If All Else Fails…
With limited options, most fans believe that this summer is “Josh Smith or bust”. I agree completely. Atlanta can match any offer thrown at him and it really comes down to a decision if their management wants Josh Smith or the backcourt of Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby in ‘10.
With the Clippers’ acquisition of Baron Davis and the outrageous amount that Golden State put up for him, Elton Brand seems to be out of the question. While Josh Smith remains our one and only target, and seems to be gaining interest, I decided to take a look at “Plan C” in my eyes- Corey Maggette.
The 6′6 swingman out of Duke averaged 22 points and 5 rebounds per game last season. He is a scorer so don’t ask him to do much else. He gets to the free-throw line maybe better than anyone in the league. He is a decent shooter with a career percentage of 45% from the field and 33% from deep. The 9-year vet can provide leadership to guys like Thaddeus Young and Rodney Carney and is still in the prime of his career at 28 years old.
The unrestricted free-agent is being pursued by many teams such as the Jazz, Spurs, Magic, Celtics, Heat and Hornets. Besides Miami, teams are looking to add another piece to make a run at the title. To my knowledge, all of these teams are offering Maggette part or all of their mid-level exception (5.5 million). The Sixers can easily offer Maggette $6 million (or more depending on if he wants money or a championship) and still have $5 million to spend on a shooter (Kareem Rush?) or big man (Chris Wilcox?).
I think the person that would benefit the most from this move would be Andre Iguodala. I’ve said all along that Dre will probably never be a great #1 option or ever average more than 22+ points a night. However he would be a great “option 1b” if you paired him up with another 20+ point scorer. This would allow Andre to score without taking a guy off the dribble from 30 ft. away. We all saw what happened when the defense focused just on him in the playoffs.
Maggette would have to play the 2-guard spot leaving Thaddeus, Reggie or the rookie to play PF for another year. This signing and the addition of a shooter would leave Willie Green the odd man out. Let’s hope we don’t get to that stage and Josh Smith is our guy this coming season.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 9:57 am and is filed under Andre Iguodala, Rodney Carney, Joe Johnson, Duke, Josh Smith, Willie Green, Marreese Speights, Chris Wilcox, Reggie Evans, Kareem Rush, Thaddeus Young, Mike Bibby, San Antonio Spurs, New Orleans Hornets, Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors, Baron Davis, L.A Clippers, Elton Brand, Boston Celtics.
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7 Responses to “If All Else Fails…”
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
If they can’t land Josh Smith (the Hawks will match anything the Sixers can offer) I think the Sixers should try to trade for Wilcox. If they can’t get Wilcox either they’d be best to sit on the cap and wait for next season.
All Maggette does is possibly bump this team up to a five or six seed. He doesn’t make them a contender, and he forces Thad Young to the bench in 2009-10.
Maggette is a nice player but he’s not a star and he’s not a guy who’ll put you over the hump. He gets his numbers, but not really much else. I think he’d be best served going to a better team where he’s only asked to score (like Orlando).
July 4th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Managing the cap also means managing when you spend that cap money and holding onto it if need be. The Sixers made a tactical blunder not having more picks this yr. If next year looks good, I agree, stay put, hold the money and look to a better draft if Smith cannot be signed.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Just wrote similar post with other possible scenarios for the Sixers. But please people let’s get off the Chris Wilcox kick. He is not the answer at PF and he is a terrible person. He was arrested AGAIN for gun charges in the beginning of June. Philadelphia has enough clowns with guns, don’t you think?
July 5th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Just because he got arrested on a gun charge doesn’t say anything about his character. A lot of these athletes carry guns. Wilcox would be an active body at PF and with the Sixers offense, he could have a better impact than he now has in Seattle.
July 5th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
The NBA is a very funny league. Look at what Rashard Lewis signed for last year and Corey Maggette can only get the MLE? Why wouldn’t the Sixers offer him 4 years at say 40 mil, and lock him up? I agree that Maggette and Igoudola would be a great pairing.
July 6th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
I really like Maggette’s game. Guys who get to the line make a major impact. Iguodala would benefit from having a guy like Maggette. I’m not enamored with Josh Smith, so I would just focus in on a guy like Maggette, let Speights, Jason Smith and Thad Young develop, and stay under the cap for the time being.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:21 am
I think we’d want to worry about building a fantasy basketball team (like the Knicks).
We need somebody who can play defense and hit the 3-pointer at 35%.
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