Now hold on! Mutombo to Sixers? Don't do it!
This article was originally published in the Daily News on February 22, 2001.
Admittedly, I flip-flopped on this issue like a politician.
Before I left for the First Union Center last night, I called my editor and said I was going to write that the Sixers should pull the trigger.
Sitting in the media room about an hour and a half before tip-off of the Sixers' game against the Vancouver Grizzlies, I still was leaning in favor of the rumored trade of Theo Ratliff and Toni Kukoc to the Atlanta Hawks for Dikembe Mutombo.
Then, I walked into the
Sixers' locker room.
And I again saw a tight-knit group of hard-working warriors who have overcome obstacle
after obstacle to post the best record in the NBA.
All I could think was, why mess with this?
There's no good reason to make this move - not when your record is 41-14; not when you've clearly established
yourself as the team to beat in the Eastern Conference; not when the trade doesn't dramatically
increase your chances of winning the NBA title, if it increases them at all.
The Sixers aren't broken. There's
nothing to fix. I'm not even sure there's
anything that needs to be tinkered with.
"Any time you're not responsible enough to talk around the league at this particular time, you're doing a disservice to your franchise," said coach Larry Brown, also the team's vice president of basketball operations. "There are things that can happen, and if you think it benefits your club, you go ahead and do it.
"I think it would be unfair if we didn't explore possibilities. "
I'm just not sure the projected benefit of adding Mutombo would equate with the reality of losing Ratliff and Kukoc.
Given the Sixers' current position, a move that would take two core performers out of the mix has to result in a
championship. And getting Mutombo doesn't guarantee the Sixers will win the NBA Finals.
