After coming a four-bounce shot away from a possible NBA title, the Philadelphia 76ers organization went to work over the summer of 2019 to create a team that would get over the hump and win it all. With most of the regular season to draw upon, here is a regrading of how those moves have gone.
The summer of 2019 was the first time Elton Brand had a full offseason to operate as the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers. Brand was not named the GM until September 20, 2018, long after free agency and the NBA draft, where most major moves for franchises are accomplished, had concluded.
In the previous summer, coach Brett Brown had been the interim general manager, surrounded by all the basketball operations staff hired by Bryan Colangelo (also known as Eric Jr.)
Basically, Brand replaced Brown at the top of the Sixers organizational chart. Despite the team’s awful trade record and even worse drafting under ‘Big Collar’, managing partner Josh Harris was delighted with how they had performed in the summer and gave out many promotions.
Brand did not sit around and twiddle his thumbs waiting for the next offseason. He swung big in-season trades for Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris. The Sixers pushed the eventual NBA champion Toronto Raptors to seven games but, in the end, they were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the same spot as the previous year under Colangelo.
After the infamous four-doink shot by Kawhi Leonard, Brand and the 76ers organization were officially in the off-season.
The team certainly was active during the Summer of ’19 as the 76ers went through the third major convulsion of its roster in less than a year. When the Sixers opened training camp for the 2019-20 season, the only starters who had been there last year were Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
When league play was suspended on March 11, the Sixers had a record of 39-26 (an insane 25-2 at home) and were in sixth place of a surprisingly competitive Eastern Conference. Since there is going to be a long pause, and possible season cancellation, this is a good time to look back on the moves they made in the offseason.
Was it a Summer of Blunders or a Sweet Summer of Success?
Here is a regrading of all the moves Elton Brand and his Colangelo holdovers made from the end of the 2018-19 season until the start of training camp:
(All transactions data courtesy Basketball-reference.com)