by Jeremy Bonnette

The anniversary of the Andrew Bynum trade will soon be among us (sound more like an occasion for shots instead of champagne). Every Sixer fan in Philly is either extremely vocal, or deadly silent about their displeasure with the transaction. I mean…you would be too if you traded away an all-star (though slightly overpaid) and a 1st rounder in Maurice Harkless away for another all-star who didn’t even get his Nikes scuffed on the hardwood this season. Yes, the Sixers messed up big time with this one. However, I’ve decided to look on the bright side with this one and say, “Thank You”.

For those of you still reading (or haven’t deduced that I belong in a psychiatric ward), hear me out. Within the last 5 or s years, it seemed as though every major Philadelphia sports team was making some kind of push to win themselves a championship. The Phils tried mercilessly to win another, The Flyers nearly came away with one (I was insanely orange & black during their run), the Eagles…well… tried to get many strong pieces together despite the outcome (maybe I should’ve written about the Eagles). The Sixers seemed satisfyingly content where they were as one of the “good but not great” teams n the NBA. But then something happened that no one expected. They pushed the Boston Celtics to the seventh game of the eastern conference semifinals and lost. So what did they do? Again, something no one expected. Things were shaken up a bit (which they haven’t done since they brought in Dikembe Mutombo from Atlanta). They saw that the Lakers were willing to trade away Andrew Bynum and decided to take a chance on the young all-star center. This seemed like a steal, and n most cases, it should have been. The Sixers lacked a good amount of skill knowing that Elton Brand would be leaving, and decided to make a push to make their teams one the top contenders in the east (though it seems NO ONE can stop the Heat). Though the deal ended up being a horrible one, I applaud management for wanting the desire (for once) to win a championship. The Sixers are one of the most winning-est franchises in basketball and should be presented in a glorious light (not a mediocre one). Yea, we’re upset at how things went down (who wouldn’t be?) but one of the good things that came out of this was the fact that the Sixers want to WIN, and no one (in basketball) is going to win from being an 6-8 seed every year.

Now that the nightmare is finally ending, lets hope that management keeps that same championship desire, while being a bit smarter about who they want to add to the roster next time.

Tags: bynum, philadelphia, Sixers, sports, teams