I think there's some legitimate concerns for the Sixers, going forward (overall they will be fine though)
1. Who knows what happens with Noel... A lot of teams will come circling for him in Free Agency, sensing the Sixers may elect to get rid of him (or maybe have no choice) because of Embiid, Simmons, Saric & Okafor (unless they trade Okafor)...
They may end up just letting him go instead of paying him $17+ mil a year.. Teams will drive up the bids to get the 76ers to pass. Also Noel isn't necessarily happy with his role on the 76ers, and that will drive him to go looking elsewhere as opposed to what some RFAs do, and just wait for their current team to make 2-3 moves then sign afterwards.
2. Okafor isn't really a great bench piece, especially when he shouldn't play because Noel is the better overall player. Oak is basically dying out there (in terms of trade value). You eventually have to bite the bullet on him, and get rid of him for whatever you can get in order to keep Noel. (They legitimately should trade Okafor before the deadline, and take whatever a team offers).
3. Embiid does have a long injury history... Granted, he's an All Star Player when he's on the floor.... You never know when those injuries can pop up. Bynum looked like he was healthy 2011-12 after years of injuries, and then the injury bug bit him again. Granted Bynum didn't really work to stay in basketball, but there's still an injury history for Embiid, and reason to worry. Not saying you do anything other than hope for the best.... BUT, you have to worry about it for a long time going forward.
4. Yes, they don't have bad contracts... But they absolutely will, eventually... Veterans actively avoid playing there, and will not even consider them in FA., and they still are going to for the next few years because of how they've been playing things out (Not saying right or wrong).... But they're not going to get many legitimate interest in FA because even with 2 lotto picks this year, they still will not be anywhere close to a playoff team. That alone will chase away veterans, at least the kind you want.
So they could go 1 of 2 routes when it comes to FA, Avoid veterans (The Blazers) route which is a bad choice because then you are overpaying mediocre young guys a ton of money, and hoping you can make a trade or else, you're wasting productive years... Or continue to let it play out... But when they do, they'll be paying a few of their prospects actual money.
The only way to circumvent that, and get veteran pieces earlier is to overpay.. Whether it is by money or by adding extra years.
It's not going to be easy sledding for really any team that has been stuck at the bottom for a couple years. Goes for Sixers, Lakers, Timberwolves, Suns, etc.
For now.
