With the trade deadline hours away, Philadelphia 76ers fans shouldn’t expect their favorite team to do a trade for a good-to-great player that jumpstarts the rebuild.
Paul George, Blake Griffin, D’Angelo Russell, Jeff Teague, Dennis Schroder, and C.J. McCollum are all players fans and writers believe the Philadelphia 76ers should consider trading for. While I would be willing to trade Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel with a few of the Sixers first round picks for some of the players listed, coming up with a trade that works for both sides makes it virtually impossible for any of these trades to happen.
"“He knows the big picture, we’re all on the same page,” Vogel said. “I don’t have any problem with him speaking his mind.”"
The previous quote is from Indian Pacers coach Frank Vogel in an article from Candace Buckner that featured quotes from George complaining about his new role as power forward. The Paul George can be traded rumors and theories started from the idea that George was so angry about the move from small forward to power forward that the Pacers would be forced to trade him. Coach Vogel’s comments in response to what George said suggest it wasn’t a big deal and George hasn’t been reported to want to be traded. George is under contract until the 2018-2019 season when he has a player option, is 25 years old, and the Pacers currently have a 28-25 record which is good enough for the sixth playoffs spot, so why would the Pacers trade George to the Sixers?
The strongest argument is that the Pacers are not legitimate champion contenders and they could use a young center in Okafor or Noel with draft picks to build a legitimate championship contender in a few years. While it’s technically a possibility the Pacers might believe they need to blowup their team and rebuild from scratch, there are two big issues with the above scenario. First the Pacers don’t need a young center in Noel or Okafor, because they drafted a possible center with the eleventh pick in the 2015 NBA Draft Myles Turner. While Turner could play power forward and might not have the same potential as Okafor and Noel, Turner’s existence makes the Pacers less interested in trading their All-Stat forward for one of the Sixers centers. Second it would be in the Pacers best interest to wait until after the results of the 2016 NBA Lottery to even consider a trade with the Sixers.
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An Okafor or Noel with picks trade could be considered fair value if George only had a year left on his contract and publicly demanded to be traded and the Sixers were his preferred choice limiting the Pacers ability to get the best offer possible for a players a great as George, but since that is not the case, the Pacers would have to be blown away by a offer to consider trading him. If the Sixers win the lottery they can offer the number one pick with Okafor or Noel and that would be an offer the Pacers would consider. In this scenario, it would allow the Pacers to enjoy making the playoffs this season and see if it is possible to realistically build a championship caliber team around George with the players and assets they have. If the Pacers conclude they can’t build around George, the Sixers offer would almost guarantee at least one All-Star to replace the All-Star they are losing.
I’m not going to spend a lot of time discussing possible Griffin trades, because it makes no sense for either team to do a trade. The Los Angeles Clippers are trying to win the NBA champion as soon as possible and trading Griffin for picks and young players sets that plan back. Griffin only has one year left on his contract after this season when he has a player option in the 2017-2018 season, so the Sixers would have one offseason to try and build around him and convince him to stay after giving up most of their assets and good young players in a trade for him.
D’Angelo Russell is having a worse season than Okafor and he fits a position of need on the Sixers, but a one-for-one trade of Okafor for Russell doesn’t seem fair to the Sixers, so the Lakers should take the top-3 protection off the pick they owe the Sixers to make this trade fair for both sides. As a Sixers fan, I wish this was a trade the Lakers would accept, because I do this trade in a heartbeat. While I do believe Okafor will be a good player and I might have been wrong to have Russell ranked ahead of him before the 2015 NBA Draft, I think both Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram will be better players than Okafor and increasing the opportunity get one or both them is worth trading Okafor. But I imagine Lakers management hanging up the phone after yelling a four letter word if the Sixers offered the Lakers this trade.
There is no reason to believe the Lakers like Okafor enough to trade Russell and a shot to win the upcoming NBA Lottery. If the Lakers liked Okafor they could have drafted him with the second pick in the 2015 draft instead of Russell. While Russell is struggling and has issues with head coach Byron Scott, people usually do not become more attracted to the one they turned down because they don’t love the one they’re with. Close to five months into Russell and Okafor’s careers is enough time to convince the Lakers that their months of scouting the 2015 draft class was so wrong that they would be willing trade the player they drafted along with the possibility to have the top player in the 2016 draft for a player they passed on? If that is something the Lakers would say yes to, they have far bigger issues as a franchise they anyone realized.
Next: Are The Philadelphia 76ers Shopping Jahlil Okafor?
Teague, Schroder, and McCollum are players the Sixers could realistically trade for, but they should want until after the NBA lottery to considering such a move. For example, trading Noel for McCollum would make sense for both teams and seems fair. But why would the Sixers trade a player as good as Noel when they could wait a few months and draft a player that could be as good or better than McCollum without giving up Noel? It seems likely that at least half of the realistic trade deadline targets will still be available on draft day, after the team had time to scout players and have a better idea on Embiid’s health. At 8-45 the Sixers don’t have to worry about improving the team for a playoff run, so doing nothing significant at the trade deadline is the right decision.