Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Sources: Iguodala agrees to six-year, $80 million deal with Sixers
By Henry Abbott
ESPN.com
http://tinyurl.com/585e6x
The Philadelphia 76ers and restricted free agent Andre Iguodala have agreed to
a six-year, $80 million contract, league sources tell ESPN.com.
The athletic and exciting 6-6 forward/guard has improved his scoring average in
each of his first four seasons, and promises to be a mainstay on a Sixers team
that recently signed former Clippers big man Elton Brand to an estimated $82
million free-agent contract.
Point guard Andre Miller, center Samuel Dalembert, and promising bench players
like Thaddeus Young and Louis Williams make the Sixers an emergent force in the
East. The young team managed to extend the Detroit Pistons to six games in the
opening round of this year's playoffs -- and that was even before it added one
of the NBA's best post scorers in Brand. Now the Sixers will be a popular pick
to join the league's elite for many years to come.
If the Sixers had not been able to sign Iguodala, the 24-year-old could have
played this season for them after signing a qualifying offer, which would have
made him an unrestricted free agent next summer. In that scenario, the Sixers
could have lost their most exciting young star without any compensation.
Iguodala and the team had an opportunity to work out a contract extension last
summer but could not come to an agreement. Talks this offseason moved slowly
until the last 24 hours, when, sources say, the team significantly increased
its offer.
Although the basic terms of the deal have been agreed to, the new contract has
yet to be finalized and signed.
76ers president and general manager Ed Stefanski took over a franchise on the
wane last December, replacing the fired Billy King. The franchise had been the
talk of the NBA as recently as 2001, when Allen Iverson and Larry Brown took
the organization on a thrill ride to the NBA Finals, where the Sixers briefly
held a lead in the series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
However, upon Stefanski's arrival, Iverson had long since been traded to
Denver, and the remaining pieces in Philadelphia were unproven. Stefanski
encouraged coach Maurice Cheeks to play some of the young bench players King
had drafted, in part to help Stefanski assess their value as he made long-term
plans. To many people's surprise, the young players played impressively and the
team began to win, managing to atone for a 5-12 start with a 40-42 record and
the seventh seed in the East.
Against the Pistons in the first round, the team recaptured some of the
optimism that had been missing for the past several years. Iguodala did not
distinguish himself in the series, shooting just 33 percent from the field
while averaging more than four turnovers per game behind the defensive pressure
of Detroit's Tayshaun Prince. Nevertheless, his negotiating power with the team
had increased thanks to the team's strong finish in the regular season, and
then the signing of Brand.
The long-term commitment to Brand put pressure on the organization to win
sooner rather than later -- or risk wasting a massive investment -- and coming
to terms with Iguodala became almost an essential part of the Sixers' message
to sponsors, season-ticket holders and fans that the team was rejuvenated.
Iguodala had started the summer as one of many promising NBA free agents, but
had seen nearly all of the big names, including Josh Smith, Emeka Okafor, Luol
Deng, Andris Biedrins, Baron Davis, Brand and Josh Childress, agree to
lucrative deals.
Sources with knowledge of the negotiations say that over the past 24 hours, the
Sixers became convinced that their previous highest offer, believed to be
slightly less than $70 million, would result in Iguodala signing a qualifying
offer and playing one season in Philadelphia before testing the open market
next summer.
In short order, the team emerged with a much higher offer, to which Iguodala
quickly agreed.
Many of the details of the contract are still to be worked out, sources say,
including incentive clauses that could increase the value of the deal beyond a
base compensation of $80 million.
Henry Abbott writes the TrueHoop blog for ESPN.com.
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※ willyt:轉錄至看板 NBA 08/13 13:46
※ 編輯: willyt 來自: 125.229.88.209 (08/13 13:47)