The Sixer Sense
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Looking at Some Positives of the Philadelphia 76ers Deadline Moves

By Josh Wilson

Jun 24, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo during an introduction press conference at the Philadelphia College Of Osteopathic Medicine. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 24, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo during an introduction press conference at the Philadelphia College Of Osteopathic Medicine. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Philadelphia 76ers NBA trade deadline was anticlimactic. It was bad, for the most part. But some positives did arise as a result.

The Philadelphia 76ers, overall, disappointed their fans as the trade deadline came and went on Thursday afternoon. Fans that were looking for a flashy trade certainly didn’t get that in the trade that sent out Nerlens Noel and brought in Andrew Bogut, Justin Anderson, and a heavily protected first round pick that will almost certainly convey into two second-round picks instead.

That looks ugly, and really, it is ugly. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

The team decided not to move Jahlil Okafor — likely because the offerings on him were small — and instead moved the player in Noel that worked best as a backup to Joel Embiid.

After months and months of general manager Bryan Colangelo iterating to the media that he wouldn’t take a bad deal for one of his big men, and even benching Okafor for two games, the team looked foolish for this deal that turned Noel — one of the apparently most valuable pieces on the roster — into practically nothing.

While there’s a lot to negative to talk about, let’s look at some positive things about the trade.

A continued stock-piling of assets

The Sixers, with this trade, got rid of one big asset in Nerlens Noel, but brought in two assets that can be stockpiled to a trade for a future big man.

Chuck Booth of Section 215 may have put it best here:

Now, Chuck Tweeted this out before we knew that the protected first conveys to two second round picks in 2017 and 2020, but the ability to split those picks — if they will be used for trading purposes rather than direct use — may be better for the Sixers. They can stock pile them in one trade or stock pile them in separate trades to try to bring in more concrete, current assets in players to help their journey.

The Sixers also have several other first and second round draft picks over the next few years. They can use these to bring in young talent underneath the currently developing core, or can trade them. The assets in draft picks give them options.

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A clearing of the logjam

The biggest positive is that the Sixers finally got over their biggest enemy — the frontcourt logjam. No longer is the team hindered as they were before.

I have a metaphor that explains why this is a positive. One time, on my very first car — a Blue Mazda 2006 — I had a broken strut, and had to replace it by removing the brace that used to hold the strut in. The brace had become so corroded that the bolts holding it in place would not come loose. Eventually, my dad and I, with some determination and hammering, got the screw out and the brace out, but it broke in the process.

No matter that it broke along the way, the important thing was that the brace wasn’t there anymore. We were able to move past that stage finally and move onto fixing the greater problem — the strut itself.

My point is that there may be some negative light shed on the trade at the moment, and rightfully so, something was broken. But the bigger picture is the whole rebuild, and getting over this logjam just might be the difference of being competitive sooner.

We might have oversold Noel

Sam Vecenie’s account of what the executives around the NBA think about Noel is interesting, and quite frankly, a bit of some news to me:

"This deal is being hailed as a coup for the Mavericks, but many within the NBA have a vastly different view of Noel than the public. League executives often discuss how much they like his game, but they’ve also been hesitant to acquire him for some of the reasons detailed above"

Noel is big to us, and because of that we see him as having a pretty big value. To other voices and opinions around the league, though, Noel clearly doesn’t have a ton of value. With that considered, maybe two second-round picks, as well as two players, wasn’t that low of a value.

More money for the future

The Sixers currently have about $75 million to spend this offseason. While they have the money to re-sign and go out and get whoever they deem worthy this summer, spending $80 million or so on Nerlens Noel over four or five years really puts a strain on your spending money. While it would be justifiable to spend that money on a player who would be in your starting rotation for years to come, Noel isn’t going to be that as long as Embiid’s healthy.

Next: Why the Sixers Trading Noel Was Awful

Certainly, you would like to get more value for a player that is worthy of a contract of that amount, but the Sixers waited too long. Hindsight is 20/20, and saving money for the future might have been the best bet for the Sixers. We won’t be able to see what that money gets them until years down the road, so the initial value of Noel seems bad, but it could end up being very beneficial.