Results tagged “jasonsmith”

The 76ers drafted Marreese Speights, a 6'10", 250-pound center from Florida, with their only pick in the draft last Thursday. Speights is only 20 years old, and is a bit of a mystery entering the draft as a sophomore who had little college experience, having playing time blocked by NBA lotto-picks Al Horford and Joakim Noah.

The Sixers have spent the past decade being too small and individualistic on the court, dumb-witted and stubborn in the front office, and unwilling to change with the times in both areas. All of that changed last season. They got rid of their star players. For quarters at a time, they ran the court and shared the basketball. Andre Miller looked like a poor man’s Steve Nash, and Kyle Korver made enough plays away from...

Soon after the Flyers signed Briere, they were able to pull the trigger on another deal sitting on the table. Defenseman Joni Pitkanen and winger Geoff Sanderson were traded to the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman Jason Smith and center Joffrey Lupul. Pitkanen regressed last year, and didn't seem as if he would be able to find the focus needed to be a premiere player in Philadelphia. In return, the Flyers received Smith, a hard-hitting veteran blue-liner.