Plenty of people were scratching their heads the other night with the hiring of Rod Thorn. It wasn’t because this was a bad move. It was because this was the right move. It’s rare the Sixers get accused of making the right move. More likely, they are accused of being asleep at the wheel.
It appears as if Ed Snyder has finally woken up from his Flyers induced coma to realize that he, and Comcast, has another team that has been withering on the vine for way too long. In hiring both Doug Collins and now Rod Thorn it appears that 9 straight years of mediocrity has finally prompted some oversight.
For years it seemed as if Ed Snyder had a plan to get to the Stanley Cup, but winning an NBA championship wasn’t even on the radar. Ed Snyder would make sure the Flyers had top caliber head coaches such as Bill Barber, Ken Hitchcock, John Stevens and Peter Laviolette. During that time period, the Flyers General Managers were Bobby Clark and Paul Holmgren. Ed Snyder trusted his aggressive General Managers and came through with the money necessary to build competitive teams.
2001 was the last year Sixer fans had a team capable of making it to the NBA finals. Larry Brown was a quality coach starting the decade but was followed by sub-par head coaches such as Randy Ayers, Jim O’Brien, Maurice Cheeks and most recently Eddie Jordan. The two general managers entrusted with building a winning team were Billy King and more recently Ed Stefanski. There was a vast difference in the quality of players brought to the Sixers as compared to the Flyers. In the last eight years the only All Star the Sixers have managed to get on the floor has been Allen Iverson. The last all-star other than Allen Iverson was Dikembe Mutombo in 2002. That doesn’t exactly point to a job well done by the resident General Managers.
Billy King seemed unable to make a good trade or negotiate contracts that actually helped the team. Some of the significant blunders were trading for Derrick Coleman well past his prime, Glenn Robinson, Matt Geiger, Tim Thomas, Keith Van Horn, Jerome Mosio and a stellar draft night trade to acquire Efthimios Rentzias.
The Sixers drafting under Billy King didn’t pan out any better. Players such as Jumaine Jones, Pepe Sanchez, and Sam Clancy never made it to the floor or made such an insignificant impact that they are long forgotten. Every once in a while Billy did draft a player that had some potential but would trade him away before that skill could be developed. John Salmons and Raja Bell come to mind. It never seemed like Billy King thought that the way to build a team was through the draft. Year after year he would include draft picks with his trades that left the Sixers in a poor position to improve come draft night. In 2003 and 2005 the Sixers didn’t even have a first round pick. Jerome Mosio and Derrick Coleman weren’t worth the first round picks. In 2004 and 2006 no second round picks for the delight of Efthimios Rentzias for one year with the team. In the years between 2004 and 2009 the Sixers drafted only two second round picks. In the entire decade the only second rounder that panned out was Louis Williams in 2005.
Billy King’s worst flaw though was contract negotiations. All too often we have heard how a player is untradeable because of his contract. Billy King would give these outrageous contracts to players that just didn’t deserve anywhere near the dollars or years that were placed on the table. Kenny Thomas was a 6’7” power forward with diminishing skills. Dikembe Mutombo may have helped them reach the NBA finals but hurt the team for many years afterwards. The Sixers shopped Allen Iverson for years before Denver finally swallowed his large contract. Only recently were the Sixers able to shed the horrible contract given to Samuel Dalembert.
In 2007 Billy King was finally shown the door, in my opinion years past the time he showed his remarkedly bad decision making skills. Ed Stefanski was supposedly brought in to stop the bleeding. I will give Ed some credit for selecting Doug Collins to lead the team this year and the first round draft picks under him do seem promising. But giving away more second round draft picks to move players like Rodney Carney for cap clearing space is a Billy King move. In Ed Stefanski’s three years, the only second round pick they made was Kyrlo Fesenko, who was subsequently traded. I would have loved to have had a second round pick this year. Even at the end of the draft were players such as Luke Harangody, Derrick Caracter and Stanley Robinson.
Ed’s decision making during contract negotiations are also a bit in question. The contract he gave to Andre Iguodala, made it appear as if Billy King was still in town. Andre received much more than he is worth, which now makes him difficult to trade. But to Ed’s credit he did shed Samuel Dalembert’s contract.
Rod Thorn should be able to bring in the oversight that built a strong New Jersey Net team that managed to get to the NBA finals in three separate years. Rod will have veto power over bad decisions that wouldn’t be exercised by a combined General Manager/Team President.
Rod Thorn is a legitimate team president who has NBA clout. His hiring bodes well for the team in many ways. It shows the fans and players that the owners really do care about the team. It gives the fans hope that the team will start moving in the right direction. It might even put fans in the seats, now that the Sixers are no longer an afterthought.
We can look forward to the combined leadership of Doug Collins, Ed Stefanski, and Rod Thorn to make intelligent decisions that will make the Sixers a much improved team. Give them a few years and who knows, a playoff run might not be out of the question.