Paul George made a mistake not signing with the Philadelphia 76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers were reportedly prepared to offer Paul George a max contract last summer but he never gave them the chance. After a second straight first round exit in the playoffs, did George make a mistake not listening to the SIxers?

The Philadelphia 76ers were ‘star hunting’ last summer, with plenty of money to spend on a top player who wanted to come and play with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.

Although LeBron James gave owner Joshua Harris a courtesy meeting with his agent, for non-basketball reasons he was always headed to Los Angeles.

Kawhi Leonard was available, for a high price, from the San Antonio Spurs as the disgruntled star had a year left  on his contract. When the Spurs reportedly said any deal had to involve either Simmons or Embiid, the Sixers, rightly, walked away. The Raptors swooped in and gave up their top player for Leonard and, for this year, it has worked out.

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There was only one true elite player available when free agency opened: Paul George.

He is a 6-foot-9 forward who was a member of the 2016 USA Olympic team (but did not participate due to a scary leg injury suffered in an exhibition game) and recognized as one of the top players in the league. Think Tobias Harris but better defensively and performing at a high level for longer.

In 2017, George told the Indiana Pacers that he would not re-sign with them because … well, he said he wanted to go to a team with a better chance to win a championship.  The rumor was he simply was heading to his native Los Angeles, which made the Lakers very happy.

Trying to get something for the year left on George’s contract, the Pacers traded him to Oklahoma City for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, which, contrary to belief at the time, turned out to be a pretty good haul for a player with one foot out the door.

Oklahoma City was basically taking a Hail Mary shot obtaining George. Kevin Durant had left them the year before for the exact same reason George said he left Indiana (although the Pacers never blew a 3-1 lead in the conference finals like Durant’s Thunder team).

A small market city, there was virtually no hope the Thunder had of luring a big name free agent, so they rolled the dice with George.

Now, Oklahoma City is not similar to L.A. as a town and the Thunder went down in six games to the Utah Jazz in the first round of the playoffs last year with George.

(FYI, without him, the Pacers took LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games).

So his two reasons for leaving Indiana were not satisfied in OKC. Magic Johnson in L.A. (with LeBron on his way there) and interim GM Brett Brown in Philly had lots of money and stars to surround George with.

So George obviously …. re-signed with Oklahoma City?

George never even took a meeting with any other team. When the clock turned to July 1 and the free agent signing period commenced, he announced he was signing a max contract with Oklahoma City.

George said OKC ‘checked all the boxes’ he was looking for in an organization. He and incumbent star Russell Westbrook had developed a close bond, which was also one of the top reasons George stayed.

So how about this year? Facing a weakened Portland Trail Blazers team in the first round of the playoffs, the Thunder were knocked out in five games, the series ending with Damian Lillard clowning  George.

We’re not talking about losing to a recognized powerhouse like Golden State or Houston; George’s new team can not even stay with Utah and a Portland team playing without its center.

Oh, and with Westbrook’s shooting deteriorating into Markelle Fultz territory and the team capped out, the future is not any brighter.

If George had gone with his reported first instinct and headed to the Los Angeles Lakers, well, he could have been part of that dumpster fire.

In hindsight, it is quite obvious George really, really, REALLY blew it, big time, by not signing with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Let’s say George had a moment of clarity on July 1, 2018 and slipped away from the party Westbrook was throwing him, called his agent, and told him to make a deal with Philly.

The 76ers, and the landscape of the entire NBA, would be drastically different.

George personally had a great 2018-19 season, scoring 28 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists with a gaudy 11.9 win share. He is also a standout defensive player.

If you have Paul George than there is no need to trade for Jimmy Butler. That means Robert Covington and Dario Saric are still with the team.

Brett Brown would have had a lot of possible lineup permutations, and none of them would have involved starting Fultz.

The best guess is that Brown would have kept J.J. Redick coming of the bench and George take Fultz’s spot at the shooting guard position.

The starters would have been Simmons, Embiid, George, Covington and Saric with Fultz and Redick off the bench.

There is no Wilson Chandler as that trade was predicated on the Sixers’ unused cap space they had when spurned by George and James, so the frontcourt is a little thin, but Saric can move to a small-ball center.

That starting lineup features four lockdown defenders in Covington, George, Embiid and Simmons. That pesky problem of being unable to guard athletic wings disappears.

Playing with lineups, Brown could roll out four shooters in Redick, Covington, George and Landry Shamet (no Tobi and Bobi needed either) with Embiid at times. That really make defenses pay for trying to double team the big guy.

With no pressure on him, maybe Fultz blossoms and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome does not pop up suddenly when he slides in the rotation.

With three of the top 20 players in the NBA, and not having to trade anything to get George, maybe general manager Elton Brand simply pulls some minor moves to bulk up the bench like center DeWayne Dedmon of Atlanta and three-point shooter Wayne Ellington from Miami.

The Sixers could have been one of the top two seeds in the Eastern Conference and have home court advantage for the semifinals.

For funsies, let us say Brand still pulls the trigger on trades for Butler and Tobias Harris.

The 76ers starting lineup for the playoffs would be Embiid, Simmons, George, Butler and Harris with Redick still coming off the bench. Bring on the Warriors — with Golden State as underdogs.

While the weather would not be the same as Los Angeles, particularly in the winter, Philadelphia would at least be a major city for George to live in.

So if Paul George had signed with Philadelphia this past off-season, he would have been surrounded by young stars on the ascension, in a big city and have a chance to win NBA titles for the rest of his career.

What boxes go unchecked with that?

Russell Westbrook became a great ally and the Thunder organization is well-run and trying to maximize its talent as much as possible. George decided Oklahoma City was the place to be without listening to what other team’s might offer.

However, if George had looked at the big picture, the obvious choice would have been to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers.