Official Philadelphia 76ers (Sixers) 2022 offseason thread

[Moheezy]

Gents, there's a lot to talk about regarding the Sixers offseason so I thought we should start a thread. We are obviously in a tough spot considering that we are clearly a tier below Miami, Boston, and Milwaukee while giving up virtually all of our cap flexibility and immediate trade assets.

The general idea that trading Tobias will solve many of our problems is dumb. After watching Wiggin thrive as the 4th or 5th best player on the roster with a max contract made me realize that as an organization, we can still be a championship contender with him on the team. What Morey has been doing since he got hear was to clean up the colossal mess Elton Bran and Colangelo left behind.

Just two years ago, we were every GMs dream job with a treasure chest of assets, rookie contracts, and major cap flexibility.

Those three moves alone heavily affected our flexibility. All the other moves that have been lues. I don't even want to start with what Brand did but overall, he used up all our flexibility and draft assets for Tobias Harris, Al Horford, and Jimmy Butler. Not to mention that it was Brand and Ownership that hired Doc.

All the moves Morey made the last two years was to clean up the mess and some actually to build up the team.

• Got rid of Al Horford's awful contract and fit
• Got rid of Josh Richardson and turned garbage into gold by landing Seth Curry
• Dealt with the whole Ben Simmons situation

Those three moves alone heavily affected our flexibility. All the other moves he that's more about building the team was in the margins, and for the most part, they've been great.

• Landing Drummond
• Drafting Maxey
• Drafting Paul reed

Obviously, there were moves that didn't work out like the Deandre Jordan move (which Doc could have easily kept him as a bench warmer), but I was more disappointed at the players he missed out on in the waiver such as Goran Dragic who I thought would have been an excellent fit as a backup.

All the moves Morey made the last two years were to clean up the mess and some actually to build up the team.

The other issue I take up with Morey is that he doesn't have a history of valuing picks as you can see how we overpaid for Harden (it seems that the negotiations were around Drummon rather than the picks).

If we need to build the team up, it would have to be a combination of marginal signings and drafting well.

All in all, I believe that Morey can turn this team into a contender and unlike Brand, he's not a yes man and can positively tell ownership to step a side and let him do his job.

I hope we stop focusing on the big names moving forward and focus on getting the right talent (including coaching) to build this team up into a contender.

Wishful thinking is all we got right now. We can only be marginally better by signing MLE and min players. That's just to cover up some of the roster gaps. The major improvement should be internal:

• Maxey to become a consistent 20+ player and become the clear #2 scoring option and an all-star caliber player
• Harden recovers and becomes year 1 Nets Harden (which isn't too much to ask tbh)
• Paul Reed improves (Please Doc, invest in him)
• Harris gets comfortable as 4th Banana (see Andrew Wiggins)
• Thybulle to become a better cutter and maybe improve his shot creation (he should exclusively play the 4 positions if he can't shoot).

We don't have a draft pick this year so not much we can do there. The signings will be interesting as Morey finds unknown gems.

I really don't believe trading Tobias would do us any good. Regardless of his contract, I think we are a better team with him (unless we somehow get a clear win of a trade).

 

[Moheezy]

I am bumping this for amitt5504 storm2006 moe200069 X xxpizzo in case ya'all missed this.

 

[amitt5504]

A big problem we have is running the entire offense through Embiid. While he’s good enough for it, everything goes to **** when teams load up on him

If Tobias stays, he just gotta launch 3s and attack closeouts aggressively. Don’t really care if he misses bunnies if he’s actually going to the rim and trying to draw contact

Maxey has to improve has a dribbler and passer in the HC. A lot of his turnovers happen when he does have the straight line drive, dribbles back to the top, stops and then makes the lazy pass to the wing. He can score but needs some creativity before he gets to the rim

I’m personally out on Thybulle unless he actually gets to a shot doctor (pun intended)

Kork, Shake, Niang imo should all be gone. Reed, Bassey, Joe and Springer should be the focus

 

[amitt5504]

br0keballer Olympus mrswagtastic

 

[Moheezy]

A big problem we have is running the entire offense through Embiid. While he’s good enough for it, everything goes to **** when teams load up on him

If Tobias stays, he just gotta launch 3s and attack closeouts aggressively. Don’t really care if he misses bunnies if he’s actually going to the rim and trying to draw contact

Maxey has to improve has a dribbler and passer in the HC. A lot of his turnovers happen when he does have the straight line drive, dribbles back to the top, stops and then makes the lazy pass to the wing. He can score but needs some creativity before he gets to the rim

I’m personally out on Thybulle unless he actually gets to a shot doctor (pun intended)

Kork, Shake, Niang imo should all be gone. Reed, Bassey, Joe and Springer should be the focus

I've barely seen Springer, does he have any potential at all?

For Tobias, I kinda like him in his current role. He just needs to be more consistent within that role. I also don't mind him playing the mid-range game as we need diversity on offense.

I think the biggest trade asset we have right now would be Danny Green's expiring. And with Green being injured and Thybulle losing his confidence coach's trust, we don't have a good wing to rely on. Cam Reddish may be an interesting target if Thibs is completely out on him.

