The NBA Draft takes place tonight and with the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft, everyone is expecting the Sixers to draft Ohio State SG 6’7″ Evan Turner. If the Sixers don’t draft Evan Turner, it would be considered a slap in the face to Sixers fans.

According to the Bleacher Report, this draft pick is a no-brainer and I would have to agree with them. Shooting guard is definitely area of need for the Sixers and the addition of Evan Turner could shape the Sixers team for years to come.

After adding PG Jrue Holiday with last year’s 17th pick, PF/C Marreese Speights with the 16th pick in 2008, and SF/PF Thaddeus Young with the 12th pick in 2007, a legitimate SG is the one position missing from a solid group of young stars.

A starting 5 of Marreese Speights, Elton Brand, Andre Iguodala, Evan Turner, and Jrue Holiday with Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams getting serious minutes off the bench could surely return to the Sixers to the playoffs next season with a 7th or 8th seed and the future will be looking bright for these young Sixers.

Let’s take a look at Evan Turner:

Here we go again Sixers fans, the horrible trend continues.  In an infuriating Billy Kingesque manner, the 76ers management has once again overpaid a non-deserving player and as a result set themselves up for future financial troubles.  League sources told ESPN late last night that the 76ers had “agreed to terms” with restricted free agent Andre Iguodala to, in my mind, a ridiculous 6 year deal worth an even more ridiculous $80mil.  I had thought for all intensive purposes, that Billy King had been fired and thrown out of Philadelphia (and the tri-state area for that matter) last December after making a plethora of bonehead decisions that undoubtingly screwed this franchise.  These decisions included, but are not limited to, signing such un-phenomenal non-superstars such as Kenny “K9” Thomas and Brian “The Winner” Skinner to long-term lucrative contracts as well as trading away our beloved franchise player, “The Answer” Allen Iverson (I’m still very salty on this one…I hate you Billy King!)

When Ed Stefanski took King’s throne as the 76ers president and general manager, we as Sixers fans rejoiced since there was a new face at the helms of basketball operations in Philadelphia.  What I’ve seen with this restructuring of Andre Iguodala’s contract, however, is much of the same antics that have ruined our team since the glorious 2001 NBA Finals run.  Let me preface the next portion of my rant by saying that I love watching Andre Iguodala in a 76ers uniform and playing ball.  In each of his first four seasons as a Sixer this young, exciting, and athletic 6’6 forward out of Arizona has not only graced the courts of the NBA with his myriad of high flying spectacular dunks, but has also improved his scoring average annually.  The Sixers therefore did have a responsibility to compensate Iggy, but I don’t think that $80mil over 6 years was justified.  It is my opinion that Andre Iguodala is in no shape or form a $15mil per year player.  This opinion can be proven in one statement.  It goes like this…The guy cannot shoot, at all!  This was very evident in the first round of last year’s NBA Playoffs against the Detroit Pistons.  Iguodala shot a dismal 33% from the field and embarrassingly turned the ball over more than four times a game.  A $15mil per year player in this league does not and cannot perform in this fashion.  Some of you may be thinking, “But Jay, he was being guarded by Tayshaun Prince”.  That rebuttal, which many of you think is smart and witty, is not smart and witty and I completely discard it.  Look, Tayshaun Prince does play for an Eastern Conference team we play many times a season and is a great defender, but so are many other players in the NBA (i.e. Bruce Bowen, Chris Paul, Raja Bell, Ron Artest, etc.).  By paying Andre Iguodala more money he isn’t going to miraculously transform him into an offensive juggernaut.  If you are a realistic Sixers fan, you can come to grips with the fact that Iggy is nothing more than a great above the rim player in this league.  In the long run, being that type of player does not, and will not win you the big games.  Therefore in essence, I believe that that Stefanski and the Sixers paid Andre Iguodala, seemingly to just dunk the basketball a couple times a year, $3-5mil more than what I would have categorized as sufficient and justified.

The last thing I want to do is come across as a “hater” on Andre Iguodala and/or Sixers Management. In fact, I am so stoked and elated that Stefanski and the front office were able to land a big time name like Elton Brand here in Philadelphia.  I am simply “hating” on the way that the Sixers do business with disgruntled players; they cave and they pay.  As a result of overpaying this year, and in years past the Sixers are sure to find themselves in financial problems in the coming years.  The 76ers current roster is full of young players with great potential.  Louis Williams (who recently got a deal) and Thaddeus Young are the core of these emerging stars not only on this team, but in the NBA itself.  My question to you fans who think I’m making too much of all this is, what happens theoretically when these young guys on our roster play exceptionally well in the next season or two and thereby demand big(ger) money to remain with the team the following season?  The answer is simple.  They won’t remain with the team and opt out of their contracts, since we overpaid players such as Andre Iguodala too graciously in the years past.  This my friends is a crying shame for a team destined for success in the Eastern Conference for years to come and as a loyal, die-hard Sixers fan it sickens me.

– Jay Vaidya

The following is from Yahoo Sports:

The Philadelphia 76ers and swingman Andre Iguodala agreed to a six-year, $80 million contract, according to a report by ESPN on Tuesday.

Philadelphia locked up its best player and has the look of a team that will be a contender in the Eastern Conference for years to come. The Sixers also signed free-agent forward Elton Brand to a five-year deal worth a reported $82 million earlier this offseason.

Hopefully, Jay will provide is amazing analysis on the deal.

