The 76ers' futility; where it all began-Part 1 of a 3 part series

May 18, 2006 | By Chuck Smith | Discuss

In this 3 part series on the 76ers-Chuck Smith and Dennis Bakay attempt to dissect just what went wrong with the 76ers for them to be at the point they're at today. And, where they stand today. Then, lastly, Chuck and Dennis will offer a solution as to how this broken franchise can be fixed. For part 1, Chuck Smith went to the deep, deep depths of the Sixers' transactions over the past 14 seasons, by uncovering every single transaction they've made since '92-93, and dissected their litany of blunders. Special advisory: this is not for the faint of heart.

After pouring through every Sixers transaction made in the last 14 years, there are couple things that are blatantly obvious:
•The Sixers have a horrid history of developing young players
•More journeyman and wanderers have passed through Philadelphia than Deadwood
•Finding a player to fit in as a complement to Allen Iverson is near impossible, just ask Toni Kukoc, Dikembe Mutombo, Matt Harpring, Keith Van Horn, Derrick Coleman, Glenn Robinson, Tim Thomas, Larry Hughes, and Chris Webber; they have all found out.
•Frank the Tank and Joseph “Blue” Palasky from Old School would have made a better general manager-coaching tandem than Brad Greenberg and Johnny Davis.

92-93 season

Coaches: Doug Moe and Fred Carter
Record: 26-56

Drafted

•Clarence Weatherspoon (No.9).

Passed on

•Doug Christie (No.17), Latrell Sprewell (No. 24), P.J. Brown (No.29).

Trades

•Jayson Williams to the Nets for a1994 2nd round (William Njoku) and a 1997 2nd round pick Kebu Stewart).

Notable new free agent signings

•None.

Not so notable signings

•None.

Assessment:

There is not much to say about this dismal campaign, other than the Sixers gave up on Williams too early and tried too hard to duplicate Charles Barkley’s success with a less-talented clone in Weatherspoon. Christie, Sprewell, and Brown all would have been better building blocks and parts to a foundation rather than trying to build around Weatherspoon.

93-94 season

Coaches: John Lucas
Record: 25-57

Drafted

•Shawn Bradley (No.2), Alphonso Ford (No.31).

Passed on

•Anfernee Hardaway (No.3), Jamal Mashburn (No.4), Allan Houston (No.12), Sam Cassell (No.24), Nick Van Exel (No.37).

Trades

•Hersey Hawkins to the Hornets for Dana Barros, Sidney Green, the rights to Greg Graham, and the right to swap 1st round draft picks in 1994.

•Jeff Hornacek, Sidney Green, 1995 2nd round pick (Junior Burrough) to the Jazz for Jeff Malone and a 1994 1st round pick (B.J. Tyler).

•1994 2nd round pick (William Njoku) to the Pacers for Sean Green

Notable new free agent signings

•Michael Curry.

Not so notable signings:

•N/A.

Assessment

Hardaway, Mashburn, Houston, Cassell, and Van Exel all would have been better picks than Bradley and Ford. Not even any horrid signings…weak all around year for the Sixers. The Bradley experiment single-handedly set the franchise back five years. The Hornacek-Malone deal was a complete joke. Hornacek was no world-beater, but he was twice the player than Malone was at that stage of his career.

94-95 season

Coaches: John Lucas
Record: 24-58

Drafted

•Sharone Wright (No.6), B.J. Tyler (No.20), Derrick Alston (No.37).

Passed on

•Brian Grant (No.8), Eddie Jones (No.10), Jalen Rose (No.13), Wes Person (No.23), Charlie Ward (No. 26), Voshon Lenard (No.46).

Trades

•Eric Leckner to the Pistons for 1996 2nd round pick (Jamie Feick).

Notable new free agent signings

•Lloyd Daniels (John Lucas would have been better off signing Lloyd Christmas)

Not so notable signings:

•Jerome Harmon, Kevin Pritchard, Alaa Abdelnaby, Corey Gaines, Alphonso Ford, Jeff Grayer.

Assessment

Wright was one of the worst Sixers draft picks of all time. In a five-player draft, the Sixers, of course, had the No. 6 pick. I still think that John Lucas’ depression from the cancellation of his television show “Amen” led him to assembling this putrid squad. Oh, that was Sherman Helmsley? Either way, at least Abdelnaby secured his place atop the alphabetical listing of players in Sixers history.

95-96 season

Coaches: John Lucas
Record: 18-64

Drafted

•Jerry Stackhouse (No.3)

Passed on

•Rasheed Wallace (No.4), Kevin Garnett (No.5), Michael Finley (No.21).

