Then Snow left after the '04 season, and the carousel started again. Aaron McKie, Kevin Ollie, John Salmons, Lou Williams, Andre Iguodala and Willie Green. Then, when the Iverson era ended early in the 2006 season (not counting last year's 25-game return), the organization had to start from scratch in an effort to find a capable guard tandem.
Iverson was traded for Andre Miller, who was to man the point for two-plus seasons, but a suitable mate for Miller still couldn't be found - not permanently, anyway.
About 7:45 tonight, the Sixers could, and probably will, have their backcourt set for not only this season but for many to come.
Since this time last year, Jrue Holiday was taken by the Sixers with the 17th pick out of UCLA but was deactivated for his first NBA game. He then played in 73 pro games, including 51 as a starter, and did enough on the court to solidify himself as the starting point guard. Oh, yeah, and he turned 20 last week.
Tonight, the Sixers are expected to select Ohio State's Evan Turner with the second overall pick in the draft. At 6-7 with terrific ball-handling and passing skills, as well as a strong scoring game, he could wind up being the ideal partner for Holiday, who is 16 1/2 months younger than Turner.
If there is doubt that Turner will be selected tonight, the Sixers have played a terrific smoke-and-mirrors game. They had Turner in town last Thursday for a workout, then made him available to the media. Later that day, the team traded disgruntled center Sam Dalembert. However, team president and general manager Ed Stefanski and new coach Doug Collins were not made available to the media until the next day to talk about the trade - probably because they didn't want to take the day away from Turner.
