I. Player Retention
There was no confusion about it. If you were an expiring contract with the Philadelphia 76ers under Sam Hinkie, you were unlikely to get a call to return to the team. He didn’t believe in it. Fortunately, the team did not face the risk of expiring contracts of core players. But when the team was assembling a roster for the 2015-2016 season, they had an opportunity to retain any player from a group of seven players. In the end, no player was retained.
Eventually, the team would double back and recoup their former point guard Ish Smith by trading two second round draft picks to the New Orleans Pelicans.
But the events illustrate a basic assumption of the Philadelphia 76ers. The team was willing to audition virtually anyone, but was awfully selective over who they might retain. They parted ways with Luc Mbah A Moute, a player personally responsible for bringing Joel Embiid to the NBA. Yes, he was a Philadelphia 76er for a single season but in that season he established himself as a solid wing defender – an area the team has seemingly abandoned in the 2015-2016 season. But the most shocking element of the dissolution is the apparent change of the overall value the team had placed on the development of centerpiece Joel Embiid. It was this fact that forced the team to reset the rebuild schedule, commit to center Jahlil Okafor at the third pick of the 2015 draft, and tap virtually all international expertise in the epic undertaking of delivering this young man’s talent to an NBA basketball court.
All that, and yet they let the man who had the longest connection, the deepest trust, and the most comprehensive understanding to walk. Go figure.
Mbah A Moute has since landed on his feet with the Los Angeles Clippers, and while his offense and playing time are not team leaders by any means, he has established himself as a keystone to the defense.
"“He may be the single most important piece from last year, just defensively. We needed another wing defender,” Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers."
Unfortunately, the Philadelphia 76ers are seeking wing defenders now. The Sixers should have retained Mbah A Moute for an entire host of reasons. 20/20 hindsight. But we will know soon enough if the team is moderating in the search for perfection. Their is an important decision to make regarding point guard Ish Smith. He was another player the team parted ways with, only to find themselves in desperate need of a veteran point guard, forcing the team to trade two second round picks for Smith with the New Orleans Pelicans.
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