 

[Moheezy]

As far as running the offense through Embiid, there are two things I am depending on:

• Maxey to become a consistent 20 point scorer
• Harden to regain his Nets self

It's so hard to gauge how Harden is feeling because we don't know if he is indeed a much lesser player than his Nets self or did he just need a summer to get healthy.

 

[amitt5504]

He needs time to get healthy. His burst came and went ever since the first hamstring injury earlier in the season. Also more time to forget Doc system with a new coach should help

 

[xxpizzo]

as great as embiid is and can be in this day and age you wont win anything going through a C esp when he catches the ball outside the 3 (he does it all season and not just in the playoffs)

100% sixers have to stop focusing on BIG NAMES

look at all these teams left its just about 1-2 guys who do they thing with great ROLE players

the superteam stuff is long gone

we have to keep tobias IMO

sixers have had such a weak bench for years now its so frustrating.. regular season you can hide from it but comes playoffs it shows completely

GET GUYS THAT CAN ******* REBOUND AND ARENT AFRAID TO BOX OUT

 

[Moheezy]

Here are some names that may be attainable at a reasonable price:

• Luke Kennard: a 6'5 sharp shooter with 14 mil a year for three years (third year being a team option)
• Marcus Morris: Also two more years to his deal at $16 to $17 mil a year. Him and Kennard would have to be acquired via trade
• TJ Warren: An unrestricted free agent who's had a serious injury. Teams might be reluctant to sign him and if we can get him at a discount, his upside is quite good.
• Goran Dragic: I don't know if he's going to retire, but if he's not, I would love to have him even if he load managers until the playoffs.
• Mo Bamba: It looks like Orlando will be moving on from him. I wonder what the price would be to acquire him. He signed a 4 year 24 mil contract with Orlando. Maybe offloading his contract would be enticing enough for them
• Cam Reddish: Thibs doesn't seem to want to give him any playing time. He still has a ton of potential and with our growing need for a wing, he should be someone to look into.
• Tarrence Ross: entering the last year of his contract at a reasonable 11mil. He can be either a starter or be that scoring punch off the bench that we desperately need
• Gary Harris: Unrestricted free agent. He showed signs of life last year, but the red flag for me is that he's only shown that during contract years
• Otto Porter Jr: another unrestricted free agent
• Christian Wood: I was surprised to see that he's only being paid $14 mil a year. This means that maybe a Danny Gree & Niang for Wood may work financially. Maybe Houston's ownership would rather shed money and would value expiring contracts.
• Kelly Olynik: I don't know how married the Pistons are to Kelly, but Danny + Kork can get a deal done money-wise. I am not sure if an expiring contact would entice them enough. I think this will depend on Olynik if he asks out and the Pistons respect his wishes.

I feel that we can realistically get a wing and a backup big via mid-level and trades. While also booking on the improvement on Maxey, Paul Reed, and Isiah Joe, booking on the health of Harden, and booking on more time for Tobias to settle on his new role, we should be in good shape to make some noise next year

 

[Moheezy]

List has been updated ^

 

[amitt5504]

Marcus Morris as the Tobi backup/small ball 5 I can rock with. Still want Reed to become Jo main backup but I have no issues getting silly putting shooters everywhere in a Harden led sub lineup

 

[pmatic]

Your team needs to get more athletic.

 

[amitt5504]

Your team needs to get more athletic.

We’re not trading for Rust lol

Jokes aside we gave functional athletes but never play them. I wanna see if Joe can stick because he has the upside to be similar to Justin Holiday. Springer has athleticism and could be a really hot POA defender

 

[Moheezy]

Marcus Morris as the Tobi backup/small ball 5 I can rock with. Still want Reed to become Jo main backup but I have no issues getting silly putting shooters everywhere in a Harden led sub lineup

Morris would also provide that toughness that we are desperately lacking.

After the end of this season, I was pretty down on the direction of the team but looking at this list, it seams that we have a lot of options to improve the team. The major improvements will still be internal though. Primarily with the improvement of Maxey and whatever Harden becomes.

 

[mrswagtastic]

Need some athletic/switchable wings and guys who are going to do the little things like boxing out, make smart reads, extra passes etc. All 4 teams that were left in the conference finals had a similar trait- wing/perimeter skilled guys who could defend multiple positions. IMO the best version of this team is when Jo isn’t dropping 40 pts a night and instead is expending more energy being dominant on defense and active on the boards (think game 1 of the Toronto series, not expecting Maxey to go crazy every night but you still need contributions from another guy whether that’s Maxey or Harden).

But at the end of the day we just need Embiid healthy, but that starts with building a better roster around him so he doesn’t have to do everything for this team.

 

[amitt5504]

Also we have to consider how we kept building the roster for Simmons which required more guards

Now with Jimbo we’re gonna need more wings

 

[Moheezy]

Also we have to consider how we kept building the roster for Simmons which required more guards

Now with Jimbo we’re gonna need more wings

That's an important point. Most of our decisions was catered around Ben as he needed more catering to. Even letting Jimmy walk for Ben to handle the rock. I would have loved to give Udoka a chance but knowing how he keep players accountable, I am sure that brushed Ben the wrong way.

