Did The Sixers Do Enough At The Trade Deadline To Win A Championship?
Deep in the night last night the Sixers made a trade. They didn't mortgage the future. They gave up three second rounders, a currency that the team deemed valuable under Sam Hinkie, but one that the following regimes have handed out like Venezuelan dollars.
As we left the office yesterday, Philly Mays asked me what I thought the Sixers would do at the deadline. I had one name on my wishlist: Alec Burks. He fit the criterion I cared about: he wasn't going to cost too much, he gave us some shooting and he wasn't going to upset the team's chemistry. He, along with Robinson, was experiencing a renaissance on the hapless Warriors, who have a smell familiar to the Process-era-Sixers, i.e. anyone can score there.
Equally important to shooting should be the ball handling that Alec Burks offers. It has been no secret that, since Jimmy Butler left, the Sixers have experienced a dearth of serviceable ball handling behind Ben Simmons.
A rotation of Raul Neto, Trey Burke, Shake Milton, et al., have taken turns trying to wrangle our offense. I have a feeling we're going to see a lot less of them, including Mike Scott, once a shiny new toy, but now just a sticky old hive jammed in the corner of the back yard.
The most important part of this trade is spacing. We all heard what Embiid said yesterday.
And everyone wants to bring it back to Ben.
But what this team need most, Elton Brand's biggest hurdle, is finding an identity that allows both Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons to be their best selves. The right chemistry of personalities, the right balance of scoring, ball handling and shooting, a spacing plan that somehow gives shared custody of the lane to Joel and Ben. I know a divorce attorney out in Villanova that'll draw them up a every-other-weekend plan that everyone can be happy with.
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Going forward we're looking at:
- Ben Simmons
- Alec Burks
- Josh Richardson
- Tobias Harris
- Joel Embiid
With a rotational bench of:
- Al Horford
- Matisse Thybulle
- Glen Robinson III
It's simple. It makes sense to me. People hate Al Horford's contract and want him traded, or hate Tobias Harris and choke on their tongues talking about the $180 million he made this summer. Relax. We didn't bring either of them in to win us December and January games. They're here to help us win in April, May and June.
I hate articles that ask a rhetorical question in the headline and never answer that in the article itself. I find it to be manipulative and cowardly by the writer, so I'll avoid that and actually answer my question. Did the Sixers do enough at the trade deadline to win a championship? Yes. I really think they did. I believe we will look back at the bickering among fans and the discord among players as a silly blip on what would become a championship run. All the pieces are there. The Bucks game on Christmas. The Lakers game. The first 3 Celtics games. At our best we are the best.
I've been to seven straight cities on the night their team was crowned champion. And I earnestly believe that this:
will be looking like Feb 4, 2018 when the NBA Final conclude in June.