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)
NBA Draft
June 20, 2019: Selected Ty Jerome (1st round, 24th pick), Carsen Edwards (2nd round, 33rd pick), Bruno Fernando (2nd round, 34th pick), Admiral Schofield (2nd round, 42nd pick) and Marial Shayok (2nd round, 54th pick) in the 2019 NBA Draft.
June 21: Traded Carsen Edwards and Ty Jerome to the Boston Celtics for Matisse Thybulle; traded Admiral Schofield and Jonathon Simmons to the Washington Wizards for $2M.
What we thought then: Disappointing!
The 76ers had five draft picks to start the night but ended up with just two players: Matisse Thybulle and Marial Shayok.
Although our own Christopher Kline gave the Thybulle pick a B+, to many it seemed like a regurgitation of the Zhaire Smith selection of the year before, another player with a reputation as a defensive standout who contributed little on the offensive end. The fact Brand had to ship the hated Boston Celtics a high second round pick (more on that later) so they did not poach Thybulle steamed fans.
What infuriated the Sixers fans the most in the draft was that the Celtics took the second rounder Brand gave them and, right before the Sixers selected, took Carsen Edwards, an electric scorer out of Purdue. With the Sixers bench producing little offense the previous season, many saw him as someone to give it some punch. The fact the hated Celtics got him with the 76ers pick made it even tougher to take.
Shayok was an afterthought. The 54th overall pick, he had been a role player at Virginia before transferring to Iowa State for his senior year, where he led them in scoring (18.7 points per game.).
The fact a couple of the second-rounders were sold also did not endear fans to what occurred on draft night. It might have enriched Josh Harris’ bank account but, for a team that had struggled with a weak bench all season, it seemed counterproductive.
What we think now: Love It!
Thybulle has been a revelation. Sixers fandom was enraged that Thybulle did not make the Rising Stars Game during All-Star Weekend.
The 6-foot-5 rookie is not a good defensive player but an incredible one.
Despite not knowing the moves of those he was guarding, Thybulle actually led the entire NBA in steals for the first couple of weeks of the season, an amazing accomplishment for a non-starting rookie.
Thybulle’s offense is still a work in progress. He started off with a hot hand, shooting over 40 percent on three-pointers, but after coming back from an injury, cooled off a bit. He currently is shooting from beyond-the-arc 35.3 percent, which is about the league average.
No one even talks about the trade anymore (except for unhappy Celtics fan Bill Simmons) as the two players Boston received spent most of this season in the G-League.
To get a transformational defensive player with the No. 20 pick is a definite kudo for Brand.
The other draftee, Shayok, also did much better than expected. The 6-foot-5 wing was able to transfer his offensive skills to the G-League and averaged 22.4 points per game for the Delaware Blue Coats. The G-League is not the NBA, but it is a lot better than the Big 12 Conference.
The Sixer Sense’s Lucas Johnson thinks Shayok has earned a full NBA contract with his play in Delaware. Unfortunately, with a team on a title chase, he did not get much run with the 76ers, appearing in only two games.
Shayok finished as the highest ranked player in the entire G-League. To have the 54th pick receive that honor, is another a big positive for the Sixers organization.
RE-GRADE:
- Thybulle: A+
- Shayok: A+
Bye Bye Butler
July 6, 2019: Signed Jimmy Butler as a free agent.
July 6: As part of a four-team trade, the Philadelphia 76ers traded Jimmy Butler to the Miami Heat; the Philadelphia 76ers traded Mathias Lessort to the Los Angeles Clippers; the Los Angeles Clippers traded cash to the Miami Heat; the Miami Heat traded a 2023 first-round draft pick to the Los Angeles Clippers; the Miami Heat traded Josh Richardson to the Philadelphia 76ers.
The cry among most fans was ‘Run it back’ after coming so close in the 2019 playoffs. A lucky shot and Embiid’s bad tummy, many thought, ,were the only things that stopped the Sixers from winning the NBA championship.
