Stefanski Seems In No Rush To Trade Miller

[THFM]

Philadelphia Inquirer -
Shortly before tip-off of the 76ers' 98-90 win against the Seattle SuperSonics on Monday, Sixers' President/General Manager Ed Stefanski felt compelled to talk about a popular subject: trade rumors regarding Andre Miller.

Since Stefanski dealt Kyle Korver on Saturday to the Utah Jazz for Gordan Giricek and a future first-round pick, his phone has been ringing.

The calls have come from reporters and NBA executives figuring that phase two of his plan will involve dealing Miller.

That's why Stefanski offered to address the issue without being prompted.

"The trade we made, we felt it set us up in the summertime to either get a free agent or a possible trade because we're under the cap," Stefanski said outside the Sixers' locker room at KeyArena. "We don't know who that player is. . . ."

"We're happy with our team and will see what happens in the summer, but I am not shopping Andre Miller around the league." [READ]

I like this, this way Ed isn't just doing deals for just doing deals and I think we should keep Miller. This also makes me think that he is trying harder to get rid of evans, green, and carney and still trying to keep miller and still get that extra cap.

[dond]

I agree 100%. The tough part of his job is making the decison on who to get rid of ... Evans ? His rebounding is important. Green ? He is improving and can be a game changer. Carney ? Probably the easiest to let go, but he also is improving. But that is Stefanski's job so I don't have to make that decision ... I just watch (and enjoy) the games and leave the other stuff to Ed.

[The Guilty Party]

I'm alright with keeping Miller if we can unload Evans and Green. Either way, I've sort of convinced myself over the past two weeks that we will be using our cap space in a trade (see: Marion or Amare) and not just to sign someone straight up off of the FA market. So with that being the case, $10MIL should be plenty to get something major done. and there's no need to just dump Miller especially with the way he's been playing and getting the other players around him to play.

If only we could put Dre into some sort of anti-aging machine and turn back the clock 4 years... we would be set.

[UptownPhilly]

It's fine if Miller stays as long as we have at least $15 million in cap space to use on a PF next season.

Evans is probably the player most likely to be let go. He makes more money than Green and Carney(the biggest factor). He is a good rebounder, which will interest many teams.

Green has played well lately, but it's not hard to find a good SG in the NBA. The good part about Green is that his contract is small, and he seems to be fulfilling it.

Carney is wildly inconsistant, and has not shown much this season.

I think Evans would have more suitors around the league than Greens and Carney.

[SouthJersey]

One team I think could have interest in a Evens- Green package is Detroit, and they have plenty of expirings to match for the 76ers. That could give us around 17 million to spend.

Okafor is a restricted FA right? I dont see anyway he wants to resign with Charlotte, they are terrible. Sign him to play along side Sam and thats a beast of a front court.

[The Guilty Party]

I agree that Evans makes the most sense. I imagine a team like Orlando could/should make a move for him since they have the expiring contracts to make something work. If Evans is moved for an expiring, that would put us around $14.5 MIL under the cap which would be enough to either make a move for a PF like Okafor or Josh Smith in free agency or make a big trade for a PF.

According the column, Stefanski wants a high scoring PF which would sort of eliminate Okafor. Then again, how many high scoring PFs are going to be available this summer???

[SouthJersey]

Tru, Okafor is not a juggernaut, but I think he could average 13-14 points a game. He will come cheaper than Brand or Marion too.

[Sixerscan]

Brand, Marion, Jamison, Smith all go for over 16 a game. Plus Gasol is always available.

[SouthJersey]

Should the 76ers really go after a veteran player or Okafor or Smith? I like the idea of going after younger players and then add the veteran when your ready to take the step as a contender. Plus veterans will tye up alot more money.

Also looking at Okafors stats this year, he could e a 16 pts a game plater, shooting over .500 and doing it from center.

[UptownPhilly]

Brand, Marion, Jamison, Smith all go for over 16 a game. Plus Gasol is always available.

I think we should go young when acquiring our PF.

1) Smith(plays good D, can hit jumpers, and jumps out of the arena)
2)Okafor(seems to be the best fit, but health concerns play a major factor in going after him)
3)Biedrins(Defense, rebounding, plays PF/C also)
4)Gasol(oldest of the bunch, but still young, Solid Post Game, If we can get him go for it)

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

We'll be doing something similar to the "What Andy said, what Andy Meant" column in the Philly Daily News.

What Ed Stefanski said: "I'm not shopping Andre Miller around the league."

What Ed Stefanski meant: "Instead, I'm letting teams go on an all out bidding war for Andre Miller. Like King should've done last year."

[The Guilty Party]

Amare still tops my list of players I would go after since there continues to be rumblings about Phoenix possibly moving him before either before the deadline or in the summer.

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

Rumblings from whom? Other posters. Let's be realistic, Amare's, 27 I think? And Shawn Marion, I think he expires this year or next. Yeah, I'd think I would probably trade Marion long before I trade Amare -_-. Amare Stoudemiere will only be a sixer in our wet dreams.

