Billy King
They said it would never happen. They said they we’re executing the “three-year plan.” Well I guess we now know it was all crap. Reports surfaced last night that Billy King would be fired and replaced by Ed Stefanski, of the Nets. Hoopshype.com has great GM bio pages. See Billy Kings here.In the 1998 draft Billy King grabbed Larry Hughes (8th overall pick) and forward Casey Shaw (37th overall pick). He also traded a future first-round draft to the Utah Jazz for the draft rights to center Nazr Mohammed. On first glance that doesn’t look too bad. Until you realize what else was available in that crop. The number 9 pick: Dirk Nowitzki (PF), the number 10 pick: Paul Pierce (G/F), and at 11: Bonzi Wells. In the 2nd round you had people like Rashard Lewis (32nd) and Cuttino Mobley (41st). I still get jabs of pain watching Pierce play, knowing that A.I. and him could have been playing along side each other in those good years.The 1999 draft gave us center Todd MacCulloch (47th overall pick) and King also traded a future first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for the draft rights to forward Jumaine Jones (the 27th pick). This draft was chock full of top tier quality players. Elton Brand, Steve Francis, Baron Davis, Rip Hamilton, Shawn Marion, Ron Artest, Kirilenko, the list just goes on and on. To pile it on, the Spurs pulled Manu Ginobili at #57, the 2nd to last pick. Damn them smart people!

The 2000 draft is where it really started to become clear that King has no idea what was happening. With the 20th pick he drafted Speedy Claxton. Craig isn’t a bad pick, but with A.I. already a mainstay, how could anyone have thought two under 6 foot guards on the same line would work. The 21st pick, Moris Peterson, a 6′7″ SF/SG who could have played along side A.I. Other notable options: at 27: Primo Brezec, at 37 Eddie House, 38 Eduardo Nájera, 43 Michael Redd, and at 44 Brian Cardinal. This is in the era with Ratliff, Geiger, and big Mac: all three didn’t play the full season due to injuries.

The 2001 draft was a bust. The 76ers gave cash to the Clips for a 2nd rounder. Oh wait - we did get Alvin Jones at 57. Who? right.

The 2002 draft must have been King’s attempt at making moves. What a mess. The Sixres selected guard Jiri Welsch (16th overall pick) and forward Sam Clancy (45th overall pick). Then they traded the draft rights to guard Jiri Welsch to the Golden State Warriors for a future first-round draft pick and a future first- or second-round draft pick Also, King traded guard Speedy Claxton to the San Antonio Spurs for forward Mark Bryant and the draft rights to guard John Salmons and forward Randy Holcomb. Lastly, they traded second-round picks in 2004 and 2006 for the draft rights to forward-center Efthimios Rentzias. When is Rentzias now? Well according to NBA.com, he’s a Sixer. He played one year.

In 2003 King almost did some good things. He selected guard Paccelis Morlende (50th overall pick). This move allowed him to acquire the draft rights to guard Kyle Korver from the New Jersey Nets for cash considerations. Then he traded the draft rights to guard Paccelis Morlende to the Seattle SuperSonics for the draft rights to guard Willie Green. So, we got Willie Green and Korver. This wasn’t too bad considering the draft position that the 76ers had. But, bear in mind that King had traded away multiple picks in the previous years, giving the team very little to work with.

In 2004 King again earned a little bit of his income. He drafted Andre Iguodala at #9. The 76ers had no 2nd pick.

In 2005 the 76ers had no first rounder, and nabbed Louis Williams at #45. 2004 and 2005 go to show you how much dealing was done, and how inept King was at managing his draft options. Once again, we drafted a small guard, when A.I. was still the main guy on the floor.

This is starting to hurt me. It’s still too early to know what the 2006 and 2007 drafts will yield. All in all, King did an awful job. He wasted so much time when Iverson and company needed one more solid piece. Attempts were made, bad contracts were signed (I didn’t even get into that here) and now the result is upon us.

The 76ers are the cellar dwellers of the NBA. That will not change in the near future. Iguodala may try and leave next Summer. We have a slew of nearly un-tradable assets. I’m thinking 2010 might be the turn around point.