Bring back all the starters, add some necessities (like a backup center) and go plan that parade down Broad Street.
However, that dream ended when Jimmy Butler was shipped to the Miami Heat. As part of a four-team trade, the Sixers got Josh Richardson from the Heat.
Richardson, like Butler, a 6-foot-5ish wing, is younger, and had a much cheaper contract than Butler would have cost. He just was not as good.
What we thought then: Great for Miami, Sixers not ideal.
Considering his contract demands and the fact he was a 30-year-old with lots of wear and tear, some thought it was a great move by Brand to pick up a promising young player (on a cheap contract!) for a guy headed out the door.
Miami was doing backflips over the deal. With Dwanye Wade retiring and coming off a season they did not make the playoffs, to land a new superstar in Butler was greeted with cheers when he announced he would be taking his talents to South Beach.
Why Butler and the Sixers could not get together on a contract is, to this day, a mystery. No one on the outside even knows if he was really offered a max contract. Some national sources say yes, others no.
Simply put, Richardson is a nice player and as Lucas Johnson put it, a ‘very good consolation prize‘ for a guy who was not staying, so it was thought to be a B+ to A- move at the time.
What we think now: Short term mistake, long term good deal.
If you are talking purely would the 76ers be a better team this season if they had Jimmy Butler instead of Josh Richardson, the answer is a resounding yes.
No one has stepped up to be the closer, the role Butler performed in the fourth quarter. The Sixers offense at crunch time is: look for Embiid (if healthy enough to play) or pass the ball around aimlessly hoping someone gets open. Butler being able to take over a game would be missed even more in the playoffs.
Butler’s close relationship with Embiid might have helped him out of his early funk as well. Butler is certainly not afraid to call out teammates who he feels are not giving it their all. In a Sixers locker room that appears leaderless, he might have helped.
Of course Butler was not exactly buddy-buddy with coach Brett Brown, so who knows how that dynamic would have worked out.
Miami has been the surprise team of the East. At the lockdown they are in fourth place, ahead of the 76ers, even though outside of Butler and all-star center Bam Adebayo, the team is composed of mostly ex-G-League players and rookies.
Richardson is what coach Brett Brown calls ‘the glue’ of the team. He has had some injury problems and, like most players when they arrive in Philly, is not shooting as well as he did in his previous stop. However, he plays good defense, can be used at multiple positions and is a good locker room guy who has tried to fill the leadership void.
Richardson is certainly a ‘nice’ addition, but he is not Jimmy Butler. If you are looking solely at the Sixers having the best possible chance to win the NBA title this year, the trade was a mistake for Philly.
Now long-term, Richardson is three years younger so who ‘won’ this trade could change in the future. In a couple of years, Butler’s might be in decline and the Heat are stuck with his huge contract, while Richardson would be in his prime.
Also, while thinks are honky-dorry down in Miami right now, Butler tends to wear out his welcome after a few years, if past history is any indication.
RE-GRADE: D (could become a B by 2022)
Free agent day
July 10, 2019: Signed Al Horford as a free agent; signed Tobias Harris as a free agent; signed Mike Scott as a free agent.
While the draft is always a crapshoot and the Butler situation was kind of sideways, free agency is a good way to evaluate the skill of a front office.
Officially, all three of the Sixers major free agents signed on the same day. Basically, good, bad and townspeople with torches ready to burn the place down.
What we thought then: When’s the parade?
Even though he cost $96 million (and as high as $109 million with incentives) for four years, most people were thrilled with the Horford signing. Not only did it hurt a major rival, the hated Celtics, but also removed one of Embiid’s toughest defenders.
It also meant the 76ers would not completely fall apart when Embiid was not playing. Brand did not forget that in Game 7 against Toronto. The Sixers outscored them by 12 points when Embiid was on the floor. For the mere 96 seconds that Greg Monroe was in the post, the Raptors beat them by 12.
With Horford in the fold, the Sixers now had a five-time all-star to play the post when Embiid was out. Horford would spend time at power forward until sliding over to center to spell Embiid. He also was known as a total professional and would be a great influence in the locker room.
