Do the Philadelphia 76ers have a plan B?
So there is NBA interest in Belinelli. But how can we be sure that the Philadelphia 76ers are among them? The fact is that the Philadelphia 76ers are, for whatever the cause, a bubble team fighting for a spot in the NBA Playoffs. The delay to act has placed the team into a dangerous crossroad. Do nothing and steady-as-she-goes hoping to either make the playoffs “as is” or reload next season. Or, the team can roll the dice and gamble some lower value assets which are not believed to be integral to their overall future, and try to improve the team now.
So far, the NBA rumors suggest its more of the second.
What if efforts fail?
The fact is that many NBA teams are searching for a bargained boost to their roster for a playoff run. That automatically boosts the market value of any player fitting the description. So far, the Sixers are shopping, but each and every player on the market is set at a price of a first round pick, for a partial season.
That’s pretty expensive. So while the Sixers pursue primary targets with a higher confidence level of helping the team, there now appears to be a leaked “fallback” position.
Report: Executives around the league expect both #Hawks SG-SF Marco Belinelli and PF-SF Ersan Ilyasova to be bought out if they aren't traded, decreasing their trade value. There's a chance Belinelli could yield a 2nd rounder. He's a backup plan for #Sixers #76ers and #Pacers.
— Kyle Cohen (@kylecohenNBA) February 6, 2018
News like this leaks for one reason alone. A team or team(s) are trying to leverage a primary target asking price down. Let’s see if it works.