Sixers on the Lowe Post

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

ESPN’s Amin Elhassan went on yesterday’s Lowe Post podcast and he and Zach Lowe wound up discussing the Sixers for close to 20 minutes (beginning around the 23-minute mark). They brought up a fair number of interesting points, so I thought it might be fun to dive into some of them.

• Zach Lowe: “I have it on good authority from agents and some other people that they sniffed around, they did intel on, hey if we hit Kawhi Leonard with an offer sheet, or Jimmy Butler with an offer sheet, would they sign it?”

These are the two guys that nearly every Sixers blogger was hoping the team made a run at this past offseason. They’re both worth the max in today’s NBA environment, while also (as Lowe mentions) being young enough to be a part of the Sixers timetable with Noel, Okafor, etc. It doesn’t seem like the Sixers had any hope of landing either, as both guys returned to their respective teams without really testing the market, but it’s good to know management is thinking about other paths aside from waiting for their own draft picks to get really good.

• Elhassan: “In Philadelphia, it’s a revolving door.”

Basically, Elhassan was talking about how there aren’t veteran guys to help establish culture with the young players about what it takes to be a successful professional. He later talked about how guys would see Grant Hill and Steve Nash doing things in Phoenix and know they had to step in line, while also referencing an anecdote about Mychal Thompson coming to a stacked Lakers team back in the day.

Now, I’m not sure exactly who he expected those guys to be for the Sixers. The team didn’t have hall-of-fame types like Hill and Nash there to serve as an example; nobody was thinking Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes were the bastions for professional excellence. The Sixers did keep around Jason Richardson and Luc Mbah a Moute last year to play such a role. Lowe smartly brought up Jason Thompson and how he seemed excited to play that role, which is why I do think it might have been wise to keep him around, pick swap or not. We’ll see, this is certainly an area in which the Sixers could perhaps do better.

• Lowe: “I think they’re doing some things; I think they’re learning how to play hard, how to play defense, how to play a drive-and-kick style, how to take care of their bodies and things like that from Brett Brown and the medical staff, but your point is, the people who are learning that, 95% of them may not be on the team in 2 years, is perhaps troubling.

This is probably the area I’ve always had the most problem with for the Sixers. It’s great that they’ve been able to find a guy like Covington and (maybe) Jerami Grant, but they should have more on the back-half of the roster by now. The team’s commitment to a completely bare-bones approach in free agency is something I wish they would pivot away from. I’d like to see them go after younger guys in free agency who would only command a few million per annum because their ceiling is role player. Going from D-league type to competent pro at those spots would help the young-star types like Noel grow. Case in point: whatever the heck is happening at point guard this season.

• Elhassan: “The issue is, in some of the other strategies you can go by, there’s a flexibility of changing course.”

Elhassan tried to make the point that everything is riding on Joel Embiid ever being ready and Dario Saric coming over. He was well-informed about the fact that it’s likely Saric waits to come over until the 2017-18 season to avoid the rookie salary scale. However, he completely left off that the team is likely to have 4 first-round draft picks next summer. Lowe, to his credit, did later bring up the Lakers pick and the future Kings first-rounder. Still, I think given the treasure trove of assets Hinkie has built up since taking over, this argument holds the least water of the criticisms brought up during the podcast. There should be many directions Hinkie can head whether it’s through the draft or via trade.

• Elhassan: “You know who goes to Philadelphia as a free agent? Someone who isn’t yet considered a star. You got to go Tracy McGrady-2000 on ’em. Eh, he’s just another guy, No he’s not, he’s probably the best wing player in the league. Here’s all the money in the world to prove that’s what we believe.”

Nobody realistically expects someone like Kevin Durant to come to Philadelphia; Elhassan is absolutely right about that. I do think it’s likely that the cap space does eventually get filled out by DeMarre Carroll-types once the Sixers get their stars in place through the draft. I truly think after this next draft, the team will pivot to paying market value for those guys that fit between star and role player types, hoping one of them becomes something more like Toronto hopes Carroll does. You bring those kind of players is with Noel, Okafor, Embiid (fingers crossed), and next year’s first-rounders, and you have something. In the meantime, Hinkie has been using all of that cap space to make advantageous trades like the Oklahoma City and Sacramento deals.

It’s the deepest point of the NBA offseason and national writers are spending huge swaths of time talking about a team that won 18 games last season. If nothing else, Sixers fans have to admit they have an interesting situation on their hands. Hopefully, we get to the point where the on-court product becomes as interesting as the off-court moves.