As a Sixers fan, you can’t help but love the way the 76ers roster looks on paper: (1) Andre Miller, (2) Andre Iguodala, (3) Thaddeus Young, (4) Elton Brand, (5) Samuel Dalembert.  That has the look of a truly complete team.  And don’t forget the talented young reserves such as Louis Williams and Jason Smith who are both developing well.

It seems that the Sixers are only a sharpshooter away from being considered a top 3 team in the East and one that can seriously challenge Boston and Detroit.  Hopefully, the Brand acquisition will attract one of those Eastern European dudes who are just so good at shooting the 3.

Here are some interesting quotes from NBA journalists.  These come via the Philadelphia Inquirer:
ESPN.com’s John Hollinger says the Sixers are instant challengers in the East, and uses his mathematical formula to project 52 wins for them next season:

Are the Philadelphia 76ers, as presently constituted, good enough to win the East in the 2008-09 season? Doubtful.

But are the Sixers good enough to win a playoff series or two and scare the bejeezus out of Detroit and Boston? You bet. And if they add a shooter and get another year of growth from all their young studs, will they be in position to win the conference in 2010? Absolutely.

SI.com’s Ian Thomsen says Brand is a better fit for the Sixers than Josh Smith:

One alternative to signing Brand was for the Sixers to make an offer big and front-loaded enough to pry restricted free agent Josh Smith away from Atlanta. But imagine starting a new era with Smith and Iguodala as your max players. Smith, 22, hasn’t established the self-discipline to manage the responsibility of being the highest-paid player in a market like Philadelphia. And whatever salary Smith might have received from the 76ers would have served as a new threshold for Iguodala, who would have demanded even more as a restricted free agent.
Henry Abbott of ESPN.com blog TrueHoop praises Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski and says his next move could be to add an outside shooter:

What’s more, the team clearly needs to add some reliable outside shooting, and Brand could be a free-agent magnet. (Remember last month when he did that for the Clippers?) Some free agents really want to win. With Brand, Philadelphia might be in the running for people who have other options.

That would be the icing on the “Welcome Back to Relevancy” cake they should be serving this morning at Sixers headquarters.

Charley Rosen of FoxSports.com gives the Sixers an A+ for the addition of Brand:

Coupled with his ever-improving mid-range shooting, Brand is simply one of the most dynamic scorers in the league. If he’s neither a superb passer nor (despite his penchant for blocking shots) a defensive ace, Brand figures to transform the Sixers into a legitimate challenger to Boston’s supremacy.

Here is the full article.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for coverage of the Sixers draft.

This comes via the Philadelphia Daily News:

The 76ers have extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams. Financial terms were not released.

Teams must extend qualifying offers by June 30 in order to retain the right of first refusal on a restricted free agent. A restricted free agent may sign an offer sheet with any team, but his previous team can opt to match.Iguodala turned down a 5-year extension worth $57 million before last season, figuring he would use his performance last season as leverage for a contract that would put him in the same astronomical salary range as the game’s elites.

It was great seeing the Sixers rock the retro 1983 jerseys once again last night against the Celtics.  I would love to see these jerseys more often and I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that the 76er’s marketing department isn’t even selling 1983 Retro Andre Iguodala jerseys.  Personally, I would love to get my hands on a Louis Williams retro jersey, but no luck.  You can’t even get a personalized retro jersey on NBA.com’s store.  Some places carry the retro jerseys, but you’re limited to Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, Moses Malone, and Bobby Jones; if you opt for one of those, it will cost you something in the range of $250.

I urge all of you to sign the petition to bring back the retro uniforms at Sixers 4 Guidos.  The 90s look is getting old and fading away; it’s time to go retro!  We already saw the Pistons do it and look what happened to their franchise.  To help get my point across, I’m changing the 76ers logo on my articles to the old Sixers logo.  I want to see these jerseys from now on:

Josh Smith. His name has come up in Sixers rumblings for weeks, but I never thought the Sixers had a real possibility of acquiring him for the simple fact that Hawks’ management can’t be dumb enough to let him go. Josh Smith as a Sixer next season may be a possibility.  It all depends on whether the Hawks want to be cheap this offseason or not.  Also keep in mind, the Hawks have Al Horford waiting in the wings at PF.

Smith is set to become a restricted free agent, which gives Atlanta the right to match any offer by another team.  The 22-year-old is having a ridiculous season: 18.8 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 3.7 APG, 3.3 BPG.  And he likes to beat up on the Sixers too: last night against the Sixers, Smith had 19 points, 9 blocks, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals — seriously, that’s his real stat line.

If the Sixers are able to sign both Smith and Iguodala in the offseason, they suddenly become a playoff team in 2008-2009 season.  Imagine this lineup next season:

1.) Center – Samuel Dalembert – 11.3 PPG / 10.1 RPG /2.4 BPG
2.) Power Forward – Josh Smith – 18.1 PPG / 8.0 RPB / 3.7 APG / 3.3 BPG
3.) Shooting Forward – Thaddeus Young – 9.2 PPG / 4.9 RPG / 1.6 APG *
4.) Shooting Guard – Andre Iguodala – 19.2 PPG / 5.6 RPG / 4.5 APG / 2.2 SPG
5.) Point Guard – Andre Miller – 16.6 PPG / 3.9 RPG / 6.2 APG / 1.1 SPG

* Stats from his previous 10 games.

That’s a formidable 5th or 6th seed team in the East next season. With three of their top players under the age of 23, their future will suddenly look bright.

If the Sixers could swing a deal with the Hawks for Josh Smith, it will certainly be worth it to trade Andre Miller to make it happen.