This trade deadline was expected to be a relatively quiet one with the exception of Anthony Davis likely being on the move. Davis is still in New Orleans, and many other very surprising moves happened in addition.
Many teams seemed to be waiting for the AD dust to settle to do anything, and once it became clear that a Lakers/Pelicans deal was unlikely, the trades started flowing. Among the most active teams at the deadline was one Philadelphia team, who easily created some of the most remarkable trade headlines this year.
In addition to the Butler trade at the beginning of the year which made waves, the Sixers started this week out hot by making a surprise move for Tobias Harris, Mike Scott, and Boban Marjanovic. The Sixers essentially gave up two players who would get destroyed in the playoffs, Landry Shamet, and 2 first round picks, only one of our own.
As sad as I am to see Shamet go, we essentially gave up one real player and one real pick for 2 valuable rotation guys and a near all-star. My first reaction was that it felt like a minor overpay, but considering the fact that we didn’t lose a pick in the Butler trade, it all sort of evened out.
Then today, just in time for the deadline, the news many Sixers fans have been hoping for came: we finally dealt Markelle Fultz. Let me preface this: I really wanted Markelle to succeed here, and I really hope that Orlando helps him and that he can get back to being a functional NBA player. But to have this off of our backs, and to get picks AND a functional rotation player in return? Godlike.
We essentially traded a warm bench seat for a guy who can play reasonable minutes right now, and a Thunder first rounder, as well as a Cleveland second round pick. While the Thunder pick won’t be incredible, it will essentially offset the fact that the Sixers gave up their own first for 2020 in the Clippers trade. There’s not much reason to believe the Thunder’s odds will be much worse than the Sixers, so essentially the Heat 2021 pick is the major piece in that deal, in addition to Shamet.
Finally, the Sixers made two moves for cash considerations. One to Toronto in exchange for Malachi Richardson, and one to Houston for James Ennis. Richardson was immediately waved to make room for Ennis on the roster.
As crazy as a week as it has been, and as risky as both the Harris and Butler trades were, I’m starting to build excitement for this. Harris, while an incredible player in his own right, was essentially insurance in case things go south with Butler, or he simply leaves this summer. Harris and Boban both seem very excited to come to Philly, so keeping both of them would be a huge bonus.
The Fultz trade is more about simply having that drama and attention off of our backs. They can finally just take the players they have and move in the direction of a team with a full and complete roster, no asterisks attached.
Additionally, the James Ennis pickup was very solid. Ennis, unlike some current players on the Sixers roster, is an actual NBA player in the current year.
So what does this mean for the Sixers play? For one thing, this team is big. And I mean BIG. This team’s starting 5 has one player under 6’4 and it’s our shooting guard who wasn’t stopping anyone anyway. Other than that, this 5 has 4 big, mostly switchable and defensively sound players. Harris is the exception, but he’s not a defensive liability, at least. He’s league average, probably has his good and bad nights like most any other player.
Meanwhile, the offense is going to be insane. So many of the problems this team suffered from are alleviated by bringing Harris into the fold. Not only does he shoot well, which fixes some of the spacing issues the Sixers had, but he facilitates other offensive maneuvers like capitalizing off of Embiid getting doubled, Simmons drive and kick, and Embiid-Redick DHO’s.
Another underrated aspect of this trade is that it reduces some of the bench depth issues. We essentially gave up 1 for 3 in terms of real functional players who aren’t one dimensional. Boban will be a great backup center for big lineups, whereas Bolden can fill in for smaller teams. Mike Scott is a playable wing rotation guy, who will probably gravitate towards the 4 a la Mike Muscala, and of course Harris raises the floor of the whole team.
Not only did the bench get better in this trade, but the flexibility of lineups with the bench got significantly better, too. Essentially, Chandler had to be played with any 2 of Simmons, Butler, or Embiid on the floor. Now, Brett Brown can throw a ton of different looks at people. One very obvious concern is managing the shot count for 5 players who need shots, but this will only really matter in the first minutes and sometimes last minutes of a game. Brown can pull Butler or Embiid early, and give Harris and Simmons some run together. Really any combination will be better, as it will require fewer minutes for the guys who need rest, in addition giving Harris, Butler, and Embiid all plenty of room to work as the high usage guys.
This trade deadline said to me one thing, and one thing only. Elton Brand isn’t here to fuck around. He made moves that sacrificed some long-term stability, but raised the floor of this team significantly, and over the 3 major trades, things evened out so that nothing was really over-payed for, not even moving on from Fultz. Hinkie was too concerned with the future (can’t blame him given the roster at the time), Colangelo was scared to make any big moves and drafted like a bitch. This administration essentially traded Mikal Bridges and a first for Tobias Harris, and fixed the wrongdoing of the previous regime while getting a pick back. It’s still early yet; we still haven’t seen any of these new guys play yet. But one thing is for sure: Elton Brand is here to make moves.
