Should the Philadelphia 76ers Make a Trade to Improve Now?

What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Philadelphia 76ers making a trade now, or waiting until later?

Jerry Colangelo was brought in to speed up “The Process” for the Philadelphia 76ers, but does that involves making trades to improve the team this season? Using players that are rumored to be available in trades and assets the Sixers can trade, I’ll look into the benefits and issues in making any of these trades.

The first trade involves the Sixers trading for Markieff Morris from the Phoenix Suns. Morris was rumored to be on the trading block since the Suns traded his twin brother Marcus Morris to the Detroit Pistons before the season. Markieff Morris was born in Philadelphia, is currently averaging 11.4 points and five rebounds per game, and is a four-year veteran that can explain the dangers of getting into fights with hecklers to Jahlil Okafor, because he is under investigation for fighting a man that insulted his mother. All of these hypothetical trade scenarios work under the assumption that Colangelo has more power than Sam Hinkie, so for the Morris trade we’ll listen to a hypothetical phone call between the two men running the Sixers.

“Sam, I’ve got a trade proposal to add a real NBA player to this embarrassing roster you constructed. You’re going to offer Jerami Grant and the Miami first round pick for Markieff Morris. I’ve already talked to some of my friends working in the Suns front office, so they’ll answer the phone when your number comes up on the caller ID,” Colangelo said.

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“Mr. Colangelo, I’m not sure we should do this trade. Markieff Morris would improve the team now, but wouldn’t adding him cause issues next season?” Hinkie responded.

“We’ve already had this conversation Sam. Why can’t you understand there is more to building an NBA team than insuring you have the best lottery odds?”

“But it’s not just the lottery odds for our own pick. We have to take into account the Los Angeles Lakers pick is only top 3 protected and there’s only a three win difference between them and us for last place. Plus, Markieff Morris is a power forward and we expect Joel Embiid and Dario Saric to join the team next season. With the possibility of having three first round picks and two big men, I don’t see how he fits the team long term.”

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“Listen Sam! You’re not going to add three or four rookies to the team next season and I don’t care about that Lakers pick. You shouldn’t have traded Michael Carter-Williams, and if that pick is somewhere in the teens after next season, it’s just another reason why you’re going to be replaced by my son Bryan before the 2016 draft. We need to show the world that the Philadelphia 76ers care about the product they put on court. The best way to do that is to trade one of your assets for a player to help the team now, if that hurts our chances of winning the lottery, good! Everyone will know the Sixers learned their lesson on how not to build an NBA team. Now call the Suns and complete this trade!”

This somewhat realistic conversation is the main reason why I wasn’t excited when Colangelo was hired and I find it difficult to believe him and Hinkie are going to work together long term. Being someone that supported tanking and wanting all of the horrible basketball I watched this season to result in drafting the next NBA super star, I’m against doing anything to improve the team this season. But a legitimate case can be made to improve the team now with trades.

If you believe Okafor will someday be the best player on a championship team, improving the team this season will likely improve Okafor faster. Using this belief, the Sixers complete another trade.

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Brandon Jennings is expected to comeback from an Achilles tendon injury this season and his job as starting point guard last season now belongs to Reggie Jackson. Jennings is 26 years old and averaged 15.4 points and 6.6 assists per game. Jennings is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, but since he is coming off a serious injury and not a max contract player, the Sixers could resign him after the season. Since the Detroit Pistons are already paying Jackson a lot of money, it’s possible they trade him at the traded deadline for a reasonable price. If the Sixers offer T.J. McConnell and the Oklahoma City first round pick, that might be enough to get Jennings.

The starting lineup for the Sixers after the trade deadline this season would be, in this situation, Brandon Jennings at point guard, Isaiah Canaan at shooting guard, Robert Covington at small forward, Markieff Morris at power forward, Jahlil Okafor at center, and Nerlens Noel as the sixth man and first one off the bench. This team looks good enough to avoid being the worst team in the league and would have an effective offense. While this team’s defense could possibly be worse than the real 2015-2016 Sixers, they would be more entertaining to watch. This scenario could end with the Sixers winning enough games for some fans and most media members being satisfied with the direction the Sixers are going, but other fans hopes will be crushed after the Lakers win the lottery and the Nets win the second pick giving it to the Celtics.

If you have enough faith in Okafor to be great, the above scenario shouldn’t bother you, but I don’t have that much faith in Okafor. Here is an article I wrote about the prospects in the 2015 draft if you’re curious about my thoughts on some of the rookies, but with the exception of providing me wrong about his free throw shooting, I feel the same about Okafor. Okafor is a great offensive player that plays bad defense and plays a style that the current NBA seems to be moving away from. None of this means I want the Sixers to trade Okafor now or that it’s impossible for him to improve significantly, but I’m not willing to hurt my chances at getting a possibly better prospect in Ben Simmons to build around Okafor.

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While watching the Sixers has been painful at times this season, I hope management waits to the end of the season to improve the team.