Not good to be the King
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By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
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December 15, 2006
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Across the seasons of the Philadelphia 76ers' slide into the NBA's sludge, the sobering truth about general manager Billy King's fitness for the job has exposed itself decision by decision, defeat by defeat. With his franchise in shambles and his leverage to move Allen Iverson crumbling, the countdown to a disastrous deal ticks loudly throughout the league.
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There's a reason that the trade talks for Iverson have dragged for a full week now, longer than the Sixers ever wanted. The thing is, everyone else doesn't just want to steal Iverson out of Philly; they expected to do so.
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Mostly, front offices think they can get over on King.
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And why wouldn't they? With his owner, Ed Snider, King has cast the Sixers in the most vulnerable of positions to peddle Iverson. By banishing him last Friday, they've done nothing but make teams reluctant to offer the best possible packages for Iverson. King wanted a bidding war for Iverson. So far, it hasn't been close.
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As it's turned out, these negotiations aren't about who's offered the most for Iverson, but who's offered the least embarrassing package.
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"Philly may regret the way they did this," said one NBA executive who has made some trades in his career. "They have painted themselves into a corner unnecessarily. If they planned to trade him, why sit him down? I think that only diminishes his value."
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That's a belief shared throughout the league. For some to dismiss the exiling of Iverson on the basis that it doesn't matter that the Sixers keep losing – nine straight games and 13 out of 14 – does nothing but enable the losing culture of the King regime. The franchise's credibility has been chipped away layer by layer these past several years, until now when it's been fully exposed for what it's become – the biggest joke in the league.
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Try this today: Put every NBA G.M., coach and roster into a pool. Allow the rest of the owners to draft them. Tough to manage, but it's true that Philadelphia might be the one team that gets all three of those entities taken last.
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Through the bad contracts and draft picks and trades, through the revolving door of coaches, King has remained blessed with an engaging, earnest disposition that's carried him within and outside his organization. He's a survivor. And make no mistake, he isn't alone among his peers. If Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce were demanding trades in Minnesota and Boston now, Kevin McHale and Danny Ainge would be under this kind of scrutiny.
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Still, King has a chance to make a last stand on this trade – bringing back expiring contracts, young players and draft picks – to fortify a bid to keep his job. And what comes with it but word that Larry Brown is holding his hand on the trade, serving as a "consultant" to the Sixers.
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For goodness sakes, the biggest decision he'll ever make as Philadelphia G.M. and King decides to deliver the message that he isn't strong enough to make it on his own? Brown was responsible for hiring King with the 76ers, and now it looks like he's unsure what to do without him.
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"What does he need Larry Brown for?" one league executive wondered Thursday night. "If you're the G.M., do the deal."
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Denver has been in the middle of these negotiations from the beginning, trying to dump its overpaid and damaged good, Nene, on the Sixers. In the beginning, the Nuggets tried to package the likes of Julius Hodge with him. The longer trade talks drag on, the less inclined suitors like Denver will hang in and risk disruption of its locker room psyche.
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The Sixers are believed to have been offered the ever-intriguing young Clippers guard Shaun Livingston over the summer for Iverson – with Corey Maggette – but King didn't go for it. They'll never get Livingston now. Part of that was ownership's reluctance to trade the franchise's most valued asset at a time when selling the team was a possibility.
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Surely still, that wasn't the first chance King had to get maximum value for his superstar. Besides waiting too long to trade him, they decided to do it all wrong.
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That's the reason, one league source says, the Pacers are determined to keep one foot in the talks with Philadelphia. Indiana executives Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird are insisting they want to grab Iverson if he's there to be stolen. That's where Billy King has backed himself into now, where salvaging his lost cause with Allen Iverson looks like one more losing proposition in Philly.
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Adrian Wojnarowski is the national NBA writer for Yahoo! Sports. Send Adrian a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
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음 전체적으로 빌리 킹이 트레이드 시기를 놓치고 있고, 그로 인해 아이버슨의 트레이드 가치를 점점 하락시키고 있다는 거. 지금 킹이 하고 있는 행동은 아이버슨에게나, 팀에게나, 그리고 자신의 포지션에게 모두 좋지 않은 결과를 불러 오고 있고, 많은 팀들이 아이버슨을 스틸해오길 바라지만 이미 필리에 넘겨줄 반대급부의 가치는 점점 하락하고 있다는 거같아요. 덴버는 여름에 줄리어스 하지에 네네까지 얹어주려고 했었고, 클리퍼스도 리빙스턴에 메거티까지 주려고 했었지만 킹은 그렇게 하지 않았다네요. (-_-) 그리고 래리 브라운이 컨설턴트로서 딜에 참여할 가능성도 언급. 마지막에 페이서스도 관심있다는 내용.
첫댓글 훈훈한소식
감동적이군요
뭐지?
음 전체적으로 빌리 킹이 트레이드 시기를 놓치고 있고, 그로 인해 아이버슨의 트레이드 가치를 점점 하락시키고 있다는 거. 지금 킹이 하고 있는 행동은 아이버슨에게나, 팀에게나, 그리고 자신의 포지션에게 모두 좋지 않은 결과를 불러 오고 있고, 많은 팀들이 아이버슨을 스틸해오길 바라지만 이미 필리에 넘겨줄 반대급부의 가치는 점점 하락하고 있다는 거같아요. 덴버는 여름에 줄리어스 하지에 네네까지 얹어주려고 했었고, 클리퍼스도 리빙스턴에 메거티까지 주려고 했었지만 킹은 그렇게 하지 않았다네요. (-_-) 그리고 래리 브라운이 컨설턴트로서 딜에 참여할 가능성도 언급. 마지막에 페이서스도 관심있다는 내용.
결론은 오프시즌에 했어야 하는 딜을 지금까지 못하면서 자기무덤파고 있다는 얘기네요.. bk는 역시나 바보네요..
점점 가치가 떨어지고 있다는 소식 같은데... 걍 빨리 미네로 보낼것이지 뭣하러 이렇게 질질 끄는지....
AI가 뛰지 않고있다는것...필리 입장에서 점점 손해보는 이유중에 하나네요. 계속 좋은모습 보여줘야 딜하기도 쉽고 오퍼도 좋은게 들어올텐데...미숙합니다 미숙해 빌리킹
킹이라길래 르브론얘긴줄알았네.. 영어공부좀해야지 -_-;
그냥 내용보다도 빌리 킹을 비난하는 내용이군요.. 간단하게..
아직도 트레이드 안됐네 -_-; 언제되는거여;
음.. 그런뜻이군요...
해석답글 쓰다가 너무 길어서 집어치웠습니다-_- 혹시 내일까지도 이 것의 해석본을 원하시는 분이 있다면 답글로 해석을 올리겠습니다..
끝까지 멍청하군하..; 빌리킹 -_- ㅉㅉ 전세계 농구팬한테 욕먹어도 부족한놈;
리빙스턴까지 준다는데 왜 거부하냐...무뇌킹...