Game 15

Friday, January 20, 2012
Game 15: Wells Fargo Center
Sixers 90, Hawks 76

PHILADELPHIA — Let’s say, for instance, you are a really good painter. In fact, you’re such a great painter that galleries fight to hang your work and critics can’t get enough of it.

And yet even though you are a terrific painter, people still get on you because you are a lousy sculptor. You’re going to say that doesn’t make sense, right?

Yeah, well, welcome to Andre Iguodala’s world.

When it comes to playing defense in basketball, there are very few people on the planet as good as Andre Iguodala. Truth is, Iguodala is such a good defender that he very well may earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team set to defend its gold medal in London this summer.

“If you would talk to the best scorers in the league that he’s guarded and say who is one of the toughest guys you have to go against, they would say, Andre Iguodala,” Sixers’ coach Doug Collins said.

“From a coaching standpoint, you understand what he brings. I love what Andre does for us.”

Yet for some reason the biggest criticism of Iguodala is that he is an inconsistent offensive player.

How does that make sense?

There is perception and then there is the reality when it comes to Iguodala and his weird relationship with certain segments of the fandom. The problem with that is the perception is usually the part that gets the most fanfare.

Often, Iguodala is criticized because his salary is “excessive,” yet it barely cracks the top 40 of all NBA players. Meanwhile, it seems as if Iguodala’s perceived unpopularity comes from his personality. He’s neither boisterous nor zany. He’s not one to suffer fools as evidenced in the 2006 Dunk Contest where he pulled off the most impressive and nuanced dunk of the show only to lose to Nate Robertson because he’s short and a better story. Rather than grin-and-bear it, Iguodala hasn’t appeared in another competition figuring there are better ways to have one’s time wasted.

Iguodala is all nuance and professionalism. There are all the things we can see like the fact that heading into last year he had missed just six games in six seasons and played in 252 regular-season games in a row. He’s led the league not only in games by playing in all 82 in five of his seven seasons, but also minutes played and average minutes per game. The dude plays the game and he's rare in that he's a ridiculously talented athlete with instatiable hard-nosed/blue-collar chops, too. He's the best of both worlds and he shows up and goes to work.

He earns his pay.

Last year he played the final two months of the season with tendonitis in his knees. Actually, his condition was similar to the injury that forced Phillies second baseman Chase Utley to miss the first two months of last season, yet Iguodala is rarely talked about as a gritty and scrappy player the way Utley is.

Ah, so maybe there’s a personality issue or something.

Iguodala is a bit of a rarity in sports in that he is a truth teller. He’s immune to cliché (well, as much as possible) and actually answers questions. Want an answer? Iguodala has one. And though it could be off the mark like some of his long-range jumpers, he’s always provocative. For instance, last year Iguodala and the team's top draft choice, Evan Turner, clashed a bit. It wasn't anything serious, just two guys from diffrent perspectives trying to figure each ither out. So, when asked about it, Iguodala presented a thoughtful, honest answer.

“Evan and I have had a pretty interesting year together — good and bad,” Iguodala said. “We’ve always tried to lean on each other. Over the past week we really bonded and I was happy to see him be in position to do something good and follow through with it.

“I’ve been saying all year that he’s a confidence guy and when his confidence is high, he plays really well. When his confidence is down, he has a lot of self doubt and he doesn’t believe in himself,” Iguodala explained. “But we all know he can play ball and we’ve had many arguments throughout the year in regard to talents and he’s going to prove a lot of people wrong.

“We had a chance to sit down and we had dinner together and were together for about three hours. We just reflected on the whole year and things that happened and what could have changed and things that made us better people or held us back a little bit. It was a good chat.”

When do athletes ever talk like that? It’s kind of like when asked a simple question about whether he will return to the Sixers next year and instead chooses to discuss the legacy he hopes to build.

“I always think about that, keep climbing the charts with some of the greatest basketball players ever — Dr. J, Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones, Hal Greer, Wilt Chamberlain. The franchise has been here forever. And just for my name to be brought up for the guy with the most steals in team history is something I've always thought about,” Iguodala said. “I want to continue to climb the charts and take the team to the next level.”

No, Iguodala is not like most of the athletes that have come through town. He seems to be a strange mix of Charles Barkley, Donovan McNabb and Scott Rolen. At different times all three of those guys were the most beloved or loathed athletes in town. Iguodala is just different. He's the guy a lot of folks just can't accept for who he is.

Andre Iguodala eats his vegetables... and you should, too

MIAMI — There is an interesting interview with Andre Iguodala in a recent edition of the magazine, Food Republic, a slick-looking periodical about epicurean pursuits. It seems to be for those types who use the term, “foodie,” without irony and look to Anthony Bourdain as some sort of righteous hipster.

In other words, it’s a magazine not found at the corner newsstand.

Anyway, it’s not often that pro athletes from Philadelphia talk to slick-looking magazines about their personal chefs or healthy eating habits. Even though it’s not uncommon for non-baseball athletes to be progressive in the training room and training table, it’s decidedly a non-Philadelphian thing. Certainly the folks who shell out ridiculous amounts of cash for the tickets aren’t used to turning over the daily menu to the in-home chef.