Trades

•Shawn Bradley, Greg Graham, and Tim Perry to the Nets for Derrick Coleman, Rex Walters, Sean Higgins, and LaSalle Thompson.

•Sharone Wright, the right to swap first round picks in 1996 or 1997 to the Raptors for Tony Massenburg, Ed Pinckney, and a conditional 2nd round pick.

Notable new free agent signings

•Vernon Maxwell and Scott Skiles.

Not so notable signings:

•Rick Brunson, Greg Grant, Trevor Ruffin, Mike Brown, Greg Sutton.

Assessment

Stackhouse was a huge disappointment in his tenure in Philly. Garnett, ‘Sheed, or even Finley would have been better building blocks. Plus, Stackhouse swung on Jeff Hornacek, which is out and out ridiculous. After Skiles watched John Lucas coach for a few games he was pretty sure he could get a job upon retirement. The Sharone Wright to the Raptors deal was one of the more useless trades of all time; essentially a move that two bottom-feeding fantasy league teams would make.

96-97 season

Coaches: Johnny Davis
Record: 22-60

Drafted

•Allen Iverson (No.1), Mark Hendrickson (No.31), Ryan Minor (No.32).

Passed on

•Kobe Bryant (No.13), Steve Nash (No.15).

Trades

•None.

Notable new free agent signings

•Don MacLean, Lucious Harris.

Not so notable signings:

•Michael Cage, Mark Davis, Michael Hawkins, Doug Overton, Tim Kempton, Donzell Rush, Mark Bradtke, Adrian Caldwell, Joe Courtney, Frankie King.

Assessment

On the bright side Brad Greenberg figured out that he might make a heck of a baseball GM by picking Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ starter Mark Hendrickson and former Orioles farmhand Ryan Minor, too bad he was overmatched as an NBA GM. Iverson was the obvious pick, but looking back, you could argue that Bryant was the best overall player in that draft and that Nash might be the best pure point guard in the league right now. Regardless, Iverson is a phenomenal talent that could not be ignored. Now, only if he could learn to play well with others (10 years later). Greenberg also had the distinction of making a couple of mind-boggling signings in MacLean and Lucious Harris. MacLean lived up to his injury-prone reputation, while Harris could best be described as phoney. Harris also got a mind-numbing seven-year deal. At least Frankie King, Joe Courtney, Michael Hawkins, and Donzell Rush were able to say they collected an NBA paycheck.

97-98 season

Coach: Larry Brown
Record: 31-51

Drafted

•Keith Van Horn (No.2) – traded for a package including Tim Thomas (No. 7) and Anthony Parker (No.21), Marko Milic (No.33), Kebu Stewart (No.35), James Collins (No.36).

Passed on

•Chauncey Billups (No.3), Tracey McGrady (No.9), Mark Jackson (No.37), Stephen Jackson (No.42), Alvin Williams (No.47).

Trades

•Dino Radja for Clarence Weatherspoon, and Michael Cage (rejected for medical concerns with Radja’s knee).

•Keith Van Horn, Michael Cage, Lucious Harris to the Nets for Tim Thomas, Anthony Parker, Jimmy Jackson, and Eric Montross.

•The rights to James Collins to the Clippers for a 1998 2nd round pick (Jelani McCoy).

•Marko Milic for Tom Chambers (retired six weeks later)

•Jerry Stackhouse, Eric Montross, 2003-2005 option for a 1st round pick, and a 2nd round pick (Alex Acker) to the Pistons for Theo Ratliff, Aaron McKie, and a conditional first round pick (Carlos Delfino).

•1998 No.2 pick (Jelani McCoy) to the Sonics for Eric Snow.

•Terry Cummings to the Knicks for Herb Williams and Ronnie Grandison.

•Clarence Weatherspoon and Jim Jackson to the Warriors for Joe Smith and Brian Shaw.

Notable new free agent signings

•Terry Cummings

Not so notable signings:

•Derrick Phelps, Brett Szabo, Vincent Rainey, William Cunningham, Benoit Benjamin.

Assessment

So much to talk about. Hiring Larry Brown was an excellent move by Pat Croce, while hiring Billy King has still not worked out.

Grabbing Eric Snow for a 2nd round pick (which turned out to be Jelani McCoy) was a rare, solid move by the Brown-King duo, but the draft and subsequent trade with the Nets involving Keith Van Horn, Tim Thomas, and Anthony Parker did not ultimately help either team.

