Wednesday, March 22, 2006

King Sized Failure


By John McMullen

Today, Billy King is nothing more than a punch line.

Once upon a time, the smooth talking, impeccably dressed, would-be politician’s dazzling personality won over the area’s scribes in record time.

You see, sportswriters are an insecure group. Privy to the exhilarating world of the athlete but unable to attain it, King made this pathetic, self-doubting group of wannabes feel important and got a free pass because of it.

But those days are over. Larry Brown’s former yes man has been such a miserable failure as the leader of the Sixers that the National media has taken notice and even King’s groupies at the two metropolitan dailies can’t save him now.

The carnage has been historically bad -- If not for an even more incompetent fool two hours up the Jersey Turnpike, King would be universally regarded as the NBA‘s Matt Millen.

Let’s take a look at the fiasco King has lorded over:

Since the 2001 Finals:

-King gave Dikembe Mutombo a $68 million extension even though the Jeremy Steven’s like center reportedly attended the same high school as Moses (and I don’t mean Malone).

-He then gave $35.5 million to an injured, beaten down Aaron McKie.

-Next was $29 million to a role player in journeyman point guard Eric Snow.

-How about a big free agent splash? Try $18 million to lure Greg Buckner to the City of Brotherly Love.

-Next up. $40 million to keep 6-foot-7 power forward Kenny Thomas.

-$25 million to get Brian Skinner back to Philadelphia, a year after King could have had him for the league minimum.

-$25 million to the ultimate one-dimensional player in Kyle Korver

-$60 million to the disinterested and injury prone Samuel Dalembert.

-And last but not least, King tried to give $20 million to yet another one-dimensional player in Willie Green before a torn ACL nixed the deal. (You have to feel sorry for Green, who now must find an equal sized-sucker to King. )

The Sixers’ leader also traded for Keith Van Horn, Glenn Robinson and Chris Webber. (To call those players dogs, as many have, is an insult to one of the noblest creatures in the world.)

His final act of ineptitude will likely be jettisoning Allen Iverson in the off-season.

Sadly, instead of revolting, a lot of Sixers fans will sit back and let it happen.

You see, through it all, most Philadelphia fans seem to want to blame Iverson for the Sixers‘ woes.

Why? Simply put -- Philadelphia fans are, for the most part, frauds.

Look no further than Iverson’s current saga to document the above statement.

In Iverson, the City has been lucky enough to watch one of the game’s 50-best players and the best 6-feet or under player in history, night in and night out for a decade.

Yet, few realize it and the town’s penchant for turning on A.I. when things go bad is troubling to say the least.

The tag line for the Philly faithful goes something like this.......”This is a blue-collar town. If you bust your a**, people will love you.”

Of course, that’s nonsense -- Just across the street from the Wachovia Center stands Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The most disliked player on the current incarnation of the Phils is none other than the third baseman, David Bell. If you know baseball, that would make sense in most towns -- To be kind, let’s just say Bell is not very talented and leave it at that.

But, if you happen to come across a Phillies game on television, sit down and watch a few innings. You’ll likely notice that one player busts his hump like no other -- The player’s name? You guessed it --David Bell.

So now we know the Philly faithful’s credo should read..........”This is a blue-collar town. If you bust your a** and you‘re really, really talented we might like you..............or maybe not ”

No one in the NBA plays as hard as Iverson but, as the Sixers continue to struggle, more and more of the City’s fans are putting the blame on the game’s ultimate warrior.

“He shoots too much.”.........”He’s a liability on defense.”.......”He doesn’t get others involved.”

And so many of those same fans think getting the ball in the lands of the anti-thesis of blue collar, one of the game’s laziest and softest players, Webber, is the answer.

Way to reward all out hustle and desire Philly.

Let’s ignore the fact that Iverson has taken his team to the finals.

Let’s ignore the fact that Iverson averages less shots per game than when the team went to the finals.

Let’s ignore the fact that Iverson’s assist ratio has nearly doubled.

Let‘s ignore the fact that it’s Iverson who gives the better effort on defense than Webber, Korver, Steven Hunter and so many other defensive cardboard cutouts that King has amassed in Philadelphia.

Let’s ignore the fact that Iverson has given the City a decade of excellence while Webber has given you a season and a half of bitching.

Ignore it all..........

No wonder Philadelphia hasn’t won a championship since 1983.

