Why Bagley to Philly?
The marriage may not strike you as a good one, may strike you as redundancy, and may even hit you in the “Stop being so selfish!” perspective. Well, all or none of those may be true. The ulimate goal is to build the best team possible. So far, the Philadelphia 76ers have managed to land two consecutive top-draft picks in Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz.
Swarm and Sting
Bagley adds one more top talent. And his talents compliment that of Joel Embiid. Keep in mind that head coach Brett Brown coached a set of twin towers in David Robinson and Tim Duncan. While he has Joel Embiid gearing up for another season, the team continues to search for the other bookend. Bagley is worthy of that consideration.
Bagley brings… plenty
Building a championship roster from the rubble of a 10-72 team is not a well worn path. In fact, it’s so uncommon that few, if any, believe it to be possible. Not even the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to those depths without LeBron James. And it took the return of James, plus three of four top picks from the NBA Draft, to get Cleveland back into the hunt.
So skepticism is indeed warranted.
Perhaps that skepticism is what fuels the need for Bagley to the 76ers. You see, the team has an elite post presence, a versatile big who can run the team like a point guard, and a back court expert who can rule with or without the ball. And that may not be enough. Bagley reinforces Joel Embiid’s skillsets. While ball handling duplication complicates a team roster, post defense is a more-the-merrier type of skillset.