Still, the interesting part of the interview wasn’t that Iguodala employs a personal chef or knew early on in his NBA career that his diet and performance were linked. That’s just smart and if anything, “smart” is a pretty good adjective to use when describing Iguodala. No, the interesting part was when Iguodala revealed he liked vegetables when he was a kid.

Really… a kid who liked vegetables?

Well, I was weird as a child. I would eat broccoli raw. I would eat cauliflower raw. I also used to love salads. So, yeah, I’ve always liked vegetables.

Maybe that’s not as weird as it sounds. After all, some kids actually like vegetables. In fact, I remember asking for and wanting to eat spinach specifically because of what it did for Popeye. However, I was quite upset to learn that spinach was not sold at the supermarket in cans and I couldn’t squeeze the middle of one, pop the top and have the spinach fly into my mouth as I wreaked havoc in the neighborhood.

Nope, things are never how they look on TV.

Thing is, kids rarely admit to liking vegetables even when they are all grown up. That is, as Iguodala explained, weird.

Then again, it doesn’t take a long time spent around the Philadelphia 76ers do understand that Iguodala is different. Actually, check out the picture on the right… if there was ever a photo that perfectly revealed the man, there it is. He’s serious, put together perfectly with a Burberry tie knotted just so, with the blue blazer revealing the proper amount of cuff from his shirt. No wrinkles, nothing rumpled and the creases exactly where they should be. Serious, professional, to the point.

That’s Iguodala.

And maybe that’s why after an excellent season of gritty, nuanced basketball, folks still haven’t warmed up to the Sixers’ best player. Even though he’s played for seven seasons with the Sixers after being drafted with the ninth-overall pick in 2004, he’s still an enigma—inscrutable even. Though he comes from Springfield, Ill. just like scruffy and popular ex-Phillies outfielder, Jayson Werth, he’s more akin to fellow Illinoisan, Donovan McNabb. At least it seems that way in how he’s perceived.

Case in point came during the postgame press conference at American Airlines Arena on Wednesday night after the Sixers had been eliminated by the Heat. When asked, point blank, if he wanted to return to the Sixers for the 2011-12 season, Iguodala gave a rather McNabbian response:

“It’s always been a dream of mine to play ball for one team. This has been a great ride so far. I’m really looking forward to the summer, letting my body recuperate. I want to get back to 100 percent. I’m looking forward to next year being my best year in the league.

“I always wanted to be in one place, be comfortable in one spot. I still feel the same way, being able to put a stamp on not only my career, but the Philadelphia 76ers record book. I want to keep climbing the charts with some of the greatest basketball players ever. Just for my name to be brought up as having some of the most steals in team history is something I always thought about. I want to continue to climb the charts and take this team to the next level.”

In that setting, Iguodala was presented with a yes or no question. He could have said, “Yes, of course I want to play for the Sixers next season. What a silly question.” But that’s the easy answer. For those who watch him on the floor, doing things the easy way isn’t Iguodala’s modus operandi. Things are much more complicated than yes or no, sometimes. There are shades of grey in even the simplest answer and though Iguodala is contracted to play for the Sixers for the next three years, crazier things have happened.

Think about it… think the San Antonio Spurs could use a guy like Iguodala on a veteran-laden team? How about a young team like Memphis? Imagine Iguodala and Tony Allen playing defense on the same team. Or maybe Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Iguodala in Oklahoma City? How about Dallas with Dirk Nowitzki or L.A. with Kobe? It’s almost unfair.

That’s the thing, though. There are no easy answers with Iguodala. Even the easy idea that Iguodala is the perfect second or third piece on a contending team the way Scottie Pippen was with Michael Jordan is not as simple as it sounds. Yes, perhaps as a lockdown defender on an established club would be the perfect setting for him, but then again, it sounds like a pretty good place for anyone. Who wouldn’t want to be on a team where the task is to simply perform your best skill and that’s it? Sign me up!

It seems as if Iguodala is the landing point for where reality and perception fight. No nothing fans and media types cite his salary as excessive, yet it barely cracks the top 40 of all NBA players. Quick, name 40 players you’d take ahead of Iguodala…

Give up. You can’t do it.

It seems as if Iguodala’s perceived unpopularity comes from his personality. He’s neither boisterous nor zany. He’s not one to suffer fools as evidenced in the 2006 Dunk Contest where he pulled off the most impressive and nuanced dunk of the show only to lose to Nate Robertson because he’s short and a better story. Rather than grin-and-bear it, Iguodala hasn’t appeared in another competition figuring there are better ways to have one’s time wasted.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6z9-l4hnMM]

Iguodala is all nuance and professionalism. There are all the things we can see like the fact that heading into this year he had missed just six games in six seasons and played in 252 regular-season games in a row. He’s led the league not only in games by playing in all 82 in five of his seven seasons, but also minutes played and average minutes per game. The dude plays the game and he's rare in that he's a ridiculously talented athlete with instatiable hard-nosed/blue-collar chops, too. He's the best of both worlds and he shows up and goes to work.

He earns his pay.

This year, his offensive stats dipped off only because he ceded some of the load to his teammates. With Elton Brand, Iguodala was the leader of the Sixers, helping Doug Collins further a system that raised the win total 27 games over last year.

The numbers were down, but in the realm of advanced metrics, Iguodala was charting the best Win Shares per 48 minutes, assist percentage, the best defensive rating and best rate of turnovers given in a season for his career at stages of the season. 

