Rod Thorn and the state of the Sixers

Andre Iguodala, now in his seventh NBA season, is an example of a player who will never be close to perfection and will always make too much money for what he does -- unless you think like Thorn.

“He can rebound, he can pass, Andre can defend,” Thorn said glowingly. “He can do what very few people in the league, wing players can do and that is he can guard the top wing players and you don’t have to help him. I compare it to Darrelle Revis who plays corner back for the Jets. You put him on the top wide receiver and you forget him.

“He doesn’t shoot the ball great from outside that is the weakness of Andre right now, but he shoots the ball well in rhythm,” Thorn continued. “In Andre’s case, as I see it, and I’ve been here for a short time, I think he is sometimes looked at by fans and the pundits that he should be doing more and its brought up a lot how much money he makes – well how much money he makes is irrelevant to anything.

“I think he is a really good player, I think he has been under appreciated, personally, because I think he is a terrific player and I think he is not the problem.”

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Thorn doesn’t hesitate to say he has nothing eminent when it comes to making a deal and he is equally honest in evaluating the play of his No. 2 overall pick, Evan Turner.

“He is a good all-around basketball player, much better defender then normal rookies to start out with. A tremendously hard worker,” Thorn said. “He needs to become a more consistent shooter. He’s gotten better as he has gotten more minutes. But at the end of the day he has to be a more consistent shooter -- and no one will work harder then he is at it -- but that is what he needs to do. There is a lot of pressure on a young man that is drafted number two in the draft to start out with and then when he didn’t get off to a great start – it’s not easy.

“He hasn’t had the ball in his hands as much with us but when you have Iguodala and Jrue and Lou, it is hard for him to get the ball,” Thorn continued. “Right now he doesn’t deserve to have the ball as much as the other guys. Now, if you go forward maybe that will change, that’s what you have to see. It is hard to make that judgment at this time. It is taking a leap of faith, OK, we are going to give him the ball – how would that effect the team? Would it effect positively or negatively?”