Sixers Newsroom

Ed Stefanski Conference Call - August 21, 2008

Ed Stefanski held a conference call yesterday afternoon with members of the basketball blogging community to discuss a wide-range of topics, including the signing of Theo Ratliff, where Andre Iguodala plays and other off-season happenings.

On the occurrences of the offseason thus far:
Since I got here it’s been, a little over nine months, very interesting, very rewarding. What Mo Cheeks and the team did last year was terrific to watch, as we’ll get into questions and answers. As I’ve said since I got here, when we made the trade for Kyle (Korver) that we were just hoping that an opportunity would come in the summertime in free agency. We couldn’t put a name on it. We did a lot of homework on different people and different plans but we did not know which guy that would be. And then when Elton Brand decided to opt-out that was the opportunity and we were fortunate to get him.

We’ve said all along that we were going to sign our own free agents, which we feel very comfortable with. Young people who are going to be our nucleus for years to come, who are very good basketball players. We got a residual effect from the good play we had this year. As I’ve said numerous times, we look good on paper, but paper doesn’t play. We will see what happens.

On the front court and Thaddeus Young:
That’s going to be something that’s going to definitely shake out in preseason and during the season. Obviously, Elton Brand is our starting four and Mo (Cheeks) would be able to answer this if he’s projecting Thaddeus at the three, which I’m sure he is right now. Thaddeus has been working extremely hard all summer on his handle. I’ve seen him a few times out in Vegas at the summer league and out in Vegas at Tim Grguvich’s camp. His handle has gotten better, we’ll only know when the season started has it gotten good enough to play the bulk of the minutes at the three. But there’s no question his handle has gotten better. We could have Thaddeus at the four at times, when Elton is getting a break and also you know in this league, the way it is now, Elton can play some five.

On Andre Iguodala going from the number one option to the number two
Right now if you look at a depth chart probably you put Andre Iguodala as the starting two. Andre is another one just like Thaddeus, we’re blessed with these kids who love to play and that’s not always the case on guys in the league. These guys love to play, they word hard at it. So he’s been working on it and as he said in the press conference about coming off of screens on jump shots, getting his shot off quicker. He’s an extremely hard worker. You almost have to calm him down at times, Andre Iguodala. He’s ready for the season to start now. We have a lot of guys that I would just term basketball players. In ancient basketball I played you always had a one, and a two, and a three, and all that stuff. Swingmen play two and three now.

And Lou Williams, I’m not going to sit here and tell you he’s a stone cold one or he’s a stone cold two. But I think Lou Williams is a hell of a basketball player. I really like the way the kid plays. And so I think that’s what you have with our team. You have good basketball players that Mo (Cheeks) has versatility to use in the different spots that he wants to.

On how different a player Ratliff has become since he was last in Philadelphia:
How different am I? I’m a lot older (laughing). I’m definitely a lot older and definitely have to take care myself strategically. I can’t go out there no holes barred anymore like I used to through practicing, playing 35 minutes a game, and different things of that nature. But I still feel like I still got a lot of game in me and still can go out on the court and be competitive and help this team and I can still intimidate people when they come to the hoop, so that’s one of the main things that has kept me around.

On whether the team’s up-tempo style will change with the acquisition of Elton Brand
I think you’ve answered the question. I’d say both ways. We’re not planning on slowing it down. We want to keep pushing the pace, because we have the players that can do that. In any fastbreak you also need a trailer and Sam (Dalembert) runs the floor extremely well. If Elton is the trailer that’s not the worst thing in the world that they have to wait if the defense is back but they’re not waiting on Elton. Elton is a very good shooter from the elbow. He can make shots. We don’t plan on going to the half court, but what he does give us as we all know, is when we do have to play half court basketball he is a big part of it down low. I see him making Sammy (Dalembert) much better on the offensive end because of him demanding double teams. I see Sammy (Dalembert) really helping Elton on the defensive end with his length and shot blocking ability.

On the team being a championship contender:
No one knows that answer. I’ve always been a person, it doesn’t matter, and maybe it’s kind of silly, but whoever you throw out on the court you feel like you got a chance. You got to play hard. When you don’t have all the pieces it’s hard. This is a pretty good team on paper. Again, how do we gel? How does everyone come together? We’ve brought in a huge piece in Elton Brand and we made our bench stronger than it was last year. But do they jell with everybody? There going to be the questions. Is it a championship contender? Only time will tell. We kept saying we need to move in the right direction and we were making small steps in that direction, and then we made a much larger step when we got Elton Brand. Our expectations are obviously higher than they were when I got here and even going into the free agency period, because we didn’t know Elton Brand was going to opt out.

On not acquiring Josh Smith:
We really liked Josh. We knew he was a restricted free agent, but at least he was a free agent. Again, not knowing what Elton Brand was going to do. So when that came up we were working towards both guys. With the restricted free agent situation they can match and it looked like whatever deal we would have put on the table for Josh, probably would have been matched with Atlanta. So we’re fortunate in that case. We really highly regarded Josh Smith and that was our main guy that we were targeting, not knowing what un restricted free agents would be out there.

