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by John DiCarlo

It can start with the most innocent of conversations.

Tony DiLeo, the Sixers Director of Player Personnel, may be standing courtside at the First Union Center prior to a game.

He may casually mention something to General Manager Billy King about a player he saw on his recent scouting trip. Or he may disclose the latest chatter in the league about a player. And at some point, head coach Larry Brown may concur. Or he may disagree.

Regardless, DiLeo, King and Brown never forget what they talk about or what they see.

This is how the Sixers’ brain trust has built its team over the years, one that went to the NBA Finals two seasons ago and one now that would seem to have a shot at getting back there.

They don’t always do it by signing the biggest free agent during the summer or landing ‘that guy’ who’s going to light up the scoreboard. Rather, they have done it by carefully adding players they consider to be “good character guys,” guys who will enhance the chemistry of the team rather than detract from it.

Granted, this method of building a team doesn’t sound all that exciting. In the NBA, style looks sexier than substance. But the Sixers have enjoyed more hits than misses in adding key pieces to their team, even if the acquisition didn’t make waves at first.

Take Eric Snow. Today, it would be a safe assessment to call him one of the NBA’s better point guards. But when the Sixers plucked him away from the Seattle Supersonics five seasons ago in exchange for a conditional second-round pick, Snow was essentially a third-string point guard averaging less than five minutes a game.

Or how about Aaron McKie? Two seasons ago, when the Sixers grabbed the Eastern Conference championship, McKie was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year. But when he came to Philly five years ago in a trade with the Detroit Pistons, his name was not the one that brought the most fanfare.

“Some people considered Aaron kind of a throw-in in that deal,” DiLeo said. “Theo Ratliff and Jerry Stackhouse were considered the marquee names in that trade.”

And what about Todd MacCulloch? When the Sixers drafted the 7-foot center out of Washington with the 47th overall pick of the 1998 draft, MacCulloch wasn’t even a lock to make the team. But after two trips to the NBA Finals with the Sixers and last year with the New Jersey Nets, MacCulloch is back in Philadelphia starting at center.

“	Some people considered Aaron kind of a throw-in in that deal. Theo Ratliff and Jerry Stackhouse were considered the marquee names in that trade.” — Tony DiLeo

Traditionally, DiLeo, Brown and King haven’t been prone to bask in their success stories of evaluating personnel. That hasn’t changed. “More than anything, it’s a tribute to the guys making the most of the opportunity,” King said. “We may make the deal or sign someone, but it’s the player who works hard to make himself a successful part of this team.”

Still, the Sixers have found ways to create those opportunities for guys the majority of the league might pass over. And finding guys who aren’t always wearing that ‘can’t miss’ label requires plenty of homework.



“That’s when you really have to start talking to people around the league,” King said. “If you trade for a guy, and he comes to your team, you may ask him about someone else he’s played with. You may say, ‘Well, how was this guy?’ and he’ll either say, ‘He’s a good teammate’ or ‘No, you don’t want him.’ Guys get reputations in this league, and that reputation is going to get around. So we always make sure to try and get a guy we know is going to do the things Larry wants him to do.”

If Brown has a mantra, it is that he constantly asks his players to play the game “the right way.” He’ll preach about it from the outset of training camp in October. You can almost set your watch to it.

“Coach Brown has a philosophy, and he likes a certain type of player,” DiLeo said. “He likes a tough, hard-nosed guy, a good defender. On a lot of teams, those guys don’t get a lot of playing time. So, we look around the league, and we kind of identify guys that would fit into Coach Brown’s philosophy, guys that would fit into the team chemistry.”

DiLeo has been with the Sixers for 12 seasons, the past three as the Director of Player Personnel. By now, he knows what Brown wants in a player. But when Brown arrived in Philadelphia prior to the 1997-98 season, DiLeo had to adjust to seeing the game in a different way.

“There was definitely a period there where I had to get used to looking for different things that Coach wanted,” DiLeo said. “It probably took me about a year to get adjusted, going through the whole cycle of the season, the draft and summer league.

“But I think we have a very good situation here in that the general manager and the scouting department know exactly what the coach is looking for. There are other situations in the league where the coach doesn’t have as much say in personnel. Here, Billy and Coach will go off of my feedback. We talk about things and discuss things. Coach identifies what he wants and Billy takes a look at what it will take to get that guy.”

It’s no secret, of course, that the Sixers have built the team around Allen Iverson. But the three-time league scoring champion and former MVP is a shooting guard trapped in a 6-foot point guard’s body.

So they went out and got Snow, a guard who is three inches taller, can guard opposing shooting guards and allow Iverson to work off the ball to create scoring opportunities.

“	Shawn Respert may have gotten more of the attention on that college team (at Michigan State), but Eric (Snow) was the glue that held that team together. He’s a special-type of point guard who can defend the two’s and complement Allen.” — Billy King

And although he was an unheralded role player in Seattle, the move paid off. Snow came to Philadelphia 18 games into the 1997-98 season. After averaging just 4.4 minutes a game with the Sonics in 17 games, he averaged 18 with the Sixers. The following season, Snow started each of the 48 games in which he played, averaging 8.6 points and 6.3 assists per game. The 1999-2000 campaign saw him average a career-high 7.6 assists. Last season, Snow shot 44 percent from the floor - his best mark as a Sixer - and averaged a career-high 12.1 points an outing.

“Eric has always won wherever he’s been,” King said. “Shawn Respert may have gotten more of the attention on that college team (at Michigan State), but Eric was the glue that held that team together. He’s a special-type of point guard who can defend the two’s and complement Allen.”

“That’s the same reason why we got John Salmons,” DiLeo said of the 6-7 University of Miami and Plymouth Whitemarsh product the Sixers acquired in a draft day deal with San Antonio. “He’s young, but we feel he’ll be able to do those things as well.”

Apart from the draft, DiLeo, King and Brown are always keeping their eyes peeled, even if it means watching an opposing player the night of a game. Current Sixers like reserve guard Greg Buckner and power forward Monty Williams are guys Brown and the Sixers have coveted for a while.

“There’s never a time when we’re not looking,” DiLeo explained. “Coach Brown has always liked Greg, going all the way back to college (at Clemson). So we watch him during the year, and we knew Greg was going to be a free agent. And when it comes to the summer, and it’s time for free agency, then we’re prepared and we can go after who we want, and we got Greg (via free agency from the Dallas Mavericks). Same thing with Monty Williams. He’s another guy that we’ve liked for a long time and tried to get in the past. Finally, this summer, we got him.”

And so it goes. The wheels will always be turning. Brown has a certain type of player he covets, DiLeo will be on the lookout for that player and King will be sorting things out to make it work financially.

“There really isn’t a day that goes by when we’re not talking about something,” DiLeo said. “That’s really how you have to stay on top of things, whether it’s Billy asking me what I think of this guy or whether it’s Coach talking about someone else in the league. You never know what opportunity is going to present itself, so you have to do your homework and be ready when it does.”