76ers Look to J-Smoove, Pt.1

As a life long Sixers fan I've gone through my up's and downs. From the World Championship in 1983 (when I only six), to the retirement of Julius "Dr. J" Ervin , and of course the drafting, and letting go of Allen Iverson.

I personally have been calling for Billy King's resignation for years, and last year I finally had my dream come true with the Sixers parting ways with King, and bringing in Ed Stefanski, a former 10th round selection of the Sixers in l976.

“Ed Stefanski has built a great reputation throughout the NBA as a skilled basketball executive and a great evaluator of talent,” said Peter Luukko, President and Chief Operating Officer of Comcast-Spectacor.

With that said, Stefanski has entered this year's free agency period with reckless abandon. Working with roughly $11.5 million to spend on a free agent, the new GM has made it clear that he and the Sixers are strongly interested in obtaining the talents of Atlanta Hawks free agent power forward Josh Smith.

Smith's numbers have increased in each of his four NBA seasons since Atlanta made him a first-round pick out of high school in 2004. He averaged 17.2 points and 8.2 rebounds along with 2.8 blocks last year to helped the Hawks make the playoffs.

This would add an electrifying element to an already young and dynamic team. If they re-sign Andre Iguodala, Louis Williams, and bring in possibly another free agent like Josh Childress (whom they are interested in) or land a shooter like Richard Hamilton (which will not happen), this team would become a Eastern conference contender over the summer. 

The excitement over him even possibly becoming a Sixer has the entire city awake and talking about the opportunity of becoming a dominate force once again in the Eastern Conference.

As a Journalist I must stay bias, but as a fan I couldn't be happier that he could be donning a 76ers uniform. "So Josh if your listening, please sign with Philly and bring some respect back to my team!"

PG-Andre Miller

SG-Louis Williams

SF-Andre Iguodala

PF-Josh Smith

C-Samuel Dalembert

Add a great shooter like Hamilton, and some veteran role players and we're talking Eastern Conference Championship in two years or less.

*http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3471354