Philadelphia 76ers: Did Elton Brand fleece Clippers, Celtics in trades?

Feb. 6, 2020: Tobias Harris trade

Despite the addition of Jimmy Butler, the 76ers still were not looking like title contenders, so in the wee hours before the NBA Trade deadline, Brand pulled off another whopper .

"The Sixers acquired Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanović and Mike Scott in a trade with the Clippers, sending Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala and Landry Shamet to the Clippers in the deal. Los Angeles will also receive Philadelphia’s own protected 2020 first-round pick, the Miami Heat’s unprotected 2021 first-round pick and the Detroit Pistons’ 2021 and 2023 second-round picks. — NBA.com"

The general consensus, after bleary-eyed reporters could think, since the deal occurred 2:15 AM on the east coast, was that Brand had blown it and vastly overpaid to get Harris and a couple of benchwarmers from the Clippers.

Again, the quadruple-doink comes into play. If the Sixers beat Toronto, the heap of stuff Brand gave the Clippers is inconsequential. But they did not, it was a second-round playoff exit, just like the year before.

Harris was a nice, new piece for coach Brett Brown, but Brand gave up a lot to get him … or did he?

Now that the deal is over a year old, let us look how it turned out.

First, Harris re-signed with the Sixers (albeit for a lot of money). In all likelihood, if he was not with the team last year due to the trade, he would have not chosen Philly as his destination in free agency.

At the time, the rumors were his hometown Brooklyn Nets and Knicks were going to be hot after him.

Mike Scott ended up being a valuable member of the Sixers rotation. To call the Sixers bench trash last year would have been an insult to trash. Come playoff time, Scott, along with James Ennis, were the only subs Brett Brown trusted to put in a game.

Scott has also endeared himself to the community. Of course, there is the now-famous Hive, and he was cool enough to accept a challenge from a Sixers Sense contributor to race (Scott won).

After Al Horford’s signing, Brand used the only salary exception to the cap he had to re-sign Scott.

Now, Scott has not looked so good this season. OK, he has actually been awful. With the trade deadline passed, Scott is probably safe for the rest of the season. If he can return to the 2019 playoff version of himself, Scott can contribute.

The other player thrown in the mix was 7-foot-5 center Boban Marjanovic. In the regular season he actually contributed, doing things that Ben Simmons can not do (i.e. hitting three-pointers)

His lack of foot speed caused him to mostly sit on the bench in the playoffs and he signed with Dallas in the offseason. But ‘Bobi’ was a fan favorite, and how many 76ers got to be in John Wick 3?

As for the players sent to the Clippers, Chandler and Muscala were soon sent on their way.

Landry Shamet? Yes, the Sixers could really, really, REALLY use a sharpshooter like Shamet.  But reports are the Clippers refused to do the deal unless Shamet was part of it (Were they bluffing? We will never know).

But let us also get real, Shamet is not the second coming of Ray Allen. Mostly a starter, Shamet is averaging 10.1 points and 40 percent on three-pointers alongside two players who defenses focus on in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. He is fifth in the NBA in percentage of points scored from three-point range at 70 percent.

But the role Shamet would have played on the Sixers has been taken by Furkan Korkmaz. If Shamet was still on the team, Korkmaz probably would be playing club ball in Turkey right now.

Statistically, Shamet averages seven minutes more a game than Korkmaz but he scores not many more points on average (10.1 to 9.7) and they are virtually even in shooting percentage on threes (40.0 to Korkmaz’s 39.8 percent).

Basically, Korkmaz and Shamet are a wash. (Never thought I would type this sentence a year ago).

The crown jewel of the trade was suppose to be the unprotected 2021 Miami first round pick. With the Heat floundering at the time, and looking to head south even more with the retirement of  star Dwyane Wade, Sixers fans were salivating over which big college name that pick would bring, or what current NBA star player they could get by trading it.

Of course, the Heat have completely turned things around. They even have a better record than the 76ers and have lots of young talent to surround Jimmy Butler and Andre Iguodala with.

At the time, to give the Clippers got both the Miami pick and a promising young player in Shamet, which for Harris seemed like a big overpay

Guess what? As it turns out, Brand did not give the Clippers much.

Basically, the Sixers received a borderline all-star they would never had a chance at otherwise and some subs who were helpful down the stretch for a role player (who they immediately replaced), two late first-round picks and a couple of second rounders.

So was Elton Brand fleeced or did he fleece the Clippers?

Verdict: leaning to fleece

To get a finalist for the U.S. Olympic team in return for two late first-rounders, two second rounders and a role player, that is a pretty, pretty good deal for the Sixers.

However there must be a caveat, as the Clippers were able to take the roster space and draft picks created by the trade to help them land Leonard and George in the offseason, so they were quite happy with the trade, even though they may not have gotten the haul they expected.