76ers Hope Major Trades Can Help Them Retain Their Lofty Status

The Philadelphia 76ers were competitive last season, winning 54 games and coming within one missed shot of advancing to the Eastern Division finals.

The team’s future, however, was not as attractive as its past.

Forward Bobby Jones retired after the season-ending loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Moses Malone, who suffered a serious eye injury that sidelined him during the playoffs, was a battered 31 years old. And Julius Erving, who missed the short jumper that would have sent the 76ers against the Boston Celtics, has announced this will be his last season.

Rather than standing pat and hoping to coax one more year out of an aging nucleus, Philadelphia management acted.

In a series of blockbuster, draft-day deals, Malone, young forward Terry Catledge and two first-round draft picks were shipped to the Washington Bullets for center Jeff Ruland, 27, and forward Cliff Robinson, 26.

Philadelphia also sent the No. 1 pick in the draft, which became North Carolina’s Brad Daugherty, to the Cleveland Cavaliers for forward Roy Hinson, 25.

And the 76ers were not finished.

Philadelphia sent backup center Clemon Johnson, 30, and a 1989 first-round pick to the Seattle SuperSonics for center Tim McCormick, 24, and forward Danny Vranes, who will be 28 on Oct. 29.

The deals made the 76ers a much younger team, strengthened them up front to allow them to better match up with the rival Celtics and gave Coach Matt Guokas the players who can execute the kind of running offense that he prefers.

To hear Guokas tell it, however, the revamping of the team was not part of a grand scheme.

“Really, when the season ended, we kind of thought we were going to stand pat,” said Guokas, who is in his second year as head coach. “We had no master plan. We were not thinking of any trades. We were going to sit and listen. All of a sudden, we started getting calls with some interest in Moses and that kind of opened up the gates.

“When that deal materialized and came through, now we were well under the salary cap and we never envisioned ourselves being there. And that opened up a lot of things.”

The deals also opened at least one can of worms, as key players like Erving and forward Charles Barkley, were critical of the deals.

As Guokas was sifting through the new ingredients during training camp, Barkley had still not come to terms with the trades and said the team’s success without Malone in the playoffs was deceiving.

“I don’t think we were a better team without Moses,” he said. “We might have been a little more exciting, a little faster but I can’t say we were better. We have a completely new, completely rebuilt team and I don’t know where it’s going to lead.”

Guokas said he is not trying to make things too complicated for his newcomers.

“The things we want to do are basically simple things,” he said. “The good basketball teams in this league over a period of time have been simple teams. You play good defense and when you get the ball, you run as much as possible. That’s really all we want to do.”

Still, the changes Philadelphia made are considered extreme in some quarters and are not without some element of risk.

“Hopefully, it’s the right thing,” Vranes said. “It’s something Seattle did my first year there. We won 53 games and they proceeded to make all kinds of changes and every year I was there, they got gradually worse. So hopefully, the management and people who made the decisions know what the problems were with the team last year and have created a new situation and the players can come in and do a better job and win more games.

“You never know, though. But it’s better than staying stagnant. You’re winning 54 games but if the management and coaches feel they got the most out of their talent then it’s better than just sitting around for three or four years and letting everybody get old and then thinking, ‘Hey, we could have had a chance to make some moves that might have been better.’ At least, they have been aggressive and are trying to make this team the best possible.”