In Any Trade Involving Willie Green, The Team Trading Willie Green Wins

This doesn't really merit much of a mention, but the Sixers moved Willie Green today. And no one outside of Philadelphia will notice, but Lord in heaven, Sixer Fan will. And for one of the few times in Willie's life here, cheer.

You see, Green is the perfect embodiment of why this franchise has been almost always irrelevant since Allen Iverson was one of the five best players in the world. (In other words, the very early part of the 21st century.) Drafted by Seattle in the second round of the 2003 draft class, he came to the Sixers in what has to be considered a remarkably minor coup, in that Green had an NBA career, and the cash and body that the Sixers traded for him did not. And for the next seven -- yes, seven -- seasons, he played for no good reason at all.

Looking for explosive offense off the bench? Look elsewhere; Willie is a career 9.4 points per game guy, in 21.8 minutes of floor time. Need an efficient scorer to take advantage of secondary opportunities or clean up the garbage? Willie shoots 42% from the floor. How about someone who can stretch the defense from downtown? Willie will belch them up for you at just under 32% for his career.

But wait, there's less. The rebounds per game are comical (1.9). The assists per game aren't much better (1.7). He doesn't pick up steals (.8). He doesn't shoot particularly well from the line (75.2%), so you can't send him out there to ice a game when you have the lead. (I know, I know -- any franchise that is giving Willie 20+ minutes a game is not holding many leads. And lo, they have not. But humor me.) He's obviously not very much of a defensive player outside of the counting numbers, since the team has never won a ton of games with him playing a prominent role, or a playoff series. All in all, the franchise is 60 games below .500 during the seven years that he was in the laundry.

It goes farther than that, really. Green is listed at 6'-3" and 191 pounds. He was never notable for being fast, or tough, or heady, or anything beyond, at the very best, ordinary. And for year after maddening year, for teams that were for the most part going absolutely nowhere, Green would get minutes. Last year, Jrue Holliday was the only reason to watch this team, and for the first half of the year, he sat and watched Green. The club traded for Jodie Meeks from the Bucks, then sat him so they could play Green. They brought in Allen Iverson for his final sad act... and still gave Green minutes.

One of the few joys of bad teams is that they normally turn the personnel over. Losing with fresh names on the laundry is one of those inalienable benefits; the old bodies just do not sell tickets or excite anyone. And today, years and years and years after no one beyond Green wanted to see him... he's gone, along with marginal big man Jason Smith for Darius Songaila and rookie forward Craig Brackins.

I have no idea if neither player is of any use. But at least it'll be with a different name on the laundry.