On Josh Smith’s deal:
Well I don’t know if anything is a bargain in this league. But I think Atlanta is not unhappy that it came down to a situation where they had a match. I think they are very happy that that’s how it came down.

On the Rodney Carney trade:
We knew we needed to secure more cap space in order to get Elton. We were in the sweepstakes for him. We needed to secure some more room. With Calvin Booth, the other teams liked the idea that someone is in the last year of their contract. With Rodney to he’s a basketball player that has up side. Hopefully he fulfills it. That’s why Minnesota liked him, plus he’s in the last year of his contract if Minnesota deems that what they want to do. And also when we secured that first round pick from Utah that sweetened the pot to make it happen. Tony DiLeo and I we talking to numerous teams around the league in order to try to secure more cap space. And the one thing we had to sweeten the pot, as I said, was that Utah pick. People like that idea of getting that first round pick.

On team’s expectations for Theo Ratliff:
Where we were in free agency, to have a Theo still around, we were happy for that. We wouldn’t have gone that route if Jason Smith, it’s a shame, hadn’t gotten hurt. It kills me that he got hurt. From his personal standpoint, as well as the teams. If he had not gotten hurt we wouldn’t have been going in that direction, but when he did get hurt we were able to turn around and get a player like Theo. He will play limited minutes for us, but he’s a nice back up, a veteran who knows what he’s doing defensively and can still block a shot as he showed it in the Detroit series against us. So hopefully he can play that role. He knows his role. The coach has told him.

He’s an interesting character. “Very happy,” he said to me the other day when he was in to sign his contract. He said he loves Philadelphia. He loves the fans, because the fans make him play hard and they’re always there for him. He knows if he puts effort in that the Philadelphia fans will like him. He’s figured the Philadelphia fans out. The Philadelphia fans are all about effort. If you give the effort and maybe it comes up short, they are going to forgive you. It’s when you don’t give the effort that the fans get on you. He looks forward to coming back and playing in Philadelphia.

On Marreese Speights:
I don’t know what minutes he’s going to play, that’s going to be Mo’s decision, obviously. I would have thought he would have gotten less of a chance before Jason got hurt. When people get hurt it’s terrible, but it’s an opportunity for other guys to step up. This is a chance for Marreese Speights to play some of his rookie year. I know this is only summer league. He played in the summer league, and looked really good. He averaged close to 20 points and 10 rebounds. He did everything we asked of him. But it’s only summer league. But on the flipside, if he had (stunk) in the summer league, we would have all been upset. We got what we thought we were getting. We had a lot of rumors that the kid didn’t play hard and all this. We had a lot of chats with a lot of people throughout the country that touched this kid (Speights). We had a lot of heart-to-heart talks with the kid. And we didn’t see it on film when he didn’t run the floor, because we thought that was one of his attributes. He’s athletic, he’s skilled, but it’s up to him. We can give him all the help he needs with the coaching staff. It’s up to the kid. If the kid has it and wants it, the skills are there. We are happy he had a good summer as opposed to not having a good summer.

On a possible Andre Miller extension:
We don’t know anything, because Andre likes to take the summers off (away from Philadelphia). When I say off, literally off. He’s texted me a couple of times really happy with the moves we are making, so I know he’s watching and he’s happy with that. He does not have any representation right now, so we’re in limbo in that respect. So once he gets representation we’ll sit down and see where their side is. He had one heck of a year for us last year. He’s no doubt a good ball player and we got to see where it goes. But again, until he has representation I have no clue what’s happening.

On Josh Childress signing overseas:
I was a little surprised with the amount of money. I’m not surprised with the Euro and a lot of country’s (dollars) are against the weak dollar. That plays a huge role in this whole thing. But that is another competitor, not in Josh’s case, but in maybe some of the cases with minimum salaries and maybe some Europeans that would come over before for lower numbers. The NBA is the greatest basketball league in the world. And the best players in the world, wherever they are, want to take a shot at the NBA. I still think you will see players want to come play against the best. I think that will happen going forward. But there’s always going to be players that will take a shot and go where it’s best for them and their future financially.

On talking to Josh Childress:
We talked to his agents. I never talked to Josh personally. We were planning on bringing him in, but then when the Elton thing went down it just didn’t work out. But I had no inclination that he was going to Europe.

On Willie Green:
I think Willie will get an opportunity to play basketball, no doubt about it. We don’t know where the three position is going to be definitely, so if Andre Iguodala swings more to the three than that gives Willie more of an opportunity to play at the two. Right now we are not making any moves. Willie is a part of our team. He had some very good parts last year, and some parts he didn’t like himself, but he got nicked up a little bit and was not injury free last year. That’s a huge thing on any basketball team. To try and stay injury free and already we’ve had a major step back with Jason Smith. That’s one thing you just concern yourself all the time and just hope we stay healthy. But Willie is a part of the team and we are not making any moves with the team right now.