Though he is just one of two players in the NBA to average at least 14 points, five rebounds and six assists a game this season (LeBron James is the other), Iguodala’s value is on defense. According to advanced metrics from 82games.com, the Sixers are a much better team because of Iguodala’s defense. When he was in the lineup during the regular season, the Sixers were above average in holding down the oppositions shooting percentages and forcing turnovers. Without him, the Sixers were worse than the league average.

Iguodala has three years left on his contract and has relented on carrying the offense, but ideally it could better serve the team to identify its go-to man down the stretch.

These facts might have been lost in the black and white, but not to those who really pay close attention.

“I think Andre with his defense and his leadership has been terrific,” Collins said. “He’s averaging about 15 [points] a game, but he had two of the best defensive plays that I’ve seen all year long the other night against Dallas. Unfortunately, we did not convert, but Andre is a playmaker for us. He’s a rebounder, he’s a defender and I think he’s been terrific. 

“I never judge a guy like that based on his statistics. I judge him by the value to his team and how well he plays and if he gives you a chance to win. When we were 3-13 it was his voice that did the most. He said, ‘Guys, hang in there. We’re close.’ That voice helped us battle through that and get us through to where we are today.”

Nevertheless, Iguodala was again inscrutable during the playoffs against the Miami Heat. He struggled during the first two games of the series registering as many points (9) as turnovers. In Game 3 Iguodala had 10 assists and 10 points, but shot just 3 for 10 and played much poorly than the stats suggest.

However, in games 3 and 4, he scored 38 points, including 18 during the second half of the season finale where he nearly stole the game from the Heat. In Game 5 he grabbed 10 rebounds, shot 10 for 14 and helped hold LeBron James to his lowest playoff output.

“He is a very good player,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Iguodala. “He is so unique in terms of how many things he does to impact the game. He is such a good defender, he’s long and he moves his feet. Also, he is a very good rebounder and an intelligent defender. Offensively, I think he gets judged on how many points he scores. He does so many other things.”   

Of course, injuries finally caught up to Iguodala in part because he played for Team USA in last summer’s World Championships. Over the final two months of the season Iguodala played through tendinitis (or chondromalacia) the bared resemblance to the same injury that has sidelined Chase Utley. The difference is Iguodala has been accountable to the fans and teammates by actually facing the media, thus, he doesn’t put unfair pressure on his coaches or teammates to answer questions for him. The injuries were a factor late in the season.

But the injuries will heal. In the meantime we’re still scratching our heads over hard answers to easy questions—a place where Iguodala might be at his most compelling. That’s where he is a bit of a rarity in sports in that he is a truth teller. He’s immune to cliché (well, as much as possible) and actually answers questions. Want an answer? Iguodala has one. And though it could be off the mark like some of his long-range jumpers, he’s always provocative. For instance, take his relationship with rookie Evan Turner where a personality clash may have kept the players at odds during the season. When asked about it, Iguodala presented a thoughtful, honest answer

“Evan and I have had a pretty interesting year together — good and bad,” Iguodala said. “We’ve always tried to lean on each other. Over the past week we really bonded and I was happy to see him be in position to do something good and follow through with it.

“I’ve been saying all year that he’s a confidence guy and when his confidence is high, he plays really well. When his confidence is down, he has a lot of self doubt and he doesn’t believe in himself,” Iguodala explained. “But we all know he can play ball and we’ve had many arguments throughout the year in regard to talents and he’s going to prove a lot of people wrong.

“We had a chance to sit down and we had dinner together and were together for about three hours. We just reflected on the whole year and things that happened and what could have changed and things that made us better people or held us back a little bit. It was a good chat.”

When do athletes ever talk like that? It’s kind of like when asked a simple question about whether he will return to the Sixers next year and instead chooses to discuss the legacy he hopes to build.

“I always think about that, keep climbing the charts with some of the greatest basketball players ever — Dr. J, Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones, Hal Greer, Wilt Chamberlain. The franchise has been here forever. And just for my name to be brought up for the guy with the most steals in team history is something I've always thought about,” Iguodala said. “I want to continue to climb the charts and take the team to the next level.”

No, Iguodala is not like most of the athletes that have come through town. He seems to be a strange mix of Charles Barkley and Scott Rolen mixed together. Could it be that the best description is “evolved” more than weird? Either way, he’s right about one thing …

You should eat your vegetables.

Iguodala's pep talk was the turning point

Always the optimist, Doug Collins says he never got down when the Sixers struggled to a 3-13 start the first month of the season. Still, even the half-full view often left the coach with some doubts.

Whatever doubts Collins might have had disappeared for good on Friday night when his club clinched a playoff spot with a 25-point win over the New Jersey Nets at the Center. From 3-13 to 40-36 in a little more than four months takes a lot of believe insomething.

Belief and stubbornness, Collins said.

“I wasn’t sure,” Collins said after the 115-90 victory, “but I hadn’t given up hope. We weren’t going to change what we were doing because we believed in what we were doing. I believe that if you do things that are worth doing that good things will happen. We weren’t going to change.”

Still, there was a moment early on when everything just sort of came together. Part light bulb and part pep talk, the turning point of the season came after a tough loss in Miami the day after Thanksgiving when Andre Iguodala got the team together and gave them a very simple message…

“We’re close,” he told his teammates. “Let’s stick together.”