One of the lesser talked about moves was the Milic for Chambers trade. This was a monumental deal for dunkers. Milic’s claim to fame was dunking over a car in a contest in Europe, while Chambers had a phenomenal double-pump dunk on Sega’s NBA basketball video game in the mid 90’s.

Billy King was officially named GM in March of 1998. Someone should have given Pat Croce the Julius Caesar treatment and told him to beware the Ides of March.

98-99 season

Coach: Larry Brown
Record: 28-22

Drafted

•Larry Hughes (No.8), Casey Shaw (No.37).

Passed on

•Dirk Nowitzki (No.9), Paul Pierce (No.10), Cuttino Mobley (No.41).

Trades

•No.1 pick (Quincy Lewis) to the Jazz for Nazr Mohammed.

•Rights to Mirsad Turkcan to the Knicks for a conditional 2000 1st round pick (Quentin Richardson).

•Tim Thomas and Scott Williams to the Bucks for Tyrone Hill and Jerald Honeycutt.

Notable new free agent signings

•Matt Geiger, George Lynch, Harvey Grant.

Not so notable signings:

•Stacey King, Rick Mahorn, Doug Overton.

Assessment

The Sixers made a solid move in picking up Mohammed, but subsequently never let him develop into the solid NBA player that he has become. Choosing Larry Hughes over Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce was inexcusable. Trying to force Hughes to play point was even worse. Discarding him later as a throw-in for a trash deal was pretty much typical of the Brown-King era. Geiger never lived up to his reputation as a tough rebounder and defender, which automatically put him in the fans’ doghouse. No.37 pick Casey Shaw is now the world’s tallest (6’11) 13th-level Everquest Wizard, while Cuttino Mobley has been a solid NBA veteran on several playoff teams. Ok, I’m making that up about Shaw, but it could be true.

Tyrone Hill also came to town when the Sixers gave up on Tim Thomas, which further enhances Larry Brown’s reputation for not being able to work with young players. Hill’s legacy is detailed later in this breakdown.

99-00 season

Coach: Larry Brown
Record: 49-33

Drafted

•Todd MacCulloch (No.47).

Passed on

•Manu Ginobili (No.57).

Trades

•2000 1st round pick (Quentin Richardson) to the Hawks for the rights to Jumaine Jones.

•Harvey Grant and Anthony Parker to the Magic for Billy Owens.

•(Three-team deal with the Bulls and Warriors) Bruce Bowen, Larry Hughes, Billy Owens for Toni Kukoc.

Notable new free agent signings

•Bruce Bowen.

Not so notable signings:

•Stanley Roberts, Ira Bowman, Antonio Lang.

Assessment

While Todd MacCulloch was a great second-round value pick, a little better international scouting might have led the Sixers to landing Argentinean sensation Manu Ginobili. Ginobili is just the type of player who might be able to mesh with Iverson, due to the fact that they both play at a frenetic pace. Another move that did not get enough scrutiny was the trade of an eventual No.1 pick, which turned out to be Quentin Richardson, for Jumaine Jones. Jumaine was nothing but average and found his way out of town, although some teenage Sixers fans really liked the way he dunked….super. This season also marked the end of the Anthony Parker-era in Philly. Tall rail-thin wannabe ballers everywhere wore black armbands and tipped 40’s in mourning. The only thing that might have been able to redeem some of the moves made would have been if Larry Brown signed Scottie Thurman and made him repeatedly shoot three-pointers over Lang during practice ala the 1994 NCAA championship game.

00-01 season

Coach: Larry Brown
Record: 56-26

Drafted

•Speedy Claxton (No.20), Mark Karcher (No.48).

Passed on

•Morris Peterson (No.21), Eduardo Najera (No.38), Michael Redd (No.43), Brian Cardinal (No.44).

Trades

•Toni Kukoc, Nazr Mohammed, Theo Ratliff, and Pepe Sanchez for Dikembe Mutombo and Roshown McLeod.

Notable new free agent signings

•Raja Bell.

Not so notable signings:

•Vernon Maxwell, Kevin Ollie, Jermaine Jackson, Rodney Buford, Pepe Sanchez, Anthony “Pig” Miller.

Assessment

Anytime you can have a player nicknamed “Pig” on your team, you should take full advantage of it. Of course, the Sixers marketing department missed the boat on this one for 10 glorious days (Miller signed a 10-day contract). It would have been the perfect time to roll out the overweight version of Sixers dance team and they could have rolled the infamous breakfast conversation between Jules and Vincent form Pulp Fiction on the big screen: “Pigs are filthy animals.” A fan section called “The Pigpen” could have been created. It is an atrocity that this marketing bonanza was missed.

