Billy King's bold moves ... in Philly and Brooklyn

Mike Sielski has been around Philly basketball for a while and with the Nets coming to the City of Brotherly Love Friday, he looks at Billy King's "bold moves" as GM in both Philadelphia and Brooklyn. it's a mixed record.

Sielski looks mainly at two deals King made, the 76ers trade for Chris Webber in February 2005, and the Nets trade for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett (as well as Jason Terry) in June 2013. There are parallels: here's one: King took a chance on an older star(s) while dumping bad contracts he had given less than stellar players --Kenny Thomas was owed $39 million in 2005, Gerald Wallace was owed $30 million in 2013. Here's another, once traded, the stars King acquired didn't produce as expected, at least so far, in Brooklyn.

As Seilski notes, the big parallel is that King was praised, almost universally, for the boldness of his vision.  But he warns that appreciation of that boldness can fade. Webber, he notes, had to be bought out after the 76ers won a single playoff game in the two years Webber played in Philly.

He cites other bold moves King was credited with in Philly and Brooklyn: the big risk he took in 2000-01 when he traded for Dikembe Mutombo even as the Sixers were shredding the East and acquiring Deron Williams. The Mutombo move got the Sixers into the Finals. D-Will is still a work in progress.  Sielski doesn't mention how King dealt Mutombo to the Nets in 2002. The Nets watched him play 24 games before they bought him out for $30 million, still the largest buyout in NBA history. Nor does he mention that he didn't give up draft picks in any of his big Philly moves. Not so in Brooklyn.

• Billy King still likes to make bold moves - Mike Sielski - Phialdelphia Inquirer