From that point, the Sixers have gone 37-23 and are the one team in the Eastern Conference that the heavyweights want to avoid in the first round of the playoffs.

Still, did Iguodala realize then that his words would resonate so profoundly? 

“With some of the personalities we have it’s all about confidence,” Iguodala said. “Some of the guys play well based off if the ball is going in the hole for them or not. If the ball is not going in the hole the guy’s confidence can get shot. We had just lost to Miami and we played well, so I felt I had to reiterate to the guys that if we continue to play at that level we’ll beat the majority of the teams in the league and we’ll be alright. Since then, we’ve been doing that.”

What Iguodala’s words did was show the younger guys on the team that just because they were 3-13 that the season wasn’t over. Though it seemed as if the Sixers couldn’t wait for the year to end last season when they only won 27 games with a coach in Eddie Jordan that just didn’t mesh well with the ballclub, it would have been easy for a poor start to demoralize the team.

However, with an active roster comprised of six players with three or fewer years of experience and just five guys over the age of 24, Iguodala’s speech and Elton Brand to support was gigantic.

“For the guys to know that I was 100 percent on board and trying and Andre was on board and trying, it showed that we weren’t giving up on the season even though we were 3-13,” Brand said. 

Brand and Iguodala have coached and prodded the team in areas where it could be difficult for Collins to do so. For instance, after the overtime loss to Sacramento where a few players were out late the night before the noontime game, Collins turned the policing over to Brand and Iguodala and, once again, it worked.

The Sixers have ripped off three straight wins since.

Then again, maybe it goes deeper than just leadership. Though he’s finishing his fourth year in the league and is headed to the postseason for the third time, Thad Young is still just 23. As such, he says last season left him with a lot of bitterness and was an experience he did not want to repeat. After all, he was far too young to be a jaded NBA vet.

But Young explained that the necessary changes from last year had been made and appear to be the big difference.

“We feel like we’ve taken strides and leaps from the beginning of the season until now. I think we’re a contender, a real contender and we can do something really special here,” Young said.

Of course that feeling that Young described had a starting point and it all goes back to that game in Miami.

“It was definitely a turning point. ‘Dre and E.B. have been talking all year and saying that we’re always one step away or that we need a few more things to work on,” Young said. “We’re still not quite there, but we’re definitely a much better team now.”

So from 3-13 to 40-36 and from doormat to a team that makes the opposition feel as if they are trying to handle mercury in so short of time is a pretty big deal and points to the effort the Sixers have put in. Yet, more than that it shows how much the teammates believe in each other and understand leadership when it arises.

No, the Sixers probably won’t be favored to win in the first round, but at the very least they did something this season.

“At the end of the day it’s all about making the playoffs,” Collins said.

Sixers stand with their closer

There was a moment during the 2009 baseball season when the easy move for manager Charlie Manuel would have simply been for him to sit down Brad Lidge as his closer. In fact, it was set up perfectly for Manuel to pull the plug on Lidge after a late-September game in Miami where the closer gave up two runs on three hits and a walk to give one away.

But Manuel would not bail on his guy despite the 11 blown saves and an ERA closing in on 8. Why would he?

“These are our guys. We’ll stick with him,” Manuel said before a game in Milwaukee that year. “Lidge has to do it. Between him and [Ryan] Madson, they’ve got to get it done.  ... We’ve just got to get better.”

Of course Manuel said he wasn’t going to depose Lidge as the closer even though he used him just four times over the final 11 games and pushed Madson into the two save chances the team had down the stretch. In other words, Lidge was the closer even though Madson was pitching the ninth inning. That’s what is called “managing” and Manuel had been around long enough to know that if he lost Lidge in late 2009, he might not ever get him back.

Apparently loyalty is a character flaw in the eyes of most sports fans.

Just look at how folks are up in arms about Sixers’ coach Doug Collins putting the ball in Andre Iguodala’s hands at the end of tight game. To steal some baseball jargon, Iguodala is the Sixers’ closer and in a tied game with the clock winding down, it’s up to him to get the team some points any way possible.

“The ball’s going to be in his hands,” Collins said after Sunday’s 114-111 overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings.

Iguodala had the ball with seven seconds left in Sunday’s game and the Sixers trailing by two points. Viewed as the team’s best “playmaker,” this made perfect sense. Iguodala could penetrate, look for an open man, pull up for a jumper or drive to the hoop. It’s nothing new and since Allen Iverson left town, Iguodala has been the closer and succeeded at a better rate than the other A.I.

Actually, according to the advanced metrics that measure such things, Iguodala is 16^th in the NBA since 2006 in “clutch” points, which account for performance with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter or overtime when neither team ahead by more than five points. Interestingly, Iguodala rated better than All-Stars Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Vince Carter.

This season Iguodala’s scoring average in clutch time has dipped nearly 20 points with Lou Williams leading the club with 28.4 points in clutch time. However, based on other advanced stats, Iguodala is still the man to have the ball when it’s on the line. A look at turnovers, shooting percentage and the inscrutable plus-minus, Collins is right to give the ball to Iguodala. Failing that, Elton Brand is the next-best option.

Reality and statistics seldom mesh, though[1]. That’s when perception takes over and often that does nothing more than unfairly marginalize a player. In this area, perception might as well be Iguodala’s middle name.

