Future of Philly

The Philadelphia Seventy Sixers are in an unusual situation. They have an extremely talented roster yet have failed in the playoffs consistently. Their lack of shooting hasn’t helped this and their problems are only made worse by Ben Simmons stagnating and Joel Embiid’s injury history. The most logical step here is blow up a roster that doesn’t fit in the NBA, trading Simmons and Horford to add shooting and playmaking. It’s a new era in Philly, Bret Brown is gone and The Process is over. Not to mention they added Daryl Morey in their front office and knowing him he’ll want to change this roster a lot. 

      The first move they should make is moving Ben Simmons. In this situation they should move him for CJ McCollum. The Blazers may need to send a pick or two but they would have little problem doing so as they want to win now. While Simmons is great, he doesn’t work with Embiid and adding CJ would do a lot for Philly. McCollum is a dynamic shot creator who adds some playmaking and much needed shooting. He was a great second option to Dame and he could be even better for Embiid. He’s never had problems showing up in the playoffs and at times carried his team in clutch time. He also knows how to play off ball and doesn’t need to be involved in every play to be a great player.

The second move by the Sixers would involve dealing Al Horford to either the Pelicans or the Kings. In the Pelicans trade they send Horford and a first round pick to New Orleans in exchange for Jrue Holiday. Bringing Holiday back to the Sixers to pair with CJ and Embiid would be a home run. Holiday is a great playmaker and is considered to be one of the best defenders in the league by many fellow players. Additionally his playmaking would be great on this team as he would step into the void left by Simmons. Bringing Holiday back to Philly is exactly what they need. He’s one of those players who would fit on just about every team in the league and putting him in Philly allows him to showcase his playmaking. Also from the Pelicans point of view, Horford is an upgrade over Derrick Favors and adds veteran presence to a very young team that has high playoff aspirations. Not to mention paring him with someone like Zion is a perfect pairing.

The second potential Horford trade involves sending the big man to Sactown in exchange for Buddy Hield. This is a move that works great for both parties. While the Horford signing made some sense at the time, his terrible contract combined with his inability to play the four made floor spacing a nightmare. The Kings were reportedly interested in him this past offseason before they lost out. He adds vetern presence and will pair nicely with Fox as they will look to make the playoffs and end the longest postseason drought in the NBA. The Sixers add one of the best shooters in the league who wants out of his current situation. Adding Heild brings that desperately needed shooting that was obviously missing after they let JJ Reddick walk. This trade isn’t bad but without Simmons to run point the Sixers would have a problem. That’s why this trade would only be good if they decide to keep Simmons, otherwise they should look towards getting Holiday.

If they wanted to, they could move Josh Richardson as he’d be forced to play the three, which isn’t that big of an issue since he’s done it before, but I’d worry about him against bigger, dominant small forwards. In this situation, let's assume they trade him for a mid to late round pick just to move the contract. The Sixers now have a few options to fill this void. One option would be Jae Crowder who just came off a great playoff run with Miami. He is a perfect three and d wing who adds a nice vetern presence as well. Another option, assuming he declines his player option, is Jerami Grant. Personally, I view him as one of the best role players in the league. He knows his role, doesn’t take bad shots, shoots well from deep and in the bubble even showed some ability to create for himself with Nuggets. There is also the option of getting a defense specialist here as Andre Roberson is a free agent, although after having not played for over two years Philly may not want to chance it with him. They could also just keep Richardson or even bump Matisse Thybulle into the starting line up. He was perhaps the most underrated rookie last year as his impact in all on the defensive end. However, they would only start him if they feel like he has improved his shooting in the offseason. I’m also not advocating for them to move Richardson, personally I think he’s a great role player, but they have a lot of options in the free agent market if they decide to do that. They should stay away from players like Bogdanovic and Van Vleet who will demand a lot of money and both are mediocre defenders who will only add to their problems. 

To fill out the roster there are a couple things they can do. First thing is resign Alec Burks, he’s a great role player off the bench and has proven to be efficient from deep. They can get him cheap, probably around two years six million. In his short time in Philly he shot 46% from the field, 41% from deep and got 12 points a game almost exclusively off the bench. Next I’d look into signing Jevon Carter on a minimum or near minimum to play backup to Holiday. He is a great defender off the bench and knows how to run an offense from his time in West Virginia. He’s never put up amazing numbers in the league but he’s also never been given a real role. Another name worth mentioning would be Jordan Clarkson who was amazing in a sixth man role for Utah, especially in the playoffs. He would be a bit more pricey than someone like Burks at around eight to ten million a year, but he’s also better. Lastly adding an offensively minded big like Meyers Leonard to bring off the bench would be nice. Again wouldn’t be super expensive and could stretch the floor well for the Sixers.

If they keep Richardson, move Simmons for CJ and do the Holiday trade (of the two Horford trade I personally think would be better) their starting lineup could look like this:

PG-Holiday SG-McCollum SF-Richardson PF-Harris C-Embiid 

This line up fits the modern NBA and provides a bit of everything. Elite inside and perimeter defense with Embiid and Holiday as well as shot creation with McCollum. This also moves Harris back to the four where he thrived in the 2018-19 season with the Clips and Sixers. Not to mention Doc Rivers was just signed by Philly and he was Harris’ coach in LA. And while obviously signing a coach to get the most from Tobias Harris isn’t a priority looking at the rest of the roster, since the Sixers signed him to a max it doesn’t hurt to have a proven coach who got the most out of him. Philly tried something similar to this in the 18-19 season when they traded for Butler and Harris midseason. The difference here is the players they’re getting are better. Holiday compared to Simmons at PG is about equal but Holiday fits the team way better than Simmons did. CJ is certainly an upgrade over Reddick even though he did have a great year, CJ is simply a better shot creator and doesn’t need to rely on others to get him looks. Butler is hard to replace, Richardson won’t be as good as he was but he’ll play his role well and won’t need to do more for the team to do well. Embiid and Harris remain unchanged but they have more experience under their belt and hopefully Embiid will have corrected his fitness issues that have hampered him from becoming the best big in the league. This line up, paired with a decent bench and an upgrade at the head coach position, could certainly challenge the Bucks and Nets in the East.