Can the Philadelphia 76ers turn things around quickly enough?
The Philadelphia 76ers are in a bad place after being swept in their first-round matchup against the Boston Celtics. With so many things that they need to improve, one has to wonder if they can fix everything before next season.
The issues
There are so many problems that the Sixers have. It’s clear that this team has immaturity/culture issues, just look at their home versus away record. They were 31-4 for home games and 12-26 on the road. Usually, young/immature teams are the ones who struggle on the road.
Another culture issues is a lack of accountability, especially from head coach Brett Brown, in the locker room that shooting guard Josh Richardson pointed out after the series loss to the Celtics, per Keith Pompey of Philly.com. This shouldn’t be a problem for a team that has veterans like Richardson, Tobias Harris, and Al Horford, so this is clear goes back on Brown.
More from The Sixer Sense
- 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
- Sixers Podcast: Danny Green returns + James Harden bombshell
Brown appears to be out of the door after another failed playoff run. Granted the team is poorly structured and he was missing his star in Ben Simmons, but he could have done better than allowing the team to get swept.
Speaking of the poorly constructed roster and overpaying players like Harris, Horford, and to a less extent Mike Scott, there should be real questions surrounding general manager (GM) Elton Brand’s job security.
That’s a pretty long list of things that the Sixers need to fix this offseason. They need to fix the culture, hire a head coach that can reach the players, poorly constructed roster, and probably find a new GM.
Hiring a new head coach and GM would go a long way in fixing the culture of the team, but the question is can they fix all the roster problems in one offseason? It certainly won’t be easy for whoever is in charge.
Trading Horford will be difficult, last summer he signed a four-year $109 million deal. His age has caught up to him enough to where while he’s still a starter for most teams in the NBA, his contract is clearly not worth his production. It will probably take attaching a young player and/or picks to get off of his deal. Not an ideal situation for Philly to be in when trying to change the roster.
Getting off of Harris deal won’t be much easier if they decide to do so. Yes, he nearly averaged 20.0 points per game for the second straight season, but he’s not worth $180 million he was signed for and his poor playoff performance only re-inforced that.
The Sixers have some trade assets in terms of players and picks, but nothing too major that would alter the roster right away. There’s a chance that they could be stuck where they are until Horford’s and Harris’ deal are close to ending. It’s not entirely impossible that they could trade one or two of those two bad contracts this offseason, but it seems unlikely.
Most of the Philadelphia 76ers’ problems can be fixed this offseason, but fixing the roster is certainly the hardest one to pull off at this point.