Iguodala for Amare Stoudamire heating up again? ( Rumors)

[Donoghus]

I'm just not enamored with a Brand/Amare pairing.  At the expense of losing Iggy, what does that new pairing really bring to the table for Philadelphia?

They're still going nowhere, IMO.

They are going backwards right now.


AI2 is a long term contract.  This season, they can add a player like Amare.  If Philly stays on this trend, in the future, they will not be able to. 


And actually, I like the idea of Amare playing with Brand for the 76ers.  They need Amare to start playing a more full game on defense.  Brand might be a help in pulling this out. 

I agree that they're not really going anywhere right now.

I'm just not really buying the Brand/Amare combination.  I'm not sure Amare's gonna get that much better and they'll effectively complement each other.

If they're able to sign Amare to a long-term deal, they're gonna have nearly have their cap tied up in him & Brand.  Very little room to work with and I don't think they'll have the ability to build a team around that core to do anything more meaningful than fight for a 7 or 8 seed.   When you have two guys tying up that much cap space, you need better results than that.

If they keep Iggy, they have a nice package of expirings next season (Dalembert, Kapono, Green).   That's a little over $20 million there.   Use it and play with it to try and build a better complementary team around Iggy, Brand, and the youngin's.  I just don't think sinking half their payroll into Brand/Amare long-term and then using the same said expirings is a better solution.

Philly just should bite the bullet until this time next year. 

(If Philly's plan is to acquire Amare and let him walk, then I'd be much more for it as crazy as that sounds)

[gpap]

Possible scenario:  Suns hold out for Iggy. Cleveland gives up and lands Jamison.  Philly backs away from the Suns. Celtics make a late run at Stoudamire.

Not saying I want Stoudamire given that we'd probably part with Perk, but a Ray/Perk (plus fillers) for Stoudamire/JRich is not a bad deal for either side.  Gives an intriguing lineup for us for this year and next and some flexibility moving forward as Pierce, Richardson and Stoudamire all expire next year.   

Perk would be a huge loss to our defense and difficult to replace. 

Lol...I would trade Ray and Perk for Amar'e and J-Rich in a hearbeat and I am sure Danny would! But Phoneix?? Highly doubtful unless Dan Akyrod and Daniel Stern found a way to get Steve Kerr totally wasted like they did Damon Wayans in Celtic Pride.