MVN - Most Valuable Network

Memo to Management: Moving Miller

After all this time of riding the fence on what Mr. Stefanski’s next move should be as our new President and GM, I’m now ready to weigh in on the subject.  The main focal point of trade discussions with the Sixers has been point guard Andre Miller.  The only way the Sixers would deal him is if they proactively seek out offers.

In my opinion, the Sixers should pursue offers more proactively for Miller.  Looking back over Miller’s career, he’s never been able to raise the level of his team.  He’s played on a few bad teams, and while it’s hard to fault him for that, it’s also hard to see him as a piece to the rebuilding puzzle.

Lou Williams is waiting in the wings and ready to take the keys.  The rest of the season can serve as his test run.  At the end of the year, you can either make him your point guard for the future or draft a top flight point guard come June.  If Williams struggles, we can always fall back on KO or Worst Case, as well as our point forward - Andre Iguodala.

The problem with Miller is that outside of Miami and Cleveland, it’s hard to envision a situation that would be a good fit for a trade.  There’s also the issue of avoiding bad contracts in return.  Indiana might be a place that would fit, but I wouldn’t come anywhere near the contracts of Mike Dunleavy Jr. or Troy Murphy.  Ike Diogu is a guy I would be interested in though as an upgrade over Reggie Evans.  Meanwhile, Shawne Williams has turned out to be better than his college teammate, Rodney Carney.

One guy who I would trade for would be Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns.  He’s making $9 million a year over the next 4 years, but he’s regressed playing with Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire.  With a guy like Dalembert, Diaw would form a good combo.  He might be worth the pricetag for Miller, but a three way would have to make it work. 

There’s always Antoine Walker’s bloated contract, and the Timberwolves need a point guard too.  There’s no way that we could swing Walker for Diaw, but at least we’ve seen a kinder, gentler ‘toine in recent years.  There’s less shimmy and more mileage on the big fella and he’s accepted a lesser role on one of the worst teams in the league.  The guy I really like on the T-wolves is Craig Smith, in addition to Randy Foye of course.  You could get both Smith and Walker for Miller and throw in somebody like Louis Amundson to keep Mark Madsen company.

One team that is on the rise and set up to do any number of deals is Portland.  I love their wing complements to Brandon Roy in Travis Outlaw, James Jones and Martell Webster.  Outlaw earns $4 million per year over the next three years, while the other two are earning a little less than that.  The only shot you have with the Blazers appears to be taking on Darius Miles.  Ask Mo Cheeks if that’s a good idea.

Miller seems like he’d be a good fit for the Kings.  Kings point guard Mike Bibby could reunite with Sixers assistant, Henry Bibby, if he wasn’t making way too much money.  If you want to take a trip to the looney bin, Ron Artest could be had for the right deal.  Francisco Garcia is a bargain, while former-Sixer John Salmons has also been playing well this season in Sactown.

In conclusion, the best deal for Miller appears to be Antoine Walker.  I’m not a Walker fan by any means, but he’s got a team option after next year that makes his contract doable.  You could also trade away the starting backcourt for Larry Hughes.  Neither option is very attractive.  I want to find a deal for Miller and nothing out there makes sense.  How hard do you think it would be for Ed to pull the trigger on something?  That’s why we’d be better off trading either Rodney Carney or Reggie Evans and maybe both.  There are guys you can get in return for nearly the same dollars.  We’ll save those for next week, if Ed can wait that long…

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Willie Green, Louis Amundson, Shawne Williams, Troy Murphy, Darius Miles, Mo Cheeks, Rodney Carney, Martell Webster, Andre Iguodala, Henry Bibby, Kevin Ollie, Ed Stefanski, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Francisco Garcia, John Salmons, Ike Diogu, Lou Williams, Reggie Evans, Sixers, Sam Dalembert, Andre Miller, Portland Trail Blazers, Amare Stoudemire, Brandon Roy, Larry Hughes, Ron Artest, Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, Travis Outlaw, Randy Foye, Passion and Pride, Craig Smith, Mark Madsen, James Jones, Shawn Marion, Antoine Walker, Boris Diaw, Mike Bibby, Cleveland Cavaliers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.