[underpressure]

The Suns would be a bunch of idiots if they really let go Amare off their hands. I do rather think that they will unload Marion or Diaw's contract before they consider an Amare trade. If he is available we have to make it work (for the sake of Amare I would be even giving up Thad...)

Our main targets should be Brand, Gasol and to a certain extent Josh Smith. I am neither a fan of Okafor nor Biedrins - they would not spark our inside offense as we badly need.

[The Guilty Party]

Rumblings from whom? Other posters. Let's be realistic, Amare's, 27 I think? And Shawn Marion, I think he expires this year or next. Yeah, I'd think I would probably trade Marion long before I trade Amare -_-. Amare Stoudemiere will only be a sixer in our wet dreams.

Amare just turned 25 in November. The rumblings have been coming out of the Phoenix media since the start of the season since according to those reports, the chemistry of the Suns has been hurting, along with their defense, now that Amare is back to playing full-time. And while I'm not that big a fan of Bill Simmons', I do agree with his thoughts on Amare in his annual trade value column.

20. Amare Stoudemire
The most likely candidate of any in the top 30 to get traded within the next two months. Look at it from the Suns' side -- they're routinely giving up 55 percent shooting nights, they can't get crunch-time stops and they don't have anyone to guard Tim Duncan (as we witnessed for the umpteenth time Monday night). If you're Steve Kerr and you're looking at a two-year window with the Nash-Marion era, are you really going to just cross your fingers and hope Amare learns how to play defense between now and June 2009? Or are you going to think, "Hmmmmm, I wonder if I can use Amare to improve my team defensively, gain some financial flexibility and maybe even dump Marcus Banks' contract and pick up a No. 1 pick in the process?"

Now just because Amare might get moved, it doesn't mean he'll get moved here. That said, the Sixers can offer immediate cap space along with some young, cheap assets which is something no other team will be able to do this summer. It also doesn't hurt that the Sixers are in the East which I'm sure is where the Suns would prefer to send him.

EDIT: Also, if they do decide to move him in the next 2 months, the Sixers now have multiple expiring contracts to send out to make a deal work then as well. I would be willing to ship out multiple picks (our '08 pick and Utah's '09 pick) along with our cap space, Reggie Evans, and Jason Smith for Amare and Marcus Banks (bad contract).

[9th Wonder]

^ I agree. Brand, Gasol and Smith (in that order) would be my preference. I'm still not opposed to Arenas, but it looks like a PF is the most likely target.

As for the expirings, Ed is smart enough to know that we need to get above 13M to really make a push for someone. I'd prefer he trades Evans, since his contract is the highest and still has a few years. I'd also like Green gone, but I'm sure it will be one or the other. As for Carney, I don't see the point in trading him. His contract is very small and I think if the coaching staff can get it through his head to play within the team, he may eventually be a valuable contributor with his defense and a (hopefully) more developed outside shot.

[underpressure]

Unfortunately it does not make sense to trade Amare for cap space (and talents) because the Suns are in the race for the championship. Nobody would consider such a move.

Having a team which has flexibility, I would be rather watching out for the draft day and I would hope to acquire at least some picks from the Suns. Maybe we could utilizise those picks in a subsequent deal that gets us our targeted player.

[The Guilty Party]

Am I the only one who believes Ed is not going after any of the FA's this summer? Stefanski stated over and over when he was hired that he is against the idea of overpaying players and putting his team is financial hell. While Okafor and Smith would look nice on our team, in order to get them here we would have to severely overpay for them.

I believe Ed is happy with $10MIL in cap space because he plans on trading it and not just banking on overpaying someone. Look at some of the deals that were done this past off-season.

Jason Richardson was traded for the #8 pick (Brandan Wright) and cap space so that the Warriors could have a chance to re-sign some of their players this upcoming summer.

Kurt Thomas was traded along with TWO first round picks to the Sonics for an $8MIL trade exception so that the Suns could avoid the luxory tax. They may have to make a similar move this upcoming summer as well.

When was the last time a big name RFA switched teams without the old team getting something? Based on his comments about Miller, I doubt that Stefanski moves Miller which rules out Arenas and I can't see Brand opting out of $17MIL to take less here... so it's gonna come down to a trade.

[The Guilty Party]

Unfortunately it does not make sense to trade Amare for cap space (and talents) because the Suns are in the race for the championship. Nobody would consider such a move.

Sure that makes some sense. Then again, would you think a championship team desperate for inside defense and toughness would trade away it's one tough inside player (Kurt Thomas) and two first round picks for just a trade exception???

The luxory tax makes teams that aren't willing to pay it make moves that seem to make no sense.

[underpressure]

I agree with your observation and I was always thinking about the same procedure. Gasol and Brand might be available if the Grizz/Clips somehow end up with Beasley. Moreover, the Clippers owner is notoriously pretty stingy and he might be even willed to trade Brand for our cap relief, Jason Smith and our two firsts.

That said, I would still prefer to trade Green or Evans for more flexibility but if it costs us the Jazz first-rounder I would likely not do it.