I think this is the first year where we will truly be building around Embiid as last summer was a wash with the Ben Simmons saga. This is the first year where we are looking ahead rather than trying to cleanup the mess of the previous two GMs.

 

[Moheezy]

Interesting perception on Brogdon being a negative value. I wonder if dumping his salary would be enough for the Pacers to let go of him (he did sign an extension last summer). If Green + filler and a second-rounder can do the trick, I will take a stab at him.

 

[Moheezy]

Assuming we are done making moves and we sign Harden. I’m guessing this is what our starting lineup would be:

PG: Harden / Melton Sg: Maxey / Shake SF: Thybulle / House PF: Tobias / PJ C: Embiid / Reed

The rest: Isiah Joe Niang Bassy Springer Furk

I believe that we also still have a minimum contract we can sign

It does feel like we are in much better shape than last year. For the following reasons:

Maxey will improve. I’m hoping he can be a 20+ scorer moving forward.

Harden will be healthy. Can he get his burst back? Can he also adjust his game and bring back the mid range?

Tobias will find even more chemistry with Harden. His playoff performance was a revelation and I’m hoping he can keep that up as he figures his role as the 4th banana

Embiid will continue to play like an MVP

Melton and PJ are reliable and can hold the fort for the 2nd unit so that we don’t blow leads anymore. I’m also hoping this will mean we see more Tobias and Maxey lead the second unit while harden strictly plays his minutes with Embiid.

The big questions: Is Thybulle going to add anything to his game?

Is House good enough to be the backup SF? He’s had a bad year last year but the rockets were tanking.

Will Paul Reed improve his game to be a reliable backup center? I’d love if he can be a Kevin looney type of player.

Are we going to see 2020 Shake? He’s had back issues last year so I’m hoping for a healthier campaign

What can/ should we expect out of Isiah Joe and Jaden Springer? I’m guessing not much?

Looking at the lineup right now, we are 8 man deep which is what we need for the playoffs. We finally have no major shakeup with the roster so there’s continuity and that’s a BIG factor for successful teams.

Morey might make a move with our lower end talent and I’m hoping that we continue building our wing depth. But as is, it’s looking good!

No one has us as the top team, and I prefer that. Let’s be the underdogs and prove everyone wrong.

 

[adobecs4]

I just hope Korkmaz gets moved

 

[Moheezy]

There's been a lot of enthusiasm with everything Harden has been doing this offseason, and rightfully so. His financial sacrifice to deepen the roster, his focus on getting healthy, his being locked in to do whatever it takes to win a championship, and so forth.

It's great to see his workout videos, but out of any fanbase, I think we should be the most aware to take those videos with a grain of salt.

BUT I couldn't stop watching those videos and one thing was clear to me, Harden has indeed lost a step. He just doesn't have that same explosive power that was devastating in Houston.

And that's alright. The man is 33 now, has a high basketball IQ, and is a gym rat. I think and hope that someone as talented as him can re-invent his game the same way Lebron, Tim Duncan, and other greats did.

I wouldn't mind if he has the same box stats as last year, but the way he will get those stats will matter much more.

Without the explosive first step, his scoring game is becoming extremely predictable. His stepbacks are not as effective, he gets called for an offensive foul on drives because defenders know where he's going to be, and get gets blocked on layups often.

In my opinion, there are three things that he can do to remedy that without his explosive first step.

1. Bring back the mid-range game. We all know he is extremely capable of making these and he has to unlearn some of the analytically friendly habits that he's picked up. Having a mid-range will keep defenders guessing, and make his drives less predictable. It will also give him infinitely more options to make plays as defenders will have to respect more than just a 3pt and a drive.
2. Extend your range. This may sound crazy, and this is solely from the eye test, but Harden doesn't take long 3s. If he can extend his range to Dame range, that will make the defenders guard him further out which will give him better odds of blowing past by the defender without needing the explosive first step. He doesn't even need to make it often, he just needs to be a threat from that range.
3. Move without the ball. I know this may be asking too much, but with Maxey and Milton there and with Embiid demanding double teams, Harden can get efficient shots being comfortable without the ball. Moving and cutting. I don't know if he's ever done that in OKC, but he can get a couple of open looks a game, he can get into a good rythem.

Overall, my realistic expectation is that he will have similar numbers (ppg, rbg, apg) but with higher efficiency and with a more diverse offensive game that will keep defenders on their toes.

That in itself, along with a year of chemistry, improvement of the roster, and Maxey taking another step forward should put us in great shape to compete for a championship.

I would love your thoughts.

 

[xxpizzo]

 

[Moheezy]

And now you have Trez to add another 2 man game with Harden pick and rolls.

 

[amitt5504]

Pretty sure Trezl also played with Tobias too

 

[Moheezy]

Pretty sure Trezl also played with Tobias too

True. And I think they both had their best seasons playing together with Doc.