It seemed a great situation, and it also screwed the hated Celtics.
Some people questioned the offensive fit, giving that much money to a 33-year-old who had some knee problems the past year, but they were quickly shooshed.
To re-sign Harris was not controversial. To re-sign a guy who has never made an all-star team to an almost max five-year, $180 million contract did raise a few eyebrows.
When Butler left, Harris and his agent (his dad, who did a good job obviously) knew they had the 76ers over a barrel. To have given up so many hard-earned (by Sam Hinkie) assets and have both Butler and Harris leave after playing less than a year would have left egg on Brand’s face.
The fact Harris (like all new players under Brett Brown) did not shoot as well as he did with the Clippers did not help justify his big paycheck with the public. His dreadful shooting performance in Game 4 against Toronto stuck in a lot of fans craw. If the Sixers win that game, there likely is no Game 7 for Kawhi to be the hero in.
Was Harris a max contract-level player? Probably not but he most likely was in the next tier below.
As an unrestricted free agent, rumors were flying he was looking to go to his home area Nets or Knicks. The Nets ended up getting Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, so Harris might not have ended up there, but the Knicks, who bombed out on every big free agent, would have dumped a truckload of money on Harris’ Tarrytown doorstep.
The bottom line is, if the Sixers had not overpaid Harris, some other team would have.
The re-signing of Mike Scott was a popular choice.
Coming over in the Harris trade, Scott bonded quickly with the Philadelphia fans. His physical, take-no-prisoners attitude fit in well with the blue collar town.
The fact Scott and James Ennis were the only substitutes who did not completely embarrass themselves in the playoffs also gave people a warm, fuzzy feeling about his return.
Scott made it clear at the end of the season he wanted to come back. He said at his meeting with Elton Brand he told him flat out he wanted to come back.
Scott, and the Hive, were pleased when he signed a two-year, $9.8 million contract. Fans also liked when he said they should boo Jimmy Butler. The fact Brand used the ‘room exception’ on Scott, a career 7.0 point scorer, and tripled his salary was little mentioned in all the hoopla of early July.
With the prospect of a starting lineup of Embiid, Simmons, Horford, Richardson and Harris, with Scott coming off the bench, former Sixers great Charles Barkley summed up the feeling of fans at that time:
“The Sixers have everything,” said Barkley as he predicted a championship, according to the Inquirer’s Keith Pompey. ”
What we think now: Yikes!.
The Horford signing has not been an unmitigated disaster, merely a catastrophe. He has never fit in with the rest of the starting offense (the word clunky frequently used) and his defense has not been on a par with his past. Even when Embiid was out he played just okay, not at his old All-Star level.
It got so bad that Brett Brown had to pull him from the starting lineup briefly, not a good sign for someone you just signed for four years and a lot of money. Trade rumors erupted in the media about unloading Horford in the offseason, although the Sixers reportedly rebuffed teams that inquired about him at the trade deadline.
So, the situation with Horford is …. not ideal.
Harris has been pretty much as advertised, not an All-Star but pretty close. For those who expected his game would improve because he was being paid more money, it does not work that way.
His defense as a small forward has been better than expected. He raised his three-point shooting percentage from 32.6 percent last year with the Sixers to a more acceptable 36.2 percent, which is close to his career average (although not as good as the 42.6 percent shooting he had with Clippers last season).
Should Harris be tied for the 10th highest salary in the NBA strictly on merit? Maybe not, but he is a player who certainly could be a piece of a championship team. Harris was an above average player this season, but not at a max contract level.
(Warning: Members of the Hive should skip to the next page)
Maybe the most disastrous of the three signings has been Scott. It is not just that Scott has been pretty awful for most of the season, but it is a big fail on Brand’s part for using the Room Exception to sign him.
Scott made $1.5 million in 2018-19 in a contract he negotiated with the Clippers. Did Brand think someone would outbid them for a 31-year-old journeyman? Great guy, good teammate, great with fans and as a player helpful when he can shoot threes, but not for a two-year deal worth almost $10 million.