In some circles, Iguodala is a poor player because he has a “superstar salary” and not a superstar game. The reality is that notion is just plain stupid. Iguodala barely cracks the top 40 in the NBA in annual salary and isn’t even the highest paid player on the Sixers. Is he one of the top 40 players in the league? Yeah, probably. Is he the best player on the team?

Do we have to answer that?

Take a look at Sunday’s game, too. Iguodala drove to the hoop in the closing seconds and missed a layup, but drew a foul and was awarded two foul shots with a chance to tie the game. So where is the failure in that? It’s hard to fault the “closer” for dictating the action and drawing a foul in the closing seconds of a tight game. Where it hurts is that Iguodala missed the back end of the foul shots and needed Williams’ 30-foot bomb at the buzzer to bail him out, but as far as the work part goes, yeah, Iguodala did that.

He did exactly what Collins hoped.

“He’s going to drive [to] the basket, he’s going to make a play for us, he’s going to get fouled or he’s going to score,” Collins explained. “He has the size to see up over the top of people, and after [opponents are] smothering that pick-and-roll, I feel good that he can make a play out of that.”

Like Manuel, Collins knows that removing his closer can create a chain reaction that may cause more harm in the long term. Egos are fragile in any work place so sometimes the boss needs to lose a battle or two in order to win the war.

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[1] When it comes to the advanced metrics revolution in sports, basketball comes the closest to truly measuring the value of a player. Actually, when compared to baseball it’s not even close. After games in the NBA, coaches and players pour over the stat sheet, looking for nuggets of information that might offer an insight to performance. With the Sixers, Doug Collins lives by points off turnovers and second-chance points. He also talks about forcing the opposition to take shots “in the yard,” which is to say, no three-pointers and no shots in the paint. Going old school, during my high school days at McCaskey in Lancaster, Pa., we determined a player had a decent game if he scored more points than shots attempted. I’m not sure that figures into the world of advanced metrics, but in terms of stats having a value, it worked for us.

Despite numbers, Iguodala may be having best year

To put it mildly, it really has been an interesting season for Sixers’ forward, Andre Iguodala. He has missed games with an injury, struggled with his shot from time to time, and been a consistent source of fuel for the rumor mill.

In fact, most close observers of the 76ers fall on the side of trade/no-trade argument with very little middle ground when it comes to Iguodala, often citing the remaining years and money on his current deal as the grounds for moving and/or keeping him.

Shoot, to hear Iguodala describe it, his season has been nothing but a struggle. This season, he has missed 12 of the Sixers’ 60 games after missing a grand total of six games and playing in 252 consecutive games in his first six seasons in the league. His shooting percentage dipped last season and has remained low, while his foul-shooting percentage is at a career low. Most noticeable, of course, is the scoring average, which has dipped three whole points per game from 17.1 last season (and a high of 19.9 in 2008) to 14.1 this season.

“It’s been up and down, but I really just try to look at it from a team standpoint,” Iguodala explained after Thursday’s practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. “We started slow when we were trying to find what our niche was and different roles. Then, we started to win and we continued that trend of playing good basketball.”

But there’s a lot more to Iguodala than that. In the realm of advanced metrics, Iguodala is charting the best Win Shares per 48 minutes, assist percentage, the best defensive rating and best rate of turnovers given in a season for his career. 

As head coach Doug Collins explains it, Iguodala just might be having the best season of his career.

“I think Andre with his defense and his leadership has been terrific,” Collins said. “He’s averaging about 15 [points] a game, but he had two of the best defensive plays that I’ve seen all year long the other night against Dallas. Unfortunately, we did not convert, but Andre is a playmaker for us. He’s a rebounder, he’s a defender and I think he’s been terrific. 

“I never judge a guy like that based on his statistics. I judge him by the value to his team and how well he plays and if he gives you a chance to win. When we were 3-13 it was his voice that did the most. He said, ‘Guys, hang in there. We’re close.’ That voice helped us battle through that and get us through to where we are today.”

More than anything else, it has been Iguodala’s defense that has sparked the Sixers’ turnaround. Whether it’s conscious or not, Iguodala has taken fewer shots – especially from behind the three-point arc – ceding some to up-and-comers like Jodie Meeks, Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams. 

Offensively, Iguodala has put aside his contract and ego in order to get the kids involved more.

“I’ve been trying to be a leader and do what I can to make some of the guys become better,” Iguodala said.

Where he has made the team better, however, is on the other end of the court, where Iguodala’s most important effort hasn’t gone unnoticed. Collins has encouraged Iguodala to continue the role he carved out for himself last summer playing for Team USA in the World Championships, where he was the team’s shutdown defender. With Kevin Durant the team’s top scorer and an NBA All-Star like Derrick Rose commanding the ball, Iguodala’s contribution was to guard the opposition’s best scorer in order to make life tough.

In fact, that has been his job with the Sixers, too. With Iguodala hanging all over him, Kobe Bryant hit just three of 11 shots from the field against the Sixers in December. Meanwhile, the Sixers won a tough game in Cleveland last weekend despite the fact that Iguodala didn’t score during the second half.

They say the NBA is all about defense right now and Iguodala is one of the best in the league in that regard.

“If you would talk to the best scorers in the league that he’s guarded and say who is one of the toughest guys you have to go against, they would say, Andre Iguodala,” Collins said, noting that Iguodala is the Sixers’ modern-day Bobby Jones.