-You can reach John McMullen at jmcmullen1@comcast.net

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

i just read your article on hoopshype. great job
calling the Philly Fans frauds because they are
frustrated with the team that BK has assembled.
People want change my friend, and if that means trying
over and moving AI then so be it. how does that make
philly fans frauds? no wonder we havent won a
champoinship in philly scince 1983? so you're saying
that because some fans in philly want a fresh start
and don't think that if we have not won in 10 years
WITH AI, then we might need to move on makes us a
fraud and THATS the reason we have not won a
champoinship? thats a horrible point. way to
generalize.

if you can get the number 5ish pick and a player for
AI you make the deal. if not you keep AI and ooh and
aah at his skills for a few more years. its called
being smart. philly fans want to see something like
that happen, they dont just blindly blame AI. get
your story straight. if anything this city loves him
and DOES NOT blame him for anything. the city
worshiped him for ten years ..NEWSFLASH!!. basketball
fans that understand what teams need to win want to
see sheldon williams or randy foye or b roy in a sixer
uni...they dont hate AI. it would be a "thanks for
everything we will miss you " type of goodbye for
allen. I hope you dont live in this area because if
you do then you dont know the vibe in your own back
yard. in fact, i doubt OTHER GM's would even do much
in a deal for Allen, so what does that tell you??? it
takes a TEAM to win and he has a horrible one around
him and its next to impossible to get guys around him
that work. I guess they (other GM's that dont want AI)
are frauds too huh?

go write an article about how we booed santa or had a
small group of fans boo mcnabb. thats all our fault
too, huh? makes me sick.

Anonymous said...

You are an idiot. The most loved player in philly sports is Iverson. You must not be from philly to not know that.

Anonymous said...

First of all, the most hated player on the Phillies is easily either Mike Lieberthal or Bobby 'Mr no hustle' Abreu. Bell is easily third, though.
And so many of those same fans think getting the ball in the lands of the anti-thesis of blue collar, one of the game’s laziest and softest players, Webber, is the answer.
This is just flat out FALSE. The fact is, most who think it's time to trade AI would also like to rid this team of Webber (and Dalembert). But, getting rid of Webber is harder than japanese trigonometry. Most understand that this thing has to go in cycles. The easiest to get rid of goes first, then you work your way down.
People love to talk about the abrasiveness of Philly fans, while completely ignoring the same fans who KNEW that the Sixers were going to lose the Finals in 2001, and came with signs saying thanks to the team for giving all they had. The way these so-called 'frauds' acted, you'd have thought the Sixers beat the Lakers 4-1 that year instead of the other way around.
But, Philly fans only get press when something bad happens.
I'm surprised he didn't go back into how we booed Santa Claus ...... BACK IN 1968! Oo, look, they have a holding cell in the Vet. They always fail to mention that gillette stadium in new england, invesco field in denver, and fedex field in washington also have holding cells in their stadiums.
If this fool thinks that Billy King isn't getting raked over the coals by fans, maybe he should crawl out from under his rock and do what a decent writer would do ... GO ASK SOMEBODY. If he did, he would see that AI isn't the only person who gets blame, but Ed Snider and Billy King (and Larry Brown posthumously) as well.
NOBODY in the top rankings of this franchise is doing their job to the best of their ability. Not Snider, Not King, Not Cheeks, Not Iverson, Not Webber. NOBODY.
If you the fool actually paid attention,you'd see that a great deal of fans know that.
Frauds, indeed. It would seem that the only reason yo writes for RealGM is because nobody else (read me, who was also offered the job a few years ago) wanted it. His writing is no more credible than anyone else here.
I am not a role model.

Anonymous said...

No wonder Philadelphia hasn’t won a championship since 1983.

Ugh, you were blaming Billy King and then you turned on the fans. Here is a list of things you don't know.

1.) Iverson is one of the most popular athletes ever here (fact)
2.) Chris Webber is not popular in this town (fact)
3.) Allen Iverson plays a style of selfish ball that you cannot win with whether he plays with good players or stiffs (opinion)

The reason sportswriters are so pathetic as you asserted in your article is not because they are wanabee athletes, it is because they are too lazy to do their research.

Anonymous said...

I applaude You sir!

I agree with all you said in the Billy king article , Please let the real problem be removed.

Thankyou - Todd Zieseniss - Sixers fan (until they do something really unforgivable like trade away AI for scrubs)

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say "thank you" for your article about Billy King's trouble tenure as the GM of the Sixers. It's amazing how Iverson can literally carry a team to a finals appearance and people disreguard it.

I mean the roster is full of 2nd round picks and cheap free agent signings making the league minimum all because King traded three overpriced players for the player that will be making the most next year.

Not only did we fire yet another coach and tried to run an offense around cwebb we have another coach who doesn't have a clue. I love Mo Cheeks as a player but he's not the coach to be taking this team to the playoffs or further. Same goes with the players that are on the roster. They are learning on the job yet Iverson gets the blame?

The bulls already have Ben Wallace and may soon get K.G. for Chandler, deng and tyrus thomas. If King could've had K.G. for Dalembert, green and salmons lets say but didn't do it cuz he loved his talent I'll blow my lid.

Anyway, thanks for the article. Too many bashing AI and nice to see a different take.

Mike