[NY Daily News] Sixers Are Fielding Offers For Miller

November 25, 2007 - 10:38 am

New York Daily News -

The Sixers are open to fielding offers for Andre Miller (Cleveland and Miami are seen as his prime suitors) and plan to give Lou Williams more minutes at the point.

In the meantime, Andre Iguodala, who didn't get the contract extension he was looking for, is taking more shots and turning the ball over more than anyone on the team, and complaining more, too. "His body language is worse than Iverson's ever was," reports one teammate.

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Player File - Andre Miller

the knock against him is that he's never been a 3pt shooter. the plus side is that he's shoots 46% from the field. compaired to rafer's FG% that's a breath of fresh air.

actually, i take that back, compaired to rafer, tmac, shane, bonzi, james, etc... it's a breath of fresh air.

no more missed mid range shots, floaters, tear drops. no more hurried 3's after an offencive rebound. he brings all the things that earned rafer the starting spot (gets team in offense early, low turn overs, good passer) and he keeps the FG% up with smart shots. something the whole team can get used to.

he does make a lot of money, but his contract is over after next season. that means that at next season's deadline, the rockets will be holding a $9M ending contract. in past seasons players like baron davis were traded for ending contracts that large. pau gasol was another player who would've been traded for an ending contract if the bulls accepted the deal. i'm sure that we'd want to keep a PG like miller, but you never know what offers come around.

he's worth a package of rafer (replacement pg) and kirk (ending contract) + after that i'd give them the choice of luther (prospect) or steve (ending contract).

i'd even be willing to throw a future first at them for this kind of PG.

since no one on the team is signed past tmac's contract year (except yao and shane) i think the team will try not to add any more contracts longer than that. that may include the next two first round picks. sure we can draft a euro and keep him overseas, but we're trying to win now.

i'd be pretty upset if the rockets didn't explore this move. thoughts?

 

a package of rafer, kirk, and steve will save them about $9M over the next 2 years. throw in a first round pick for a 32 year old player and i think they will be interested.

they don't need talent. a rebuilding team needs ending contracts and picks.

compare that package to one from the cavs who can't afford to give up gooden, marshall or ilgauskas because those are the only 3 bigs they have. houghs makes too much to make the trade work. it would have to be either snow or jones with an ending contract of newble and shannon brown. that's no better than our package.

miami probably has the inside track since they can offer jason williams ending contract to cover millers. but will they be willing to part with a first round pick?

all in all i'd say it's a solid offer. look at what iverson was traded for:

andre miller (downgrade replacement), joe smith (ending contract), picks.

now for miller:

rafer alston (down grade replacement), kirk snyder/steve francis (endings), future first.

i'd say it's about right.

 

i disagree. if the sixers were to take luther instead of steve in the package that i suggested, then we would be left with miller starting, mj still backing up the 1 and steve backing up the 2. they can't be mistakes if they are contributing in the rotation. brooks will remain the PG of the future since miller, francis, and james are in their 30's.

 

my mistake. i miscalculated.

miller earns $9M. that's $18M left on a 2 year contract.

snyder and steve are off the books for next season saving roughly the amount of rafers last year.

 

i understand that, and normally it would take alot more. in this instant the most interested suitors are cleveland and miami.

tell me who you think they will give up for him?

the cavs can't afford to part with another big (they are down to only 3), and houghs makes too much for a deal to work. they have to throw together a package of scraps that will include ending contracts and probably one of thier PG's. much like us. unless the sixers are dumb enough to S&T miller for varejao. a rebuilding team doesn't want to take on large contracts.

miami is a different story. they can just swap williams for miller. jwill will come off the books at seasons end. that's pretty good for the sixers, but i think they might consider the rockets offer if we throw in a pick which miami can't afford to do.