Just when we thought the Andre Iguodala contract situation was over – we get faked out by the biggest/most popular sports media yesterday. So you know what that means, right? Yes, another Andre Iguodala blog post!!! (sorry, Matto)
One of our readers, Rob tipped us all off that the deal was not official, according to Stefanksi during the Phillies-Dodgers game. Then a couple Philly Beat writers followed up on that and made contact with Sixers’ GM Ed Stefanski to confirm ESPN’s report that Andre Iguodala agreed to terms of a deal worth $80M over six years.
The 76ers wouldn’t confirm an ESPN.com report yesterday claiming the team and Andre Iguodala have come to terms on a six-year, $80 million contract.
“Can’t report anything,” team president Ed Stefanski replied via e-mail.
“I have not been given that indication, nor has it been alluded to,” said a Sixers source. – Tom Moore, Phillyburbs.com
The question to 76ers president/general manager Eddie Stefanski was: Could he confirm the ESPN.com report that guard/forward Andre Iguodala, a restricted free agent, had agreed to the terms of a 6-year, $80 million contract?
“Nothing to report from our side,” Stefanski replied.
That was it. All of it. – Phil Jasner, Philly.com
Whew, good thing I didn’t go crazy last night writing up this huge analysis and opinion piece regarding the rumored deal. I am sure this retraction frustrates some people and makes others happy. I still have the same feelings – I just want it to be over. But, I want it to be over without going crazy and vastly overpaying for him.
Thoughts/Questions
- Does that rumor from Henry Abbott just mean they are very close, and we should expect something official any day now?
- Would Ed Stefanski refute the rumor of an Iguodala deal if they were accurate? If so, why?
- Did this leak come from Iguodala’s camp? Maybe a hint to the public what he is seeking from his side to get the fans in his favor even more.
- Finally, who the hell are these league sources? Ed Snider’s first wife, Myrna, or his second wife, Martha? No, no maybe one of his 6 kids or 15 grandchildren; they would have much more accurate information regarding the Sixers. Clearly they didn’t talk to Stefanski, and no one from the Sixers will confirm the deal.
AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!
I can’t take it anymore! I put together a good post last night for nothing. I am not getting sucked into this any further until a deal is official, announced, hand-shaked, photo-opped, press conferenced, notarized, legally binding, all i’s dotted, all t’s crossed, signed (in blood), sealed, delivered, and the first check is cashed.
Can we all forget this for a while, please. Jump over to “Phillies Ramblings” and let’s talk some baseball. (At least until we have something concrete with Iguodala)
It’ll be done. To me, this sounds like they have agreement on the big picture, and are haggling over the final details.
From the last thread, jjg, I’m want to frame this sentence in something appropriate of it’s weight: “One thing for certain: For the first time, Cheeks has sufficient pieces from which to mold a winner.” Now I’m sacred…
Morty…First of all I’m genuflecting out of respect as I type this, since you’re sacred. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist…I hate those darn typos)
Seriously though, I think we all agree that Mo has a lot of coaching to do now. Excuses like “We have a young team” or “We’re still missing a few pieces” will no longer be accepted.
The one thing I have trouble with whether its Mo or his assistants are the plays called during time outs. One thing LB did when he was here, he called great plays during time outs that often led to baskets. Anyone notice how often they leave the huddle and turn the ball over.. That’s frustrating and possibly lacks coaching ability.
Wow. This is odd. ESPN is usually money when they come out with their reports.
I’ll have to look more into it when I get off work.
bski:
jjg is the eternal Phila. optimist, and super duper AI2 fan, so his positive reaction to the potential signing of AI2 for big bucks was unexpected, and hopefully not a sign of the apocalypse.
As for Mo, I agree completely, and hope that ES does not sign Mo to a long term extension just yet. I’d prefer to see how the 1st half or so of the coming season turns out. RROSE makes and excellent point.
As for typos, sorry ’bout that. Dannie, I thought you were going to add a “preview” option?
