So Chris Webber got traded to Philly for Kenny Thomas and some dead weight. This is actually a good trade for both teams. The 76ers will benefit in the long run, as they probably make the playoffs, and possibly advance a round. They lose in the long run, as Webber is hobbled, 32, and scheduled to make 60 million bucks in the next 3 years.
For Sacramento, this is addition by substraction. Every time Webber has been out, Miller and Peja have been better. Peja was a superstar last year, until CWebb came back from injury.
While I don't have any of the players involved on my fantasy team, I hope to benefit in a big way. Peja was my 3rd round pick, and I've been hoping either he or Webber get traded. With Webber gone, Peja will hopefully go back to being the centerpiece of the offense, along the way bringing in some nice fantasy numbers. Now, if Shareef can traded in the next 5 hours (which is the trade deadline for this season), I may finally have a team that can legitimately contend for a title.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
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5 comments:
I guess one's response to the trade differs according to one's view of Webber.
I don't really disagree about the ballast they got from Philly. I do think it'll be easier to get rid of any of them than it would have been to get rid of CWebb.
Miller's was an absolute MONSTER whenever CWebb was injured. He's an okay player with Webber, and he's certainly benefited from playing with him, but I think, at this point, Webber was holding him back.
And Peja is one dimensional when he's playing with CWebb. Last year, he did it all (well, except for defence, but Webber can't really defend anymore either) - he scored, he passed, he rebounded.
I do think trading him for Odom would be great for them. But why would the Lakers do it? Odom is younger, has more upside, is more versatile, and can actually play some D.
And Philly won't win a championship with CWebb. He's a choker, and there's no way they beat Miami or Detroit. Or even Cleveland. If the trade was good enough for them to even get to the finals, it might be worth it. But it MAY get them past the first round. That's just not worth it.
The Kings actually made out very well in this deal. They gave up a guy who refused to play a team game, couldn't play defense (except against Tim Duncan), and who was a low-efficiency scorer - and who had to miss every third game anyway.
What they got were people who can all play the low post, who can and do play defense, and who can be moved individually if needed, much more easily than Webber. The Kings need a low post presence to keep the outside shot open; up to now they were just a jump shooting team.
Yes, the Kings will miss his passing game. They won't miss his penchant for getting the ball on the elbow, and holding it for 10 seconds as the clock winds down; they won't miss his dribbling the ball all the way upcourt ignoring his point guard and losing the ball; and they won't miss his refusal to play in the low post.
The Sixers got a dream. I suspect they will wake up pretty soon.
Well, now we've got a comment that places me firmly in the middle between Mati and the anonymous poster (btw, please put in some sort of nickname or name when posting). I tend to agree with mati about the Sixers players (who kinda suck), and I tend to agree with anonimous about Webber (who, in his own way, also kinda sucks, regardless of stats).
On the face of it, neither team made out like bandits. So I'm gonna go with GM trust here - Petrie is smarter than King. Ergo, I suspect that at the end of the day, the Kings win this trade.
The Kings have supposedly had "all the right pieces" to win a championship for some time now. All this city has to show for the Webber Era is a couple of 'almost made it to the finals.'
I'm not trying to discount what Webber did for the franchise when he came here; he single-handedly put Sacramento on the map. But if you can't see his aversion to playing team-oriented basketball you're not watching with a critical eye.
Webber was an expensive (and now broken-down)set of training wheels for an organization without an identity. He was content to be a superstar with the option to blame the surrounding cast/fans/coach/horoscope for not winning a ring.
Don't forget that Corliss already knows what's expected to play with the Kings-and he's excited to come back. The rebounding that he and Thomas bring is twofold-it gives the Kings second-chance points and keeps those points from the opposition. That alone is worth the defensive liability that Webber has always been.
The offenseive scheme? You're forgetting that this team has seen massive changes in the past few months. Can anyone honestly belive that Adelman will not adjust to the personnel on hand? Even if Peja was one-dimensional as you contend, he along side Bibby, Miller and Cutino can and will put up the points necessary to win. The past two games with the revamped squad prove it, and Peja can't even get off the bench.
And they did get younger, as well as hungrier and more team oriented.
All of this will be moot though when people begin to realize that all Philly has to look forward to is either A. A Webber in street clothes watching the games or B. The battle of the super egos that is AI vs. C-Webb
The only point on which I disagree with you is the ego. Older, somewhat brokendown players seem to lose a great deal of ego when traded from the team that made them superstars.
Also, Webber never liked taking the big shots, and won't have the ball in his hands. I've always thought CWebb was more of a sidekick, personality-wise, and I think AI's alpha dog status in Philly is clear enough, and that CWebb is a big enough star for AI to give him the respect he didn't give any of his previous sidekicks.
I think the personalities will work. It's Webber's health (and monstrous contract) that will sink the 76ers.
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