Game 19

Friday, January 27, 2012
Game 19: Wells Fargo Center
Sixers 89, Bobcats 72

PHILADELPHIA — Recently, there was a small controversy in Los Angeles because Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the only NBA player to win the MVP Award six times, did not have a statue of his likeness outside of the Lakers' arena, the Staples Center. As far as controversies go, it was pretty tame, but there was a point...

If Kareem can't get a statue, who can?

One of the problems in the whole thing that it was Kareem doing the complaining. Even if the guy deserves a statue, a bobblehead doll or fat head poster, you don't go around complaining when one isn't there. That's just gauche.

In Philadelphia there is nothing to worry about as far as public artworks around the arena. In fact, there is just one statue of any former Philadelphia athlete and it's the biggest and bestest of them all.

Indeed, Wilt Chamberlain, the Overbrook High graduate and Hall of Famer who played for both the Warriors and the 76ers, has some sort of avant statue on the south side of the Wells Fargo Center. Sculpted by Omri Amrany and unveiled in 2004 (five years after Wilt's death), the statue shows two images of the man. One is a bust of Wilt's head and the other is of him rising with the basketball as if to throw one down. The part that seems odd -- aside from the two faces of the man -- is the whisps flowing from the ball and Wilt's body as if to show motion and flight.

It's odd because there is no need to show the motion with such graphic detail. If there is a picture of a man holding a ball above his head while his eyes are focused on something in the distance, movement is assumed.

Anyway, Amrany seems to have cornered the market on sports stadium sculptures in the U.S. He is also the artist behind statues of guys like Michael Jordan at the United Center, Pat Tillman in Arizona, as well as several statues of Washington baseball greats at Nationals Park. Those, just like the one of Wilt, also show those waves of motion.

Interestingly, Philadelphia was once the city with the most public art outside of Paris, but of all the statues, sculptures and murals, sports figures are barely represented at the complex in South Philly. Aside from Wilt, there was a statue of Julius Erving outside of the Spectrum. However, since the Spectrum has been torn down, the statue of Dr. J has been removed. One can assume that Doc will find a new home, but for now we're still waiting.

The Phillies seem to have done a pretty good job with the artworks celebrating the greats of their franchise. Outside of the ballpark, there is a statue of Mike Schmidt, Robin Roberts, and Steve Carlton, which is aptly out past left field. Inside the stadium, a young and speedy Richie Ashburn is shown running the bases from a perch in center field, while his old broadcast partner, Harry Kalas, has a home on the concourse close to the restaurant that bears his name.

Otherwise, the only controversy seems to be that the statue of Wilt doesn't do justice to arguably the greatest basketball player who ever lived. For his time Wilt was an athlete beyond reproach. He was a track star, a volleyball pro and even dabbled in boxing. The only thing Wilt couldn't do well was shoot foul shots.

But if the Wells Fargo Center is going to be around for a while, maybe there ought to be some more artwork around the building. The arena is set on the former spot of JFK Stadium, which hosted 42 Army-Navy games, Live Aid and the famous Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney fight for the heavyweight championship of the world in 1926. Tunney won the fight with a 10-round decision, setting the stage for the rematch at Soldier Field in Chicago. That one turned out to be the famous "Long Count" fight in which Dempsey knocked down Tunney, but because he would not move to a neutral corner, the referee delayed his 10-count. Tunney had plenty of time to rest, regroup and take the fight from Dempsey in a unanimous decision.

Maybe a Bobby Clarke statue or one of Bernie Parent celebrating the Flyers' last championship in 1975 would look good outside of the building? Or how about one of Charles Barkley rising for a two-handed tomahawk slam? Either way, there is plenty of concrete and open space down there just waiting to be accessorized. 

Best trades ever: Sixers get Wilt

Believe it or not, there are some solid advanced metrics to measure the effectiveness of basketball players. In fact, some of the stats are similar to those used by sabremetrics devotees with baseball, only with basketball the folks who tout the movement aren’t as militant.

Look, the math is still way too difficult and there is no formula to measure the way a basketball player can cut off the baseline from an opponent, but hey, basketball stat heads don’t act like Glenn Beck in front of the chalkboard the way baseball stat heads do often.

Nevertheless, with the NBA trade deadline slipping past quietly in Philadelphia, it’s worth noting that the 76ers (not the Warriors) have pulled off some of the best midseason trades in NBA history. According to the good folks at Basketball-Reference, the Sixers were the benefactors of  receiving the best player in a midseason trade in NBA history.

They worked out the math and everything.

That player, of course, was Wilt Chamberlain, who was traded from the San Francisco Warriors to the Sixers for Connie Dierking, Paul Neumann, Lee Shaffer and cash (try putting that one in the trade machine). Wilt was averaging 38.9 points and 23.5 rebounds in the first 38 games of the 1964-65 season for the Warriors, which came to a 19.1 three-year weighted win share.

No, there were no bonus points for the fact that it was Wilt Chamberlain.

Here’s the formula I don’t understand used to determine the worth of the player:

3yr Weighted Avg = 0.6 * WS82_Y + 0.3 * WS82_Y-1 + 0.1 * WS82_Y-2

Yeah, I don’t get it either. Nevertheless, the Sixers also got Dikembe Mutombo on a snowy, February day in 2001, which rates as the 14th best player received for a 9.2 three-year weighted win share. Sure, the Sixers lost Theo Ratliff in that deal, but with Dikembe the team got to the Finals for the first time since 1983.

There was also the Mike Gminski trade for Roy Hinson and Tim McCormick in 1988 at No. 60 (6.4) and the Andre Miller (6.1) for Allen Iverson (7.8) deal that was listed at No. 76 for the Sixers and may have worked out better for Philly than Denver.

Interestingly, the Sixers have not sent away too many statistically great players during the season. They just wait to get the No. 1 pick in the 1986 draft and give away Hall of Famers for that. Nevertheless, early in the 1971-72 season, the Sixers sent Archie Clark (10.8) at No. 5 to the Baltimore Bullets for Fred Carter and Kevin Loughery. It’s doubtful one could point to the Clarke trade as the impetus to the 9-72 season in 1972-73 since Clark played just one game the season before. However, Clark could have helped the ’72-73 Sixers to double-digit wins.

So, with the blockbusters that went down in the Atlantic Division this week, it’s worth mentioning that the Knicks appear have been the big winners not because they got Carmelo Anthony from Denver, but because they got Chauncey Billups. New New Jersey point guard Deron Williams isn’t too far behind, but it’s worth noting that Billups just might be the best player traded twice during a season...

Take that, Adrian Dantley!

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.