If there’s one thing I enjoy more than anything during an off-season, it’s the wild hopes and dreams of fans on various social media platforms. Some make sense, but then there are others that make me thank all that is holy they aren’t general managers of a sports team. For some, I’d even be weary if they coached youth sports.
The Philadelphia 76ers are in an interesting spot this off-season since they have the #1 overall pick in the upcoming draft plus jumbo-sized armored trucks of cap space and players that could theoretically help other teams in exchange for other players that fit what the Sixers are trying to do — whatever that may be.
I would like to take this opportunity to address one thing after Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. With all due respect, Sixers fans. Kevin Durant is not coming to Philadelphia. I don’t care how much Durant says he loves Philadelphia, and I don’t care how much Joel Embiid tweets urging the front office to make it happen. It’s not happening. If Durant leaves Oklahoma City — which he shouldn’t — then his best destination is Boston. This is no disrespect to Washington Wizards fans, either, because I know you’ve all been clamoring for Durant to come home. Boston’s coach, front office, supporting cast, and the #3 pick would be way better for Durant versus Washington. (Besides, Durant has already played for Scott Brooks once. I don’t think he’s doing that, again.)
Now that I have completely angered Sixers fans everywhere, I guess I should stop, right? Silly fans. When have you EVER known me to do that? If anything, I’m stirring the pot more. For example, why is everyone so quick to kick big man Jahlil Okafor to the curb after one year in South Philadelphia? (Here’s one last thing before I forget. The Sixers shouldn’t inquire about Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls until it’s determined he is 100% healthy and doesn’t need knee surgery. Ok. Does that take care of everyone I could possibly piss off in four paragraphs? Good. Now, back to the program.)
The Sixers can’t ignore what happened off the court when Okafor was involved in a fight in Boston after a game in the beginning of the season. Was that an isolated incident or a possible pattern of behavior that management needs to be weary of? I’m inclined to think the former since Okafor kept his nose clean after the scruff, but I’m not the Sixers’ general manager. Who knows what they think?
You can’t deny what Okafor does on the court, however. Okafor is the latest in a long history of successful Sixers big men following names like Moses and Wilt. He commands a double team in the post because of his offensive footwork and instincts. It would be nice if he reverted back to being the above average passer out of the post that he was at Duke. That could get better and more consistent as more talent is put around him. Maybe he didn’t trust his teammates. Maybe he was simply trying to be the next “big stats on a bad team” guy. No matter the reason, Okafor had a successful rookie campaign averaging 17.5 points and 7.0 rebounds with a true shooting percentage of .536. The TS% isn’t overly impressive, but what is encouraging about his shooting is his free throws.
In the new NBA land of “hack-a” whenever a team is trying to make a comeback, Okafor’s numbers at the line were a liability. After shooting .510 in his one year at Duke, he shot .686 in his first year for the Sixers. That’s very encouraging going forward. The flip side of the coin will be brought up, and it’s fair. Okafor is a horrible defender. His DRtg of 110 per 100 possessions shows all you need to know about that, but there are times where Okafor at least tried. Look at his games against Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns where he held him to 14 points and 9 rebounds total in two games. I know. That’s a terribly small sample size, but they’re examples that he will at least try.
So, the Sixers have a legitimate 20 year old double-double machine they can theoretically build a team around. What seems to be the problem?
Part of that stems from the reality that the Sixers have A LOT of big men. Nerlens Noel, Richaun Holmes, and Carl Landry along with the pending arrivals of 2014 NBA Draftees Joel Embiid and Dario Saric. You’re not wrong. That is a lot of size, but caution should be exercised before simply giving away a player like Okafor. This is particularly important in the case of Embiid — who hasn’t played in a meaningful game yet for the Sixers let alone a meaningful season. What happens if Embiid gets hurt again — after the tears of sadness or anger are wiped away, of course? Dario Saric is very good, but a Nerlens/Saric front court would be terribly undersized.
In the ideal scenario, what the Sixers should do is hold on to all three big men (Nerlens, Okafor, Embiid) and see if Embiid is what everyone has been saying he is. It’s also important to see if Jojo can stay healthy — or at least relatively healthy. After 25-30 games of seeing Embiid, feel free to come back at the trade deadline in February to see what the offers would be for Okafor (or Nerlens for that matter). Honestly, do either of them need to be traded? The Oklahoma City Thunder are showing us the way. A big man can be a sixth man (see Kanter, Enes).
The other point that “Okafor traders” like to make hinders on who the Sixers take with the #1 overall pick. There are two teams of thought on the selection: Team Ingram and Team Simmons. It’s some crazy remix of the people who swore by the movie “Twilight” and were either “Team Jacob” or “Team Whatever the Hell the Other Vampire’s Name Is” — because that was a scene that I didn’t get into nor do I want to search who they were on the internet. Sorry, “Twi-Hards”. It’s just the cold, hard truth. Negative “effs” were given about it.
The “Team Ingram” folks — those who support the Sixers drafting Duke’s Brandon Ingram — have no problem with Okafor. Pair Okafor with Ingram, build around that, and go. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.
The “Team Simmons” individuals — those who want the Sixers to draft LSU’s Ben Simmons — seem to be more of the ones that would like to trade Okafor to get pieces to fit around Simmons. That’s not an unreasonable idea especially if Simmons turns into the prohibitive first ballot hall of famer everyone thinks he is at age 19. If you’re drafting Ben Simmons, he is one of two things right now: raw athletic power forward (think early Blake Griffin minus the jump shot) or he’s a point forward (in which case, some variation of Magic Johnson is probably what you’re hoping for).
Simmons is difficult to build around because you pretty much have to rebuild your team from scratch to fit what Simmons does best right now. When Simmons gets a consistent jump shot like, for example, present day Blake Griffin, then you can somewhat reassess. Drafting Ben Simmons means that the Sixers need to have a roster somewhat like this:
PG: Knockdown shooter, not a primary ball handler
SG: Three and D guy
SF: Three and D guy
PF: Ben Simmons
C: Defensive rim protector
The Sixers definitely have the center to make that work: either Nerlens or Joel Embiid. They don’t have anything else, though. Trading Okafor for another top-5 pick (the popular idea) could net you Kentucky’s Jamal Murray — which would be a fantastic idea because Murray can be the primary ball handler and scorer when Simmons is NOT on the floor. Another idea would be adding Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield to the mix and bringing in another point guard who’s a knockdown shooter (i.e. Jerryd Bayless or resign Isaiah Canaan to a moderate contract). The folks that want to draft Providence’s Kris Dunn aren’t looking at it the right way. For Simmons to maximize what he is now, he has to be the primary ball handler, or the guy that handles it 75-80% of the time. That doesn’t work when you have a point guard like Kris Dunn.
I’m not against building a team this way, but my concern for the Sixers would be with whether or not Ben Simmons actually gets that consistent jump shot. The best thing I’ve read or heard about Ben Simmons is that he’s elite at four or five things but not the most important thing (shooting).
This team will be exciting over the summer no matter how the Sixers decide to build this off-season. If they trade Okafor to make a Ben Simmons-led team go, that will make things interesting. If Okafor stays and Brandon Ingram is paired with him, that will be fun, too, because we’ll get to see who gets added in free agency — if anyone.
These Sixers were brought together by exercising patience, so before anything drastic is done (i.e. trading Jahlil Okafor), management and fans should weigh all the possibilities AND potential fallout if the wrong choice is made.
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