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Sixers mailbag: Trade possibilities, the second unit and more

Daniel Stets|
PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 16: Joel Embiid #21, Robert Covington #33, and Ersan Ilyasova #7 of the Philadelphia 76ers walk off the court at the end of the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Wells Fargo Center on December 16, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Lakers defeated the 76ers 100-89. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 16: Joel Embiid #21, Robert Covington #33, and Ersan Ilyasova #7 of the Philadelphia 76ers walk off the court at the end of the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Wells Fargo Center on December 16, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Lakers defeated the 76ers 100-89. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

There isn’t much to talk about involving the Philadelphia 76ers. So I decided to ask for questions on Twitter. Here is what you asked me.

This is an easy question. Embiid is. He’s already the best center in the east, and if he stays healthy a potential MVP candidate. Seriously, Embiid will be in the MVP consideration if he can play around 70 games. He’s already an efficient scorer and a dominant rim protector. He’s going to be scary good next year.

I doubt it.

Embiid isn’t getting traded because I doubt anyone would be willing to meet Philadelphia’s massive asking price for him.

Covington is expiring, so the Sixers would be selling low on him. And selling low on Covington, one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA makes no sense.

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The Sixers traded up for Fultz. That tells us they view him as a potential franchise player. They’re not trading him because there isn’t anyone in the NBA that’s on the market that would be worth Fultz from Phiadelphia’s perspective. If Philadelphia wanted to do Fultz for Irving, they would’ve done it by now.

Colangelo took Simmons number one overall as well. There’s no trade I can think of at the moment that would make the Sixers seriously consider moving Simmons. He’s untouchable.

Saric is the most interesting question of the bunch. In my view he’s the least valuable of the four previous players. He isn’t dominant defensively like Embiid is. That same reason applies to Covington (Covington isn’t as good as Embiid defensively, but he’s still really good). On top of that, Covington is a better three point shooter. Ben Simmons is bascially a better version of Saric in almost every way. Lastly, Fultz has way more offensive upside than Saric due to his jumper, ball handling, and primary initiator potential.

Having said that, I don’t think Saric is going to get traded. Colangelo has a history of drafting and signing European players. And Saric still has three years left on his rookie deal. However, if one of them gets traded, it will be Saric.

Okafor isn’t going to be on the team in twelve months. He isn’t as good as Richaun Holmes. He also isn’t better than Amir Johnson. Johnson does surprisingly well with RPM. What you personally take away from this fact is up to you. Some people trust advanced stats more than others.

Okafor’s defensive and rebounding issues aren’t something that are going to be fixed anytime soon. He won’t get minutes barring injury.

That’s a good question. As long as Embiid is healthy, I don’t think it’ll take very long. Redick is a really good veteran. It shouldn’t take too long for him to get acclimated to his new team. Covington is going to continue to dominate defensively, and he has been here for a while now so he doesn’t need to adjust. Embiid will play like the cornerstone player we all know he is.

Must Read: Inept East proving to be double-edged sword for the Sixers

I think the big question for the Philadelphia 76ers is how good Fultz and Simmons will be this year. Most rookies tend to struggle, so I don’t think they’ll be above average players this year. Hopefully, they’ll be able to take a bit of a backseat in terms of usage so they aren’t forced to do too much. Fultz and Simmons won’t be the number one option on the team. They may not even be the number two option offensively depending on how well Redick starts the year.

Very productive. The bench is deep. McConell and Bayless will contribute. Stauskas was really good off of the bench last year. Holmes and Johnson should be productive bigs off of the bench. Saric will be able to run the second unit. Those are five guys that should contribute to a winning team. My starting five off of the bench would be this.

  • PG: McConnell
  • SG: Bayless
  • SF: Anderson
  • PF: Saric
  • C: Holmes

Keep in mind that this lineup probably won’t be seen often, if ever. I doubt all five starters will all be out of the game for extended stretches.

As for Korkmaz? I doubt he plays this year. The team is deep and Korkmaz still struggles to defend. He is a long term project.

Anderson will. He’s older, has more NBA experience, and is a lot stronger than Korkmaz. Korkmaz has a nice jumper but I suspect it’ll take him a few months at least to adjust to the NBA three point line.

If you want more on Anderson and Korkmaz, I wrote about them here and here.

Next: If healthy, the Sixers should win 54.7 games

That concludes today’s mailbag. Thanks for all of the questions.