Sixers mailbag: Brett Brown shouldn’t be on the hot seat

We’re just over a quarter of the way through the NBA season and the Philadelphia 76ers are sitting at an even 13-13. Here are the questions fans want answered.

Last night was a bad night for Philadelphia sports. After weeks of Eagles dominance and a red-hot Sixers team, Carson Wentz went down with a torn ACL while those very same Sixers dropped their fourth straight game. It wasn’t a fun night, and all we here at TSS can do is send prayers and positive thoughts in Wentz’s direction — he’s a special talent who, without doubt, should come back even stronger next season.

The Sixers’ struggles have been an interesting case. Injuries and a tough schedule have finally caught up to them, and something has clearly been missing from the team over the past week or so (aside from, you know, Joel Embiid). Their shooting is down, their defense has infinitely more holes and opposing teams continue to prey on their lack of experience late in games.

With that said, 13-13 isn’t the worst place to be. The schedule is going to get easier, and experience is only gained through more games played. Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are still special, and the latter sat out during the Sixers’ last two lossses — both of which were close games on back-to-back nights, I might add.

We got some questions that fans had about the team, directly from Twitter. Here’s what you guys wanted to know:

Should Brett Brown be fired?

The answer here is a resounding N-O.

It feels like we’ve been saying this forever, but it still holds true to this day: Brett Brown needs more time. A tough schedule and lots of new faces means close games are inherently difficult for the Sixers, regardless of how well certain plays are drawn up on the sidelines. It’s execution more than raw strategy that needs to get better, and Brown deserves time to work through that.

We also need to remember everything he has gone through to get here. He endured five years of all-out rebuilding with countless G-League talents populating his roster and little shot at actually competing for a playoff spot. His rosters have always been flawed, and it’s tough to lob unreasonable expectations at him the first year he has real talent that makes sense in an actual NBA scheme.

Aside from the Suns and Lakers game, in which the Sixers let their foot off the proverbial gas pedal a bit too much, Brown has always had this team playing with an impressive amount of effort. Even during the Process years, Philly teams gutted out each and every possession — and that has often been the case this season.

Injuries have also stripped the rotation of all it’s depth, which puts Brown in an even tougher spot. He never wanted to play Furkan Korkmaz and J.J. Redick is the same lineup, I promise you. His options are running dry.

Give the man time and take into account the circumstances under which he’s operating before you make irrational calls for his firing.

Who should the Sixers target at the deadline?

At this point in both the season and the Sixers’ development, it’s easier to gauge who the team should get rid of than who they should target. Obviously, any time you can get a younger asset or draft pick for an expiring and/or veteran contract, there’s reason to consider it.

That’s where Jerryd Bayless and Amir Johnson come to mind.

Bayless isn’t an expiring contract, but perhaps a more established competitor could be looking to add some perimeter depth that can shoot the ball and occasionally act as a the facilitator. Bayless has played some awful basketball as of late, but we’ve seen him produce at a high level elsewhere — most recently in Milwaukee.

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If a team like Cleveland is looking to sure up their backcourt reserves beyond Jose Calderon and an injured Derrick Rose, maybe they take a swing if the financial aspects work out right. Something along those lines is possible. The fact that Bayless has another two years and $18 million left might scare off some teams, though.

Johnson’s contract is expiring, which makes his more appealing. It’s essentially an $11 million trade chip that can be cleared off the books next summer, whether it be opening up space for a rebuilding team or giving a competitor more room to sign a big-name free agent. Teams like expiring contracts, and Johnson hasn’t exactly looked better than Richaun Holmes and Trevor Booker recently.

I don’t see a deal with Cleveland getting done, but Cedi Osman is a personal favorite of mine when it comes to under-the-radar prospects who could be snagged for relatively cheap. Phoenix has some previously high-level prospects like Marquese Chriss who could benefit from a new home as well, with several similar situations elsewhere around the league.

Is Markelle Fultz back to normal?

At this point, we don’t really know where Fultz’s shot is at. Unless you’re in the training facility daily, there isn’t anybody outside of the coaching and training staff with intimate knowledge of how Fultz’s shot is progressing.

We do, however, know that the pain and muscular imbalance in his shoulder is gone. That means, assuming there aren’t any setbacks, he should be fully capable of returing to the form we saw at Washington — a form that was obviously extremely effective.

Even without a jumper, Fultz showed some promising stuff during the preseason and during his first four games. His crafty ball handling allowed him to get into the lane at will, even without posing any sort of threat from deep. That ability to get penetration, as well as the vision he showed as a playmaker, should allow him to be a productive NBA player in some capacity — regardless of how often his jumper is falling.

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Fultz’s dribble pull-up game was what took his game to the next level in college, though, and it could add a different dynamic that the Sixers’ offense desperately needs. They don’t have anyone outside of Simmons, Embiid and T.J. McConnell who can create their own offense, and McConnell isn’t much of a shot-creator himself.

If Fultz can consistently knock down threes and pose a viable threat at all three levels, he could help elevate Brett Brown’s offense in a way even Ben Simmons can’t. When he’ll get to that point, we don’t exactly know.

What’s going on with Jerryd Bayless?

Bayless did miss six games with a wrist injury, which has seemingly correlated with his decline afterwards. If that’s the case, perhaps giving him some more time to recover would benefit both him and the team considering how poorly he has played recently.

If his wrist isn’t bothering him, then it’s time for the front office to make a serious push on the trade market. Bayless’ contract might not be that appealing since it won’t expire this summer, but again, it wouldn’t be surprising if a more established contender in need of perimeter depth was willing to kick the tires.

In terms of what the Sixers can do while he’s actually in the rotation, that’s more tricky. T.J. McConnell’s eventual return should allow Brown to avoid Bayless as the primary creator altogether, but that won’t solve the latter’s shooting woes. He just hasn’t been hitting shots lately, which is a problem considering his shot is what got him $27 million over three years.

Bayless is struggling defensively as well. He’s undersized in most matchups nowadays, and doesn’t have the athleticism to keep up more more explosive individuals. He’s simply an all-around weakness, and the Sixers need to a) look at resting him as I mentioned above or b) look for a way to replace at least some of his minutes.

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Ideally, Fultz’s return provides another option if Bayless can’t turn things around.