Are you disappointed the 76ers backed away from trading Jerry Stackhouse and Clarence Weatherspoon to Toronto for Popeye Jones, Tracy McGrady and maybe even Shawn Respert?
I'm not.If anything, I applaud the Sixers for not pulling the trigger, because I'm not sure exactly how it would advance their cause.
I see Weatherspoon as a better player than Jones, even though the 6-8 Jones is a couple of inches taller and a more than competent rebounder. And Spoon, in Derrick Coleman's absence with heart problems, remains the Sixers' best (only?) low-post threat.
Sixers coach Larry Brown is said to be more than mildly high on the 6-8 McGrady, the 18-year-old wunderkind from Mount Zion (N.C.) Christian Academy, but he would seem to be somewhat of a Tim Thomas duplication. On top of that, he went on the injured list the other day with a foot problem.
I also still believe a star lurks somewhere inside Stackhouse, one that could just as easily emerge with long-term tutoring from Brown. If Stackhouse is looking for a huge payday in free agency next summer, a progressive season with Professor Brown might not be the worst thing for him.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS: Tom Chambers, 38, has a 17-year-old daughter, so perspective won't be a problem Friday night when the Sixers face the Los Angeles Lakers and 19-year-old former Lower Merion High star Kobe Bryant. Chambers and Kobe's father, Joe, were teammates with the 1981-82 San Diego Clippers.
"I don't think Kobe has any idea who I am," Chambers said, laughing. "There are a lot of young guys in the league who don't care about a guy who has scored more than 20,000 points and played 16 years. The '90s guys are taking over, doing their thing, and because of that the league has blossomed and grown.
"I just know that mentally I feel better than ever, and I believe I'm still here for a reason. The hardest part has been that teams remember when I used to score 20 points a game and ask whether I can be a role player. The way I look at it, I've gone from being a star to role player, and would have gone from that to being a coach had I stayed in Phoenix. But I have no problem with any of that."
Chambers arrived in the trade that sent Marko Milic to the Suns. He is trying his luck with the Sixers rather than becoming a special assistant to Suns coach Danny Ainge. If this doesn't work, Chambers is more than prepared to join Ainge's staff.
Ainge giggled that acquiring a 20-year-old rookie for an assistant coach was a good deal, suggesting he might consider placing Suns assistants Frank Johnson and Scott Skiles on the block, too.
"Danny," Chambers said, sighing, "has a way of saying just the right thing."
TELLING THE TRUTH: "Players win championships, that's the way it is," Minnesota vice president Kevin McHale said.
"You can say whatever you want, but you cannot ride a nag and win the Kentucky Derby. You can't take a plowhorse and say, `I'm going to feed this the best feed, I'm going to have this horse travel in style.' He's never going to win. You do all the other stuff, so that your stallions can go out there and win."
QUOTABLE: New Jersey forward-center Jayson Williams, after a come-from-behind victory over Boston: "We were like the whales with the sea lions. We were, like, tossing them, tossing them and then we decided to eat them. I don't know where I came up with that. Guess I've been watching the Discovery Channel."