“He’s played well against the likes of Paul Pierce, which has given us a very good chance to hang in there with Boston. We have played some of the better teams very well and it’s because of the job he does against the key people.”

Still, the trade talk persists around Iguodala, even though the Sixers have turned into a team that no one wants to see in the first round of the playoffs. They are a team with nine players age 23 or younger, with Iguodala the elder statesman on the team at age 27.

Iguodala is coming into his own on the court, but away from it some wonder why he’s still with the Sixers.

“What happens in business and in sports – it could be an executive or whatever – is that you look at the bottom line of a person’s paycheck and you expect X number of numbers. And I think a lot of players in this league you place a value not of numbers, but their presence and who they are,” Collins explained. “They could be on a rotation off the ball where you get into another spot where a guy couldn’t get, so now that play gets blown up and it wins the game. But there is no stat for that.

“From a coaching standpoint, you understand what he brings. I love what Andre does for us.”

Collins says Iguodala reminds him of another player he coached when he was with the Chicago Bulls.

“[Iguodala is] an intangible man. I’ve coached guys like that. Scottie Pippen was an intangibles man. Grant Hill is another,” Collins said. “They will throw up numbers, but they are also All-Defense and ‘Dre plays both ends of the floor. He’s our best individual defender on the team that is pretty good defensive team because we play really good team defense.” 

So is it possible for a player to seemingly struggle yet make bigger contributions to the team that can be measured? If so, that’s what Iguodala is doing this season.

Primoz Brezec, we hardly knew ye

When one thinks back on the historical significance ofsome of the mega-deals that have gone down in the name of basketball in this town, it almost leaves a guy breathless. Ponder for a moment the fact that two teams with origins in Philadelphia traded away Wilt Chamberlain when he was in the prime of his career…

Not once, but twice!

Imagine that—arguably the greatest individual talent ever to play basketball was traded from the Warriors to the Sixers for Connie Dierking, Paul Neumann, Lee Shaffer and cash before going from the 76ers to the Lakers for Jerry Chambers, Archie Clark and Darrall Imhoff. The first trade came a season after Wilt led the league in scoring with nearly 35 points per game and 23 rebounds, while the second one came two seasons after the Sixers won their first NBA title (third for a Philly team) and the big man went for 24-24 and led the league in assists.

But just like that, he was gone. Poof!

Trading away Wilt Chamberlain was hardly the most dubious deal in the history of Philadelphia NBA teams. Nope, not even close. Ever hear the story about how Maurice Cheeks was traded in August of 1989 to the Spurs, only Mo didn’t know about it until he arrived back at his house and found a reporter there waiting at his doorstep. Go ahead and ask Michael Barkann about that one sometime because he was the guy who broke the news to Cheeks.

No word if Michael B tracked down Christian Welp and David Wingate, too, to tell them they were packaged with Cheeks to get Johnny Dawkins and Jay Vincent.

Charles Barkley was traded simply because he had outgrown Philadelphia and probably would have been arrested for aggravated assault on Armen Gilliam if he had to stay another day longer. The Barkley deal returned the Sixers Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang and Tim Perry, which is the basketball equivalent to trading Curt Schilling for Travis Lee, Omar Daal, Vicente Padilla and Nelson Figueroa.

Sometimes trades have to be made for the sanity of everyone who remains. Barkley and Schilling had to go for just that very reason—we needed to stay sane and so did they. However, on the scale of trades that should have warranted the state to step in and send owner Harold Katz upstate to the nervous hospital for a little vaca, the deal on draft day of 1986 is an all-timer.

Whenever I think about the Deal of ’86, I think of it two different ways. In one I look at it kind of like Robert E. Lee meeting Ulysses Grant in the courthouse at Appomattox in 1865 to sign the papers signaling the end of the Civil War. Then Lee slowly rode off on that white horse of his and wandered around in the wilderness until it was time to check out.

The other thing I think of is the Saturday Night Live sketch from the ‘90s when Kevin Nealon and Victoria Jackson play interviewers who ask dumb politicians deftly worded questions about just how far they can shove their heads into their derriere. Always gets a giggle, though in real life it’s not so funny.

Think about it—in one day the Sixers traded Hall-of-Famer Moses Malone and solid frontcourt man Terry Catledge to Washington and then sent the No. 1 overall pick of the deep (yet cursed) 1986 draft to Cleveland. The pick turned out to be perennial All-Star Brad Daugherty. Maybe the Sixers somehow knew that Daugherty’s Hall-of-Fame career would be cut short at age 28 because of back injuries? Or maybe they didn’t want a guy who got 21-and-11 during the last four years of his career?

Either way, the Sixers turned away Moses Malone, Brad Daugherty and Terry Catledge, plus two first-round draft picks and got back Roy Hinson, Cliff Robinson and Jeff Ruland…

No, there’s no punch line. That really happened!

I still can’t believe the Spectrum wasn’t overrun with an angry mob out of an old movie like It’s a Wonderful Life with folks screaming for Harold Katz as if he were the miserly Old Man Potter. Why weren’t there riots?