Morty – I tried one “edit comments” plug-in and didn’t like the results. I’ve found another one I am going to try but I don’t like doing stuff to the blog during peak times as to not break it while people are active. So I will look at it late tonight or just wait until the weekend. It’s definitely coming though.
Jordan – the fact that ESPN has not taken down that article, still has it as a link on the homepage and have not put out a follow-up or update considering Stefanski’s recent comments says, at least to me, they really believe in their source.
Dannie: Thanks for the update.
Yeah, R.Rose does make an excellent point. Back in the ’01 finals it seemed like LB got the better of PJ coming out of every single timeout, regardless of what side of the ball we were on.
Dannie- Your right.
Ed was in LA, not just for the game, but for negotiating with Iggy’s agent, Rob Pelinka. Pelinka is a West Coast guy who lives in LA and represents a number of Laker players, including Kobe Bryant. There was definitely some negotiating going on. ESPN got that right. Now the amount is still to be determined, similar to what the Bulls and Luol Deng did. Hopefully, Ed will get Iggy resigned and perhaps get him at a better price!! One thing is for sure, Ed is a great negotiator (using his real estate skills). I found a sound byte on 950 ESPN Philadelphia, a Jody Mac interview with Phil Jasner.
Here it is
Now wrap your roster up with Theo Ratliff, Austin Croshere or Devin Brown, and another player.
Speights is a WILD card!!
Did you guys read the article about Sixers offering 70 mill. and putting extra 10 mill. on the table at the last minute; wonder if that was true. It said a source involved in the negotiations gave the info.
Guys, right on the front page of Philly.com is a big picture of Iguodala and next to it is a very large headline that reads, “Iguodala Gets $80 Mil From Sixers”.
The article says it has been confirmed by a league source. Check it out for more details.
I just checked on hoopshype.com and they have several quotes from the article on Philly.com in their “rumors” section and have it creditted to the Inquirer.
Looks like this is for real, but the article does say that the deal won’t be finalized until early next week.
I’ll keep searching for more confirmation.
they also just said on PTI that the deal has been agreed to, but i dont know
DeepSixer,
I heard the same thing about the extra tack on of
$10 million from WIP. I SERIOUSLY hope we are not
outbidding only ourselves unnecessarily, much like
Orlando did with their absurd extra 6th year and 20+
million to Rashard Lewis.
I, for one, am not a fan of the 6th year on this deal.
Too many unknowns for too young a player to put in
that extra year.
Dave T:
Eh. It would have been better if it was less money and less years, but AI2 will be 30 when this deal is done. I highly doubt it will be onerous as long as management is OK with paying the luxury tax, and I am assuming the 3 contracts they signed this summer indicate they will do so.
The 6th year is, reportedly, a player option. The interesting thing, to me, will be to see how the salary amounts are structured per year.
One other thing in favor of taking the plunge is that AI2 truly does not seem like the type of player to slack after getting the “big deal.” Knock on wood.
Last point in favor of getting a deal at this cost: for better or worse, most every NBA player not working on a rookie deal is over payed.
I reserve comment until we see more than “a league source (who isn’t Ed Stefanski or Ed Snider)” as the credibility behind the news. What’s different from from ESPN’s league source that Stefanski didn’t confirm and Philly.com’s?
When I see a direct quote from Ed I will write up my thoughts.
I believe this “leak” to be true, mostly because I want to. I’m ready for this thing to be done with already. I havent been around here for long, some of you may or may not of read my comments, I am a huge IGG supporter. I don’t think this deal is bad if its not all guaranteed, incentives are a good thing, keeps players working hard.
As far as ES not confirming the news, I think its typical of this offseason and the new management. Nothing has been played out in the media, the sixers haven’t confirmed anything until its set in stone. If ES was leaving that game to finalize, and he knew it was a “done deal”, I think he would of kept the same poker face.
Even with my certainty, much like the rest of you…I’ll save my ugly dancing for the press conference
I should have known. I still believe that the 6 year $80 mil is the ballpark figure and they are smoothing out the finer details.
