http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/basketball/8979772.htm?1c Sixers enter draft week with trade rumors rife Iverson for Carter? A deal to obtain the third pick from the Bulls? GM Billy King is not commenting. It's draft week in the NBA, and from the 76ers' offices to California, trade rumors are wafting over many league cities like so much smoke. The question is, though, is there fire to go with the smoke? Two rumors have blown into town concerning the Sixers and what they might do before Thursday's NBA draft and beyond. One, which was started locally and picked up on MSNBC.com, talked of a superstar swap between the Sixers and the Toronto Raptors, with Allen Iverson heading north in exchange for Vince Carter. The second, appearing yesterday in the Chicago Tribune, had the Sixers packaging a deal that included center Samuel Dalembert and their first-round pick (No. 9 overall) for the Chicago Bulls' No. 3 overall selection and center Tyson Chandler. Sixers president and general manager Billy King declined to speak about either report. "I won't comment on trade rumors," King said yesterday. Iverson, a former NBA scoring champion and MVP, suffered through an injury-racked season. He played his 48th and final game on March 20, missing the remainder of the season with a knee injury. He also clashed with interim head coach Chris Ford, and speculation as the season ended centered on Iverson being traded in the off-season. But King constantly has denied that he will trade Iverson, and new head coach Jim O'Brien declared in April, at the time of his hiring, "I want to coach Allen Iverson." The Raptors have missed the playoffs the last two seasons and fingers are being pointed at Carter. Carter reportedly also is miffed that the team did not hire ex-Sixer Julius Erving as general manager, and has not returned telephone calls from new GM Rob Babcock. But Babcock has said: "I want Vince Carter on this team. I think Vince Carter is a guy we can build around," which doesn't sound like a desire to trade him. As for the rumor involving Dalembert, a pleasant surprise last season when he averaged 8.0 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, his agent, Marc Cornstein, said yesterday, "I don't think there's any truth to it. "We'll see what happens down the road," he said. "But I don't know where that came from. I would be very surprised if Samuel is part of a trade." The Tribune report pointed out that King is a former Duke player, and the likely No. 3 pick would be a Duke product - 6-7 forward Luol Deng. Draft week begins tonight when the Charlotte Bobcats announce their expansion selections. The Sixers have left five players unprotected, believed to be guards Aaron McKie and Greg Buckner, forwards Derrick Coleman and Marc Jackson, and center Todd MacCulloch. The real NBA draft takes place on Thursday night. The Sixers have the No. 9 pick, but that is subject to change, according to King. "We have no idea," King said when asked if the Sixers would trade the pick. "There are so many different scenarios as we get to draft day. We've got a couple of more days and then we'll pick. Until then, we'll be talking to people." The Sixers do not have a second-round pick, and King said he didn't know yet if the Sixers would trade to obtain one. For now, the attention is on the Bobcats. Yesterday they acquired the No. 2 draft pick from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for the fourth overall pick and the No. 33 pick. Charlotte also agreed to select Clippers center Predrag Drobnjak in the expansion draft. The Bobcats must select a minimum of 14 players in the expansion draft, but relatively few are expected be on their opening-night roster. General manager and coach Bernie Bickerstaff has expressed a desire to build a young roster. Notes. The Sixers will have another round of pre-draft workouts today at their practice facility, bringing in 6-11 forward Andris Biedrins of Latvia and a pair of 6-6 guards - Kirk Snyder of Nevada and J.R. Smith of St. Benedict's Prep in North Jersey. For Smith, it will be his second workout with the Sixers.
Why would Toronto want Iverson to go with Rose and Bosh? Is he THE ANSWER? I think not. This makes no sense. I thought Vince's Mom was picking the Gm.
I think this is a steal for Philly. Iverson is on the decline, while carter could easily rejuvenate his career and come back with a vengeance.
Philadelphia managment has said this rumor is bunk. Carter apparently has asked out of Toronto, though. If I were GM of the Raptors, I'd give the Magic a call about re-routing Steve north. Evan
