Philly's reaction to the trade

[Diesel]

BILLY RESCUES KING-SIZE DEAL

By PHIL JASNER

jasnerp@phillynews.com

BILLY KING wanted this one. Dead or alive. Four teams, five teams, six teams. Whatever it took.

The 76ers' president/general manager wanted a consistent second scorer - where have we heard that before? - and he wanted some additional size and bulk. In truth, he wanted what he felt he hadn't gotten enough of from Keith Van Horn.

When some voices thought the whole thing was dead and gone, King flatly refused to acknowledge that possibility.

And even as the Sixers acquired forward Glenn Robinson from Atlanta and forward/center Marc Jackson from Minnesota, you got the distinct impression that there could be more coming. Maybe not immediately, but eventually.

"You never know, that's all I'll say, you never know," King said on the telephone from Salt Lake City, where he has been, among other things, monitoring the Rocky Mountain Revue, one of the NBA's sanctioned summer-league venues. "Put it this way, me, Courtney [scout Courtney Witte] and Tony [director of player personnel Tony DiLeo] are still in the room."

To this point, here is what has gone down:

• Robinson, a two-time All-Star with career averages of 21.1 points and 6.2 rebounds, and Jackson, a former star at Temple, have joined the Sixers.

• Van Horn, a 1-year Sixer, has landed with New York, the team that has coveted him the most for the last couple of seasons.

• The Sixers have sent a conditional future first-round draft choice (protected through the top 15, to be delivered in 2007-08 at the earliest), the rights to forward Randy Holcomb (a second-round pick in 2002) and an undisclosed amount of cash to Atlanta.

• The Sixers reacquired their 2006 second-round pick from Atlanta that was part of the deal in which the Sixers obtained Efthimios Rentzias.

• Latrell Sprewell moved from the Knicks to the Minnesota Timberwolves, joining a revamped squad that already included newcomers Michael Olowokandi, Sam Cassell and Ervin Johnson.

• Injured guard Terrell Brandon and his salaries of $11.1 million and $12.025 million over the next two seasons, went to the Hawks, who will use him as cap relief. Brandon is expected to retire because of a bad knee.

All the players involved have until July 31 to report to their new teams, and must complete their physical examinations by Aug. 4.

Earlier in the day, there had been rumblings that the Sixers also would acquire forward/center Keon Clark from Sacramento. That might well have been part of the scenario a day earlier, but it would have meant a more complicated deal, with the Timberwolves taking on two more contracts they didn't really want or need.

Notice, if you will, that Rentzias and Greg Buckner remain with the Sixers. But consider the possibility that the Sixers would still very much like to acquire the spindly legged Clark, who would add a measure of shot-blocking and help shore up a frontcourt that is also expected to include the re-signing of veteran Derrick Coleman.

"There's a lot of dialogue going on with a lot of teams," was all King would say.

There had also been speculation earlier in the day that Dallas might somehow become involved, but Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who described the day as "a nightmare...too many teams," said in an e-mail response that that was not the case.

King said the four-team trade that finally became a reality "took all day and most of yesterday, was bigger, became smaller, became big again."

The Wolves had their press corps gather at 4:30 p.m. at the Target Center and ordered pizza for everyone several hours later. Chief executive Kevin McHale eventually told the reporters that it was unlikely anything was happening that night, referring to "some snafus, and not just crossing t's and dotting i's." The Hawks sent their reporters home about 7 o'clock. A Knicks official described their situation as "being in a holding pattern."

The Sixers, on the other hand, said nothing official all day. At about 9:30 p.m., they announced a 10:30 news conference with coach Randy Ayers in person and King on the phone.

No one was happier than the 6-10 Jackson, who prepped at Roman Catholic High. King said he had made an offer for Jackson just after the conclusion of the playoffs.

"It's any child's dream when you grow up as a Sixers lover," said Jackson, who hurried to make an appearance with Ayers in the First Union Center. "I'm really ecstatic the trade went through...Rumors are rumors. 'Til something goes through, that's when I raise my head."

King, to his credit, never put his head down.

"When we talked [as a staff] at the end of the season, we wanted to get bigger and try to get a scorer we felt was a consistent scorer," King said. "You heard Allen [sixers star Allen Iverson] say he wanted somebody that was a proven scorer...when you get a chance to get a big player and a consistent scorer to replace Keith, it was a deal we couldn't pass up."

The Sixers have had a different No. 2 scorer to Iverson in each of the last seven seasons. Van Horn, at 15.9, filled that role last season. In those seven seasons, only Derrick Coleman (in 1997-98 and 2001-02), has done it twice.

This time, they have taken on Robinson, who must sit out the first three games of the season in a league-mandated suspension after a conviction on domestic assault and battery charges. King insisted the Sixers had done their due diligence, pointing out that Sixers assistant Chris Ford had coached Robinson in Milwaukee, that he had discussed the issue with former star Alex English, who was part of the Hawks' staff last season, and with others. As the Ohio State coach, Ayers had coached against Robinson when he starred for Purdue.

"He understands what he needs to do on and off the court," King said. "The way we look at it, he has 79 games and the playoffs."

This was Billy King's reality:

"It was back and forth," he said. "We were on the one call, had to get off and do some more talking. We thought it was dead. Some people said it was dead. But I wasn't going to let it die. We kept working and we were able to revive it, and we were able to get it accomplished."

[Diesel]

1. We had backed out of the deal.

I can believe this because of what Knight had said about Bradon. Brandon has to retire.

2. Grob received Praise from Chris Ford and Alex English.

3. Jackson won't be the starting C.

I expect them to either trade for Clark? Or to resign Derrick Coleman.