The 76ers might have been able to get a nice point guard or a dead-on shooter with the Room Exception slot. James Ennis signed for the minimum to be part of the Sixers again, no reason Scott could not have done same.
In a way, this decision might have bitten the 76ers in the rear just as badly as the Horford signing, as it stopped them from getting an impact player. Hey, not Scott’s fault, they showed him the money and he signed. Who wouldn’t? This was a major fail by the organization.
RE-GRADE:
- Horford: D
- Harris: B
- Scott: F+
The rest of the story
July 11, 2019: Signed Kyle O’Quinn, James Ennis and signed Raul Neto as a free agent.
July 26: Signed Furkan Korkmaz as a free agent.
July 30: Signed Trey Burke as a free agent.
After giving big contracts to Tobias Harris and Al Horford, the 76ers were over the salary cap. With its only cap exception already given to Mike Scott, all the Sixers could offer were minimum contracts to fill out its roster.
This is the spot where a team’s pro scouting department is tested. This is where you are looking for diamonds in the rough, or players overlooked that you pounce on to sign.
In grading this group, one needs to remember they are all getting paid the bare minimum allowed by the NBA.
What we thought then: Good job! (except for Korkmaz)
The Sixers actually had five centers its roster in 2018-19 but four of them were so bad they were a total disaster when they came on the floor in the playoffs.
Brand knew he needed more help at center than just Embiid and Horford, Signing the veteran O’Quinn was universally praised. A good, solid signing. he had played well against the 76ers when he was with the Knicks.
On nights when Embiid would be unavailable, he could backup Horford. O’Quinn always hustled, knew how to hit the boards and was a surprisingly good passer.
He is also be fun at Bar Mitzvahs.
Ennis had turned into a key player during the 76ers playoff run. He was a wing and a decent defensive player, which was a huge upgrade compared to what else Brown had to turn to. He also endeared himself to fans by always hustling, getting some offensive boards despite being only 6-6 you normally would not expect.
He was so excited to be on a team he thought was going to ‘cakewalk to the NBA finals’, Ennis accepted less money to return to the Sixers.
With the fan-favorite T.J. McConnell leaving for Indiana, the Sixers were in desperate need of a backup point guard. The need was filled with signing of Raul Neto.
More from Sixers News
- 3 Sixers players who could help Team USA Basketball
- 76ers 2k24 ratings: 3 most underrated players on Philadelphia roster
- 76ers head coach Nick Nurse bares lofty plans for Paul Reed this season
- Grade the Trade: 76ers swap Tobias Harris for superstar PG in mock deal
- Breaking Down Bombshell Report on Sixers Star James Harden
One of those heady international players, the 6-1 Neto’s durability was the major issue brought up at his signing. Since his rookie year, he had never played more than 41 games in a season. Last summer he worked out at a gym in Los Angeles rather than go home to his native Brazil to work on his body.
Several times Neto had worked his way into the starting lineup with the Utah Jazz, only to be sidelined by injury.
As a depth piece at point guard, Brand’s final move in the off-season was signing Trey Burke, a former College Player of the Year who had been compared to Allen Iverson.
Many fans considered getting Burke a major steal. He had always been able to create offense for himself, something in very short supply with his new teammates. He had scored 41 points in a game and just the previous year torched the Celtics for 29 points in a Knicks upset.
His defense had always been questioned but, with with so many defensive stalwarts on the team, it looked like a smart move for the Sixers, not only for this season but, possibly, the future.
Now, there was one move that Brand made for which he was universally lambasted: bringing Furkan Korkmaz back.
One of Brand’s first moves as GM was to decline Korkmaz’s option for the 2019-20 season. He had shown, to that point, to be a three-point shooting specialist who was not good at making three-pointers. Additionally, on a team of horrific wing defenders, he was one of the worst.
