Why did the Philadelphia 76ers forget to get a backup center?

The Philadelphia 76ers brainstrust in the summer apparently forgot about Joel Embiid’s long injury history. A look back at their decision to not get a high-level center to back him up when they had the opportunity.

One thing that is firmly established, in the opinion of managing owner Josh Harris and coach (and former interim GM) Brett Brown, is that the Philadelphia 76ers basketball operations staff are all great at their respective jobs, and Sixers fans should be thrilled to have such brilliant minds working on their behalf.

Here is Harris from last August to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Amy Fadool:

"“… One of the things that [former president of basketball operations] Bryan Colangelo did really well was, we built a great staff, whether it be [vice president of basketball operations and chief of staff] Ned Cohen or [vice president of analytics and strategy] Alex Rucker or [vice president of player personnel] Marc Eversley or [Delaware Blue Coats general manger] Elton Brand, we have a lot of great people."

Brown praised the staff he was given when GM Bryan Colangelo had to leave last June because of, you know.

At the end of the summer, Brown approved of the Colangelo leftovers, because they had done such a good job, getting promotions with new titles and, presumably, more money.

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These guys were so good that Harris demanded anyone coming in had to not only keep all current execs running things but the new GM would have to ‘collaborate’ with them. Which probably meant at meetings they couldn’t yell ‘Aren’t you the idiots who drafted Markelle Fultz first, what do you know!”

Brown, to his credit, never wanted the GM job and was relieved of his duties on Sept. 18 when Elton Brand took over as general manager.

This is not going to be an overall look ar the Sixers moves from June 8 to Sept. 17, when Brown was officially in charge. We will examine one aspect of his stewardship which has proven to hurt coach Brown’s stated goal of making the NBA finals.

Namely, the lack in the off-season of the Sixers landing a quality center to pair with Joel Embiid.

There a lot of nice things that can be said about Embiid, who might be the top center in the NBA. However, phrases like ‘Ironman’ and ‘durable’ have never been attached to him.

At 7-foot-2 and 270 pounds, he is a big guy who is always hustling and is willing to give up his body for the good of the team. Those qualities are admirable but it has left him with a long history of injuries, dating back to his days at the University of Kansas.

He missed his first two seasons with a broken foot and since played 31 games and 54 games in the two years he has been able to get on the court.

Embiid is a great player but to count on him being fully healthy for an entire NBA season plus playoffs is like expecting Markelle Fultz to start shooting like J.J. Redick (which some people did).

Yet, when the 76ers broke camp for the 2018-19 season, their backup center was …. Amir Johnson?

For the first 21 games, Johnson served as Embiid’s main backup before his performance put him out of the lineup. To his credit, Johnson has volunteered to play with the G-League Blue Coats to keep sharp and, as the de facto fourth-string center, he has actually done well in Embiid’s absence due to tendinitis.

Johnson at this stage of his career, is what he is, a solid veteran who physically just is not what he was. This should have been obvious from last year, when Brown benched Johnson at the end of the Boston playoff series as the Celtics athletes proved too much.

It is not like the Sixers broke the bank to bring him back. Johnson is on a veterans minimum salary, basically paid the lowest amount possible with his time (13 years) in the league. Do not feel too bad for him, as he has made $77 million in his career.

Johnson as a third-string center/mentor is not a bad idea and starting Embiid is a no-brainer. The fact there should have been someone inbetween Embiid and Johnson on the depth chart was a big Whoopsie for the Sixers front office.

The two other players on the Sixers opening day roster who were 6-foot-10 or taller included Jonah Bolden, a rookie project who did not get into the regular rotation until December 27 and is still learning the NBA game, and Mike Muscala, who is more of a stretch power forward in the mold of Ersan Ilyasova.

Brown and the rest of the Sixers basketball staff were certainly aware of Embiid’s history, Bolden’s inexperience, Muscala’s lack of bulk and Johnson’s recent struggles. The first question to be asked is: What alternatives were available to upgrade the center position at the time?

First of all, the current starting center of the No. 1 team in the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks, would have been worth a try. Brook Lopez, with his three-point shooting prowess, certainly would have been a nice pickup. He hung around unsigned for the first three weeks of free agency until the Bucks picked him up, for a figure less than Muscala is being paid.

Other centers who were unrestricted free agents last summer included DeAndre Jordan, Ed Davis, Greg Monroe, Aron Baynes, Kyle O’Quinn and, for the Process watchers, golden oldies Nerlens Noel (!!) and Jerami Grant.

There are some on that list the Sixers might have wanted no part of, and some players may have had no interest in Philly, but any one of them would have improved the roster compared to what they went to war with.

Additionally, remember that the Sixers traded for Muscala and power forward Wilson Chandler, so looking to trade for a center could have been problematic (DeWayne Dedmon?)

So let’s pretend we are a fly on the wall as the basketball wizards (hey, they did have a good draft)  running the 76ers went over team needs in their beautiful Camden facility.

One would imagine they’re thinking was like this:

Embiid had been pretty solid in terms of health the previous year. A freak collision with Fultz that gave him a broken orbit in his eye was the only reason he did not miss just a handful of games.

Johnson during the season had been acceptable, if unspectacular, and was really good for team chemistry. If he was willing to come back at a rock-bottom price, sign him.

In the playoffs, Brown had some success with a small lineup.

Muscala could certainly be used as a small-ball center as well as Dario Saric (remember him) and, maybe, even the super-athletic Bolden, if he developed, later in the year.

So, the Sixers staff figured they were OK in the middle.

Of course, things did not go like that. Johnson suddenly looked like he aged 10 years in an off-season, Muscala struggled against big centers and he was a streaky shooter, Saric was soon gone due to the Jimmy Butler trade and Bolden was simply too raw to count on.

As of March 10, the Sixers had a record of 5-7 in games Embiid did not play. Even when he is active, the Sixers suffer mightily in the 12 to 15 minutes he is not on the floor, particularly on the defensive end.

The  backup center situation had become so perilous by February that when Brand was putting together the Tobias Harris trade with the Clippers, part of his demands were that 7-5 center Boban Marjanovic be part of the deal.

“Bobi’ became an immediate fan favorite and he certainly gave the Sixers more rim protection and offense inside then they had been receiving, until he was felled by a knee injury.

However, one must wonder if Brand did not need a backup center so desperately, would the Sixers instead have gone after defensive-oriented guard Patrick Beverley from the Clippers.

Beverley’s nasty brand of defense would have been a major boost to the Sixers turnstile-like wing defenders.

Now, because of the summer miscalculation of the center position by those soon-to-be promoted 76ers executives, coach Brown and the team have suffered a double-whammy down the stretch, weakness in the middle and an inability to stop opponent’s high-scoring guards.

With Embiid and Marjanovic coming back, the Sixers center spot will, hopefully, be solidified.

But, if there had been some forward-thinking earlier by the front office, all the tough stretches with maddingly inconsistent center play could have been avoided.