So it is above the din of discontent that we recall the inglorious days of yore when our NBA team out-smarted itself and ruined things for a while. In the aftermath of Wilt going to the Lakers, the Sixers set the record for the worst season in the history of the sport with just 9 wins in 1973. And, perhaps, maybe it’s even reasonable to think that the Sixers have never really recovered from Draft Day of ’86. Why not? In addition to losing two Hall-of-Fame quality players, they also gave up two first-round draft picks and picked up Jeff Ruland, who went on to play just 18 games over the course of five years. Current Sixers’ GM Ed Stefanski knows that if he puts his hand over an open flame and keeps it there for a bit, it’s not going to end well.

Smart right?

Maybe. But then again, maybe not. After all, at 20-33 these Sixers are going nowhere fast. They are too good to benefit from the draft and too bad to do anything of note in the playoffs. Moreover, two players—Elton brand and Andre Iguodala—have contracts that aren’t very conducive to a team hoping to rebuild in the current salary-capped NBA. I think I called it NBA DMZ a few days ago. Basketball limbo might be a better term.

With the majority of fans hoping the team would unload a valuable player, but cap-unfriendly guy like Iguodala for any number of teams we heard about on the rumor mill (and confirmed by the GM) in order to acquire the coveted expiring contract so favored in these crazy times, it was funny to hear the reaction to an actual deal. No, funny is not the right word there because it implies that a good time was had by all. Let’s just say it was fascinating to couch the reaction from the fans against the words from Stefanski. See, the GM thinks his team is underachieving and isn’t as bad as the 20-33 record indicates.

No argument here.

However, if the GM makes a deal he doesn’t want to give up Iguodala for Jeff Ruland. Sure-and-steady Eddie wants some talent back in a trade, too. Why wouldn’t he? Good for him.

“For us to take back expiring contracts for talent didn’t make much sense, and it would not have gotten us close to a lot of the team [much further under the cap],” Stefanski explained.

Fair enough. So when the only deal at the trade deadline is one which the Sixers sent Royal Ivey, Primoz Brezec and a second-round pick to the Milwaukee Bucks for guard Jodie Meeks and center Francisco Elson, well, let’s just say it feels a bit underwhelming. In fact, it feels a bit disappointing, too. I mean, think of all those little kids out there talking about, “Roy-al with Cheese!” and sporting those Primoz jerseys with ol’ number whatever he was on the back.

Nobody ever thinks about the kids.

In light of the mega-deal, I solicited opinions from the man on the street (via Twitter) for thoughts on the deadline blockbuster… this is what I got back:

A fellow named Robert from Philadelphia asked, “Who are the Sixers?”

Oh come on, we know… but do we really know them. They never let us get close enough.

A man who calls himself Kevin from Philadelphia seemed most distraught, writing: “Just when I got my Royal Ivey jersey...”

Isn’t that how it always works?

A guy named Dan from Delaware astutely pointed out that Francisco Elson speaks five different language, including his native tongue, Dutch, says this fact will help him in Philly: “He can translate DNP-CD however he likes.”

After that the responses just got weird and I kind of checked out after the one from a guy who describes himself as a “Philly Phanatic,” who asked: “Is the real Ed Stefanski in a cave somewhere and actually Billy King has pulled a 'Face Off' switcheroo?”

When we start comparing the 2009-10 Sixers to a Travolta/Cage vehicle, it's time to stop.

Yes, the trading deadline can send us all off the deep end, but at least this time we didn’t have to go for the torches and pitchforks to storm whatever it is to strom.

Welcome to The Machine

Let’s just get this out of the way up front: I’m obsessedwith the NBA Trade Machine on ESPN.com. Obsessed in the sense that I’ve spent most of Friday designing trades with various teams all centered on Andre Iguodala. You won’t get any chatter out of the Sixers regarding trade gossip, but that hardly matters. After all, there are a whole bunch of teams sniffing around and trying to figure out ways to pry Iguodala away from the Sixers.

Needless to say, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. In fact, any time I was able to put together a package and get that green-fonted message indicating that the trade was, indeed, feasible, I let out a big hoot. Actually, it was more of a “woo-hoo!” that would have been followed with a high-five if there was anyone wasting their day with the NBA Trade Machine like me. Regardless, I can only imagine that Sixers’ GM Ed Stefanski is sitting around a laptop with his lieutenants while plugging in names and trying to get the successful match.

That’s the way they do it, right?

Apropos of that, maybe some computer geeks ought to develop an NBA Trade Machine-like program for everyday life decisions. You know, if you can’t decide on what to make for dinner or which shirt to wear you can plug it into the data base, answer all the prompts and get the right answers. It would be perfect for folks who can’t make decisions on anything, though it could make a serious dent on Magic 8-Ball sales.

Still, after a lot of thought and effort into trading Iguodala, here are the trades I came up with:

·         Iguodala and Jason Smith to Phoenix for Amar’e Stoudemire

This one met the following criteria—it sent Iguodala to another team and it brought back an expiring contract. Still, it says something about Stoudemire that the Suns appear interested in dealing him away when they have Steve Nash running the offense. After all, I once read an interview with Nash when he said his top priority when he has the ball is to get it in Stoudemire’s hands so he can score. Who wouldn’t do anything possible to stay on that team? An offense that features the most unselfish and most talented point guard with the lone objective of giving Stoudemire the ball no matter what… um, what’s the problem?

