Maybe, character counts for something (John Smallwood)

The Blogsphere was has been full of complaints 'bout thier team not selecting Marcus Williams on draft nite. Many Sixers fans included. John Smallwood went the extra mile to perhaps answer 'why'.

What'sa Thabo Sefolosha anyway ... some kinda salad?

Thabo Sefolosha? I don't know any who will tell they where excited when they heard that announced as the Sixers 13th pick.

My temperature came down after hearing the Sixers would be swapping with the Bulls at 16. I am not disappointed with the Rod Carney pick. As I have said, there are no "no brainers" in this draft. I was happy they drafted based on need. I did not want to see us draft another guard. No offense to Randy Foye, whom the Sixers coveted, but that 4 guard offense won't cut it in the NBA. It's just a gimmick that won't beat Miami, Detroit, or Indiana.

The fact that the Sixers picked up 3 forwards last nite gives us a good indication of where Billy King's head is at. more ...

Will the ghost of draft days past continue to haunt the Sixers?

Nobody is as busy as Billy King these days. This Wednesday we will begin to see the fruits of is labor to make good on his promise to ... "Do whatever its take" ... to make this franchise competitive.

In an insert for this article in today's paper, Joe Juliano relives some of the Sixers most infamous draft day blunders. No I don't mean Shawn Bradley. I meant to say most infamous draft day trades.
#1 was a no brainer ... the '86 trade of Moses. ... o'boy that one still stings a little.
#2 was the '88 draft day swap of Charles Smith for Hersey Hawkins. This pales in comparison to the Malone trade and I'm not so sure we didn't get the better part of that trade.
#3 was the '03 moves to bag Willie Green (No. 41) and Kyle Korver (No. 51) for a No. 50 pick and some cash. That was some good GM work by King. The jury is still out as to whether is was great GM work by King.
#4 was the '97 trade of Keith Van Horn (No. 2) and Lucious Harris, Michael Cage, and Don McLean to New Jersey for 'Novas' Tim Thomas (No. 7), Anthony Parker (No. 21), Jim Jackson and Eric Montross. This was a masterful exercise in pass the trash in which the Brown/King brain trust unloaded a boat load of mediocre players with long term contracts.
#5 was the '02 trade of Speedy Claxton to San Antonio that netted Johnny Salmons (No. 26) and Randy Holcomb (No. 57). I think Joe was reachin' with this one. Speedy wasn't really missed and Johnny isn't really welcomed (at least by many fans).

Billy King was notably a part of 3 out of the 5 trades mentioned. Needless to say he needs to do a lot better. Whatever is takes, right?

The NBA Goes Global

Just in case you were wondering. I did not bail out on basketball the minute the Sixers season ended. I just didn't wannna talk about it. I must say that this years playoffs was one of the best ever. There was some amazing games ... amazing plays ... amazing players. The old guard is still waiting for the next Jordan. The future isn't about one man; one superman. It's about a cadre of players with incredible skills and styles as varied as the multi-cultured world we live in. That's the future. The games' gotta go global and this years playoffs is a signal that its on its way.

To see 2 teams with less that 20 years history square off for the first time in the finals was refreshing. To see Pat Riley win was not. I said he was a fraud and wouldn't win it all this year. I was wrong ... he did win it all.

It will never be like the Jordan era again, but if you had to pick a Superman ... Dwayne Wade does a pretty good impression.