The Philadelphia 76ers fired long time, incompetent general manager, Billy King about a couple of weeks ago and replaced him with the Nets’ GM Ed Stefanski. This was a necessary move for a lost and “rebuilding” Sixers team that was being led the wrong way on a one-way street and right into oncoming traffic. The Sixers responded to the firing by going 8-4 over their past 12 games and returning to being respectable as opposed to being at a Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves level of dejectedness. Stefanski was credited for this surge even though he hadn’t made one move since moving into the position with his hometown team. So after sitting on his hands and observing the situation with his own team and with other teams around the league, he decided to pull the trigger on a trade that will greatly benefit his team in the long run.
The 76ers are trading their best outside shooter, Kyle Korver, to the Utah Jazz for the malcontent shooting guard, Gordan Giricek, and a first round pick in this year’s draft. It’s actually a great trade for both teams and another great transaction by Utah GM, Kevin O’Connor (who is easily one of the best general managers in the NBA today). The deal works well for both teams, providing each franchise with much needed components to help further along their respective paths towards being contenders.
The Utah Jazz has gained one of the league’s best shooters in Kyle Korver. Kyle Korver is averaging 10 points and 2.9 rebounds this season, which are down from the 14.4 points and 3.5 rebounds from a year ago. His three-point shooting has also been sub-par for his standards this year by making just 1.5 long-range connections per game. It has decreased steadily from the 2.8 per game he made 3 years ago when he made a Philadelphia franchise record 226 in one season. His shooting percentages have also been much lower at 39.6% from the field and 35.2% from three-point range (down from 44% and 43%, respectively). Part of this lower shooting has been the lack of a go-to scorer that takes pressure away from long-range threats like Korver. Now that he’s joining the Jazz, he should get plenty of wide-open looks with constant double teams of Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, not to mention the playmaking ability of Williams, Ronnie Brewer, and Andrei Kirilenko.
(Quick fantasy note: If Kyle Korver is available in your leagues because of the poor production, take a second and go pick him up before finishing this article. I’ll even give you the link.)
As for the Sixers this is a huge move for them because of their upcoming salary cap situation. Philly is looking at roughly $14 million in cap space on the surface but when you factor in their cap holds for restricted free agents Andre Iguodala and Louis Williams that figure turns into roughly $5 million in cap space. With this trade, you can add another $4.7 million to that number. That means that they can be major players in this year’s free agent class (which isn’t great in talent, considering that most of the potential free agents either won’t opt out of their deals or will opt out just to re-sign with their current teams). Or they can hold that money until the summer of 2009 when a loaded free agent class of all the players that didn’t sign extensions this year will most likely be available as unrestricted free agents. This means that with continued savvy drafting and smart personnel moves between now and the summer of ’09, the Sixers will be rebuilt in less than 2 years and back to being a major contender in the Eastern Conference. Also, the first round pick will come in a loaded draft class this year that will most likely run deep with at least 30 players that can make a significant impact on the rotations of NBA teams next year.
Ed Stefanski has made his first move for the Sixers and it is a very good one. He gave up a player in Korver that will be a valuable member of any contending team (like the Jazz) but isn’t very valuable or necessary for the Sixers with 3 years and $15.46 million left on his contract after this year. Instead they add Giricek who is a good defender and a pretty good complimentary scorer. He’ll provide plenty of toughness for a young Sixers’ team that has been pretty soft so far this year. He adds versatility to Philadelphia on defense and will allow guys like Willie Green and Andre Iguodala to gamble more on help defense to create more fastbreak opportunities for Andre Miller and Louis Williams.
Stefanski finally has done something for the Sixers, which should add to their recent success (even though he had nothing to do with that to begin with).
Photos Courtesy of ESPN.com and NBA.com, respectively