Philadelphia 76ers: Elton Brand is to blame for team’s issues

The Sixers don’t have the right type of role players. With the addition of Horford, the 76ers had no way of bringing back veteran Redick. Despite being a liability on defense, Redick was essential to Philly’s offensive success.

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Redick isn’t just a good 3-point shooter. He’s an elite and I dare to say that if he was in his prime today, there’s a chance he’d be an All-Star just purely base don his 3-point shooting. In just two seasons, he’s become one of the best 3-point shooters in Sixers franchise history.

That being said, his high volume shooting, as well as his off the ball movement, was essential to the 76ers success for the last two years. While Korkmaz has tried his best to fill the void, he’s nowhere near the consistent and high volume 3-point shooter Philly needs to surround Embiid and Simmons with.

This isn’t to say that Brand doesn’t have good 3-point shooters on the roster, but none of them are on the same level of Redick, or even Shamet. If Brand built the Sixers like how the Milwaukee Bucks have built around Giannis Antetokounmpo with nothing but shooters and one or two shot-creators, then Philly would be in a better place.

Not having the right supporting cast around Embiid and Simmons will make Brown’s job harder as well. Due to the lack of floor spacing, there’s only so much that Brown can do, like shift Horford to the bench. Still, without the proper personnel, that’s only a half measure to fix Philly’s problems.

If Brand would have taken the $28 million that he spent to sign Horford and re-sign Redick for the $13.5 million he signed with the Pelicans for, he still would have had $14.5 million to use on either another sharpshooter, shot creator and/or quality backup center.

It didn’t help that Brand let McConnell walk in free agency in favor of Raul Neto and Trey Burke. McConnell couldn’t space the floor and had his limitations on defense, but he was a leader off the bench and was a spark plug of energy. Obviously, losing McConnell has hurt the bench as well.

Now Simmons is injured and he might end up missing the rest of the season (hopefully not). However, if his injury to Simmons ends up being season-ending, then it gives the 76ers a mulligan for this year. Even if Philly gets bounced out in the first or second round of the playoffs, the team won’t be greatly scrutinized.

During this offseason, there need to be some changes. Moving on from Horford seems like a must at this point. Hopefully, Philly could trade him for a position of need, like another starting level point guard and/or center (preferably on a cheaper deal). Swapping him for a shot-creator or sharpshooter isn’t out of the question either. Regardless, Brand needs to correct his mistakes.

Brand has made mistakes costing the Philadelphia 76ers some nice young prospects and draft picks. It appears to have also cost the franchise a real chance to contend for a title unless something magical happens in the playoffs.