I think Iggy will be a interesting SG. Alot of people commenting on these links seem to doubt his ability to play there. It seems they have a cookie-cutter idea of the playing style for that spot. One guy was saying how he can’t shoot off screens and doesn’t have a pull-up jump shot. But Iggy will probably be more of a hybrid SG, a defensive, driving SG. I will be pretty entertaining to see how teams will have to change their lineups or at least watching the SG guards of the NBA try to guard him.
If we sign him (and my agony ends) that is.
@bski, if my memory is correct LB was the last coach to take the sixers deep into the playoffs. I’m not a LB fan but that proves he coaches pretty well. PJ had Shaq and Kobe two HOF players on that team. How hard could it be to coach them. Are you a Sixers fan or Lakers fan?
R.Rose…I’m a Sixers fan. Why do you ask, did I come across as a Lakers fan? I was just echoing your thoughts about Larry Brown doing a great job with calling plays during timeouts.
The sixers rank fourth in the East on Sports Illustrated.com!!
link
these are the top four teams by their standards
1)celtics
2)cavs
3)magic
4)76ers
thoughts??
Matto,
Great call about Iguodala, I totally agree with how you
talked about the “cookie cutter” roles we like to
establish for players, and that instead Iguodala will be a
hybrid, defensive SG interesting to watch.
R-Rose,
Don’t even start with the “Anyone could have coached
those Bulls or Lakers teams,” lol. I’m a huge, huge
Phil Jackson fan. He’s a very deep, psychological guy,
and his ability to manage egos and hold team chemistry
together is a gifted trait. Those teams would NOT have
won as much without that particular man running the
show. He has one of the most unique views on how
basketball should be played, and when teams have
truly bought into his system and play in the triangle,
they win.
Brown and Jackson are almost complete opposites as coaches. Brown works with overachievers, Jackson works with underachievers. Different men for different jobs, but they are both fantastic at what they do.
There’s some truth to Morty’s oversimplification about Brown and Jackson but you have to dig, and throw away a lot of each man’s coaching history to buy the construct. For example, Jackson coached the minor league CBA Albany Patroons to a championship in ’84. Brown has coached a lot of top talent in his time; check out his Rockets (ABA), Nets, Spurs, Pacers and Pistons rosters – chock full. “Jackson, Zen therapist of the Stars”; “Brown, Tar Heel professor or barnstorming missionary of lost (sneakered) souls” – just easy and misleading branding.
jjg: Thanks for the necessary corrective to my breezy simplification. I was thinking narrowly about Brown with the Sixers and Jackson with the Lakers. The 2001 Sixers did overachieve, and the Lakers with both Kobe and Shaq (and Eddie Jones, and Glen Rice, and etc.) did underachieve (playoff-wise) before Jackson’s arrival.
The rubric I always like to use is this:
-Larry Brown probably would not have gotten the Jordan-
Pippen Bulls, and the Shaq/Kobe Lakers, to winning NBA
championships.
-Phil Jackson would not have gotten the LA Clippers to the
playoffs, nor the 98-03 Sixers to three 2nd round appearances,
and one NBA finals.
I like to think that Phil Jackson knows how to take talented
guys with huge egos and get them to play together, and to
buy into sacrificing themselves for the team, and establishing
well defined roles; LB can take guys less talented and get them
play together, and teach the finer nuances of the game to
all no matter if they are the alpha star or the 12th man.
Personally, I think Popovich is right up there. He stuns me
with how he has developed the Spurs offense and ball
movement over the years, something very rare. Obviously,
an incredible defensive coach as well.
I think Popovich is underrated for sure. I like his in game adjustments and play calling. Now with Brand and Iggy on board I wonder what type of offense Mo will have in the half court set. Pushing the ball is great but can you draw up a play consistently to get good shots. Don’t think he does that well. As for LB and PJ I do think talent wins more games then good coaching most times. Both coaches no the game well and their systems work well for them. Can’t argue PJ success but having MJ, Pippen Shaq, Kobe for all his NBA titles says he was rather fortunate too.
THE PRESS CONFERNCE IS SUPPOSED TO BE HELD TODAY
Be still, my beating heart.