Oh yeah, the Sixers also made the finals this season. The Mutombo deal was a solid move that helped this team compete with the Lakers in the finals, but in the long run may have hurt the team. Mutombo was later re-signed to mega-deal even though he was too old (no one really knows for sure how old), had waffle mitts for hands, and was pretty much useless on offense. Ratliff never recovered from the injuries he suffered during this season, but Mohammed has been a decent starting pivot in the league and would have been much cheaper to retain than Deke. All that said, Brown made a courageous move to break up a team that was 41-14 in hopes of assembling a defense good enough to compete for the title. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

The Sixers, like they were with Bruce Bowen, were ahead of the curve on Raja Bell. Unfortunately, they were not able to fully develop him. He achieved much greater success with the Jazz, Mavs, and Suns.

Drafting Speedy Claxton is still a head-scratcher to this day. The move made no sense then and makes less sense now consider AI had a strong hold on the “small” guard spot in the rotation. Defensive grinders like Eduardo Najera and Brian Cardinal would have been nice additions to the squad and Larry Brown’s system, while Michael Redd has been excellent in the NBA.

01-02 season

Coach: Larry Brown
Record: 43-39

Drafted

•Samuel Dalembert (No.26), Damone Brown (No.36), Alvin Jones (No.56).

Passed on

•Tony Parker (No.28), Gilbert Arenas (No.30), Mehmet Okur (No.38), Bobby Simmons (No.41).

Trades

•Cash to the Clippers for 2nd pick (Damone Brown).

•2003 1st round pick (Dahntay Jones) to the Celtics for Jerome Moiso.

•Tyrone Hill and Jumaine Jones to the Cavaliers for Matt Harping, Robert “Tractor” Traylor, and Cedric Henderson.

•Three-team deal: George Lynch, Jerome Moiso, Robert “Tractor” Traylor, Cedric Henderson, and a 2005 1st pick (Joey Graham) to the Warriors and Hornets for Derrick Coleman, Corey Blount, and Vonteego Cummings.

Notable new free agent signings

•N/A

Not so notable signings:

•Derrick McKey.

Assessment

The Matt Harpring experiment was short-lived and passing up on Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, Mehmet Okur, and Bobby Simmons for Samuel Dalembert was a major blow. DC’s second tour through town was better than the first time, but ultimately led to nothing. By this time DC was bloated, slow, and could not jump—if he wasn’t 6’10 he would have blended in perfectly in line Pat’s, Geno’s or Tony Luke’s. Paying cash for Damone Brown is like that shirt everyone has in their closet that they can’t quite figure out why they bought, even though it seemed like a good idea at the time. Or even that extra large tip you leave the hot bartender wearing the half shirt and Daisy Dukes while in college, only to realize that you just wasted your beer money for the next night on a girl who will never, EVER give you her number.

02-03 season

Coach: Larry Brown
Record: 48-34

Drafted

•Jiri Welsh (No.16), Sam Clancy (No.44).

Passed on

•Tayshaun Prince (No.23), Nenad Kristic (No.24), Carlos Boozer (No.34).

Trades

•The rights to Jiri Welsh to the Warriors for a 2004 2nd round pick (Viktor Sanikidze)
and a 2005 1st round pick (Joey Graham).

•Speedy Claxton to the Spurs for Mark Bryant, the rights to Randy Holcomb, and the rights to John Salmons.

•2004 2nd round pick (Royal Ivey) and 2006 2nd round pick to the Hawks for Efthimios “Low” Rentzias.

•Dikembe Mutombo to the Nets for Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch.

•Art Long, Mark Bryant, and a 2005 1st round pick (Joey Graham) for Kenny Thomas.

Notable new free agent signings

•Greg Buckner.

Not so notable signings:

•Monty Williams, Brian Skinner, Kenny Satterfield, Tyrone Hill.

Assessment

First they traded one useless player in Speedy Claxton for another in John Salmons. There are three amazing things about Salmons that continue to astound me:

1) He was a center in high school, he was a wing in college, and yet Billy King tried to sell to the Sixers fans that all of a sudden he had a good handle and could play the point. I am all for drafting local players (Salmons is a Plymouth-Whitemarsh grad), but anyone who thought he could play point in the NBA is a moron.

2) Salmons is still defended by his legion of fans, who swear he is one of the most under-utilized players in the league. It’s been since 2003, he is what he is: a completely average 9th or 10th man coming off of the bench. Nothing more, nothing less.

3) He demanded to be a bigger part of the offense this past season….

