The first moves
All trade information is courtesy Basketball-Reference.com
Colangelo’s first official trade as Sixers GM came on JULY 15, 2016 when he traded Process favorite Chukwudiebere “Chu Chu’ Maduabum to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Sasha Kaun and cash considerations.
Grade: Incomplete. Neither helped either team.
AUGUST 26, 2016: Traded Kendall Marshall to the Utah Jazz for Tibor Pleiss, a 2017 2nd round draft pick (Jonah Bolden was later selected) and a 2017 2nd round draft pick (Alpha Kaba was later selected).
Grade: B-. Marshall was disgruntled (or at least his father was) due to lack of playing time. Pliess never did anything but the Sixers got a draft pick who became Jonah Bolden, at least a promising player for the future.
NOVEMBER 1, 2016: Traded Jerami Grant to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Ersan Ilyasova and a 2020 1st round draft pick. (2020 1st-Rd pick is Top-20 protected & turns into 2022 & 2023 2nd-rd picks if not conveyed)
linked to…
FEBRUARY 22, 2017: Traded Ersan Ilyasova and a 2017 2nd round draft pick (Alpha Kaba was later selected) to the Atlanta Hawks for Tiago Splitter, a 2017 2nd round draft pick (Sterling Brown was later selected) and a 2017 2nd round draft pick (Mathias Lessort was later selected).
Grade: D. A hyper-athletic defensive-oriented power forward/small-ball center was not needed by the Sixers, according to Colangelo, as he traded Grant to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Ilyasova and a top-20 protected first round pick.
While Grant is now firmly established as a starter for the Thunder, the trade could have been graded a wash as Ilyasova fit perfectly with Embiid as a power forward with his outside shooting and defensive guile.
However, Colangelo proceeded to screw it up. Ilyasova wanted a multi-year deal and Colangelo would not give him one for cap flexibility reasons. Ilyasova was after 54 games shipped to Atlanta for what turned out to be nothing. Ilyasova would return late in 2018 after being bought out by Atlanta, not via trade.
Colangelo would later use the No. 1 pick he got from OKC for disastrous purposes.
FEBRUARY 23, 2017: Traded Nerlens Noel to the Dallas Mavericks for Justin Anderson, Andrew Bogut, a 2017 2nd round draft pick (Jawun Evans was later selected) and a 2020 2nd round draft pick. (Pick is top-18 protected in 2017 and will turn into 2 2nd-rd picks if it does not convey)
Grade D. Colangelo did not create the clogged center problem as Hinkie was the one who drafted Noel, Embiid and Jahlil Okafor, none of whom could play with each other. However, he badly overrated their value, waiting so long for a good deal he finally had to basically give away Noel to the Mavericks. The Sixers phrasing it as if they were receiving a first-round pick for Noel, although the protections made it almost impossible that would convey (it did not), upset fans as well.
Anderson was a tough cookie but ‘Simba’ was a fringe player during his brief stay with the Sixers.