In the first half of the season, the Sixers have developed an identity led by head coach Doug Collins.
Because of him, this team plays defense and has competed against every team this year. Right now, the players are loving his system and finished the first half of the season on a positive note.
Then the All-Star break came around and went by pretty fast. In a flash, blockbuster deals were taking place.
Many Sixers fans wanted the Sixers to make a deal. Anything was better than another silent trade deadline. Whether it was a minor deal for a young, reliable center, swapping players for draft picks, getting expiring contracts or perhaps trading the team's best player, Andre Iguodala.
The thought about this really intrigues me. Entering the season, I thought all along they should have traded him.
That's where the value was, right?
I didn't think that he was bad; I thought that he couldn't be the best player on a team to win a championship. I thought that he would stunt the growth of Evan Turner and this season would be yet another season of mediocrity.
But then the season started.
At first they started out sluggish, but they began to play great, especially Iguodala.
He was finally doing what I've always believed he should do—be a facilitator.
In the midst of the first half of the year, Iguodala realized that he can't just focus one being the best and scoring. Instead, he started not only to score, but to dish out assists, grab rebounds and play shutdown defense as well.
Every time he has done this, the players around him play better. This also leads to positive team chemistry.
I think his experience with Team USA over the summer helped the cause of this as he took on the role of being a complimentary player.
Iguodala has played a different, but better role this season than any other. He can flourish as one of the best wing men in the league.
So maybe they did the right thing by not trading Iguodala, but they should have traded for someone who could play alongside Iggy (Danny Granger?).
He proved with team USA that he can be the perfect complement, and who wouldn't want to come to one of the hottest teams in the league (yes, in case you didn't know, the Sixers are in fact one of the hottest teams in the NBA)?
The Sixers are on a hot streak right now and with another stud player next to Iguodala with the rest of the great supporting cast, the Sixers could have made even bigger noise and be an even bigger threat come playoff time.
The scariest team right now is definitely the Sixers. They have proved that they can take down any team in the league on any given night.
But despite all of the improvements and positive this season, should they have chased down a player to play next to Iguodala?
I think so, and I believe that it would have been very beneficial.
Even though we look back on this and say "oh, we should have done this" we can't look down on this season because the Sixers have made such a rebound that no matter what happens this season, it will automatically be considered as a success.
-Michael Fogliano
