Julius Erving thinks the 76ers got a raw deal when they made a trade for Andrew Bynum last summer. During an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday, he talked about the fact that the Lakers and Celtics rarely pull the trigger on bad trades. So he's pretty confident in saying that Los Angeles knew what they were giving Philly last year when they agreed to send Bynum to the East Coast.
"When you talk to the Lakers, when you talk to the Celtics, when you talk to—well, those two in particular—the guy on the other end of the phone has his fingers crossed," said Dr. J, who is a special consultant for the Sixers. "So whatever he's telling you, he's not telling the truth. He's working a deal for him. And what happened to us last year with getting damaged goods hopefully will only happen once. And that's the extent of that learning curve."
Dr. J explained himself further earlier today during a SportsCenter interview.
"If you're going to deal with the Celtics, who are our natural rivals, or the Lakers, the two teams that have won the most championships in the NBA, they're always going to make deals where they get the better end of the deal," he said. "That's been their history, that's how they presently are and that's how they're going to be in the future. So for the Sixers, to get Andrew Bynum and think he was going to be an All-Star and an all-pro and think he was going to be a valuable part of the franchise, as was the thinking, it turned out to be a bad deal."
It could turn into an even worse deal this summer when the 76ers have to decide whether or not to sign Bynum to long-term contract. Either way, it's clear that the Lakers robbed the Sixers. And Dr. J probably isn't going to get over it anytime soon.
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[via ESPN]