Anyway, Billy King made another one of his patented clueless moves when he signed Greg Buckner. Not only was Buckner a void on offense, but his supposed “great defensive skill” was not all that great. It was possibly one of the worst Sixers signings of all time.

My personal favorite move was bringing back Tyrone Hill. Not only was Hill a dead-ringer for Skeletor, but his constant whining and moaning every time he bricked a lay-up and how he begged for a foul always provided interesting listening on television where each of his yelps was audible. The re-signing of Hill just brought back the subplot of his ongoing feud with Charles Oakley over a gambling debt. Hill feared Oakley (and rightfully so) more than Ralphie feared Scut Farkas at the beginning of “A Christmas Story.” Any time the story of the feud between these two is brought up, I just laugh and think of how they would have handled this situation if this happened in “Oz” rather than the NBA. Something tells me Hill would have been eating ground up glass or getting shanked on his way to the gym.

03-04 season

Coaches: Randy Ayers and Chris Ford
Record: 33-49

Drafted

•Paccelis Morlende (No.50).

Passed on

•No one of note.

Trades

•Paccelis Morlende to the Sonics for the rights to Willie Green.

•Cash to the Nets for the rights to Kyle Korver.

•Four-team trade: Keith Van Horn, the rights to Randy Holcombe, a 2007 1st round pick, and cash to the Hawks, Timberwolves, and Knicks for Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson, Marc Jackson and a 2006 2nd round pick.

Notable new free agent signings

•N/A

Not so notable signings:

•Amal McCaskill and Zendon Hamilton.

Assessment

I also hated the Big Dog move when it happened, I hate it now. He was out of shape, defensively-challenged, lazy, and selfish when he was with the Bucks. What made Billy King think he could change his ways with the Sixers?

The other thing that always bugged me about this move is that the Sixers did not even get the original “Big Dog”, Antoine Carr. After stealing Carr’s nickname, Robinson should have been inflicted with a little “Oak-town Justice.” Hopefully that 2007 first rounder does not come back to bite the Sixers…

Billy King made the “spectacular” decision to give Kenny Thomas a seven-year, $50 million deal this season and this was also Randy Ayers’ lone season as an NBA head coach. Yet another set of brilliant moves by Billy King.

Chris Ford took over, promptly benched Iverson, and subsequently sealed his fate as a possible candidate for the head coaching job. Iverson is a lot like Tony Soprano in that when you cross him like Ford did, you can be sure that you are going to be whacked sooner or later.

04-05 season

Coach: Jim O’Brien
Record: 43-39

Drafted

•Andre Iguodala (No.9).

Passed on

•Jameer Nelson (No.20), Delonte West (No.24).

Trades

•Eric Snow to the Cavaliers for Kevin Ollie and Kedrick Brown.

•Derrick Coleman and Amal McCaskill to the Pistons for Corliss Williamson and cash.

•Kenny Thomas, Brian Skinner, and Corliss Williamson to the Kings for Chris Webber, Matt Barnes, and Michael Bradley.

•Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson to the Hornets for Rodney Rogers and Jamal Mashburn.

Notable new free agent signings

•N/A

Not so notable signings:

•N/A

Assessment

In Jim O’Brien’s short stint in Philadelphia he was widely criticized by the fans, media, and players, but the grass was not greener when he left. Hiring Mo Cheeks to replace O’Brien only made the deficiencies on the roster and with Mo’s coaching style more visible the following season.

Billy King also made the genius move of giving Brian Skinner a five-year deal worth $25 million.

If the Sixers were going to fully rebuild, this would have been the year. Trading Allen Iverson would have given the team some flexibility with its contracts and payroll, while also allowing them the chance to pursue young talent. Jameer Nelson would look really good wearing a Sixers uniform and running the team for the next 10 years. Instead, he’ll be teaming with Dwight Howard and Darko Milicic to form a quality triumvirate in the Eastern Conference.

05-06 season

Coach: Maurice Cheeks
Record: 38-44

Drafted

•Louis Williams (No.45).

Passed on

No one of note.

Trades

•N/A

Notable new free agent signings

•N/A

Not so notable signings:

•Lee Nailon, Steven Hunter

Assessment

The Sixers brought in Mo Cheeks, sputtered through the season, and continued the frustration on the Philly sports scene. Nuff said. Billy King also married himself to Kyle Korver with a six-year, $27 million contract and Samuel Dalembert signed a six-year, $60-80M contract. Both moves were questionable at best and typify the way King has run this franchise into the ground.

Stay tuned for part 2 in this 3-part series.

Contact Chuck Smith at cmsith@phillypurge.com