forward. He said he knew where the team’s needs were and that he would address them. He said he was committed to keeping Williams and Iguodala. Well, ES did everything he said he would. Knowing that ES is not just blowing smoke makes me feel confident in the organization. It also strengthens my belief that we are heading in the right direction and that he is making the moves necessary to make us a contender.

We have been over all the pros and cons of an Iguodala deal many times. I hate to bring them all up again, so I will mention one pro and one con that jump out to me.

I think the main pro is that we have kept what we had intact and built on it. I much prefer this route as opposed to what Indiana and a few others have done. Turning over half your roster all at once might be exciting and hold out the promise of better things to come, but it leaves you with a lot to digest. It has got to take a while for something like that to come together on the court. Also, how long do you wait for it to come together before you decide that it won’t and begin to part ways with some players and bring in others again? Not for me thanks. I have believed all along that we had something solid to work with and I think we will be much better off for keeping it together.

Now that the deal is done I think the main con is how does this affect/limit us financially over the next several years? For example, can/will the Sixers spend what it takes to keep Miller? We will have to wait and see the exact terms of the deal to ascertain the impact it will have on the Sixers’ financial future. A possible mitigating factor is that ES said ownership would be willing to pay the luxury tax if necessary. I would be very surprised if ES didn’t already walk them down this financial road and lay out exactly where they would be once he made all these deals. It is reasonable to think that ES was able to walk the walk because he knows he can go over the luxury threshold to keep Miller. I hope that is the case.

As far as overpaying, I don’t know. I’m going to give you a part of Henry Abbott’s article on espn.com that caught my eye.

“The long-term commitment to Brand put pressure on the organization to win sooner rather than later — or risk wasting a massive investment — and coming to terms with Iguodala became almost an essential part of the Sixers’ message to sponsors, season-ticket holders and fans that the team was rejuvenated.”

I do think there is validity to that statement. We have talked here many times about the window we have with Brand. If the Sixers lost Iguodala over $1 million per year and we then proceeded to never win a championship or even make the finals with Brand, wouldn’t you look back and say that we wasted our window by trying to save a few million or that the Sixers didn’t show a total commitment to winning?

I say it’s been another great day to be a Sixers fan.

The news is not official!!! According to Ed Stefanski during the Phillies-Dodgers game in Los Angeles, he told CSN that nothing has been made!! The ESPN reports are false!! Stay tuned!!

Woah, it’s been 6 hours since this posting and JJG hasn’t commented yet on how stupid he thinks Ed is and how much he hates AI2. Up is down! Black is white! North is south! I don’t even know what to think anymore.

As Blski stated, chemistry is important and we only added 1 major piece to last years core [Brand] so hoipefully we can hit the ground running. Jumpin, hopefully he does enough of the little things and gets comfortable in his role as the 3rd or 2nd banana. If this prohibits us from signing A.Miller I will be very surprised. He is too much of what E.S. has been talking about; [good person, good player].

I can feel it in my bones, I can the see light at the end of the tunnel. The Iggy contract talk is winding down. Im happy to hear it.

@pete-

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT complaining

This is an approx. $15MM mistake on the part of the Sixers, by not signing Iguodala before Deng/Okafor got their deals.

This deal, though not confirmed yet, is close to $15MM off what Iguodala’s market value during the regular season and before he displayed his glaring half-court deficiencies in the playoffs against Detroit.

Knowing that you (the Sixers) are not going to allow him to go the unrestricted market in 2009–that was clear–and knowing what the inflated market for restricted players during this offseason was going to be due to lack of strong unrestricteds, by not giving Iguodala a contract in that $63-65MM earlier last year, it costs them approx. $15MM over the course of those 6 season that have been reported.

Now, I think there is no question that although Iguodala has continued to develop/improve, his scoring numbers are likely to trend DOWN in the upcoming season with the inclusion of Brand. To what extent, I don’t know, but I think that is natural regression with now Brand in the pivot.

In the end, Iguodala is critical to how this team was built, how it plays, and how they are going to continue to win–defending, getting up and down the floor, but $80MM to a No. 2 option, with his garling half-court deficiencies is a bit disheartening. I would have liked to have seen him sign to closer to that $60-65MM. That was possible.