moly99 said:
I'm not "ripping" them. I personally have no problem with what they have done.
I'm saying the Sixers had a fire sale over the past couple of years whereas a lot of the other rebuilding teams have not, and that's why a lot of rival executives are angry about what the Sixers have done. Orlando isn't trying to win either, and yet because they are not making moves to obviously throw in the towel (except for playing Oladipo at point guard) they haven't gotten any heat for it.
The same thing is almost certainly true of Rondo and the Celtics.
As for Granger, teams normally talk to a guy and/or his agent to see if he will be OK with a trade before pulling the trigger. (David Kahn being a notable exception, of course.)
Rondo's contract wasn't up at the end of last season, but Turner's and Hawes' were, which is why the Sixers either had to trade them mid-season or let them go for nothing at the end of the season. FWIW, the talk was they were seeking first round picks for both, but again, the rest of the league knew they weren't worth that.
The Howard-Bynum deal is the reason why Orlando hasn't been selling off players. They had their sell-off when they shipped Howard out, and a couple of those young, interesting players on their team now used to be Sixers (Vucevic, Harkless); guys who were shipped out in the disastrous Bynum deal. The Lakers didn't fare too well in that exchange either but at least Howard suited up for them. The Sixers sent out Iguodala, Vucevic, Harkless, and a number 1 (which came back in the Payton-Saric deal this draft) for a half-season of Jason Richardson.
That's the hole Hinkie's been trying to dig the franchise out of.