Sixers: Daryl Morey should still be aggressive at deadline

The Sixers are hanging to first place by a thread, one that may inevitably break during Joel Embiid‘s forthcoming 2-3 week absence. Even so, Philadelphia’s time is now. The roster is built to win, and Joel Embiid is in the midst of his best season to date. To not give him every chance to capitalize in the playoffs would be organizational failure.

Philadelphia’s future is unclear, but there’s no roster flexibility for Daryl Morey to work with next offseason. The Sixers will not have cap space, nor any high draft picks. With expiring contracts that look juicy on the trade market (Danny Green at ~$15 million, Mike Scott at ~$5 million) and plenty of holes to plug, Morey should still make every effort to improve the roster ahead of the March 25 deadline.

The Sixers have more room to grow. Daryl Morey should work hard to initiate that growth.

Even with Embiid set to miss time and the future of the regular season suddenly unclear, the Sixers are in position to enter the playoffs (knock on wood) with a full roster. Morey should still make trades with winning in mind. More importantly, he should make trades with building around Embiid in mind. This minor setback should not dissuade him from serious change.

The Sixers can ideally flip Green and draft capital into an upgrade on the wing — preferably one with more years on his contract. Names like Kyle Lowry and Victor Oladipo have been tossed around, and the Sixers should vigorously pursue them. If no such deals come about, however, plenty of smaller names can still vastly improve the Sixers’ immediate (and even long-term) outlook.

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Right now, the Sixers’ bench is dreadful. Don’t let a couple hot shooting nights fool you. Leaning on Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, Matisse Thybulle, Mike Scott, and Dwight Howard in the postseason is a risky bet — especially if Doc Rivers clings to his second quarter all-bench groups.

Morey should work the margins hard. There is no shortage of affordable wing and guard talent to be had — George Hill, Delon Wright, Wayne Ellington, J.J. Redick, and many more. The Sixers should have no trouble getting one or two bench players of superior talent to those currently in the rotation. Korkmaz and Scott are especially replaceable.

As for the bigger swings, still take them. Concerns of cohesiveness are, frankly, overstated. If the Sixers can add another true star to this group, it should be done in a heartbeat. The current roster is not good enough to contend at the highest level. Embiid wouldn’t get much time to learn his new star teammate, or vice versa, but talent tends to win out in the NBA. Embiid has been the best player in basketball this season, and giving him more firepower — even if that firepower is hastily assembled and not fully realized — would be better than entering the postseason with no real effort to take the next step.

Embiid’s absence is temporary, and should be treated as such. No major strategic changes should infiltrate the front office. This is Morey’s opportunity to put his stamp on the roster — to propel the Sixers from really good to possibly great. He has enough ammunition to make a real dent. He should fire away.