The Philadelphia 76ers may be engaged in trade talks during the NBA Draft, and would be a really good partner for teams looking to start rebuilding.
The Philadelphia 76ers, in past years, have not been a team that many teams run to to make deals with. With Sam Hinkie leading the team as president and general manager in previous seasons, they were never a team that was necessarily pleasant to deal with. Hinkie’s scheming ways and desire to always have the deals work out in his favor made him less than attractive to do business with.
Bryan Colangelo now holds the seat that Hinkie once held, but the same stigma seems attached in some ways. It doesn’t seem like teams are running to get deals done with Philly.
That was shown firsthand at this year’s NBA Trade Deadline. Everyone thought Jahlil Okafor would be the player traded at the deadline. Even the Sixers front office clearly thought that, because they sat Okafor during a game and didn’t fly him with the team for the next, and admitted that it was because of trade talks.
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Okafor was not moved, and Nerlens Noel was instead, somewhat reluctantly.
As the NBA Draft approaches faster than most people realize, however, the Sixers may become an attractive trade partner. More specifically, teams looking to kick-start a rebuild, or push their rebuild past the boring early stages, may be looking towards the Sixers for help.
There are plenty of teams out there that would benefit long-term from starting to rebuild. And while it often seems like nowadays that the only way to effectively do that is through the draft (and subsequently by tanking) teams could take advantage of the fact that the Sixers have already done that, and trade for some of the pieces they got in that process instead.
These teams will have to pay out for that, but may be able to get some of the Sixers’ assets.
As a tanking team, the Sixers have been incredibly focused on getting assets over the last several years. In fact, it’s been one of the things most heavily on their to-do list, it seems. While other teams certainly want those assets, the only way they can get them themselves is by tanking and dealing. And if the Sixers have desirable assets that are important to a rebuild, they will be one of the teams that others are looking to deal with.
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Here are some of the assets the Sixers have that teams may be interested in.
- Their own pick this year.
- The Lakers pick this year if its outside of top three (and the pick period if it doesn’t convey this year).
- Mavericks second-round pick this year.
- Heat second-round pick this year.
- Golden State, New York, Detroit, or Utah most favorable pick this year.
- Hawks pick this year.
- Their own first and second round pick next year.
- Either Brooklyn or Cleveland’s second round pick next year.
- Either LA’s (Clippers) or Knicks’ second-round pick next year.
- Their own and Sacramento’s first round picks in 2019.
- Their own second round pick in 2019.
- Milwaukee’s or Sacramento’s second-round pick in 2019.
- The Knicks’ second-round pick in 2019.
So, yeah, they have a lot of pieces, just in the draft that might be attractive to outside teams looking in. On top of that they have their roster full of desirable young players that can almost all be bought for a price, and the draft rights to Furkan Korkmaz.
The Orlando Magic, Dallas Mavericks, and some other lottery teams look like they could benefit from a fresh start. Some other playoff teams like the Indiana Pacers look primed to enter a rebuild season soon as well. There’s a lot of teams who might be interested in paying out some to get the pieces the Sixers have.
It’s a good plan for those teams to do so if they’re dedicated to rebuilding. They can get some rebuild-ready assets without having to go through the years of losing.
On the Sixers end, they can benefit in a huge way. Perhaps they can convince a team to take on Jahlil Okafor in a trade, or perhaps they can swing a superstar or high-caliber player in a deal like this.
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If Bryan Colangelo knows what he’s doing, he should be making calls to general managers around the league discussing the assets they have and why they would be valuable to other teams. That way, by draft night, the Sixers may be able to have some deals lined up that could greatly benefit their future.