I wonder if Iguodala is lobbying behind the scenes to get traded to Phoenix. Why wouldn’t he? Not only would he be guaranteed all the shots he wants in a perfect position to succeed because of Nash, but also went to college at the University of Arizona. Warm winter weather, home cooking, and Steve Nash setting you up.

Nice.

·         Iguodala and Jason Kapono to Boston for Ray Allen

No, this one won’t happen because of that whole Atlantic Division thang, but folks in Boston say they really are interested in Iguodala. They like Iggy so much, it’s said, that they are talking about shipping out Ray Allen for him on Boston talk radio.

And if you think Philly sports radio is wacky, go listen to what they say on the radio in Boston. Let’s just leave it at that.

Want to know who this trade would tick off? Yep, Ray Allen. Jesus Shuttleworth playing out the string with Allen Iverson…

Yikes.

·         Iguodala to San Antonio for Keith Bogans, Michael Finley, Roger Mason and Antonio McDyess

No, this one won’t happen either, but it definitely satisfies a lot of needs for both teams. The Spurs might be a piece or two away from beating the Lakers in the West and Iggy fits that mold. The Sixers want to have some cap space in the off-season and there are three expiring contracts in that pile of players. The Sixers would be on the hook for MyDyess for two more years, but only at $4.5 million per season.

·         Iguodala to Chicago for Jerome James and Tyrus Thomas

You don’t need a sky writer to spell this one out… can you say, "SALARY DUMP!"

If there is one good thing about the NBA salary cap it is it spawned the NBA Trade Machine. Actually, that might be the only good thing about the NBA salary cap. Not only has the cap killed many chances for teams to improve, but it beat the hell out of a Friday afternoon for me.

Thank you, David Stern.

Getting Iggy with it

If there was one sequence that personified the season for Andre Iguodala—and maybe the Sixers, too, for that matter—it came in the final seconds of regulation in Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls at the Wachovia Center. Trailing by one point, Iguodala got the ball at the third-point arc above the top of the key where he hesitated as if getting ready to shoot before streaking to the hoop.

More than just a good, basketball move, it also was the smart play because even if Iguodala could not convert the layup, the odds were strong that he would draw a foul.

And that’s exactly what he did.

But that’s also where the Sixers got that sinking feeling again. That’s because after making his first foul shot to tie the game, the second one clunked off the back of the rim to give Chicago a chance to win the game with a final shot.

Eventually, the Sixers didn’t suffer for Iguodala’s missed freebie. In overtime Iguodala was the catalyst in helping the team to their second victory in a row. It was his three-pointer with 1:19 to go in overtime that finally gave the Sixers a lead they would never relinquish, just as it was his steal in the third quarter that started the second half run that culminated with his two foul shots with five seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Better yet, Iguodala was everywhere on Wednesday night, turning in one of his better all-around performances of the season with 25 points, eight assists and eight boards. It was an effort that was especially eye-popping when considering how the last three games went for the Sixers’ forward. During that span he has scored just 31 points on 30 shots, including an especially anemic eight-point effort against the Lakers last Friday night.

Over the last six games heading into Wednesday’s tilt against Chicago, Iguodala failed to score in double digits in four games and struggled to average 13 points on 40 percent shooting during the month of January.

For a guy wearing the label as the team’s franchise player, those numbers aren’t good enough.

Of course there are a lot of other things swirling around Iguodala that have nothing to do with his play, yet very well could influence it. One of those, of course, is the return of Allen Iverson to the Sixers, which may (or may not) have some influence on Iguodala’s game. It’s worth noting that Iverson did not play on Wednesday night.

It goes without saying that the trade rumors could have an effect on Iguodala’s play over the past few weeks. With the Feb. 18 trade deadline quickly approaching, the hottest rumors have the Sixers making deals with Phoenix or Houston for Amare Stoudemire or Tracy McGrady and those coveted expiring contracts that NBA GMs love and covet. Then again, even the East’s top team Cleveland has been mentioned as one of those landing spots.

Iguodala, however, does not have one of those contracts. Instead he has three years plus a player option remaining on his current deal, which doesn’t give GM Ed Stefanski much wiggle room despite the fact that the Sixers rank 23rd out of 30 teams in player payroll. In some potential deals the Stefanski might go in already in a tough spot since Elton Brand still has three years remaining on his $80 million deal.

Nevertheless, Iguodala sounds as if he would welcome a trade anywhere Stefanski can put together a deal.

“I feel like I’m one of the top players in the league and I can give whatever team I’m on a whole different dimension,” Iguodala said after Wednesday’s game. “Thinking in that perspective alone gives me that added confidence. It shows a new team what I can bring to the table.”

Still, Iguodala’s play on Wednesday night was such that some folks watching wondered aloud, “Who’s that guy wearing Iguodala’s uniform?” Then again, maybe the Iguodala on display this season is the real act. After all, in six seasons he’s appeared in just 17 playoffs games and never made an All-Star team. Clearly he’s not a guy who can carry a team, but might be a nice complimentary piece in Phoenix, Houston or Cleveland.

Besides, durability is nothing to sneeze at in the NBA and in his six seasons Iguodala has missed a grand total of just six games—all during the 2006-07 season. No matter who Iguodala ends up playing for, he’s dependable. His coaches and teammates can always expect him to be on the court.

Whether or not it’s the guy who dropped 25 on the Bulls on Wednesday night is a different matter.