How the Philadelphia 76ers’ Big Men Situation Could End

How the Utah Jazz dealt with their big men situation, and why it’s an example of how the Philadelphia 76ers’ big men situation will likely end.

History repeats itself. Things don’t happen exactly like they did before, but situations are close enough that the past could be a guide to what is likely to happen in the future. Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid, and Jahlil Okafor are all young centers that individually can be a great part of any NBA team, but combined are a big problem for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Noel has the potential to be a defensive anchor capable of making a bad defensive team close to average, Okafor has the potential to be a great scorer that any teammate could pass the ball to near the basket and expect to see two points added to the scoreboard, and Embiid has the potential to be a Hall of Famer capable of being great on both sides of the court, but every one of these players will likely only reach that potential if they play center.

Only one person can play center on court at a time and no amount of hope and effort will make three talented, but incapable, players work together long term.

More from The Sixer Sense

This isn’t just my personal belief that the Sixers’ big men situation will never be able to have a happy ending, but looking at fairly recent history of a team that faced the same issue that the Sixers are currently facing, and how it ended in a way that both team management and fans could be happy with.

"Cleveland had the first pick, Minnesota had the second. He flew out to both cities for a workout. But Utah had the third pick, and Enes didn’t want to go there."

It wasn’t anything against the Jazz organization, but rather the logjam of big men it already had in tow. Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap were the established starters. Turkish legend Mehmet Okur was the veteran backup. Derrick Favors, a young talent, had arrived the year before.”

The above quote is from Anthony Slate’s article about Enes Kanter‘s journey to becoming a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and this quote explains why Kanter didn’t want the Jazz to take him. The Jazz thought Kanter was the best player available and didn’t care about having too many big men, so they took him with the third pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Kanter spent three seasons and 49 games with the Jazz, but he near evolved past a player that people looked at as being part of the Jazz’s future while never actually becoming a key part of the team going forward. Kanter averaged 12.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 0.9 assists, and 0.5 blocks per game during the 2013-14 season, the season before he was traded. Kanter also averaged 13.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 0.5 assists, and 0.3 blocks per game during the 49 games he play for the Jazz during the 2014-15 season before being traded at the deadline.

What makes the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons special for Kanter is that the Jazz let their starting power forward Paul Millsap and starting center Al Jefferson leave through free agency and finally allowed Derrick Favors and Kanter to become starters.

Favors and Kanter becoming starters didn’t clear up the Jazz’s big men issues, because they created another one by drafting center Rudy Gobert with the 27th pick of the 2013 NBA draft. I assume the Jazz thought Gobert was the best player available and was likely to be a backup. It’s rare that a team gets a decent player off the bench with the 27th pick in any draft and even rarer for them to find a starter with that pick, but at some point between the 2013-14 season and 2014-15 season the Jazz decided that Gobert was likely to be a better player than Kanter.

This is where the Jazz’s situation becomes a potential horror story for Sixers fans. Kanter was set to become a restricted free agent after the 2014-15 season and every NBA team knew that Kanter was available in a trade. Writer for Utah Jazz blog slcdunk.com AllThatAmar wrote this article explaining why the Jazz shouldn’t rush to trade Kanter, and many Sixers’ fans have read articles or had conversations similar to it that focus on reasons the Sixers shouldn’t trade Okafor or Noel.

15 days later Jason Patt wrote this explaining why to Jazz could or could not trade Kanter before deciding there was a six out of ten chance he stays part of the Jazz. That article included a report from Adrian Wojnarowski saying the Jazz would need an “amazing offer” to trade Kanter. The Jazz did trade Kanter, but I wouldn’t call what they got in return amazing. The Jazz traded Kanter and Steve Novak to the Thunder for the Thunder’s 2018 top 14 protected first round pick, unprotected 2017 second round pick, Kendrick Perkins, Grant Jerrett, and Tibor Pleiss.

The Jazz couldn’t get a late first round pick in the upcoming draft for a player they took with the third overall pick and ended up getting max contract offers from the Portland Trail Blazers and Thunder. I believe the Jazz really wanted to trade Kanter for an “amazing offer,” but that offer never existed, and was never going to exist. After refusing to trade Millsap and Jefferson for far less than the Jazz believed they were worth in a trade and losing them for nothing in free agency, they likely decided that they couldn’t lose another player for nothing and just accepted whatever they could get.

It’s hard to imagine the Sixers’ big men situation having a happier ending than the Jazz’s big men situation. Noel will be a restricted free agent after the upcoming season, and most teams likely assume the Sixers will not be willing to give a big contract to a player that will likely be coming off the bench.

Okafor came to the Sixers in a very similar way that Kanter went to the Jazz. Okafor worked out for the teams that had the top two picks in the 2015 draft in the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers, but didn’t workout for the Sixers. I imagine Okafor wanting to avoid the Sixers for the same reason Kanter wanted to avoid the Jazz.

Next: Which Point Guard is Best Suited for Simmons' Growth

If Ben Simmons lives up to his hype and continues to play power forward and Embiid comes back fully healthy, Okafor is no longer part of the Sixers’ future. I doubt Okafor is willing to be a sixth man for the foreseeable future without having more opportunity to be a starter and teams would count on the Sixers not wanting to give their backup center a lot of money when he becomes a restricted free agent.

Sixers fans should be prepared to be disappointed when the Sixers get nowhere near equal value for Noel and Okafor, but should understand that sometimes a good deal isn’t possible.