There were some people (including this author) who thought Korkmaz’s meager $2.03 option was worth the gamble, considering he was only 22 and had played well in international competition.
But the rest of the NBA pretty much agreed with the Sixers. With no one really interested, it looked like Korkmaz was heading back to Turkey to play. Only when the Sixers lost out on the Kyle Korver derby was Korkmaz signed.
But most thought that bringing him back was pretty dumb.
The moves were graded a B or A at the time (with some thinking Burke was an A+ in terms of value) except for Korkmaz, which was a D at best.
What we think now: The opposite.
So far it has been completely the reverse of the summer evaluations. Neto, O’Quinn and Burke (released in February) have been a big pile of nothing while Korkmaz has emerged as a major contributor and even a part-time starter.
O’Quinn has got himself buried deep in Brett Brown’s doghouse.
After starting out as the the third-string center (backup when Embiid out) to start the season, he has slid down to fifth on the depth chart with the promotion of Norvel Pelle from the G-League and, right before the shutdown, Brown going to Mike Scott as a small-ball center.
Neto’s problem has not been health but consistency. In 20 minutes against the Warriors on January 20 he scored 19 points, 13 in the second period alone. He looked so good Ben Simmons told Brown not to sub for him. Two nights later, at Atlanta (a team not exactly known for its defense), Neto again played 20 minutes but scored zero points.
With Neto such a wild card, Brown had been using Josh Richardson and Alec Burks as the backup point going into the lockdown (to middling effect).
Burke had a two-week period playing alongside Simmons that the people who thought so highly of him looked to be right. Luckily for him, those two weeks included Jan. 7, when his contract needed to be guaranteed for the rest of the season (which Brand did).
It what can only be explained as an odd disconnect between Brown and Brand, after having his salary guaranteed, Burke played in only six more games before being waived to make room in the Alec Burks/Glenn Robinson trade.
On the other hand, Korkmaz has been marvelous. His defense is … improved and he is knocking down three-pointers like he always was supposed to. He is shooting almost 40 percent from beyond the arc this season after being a mere 32 percent for his career going in.
Korkmaz’s dramatic three-pointer to win at Portland was one of the 76ers biggest wins.
Now, praise is heaped on Brand for the fact that the Sixers have him on a cheap two-year deal as he has been for most of the season the team’s only fairly reliable outside shooter.
RE-GRADE:
- O’Quinn: D
- Neto: C-
- Burke: D
- Korkmaz: A
Overall
It was not just fans that were excited by the Elton Brand’s first offseason as head of the 76ers organization.
Basketball Insiders gave their summer moves a ’B+’ while the Bleacher Report gave them a ‘B’. People in general thought it was a good summer, maybe a bit too much money to Harris and Horford, and losing JJ Redick was not ideal, but definitely considered a good rookie effort by Brand.
Even the computers liked the team the 76ers had built. Nationally known site 538 gave them a 27% chance at winning the NBA title, the highest of any team.
Outside of the Korkmaz signing, there was no moves made that were universally panned.
What people think now: Need a tailor, bad fit
Outside of Korkmaz, no one who was brought in or re-signed over the summer could you say is playing above their contract.
The fit for this roster can be best called ‘clunky’. Embiid, Simmons and Horford have shown so far no capacity to play together. Horford has not looked that hot overall, sometimes appearing to be a player whose gas tank is empty.
Defensively, the team is indeed much improved, particularly from the human turnstiles of last year. However, the Sixers are just eighth in the NBA in team defense. That is good, but when you bank on being an elite defense to succeed, not good enough.
Offensively, the Sixers did not take into account that four of its five starters were not good outside shooters, making the loss of Redick feel even bigger. Their bench did not help as no one outside of Korkmaz could make a ‘3’ consistently.
Since this team is supposed to be built for the playoffs (whenever and wherever they are) the final grades can not be etched in stone.
But right now the 76ers are No. 6 in the East after finishing third the past two seasons. Was Elton Brand’s first offseason a disaster? Not at all. But it also looks like it has not set them up for a championship run.