had
played 20 minutes and come away without a rebound in the Nov. 24 loss to the
Detroit Pistons. It was part of my job to ask how he felt about that
uncomfortable development.
PHILADELPHIA -- In retrospect, I should have known Shawn Bradley's time with the Philadelphia 76ers was up in an eerily subdued locker room in the Palace of Auburn Hills.
The 7-foot-6 Leaning Tower had
played 20 minutes and come away without a rebound in the Nov. 24 loss to the
Detroit Pistons. It was part of my job to ask how he felt about that
uncomfortable development.
No rebounds.
"Is that what the box score says?" he asked.
Yes.
"THE BOX SCORE IS WRONG," he said.
It was?
"I had at least two," he said.
It had been bad enough that Bradley, in his third season, had lost his confidence. Now he had misplaced his perspective. In the next game, against Golden State, he was scoreless. Against Atlanta four days later, he had four points, four rebounds and six turnovers.
He was obviously not solely to blame that the Sixers won none of those games, but it had become painfully obvious that they were virtually non-competitive in the middle. Bradley had become feistier, more animated, but not more effective. The Sixers had been waiting, praying to see the Bradley who had become a force in the final month of last season.
That player wasn't there, and then he was gone, part of a six-player blockbuster deal that sent him, Tim Perry and Greg Graham to New Jersey for Derrick Coleman, Sean Higgins and Rex Walters. Gone too soon? Not soon enough for Sixers owner Harold Katz.
"I TOOK A RISK WHEN we drafted Shawn (No. 2 in 1993), but Derrick's a talent (the No. 1 pick by the Nets in 1990)," Katz said. "I had been looking at a project that wasn't getting there vs. a guy who can flat-out play. And the money's about the same.
"I checked Coleman's reputation, and I'm satisfied. He's not Dennis Rodman. I took Vernon Maxwell when people said he was a risk, and he's been like a choir boy. Plus, I don't think guys coming to a new place have to be the way they were elsewhere. I've seen enough to know that Derrick comes to play."
The deal had its genesis in a Nov. 18 conversation between Katz and new Nets president Michael Rowe. It is believed that Sixers coach-general manager John Lucas originally was interested in Nets guard Kenny Anderson, who can become a free agent July 1. But Anderson rejected a six-year, $40 million offer to remain with the Nets and had little interest in signing long term with Philadelphia.
Well then, what about Coleman? What about Bradley? The Nets were convinced Coleman wanted no part of remaining with them. He hadn't played all season after being diagnosed with a case of atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, but was about ready to return.
"I wanted to give everyone an equal chance in our family atmosphere, but the way we were going we needed to change," Lucas said. "I wanted to see desire and commitment from Shawn, but I didn't see it every night. I was frustrated that the consistency wasn't there. I knew he had it, but I wasn't getting it. And I didn't like what teammates were beginning to say about the situation."
THE MOST VOCAL SIXER had been rookie Jerry Stackhouse, who said he had grown weary of hearing trade rumors and stories that the team was about to make a trade.
"Do it," Stackhouse said.
If that was a plea for help, it also spoke volumes about what had become a rocky relationship between Bradley and Sixers' management. In his two-plus seasons, he had gained strength but not much weight. He had improved markedly, then suddenly regressed.
Still, when the trade was announced, Bradley insisted he was neither angry nor bitter.
"That's not me, that's not who I am," Bradley said. "It's a good opportunity, a new start. I'm going to a place that's excited to have me. I had thought about the possibility, but now that it has happened, I see a lot goes with it. Hopefully, Philly got what it wanted, New Jersey's getting what it wanted."
Looking back, Bradley knew it was time to move on.
"I STARTED OUT PRETTY decently (this season), but we had a couple of injuries and started falling apart," he said. "When we went downhill, it became an avalanche. I don't think any of us played the way we thought we would."
But with an eight-year contract worth $44.28 million, he also absorbed the brunt of the negative response from the Sixers, from the media, from the fans.
"That's the way it has been since the day I first put on a Sixers' jersey," Bradley said. "I tried to keep my head up, to try and improve, but it was getting more difficult.
"We all said it would take two-and-a-half to three years for me to become the player I thought I'd be, and this is just the start of the third year. It's been a good growing experience, but people have been telling me they didn't know if I'd ever become that player in Philly. I think I now understand what they meant."
That places Bradley in a category of players who need to be traded before they blossom. And Lucas believes this deal would never have materialized if the Sixers had begun the season at, say, 6-5 or 5-6. At that point, they might have been content to wait, to still believe they were on the right track.
So was it a mistake for the Sixers to have drafted Bradley in the first place? Remember, they could have taken Anfernee Hardaway or even Jamal Mashburn.
"AT THE TIME, WE were getting a 7-6 player who obviously has talent, and you hope it develops," Katz said. "You win some, lose some ... He did not get better. This season, outside of one game (23 points and 22 rebounds against Charlotte), he got worse."
For too long, Lucas had said Bradley was not at the core of the Sixers problems, believing he simply had to place the right pieces around his center.
You win some, you lose some. And sometimes you just make a trade.
The Sixers offered to guarantee the remainder of a minimum salary contract to sign free agent forward Anthony Bonner, but Bonner joined Buckler Bologna in Italy. In a continuing search for frontcourt help, the Sixers talked to former Utah Jazz big man Michael Brown, then signed former Atlanta Hawk, Los Angeles Laker and Sacramento King Trevor Wilson. That gave the Sixers their 18th different player since the start of the season, within two of the franchise record set last season ...
When the NBA disqualified Dallas forward-center Roy Tarpley Dec. 6 after Tarpley tested positive three times for alcohol consumption, Mavericks coach Dick Motta said: "I gave him my best shot. It's a sad case, but he's a product of his own behavior. It's bad, but Roy Tarpley screwed up big time." ... This is Charlotte center Matt Geiger's take on the Cleveland Cavaliers, who insist they're trying to run: "There's not very much style. They're not entertaining."
In addition to writing this exclusive column for SportsLine USA, Phil Jasner covers the NBA for the Philadelphia Daily News.
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