Philadelphia 76ers: What are you willing to pay?

It is the day before the NBA trade deadline and we have arrived at the end of the Philadelphia 76ers‘ game of high-stakes Texas Hold-Em. It is officially time to either push in our chips and go for the big money or back away from the table and be satisfied with what we have. The Sixers’ fanbase seems very evenly divided on what they believe the team should do in the next 24 hours.

On one side we have those who believe that we are good enough right now to risk going to war with the Nets, Bucks, Heat, Lakers, Jazz, Suns, insert your favorite contender here.  On the other side we have those who see the chinks in this team’s shiny armor that are occasionally exposed and wonder why not try to improve our chances to win it all this year?  The sticking point between both groups is how much we need to give up in any potential deals.

The Philadelphia 76ers may need to sacrifice young talent in pursuit of a championship.

The main argument always seems to come back to whether or not the Sixers should be willing to trade Matisse Thybulle and/or Tyrese Maxey.  As a huge fan of Thybulle, I get it.  He is already a star on D, but merely below average on offense.  If he can just make the jump up to “above average” on O, not even great, by simply improving his ball handling and his wide-open shooting, he becomes a valuable starter on any team contending for a championship. But as much as moving him would hurt, I need to acknowledge that he is still only their seventh or eighth best player this season, so if they can get a really good starting guard that helps improve the chances of winning it all this year, it needs to be done.  It would leave a scar, but the Larry O’Brien trophy would help ease that wound.

Maxey is a whole other matter.  I like him, and he has shown flashes of brilliance, but he has also had long stretches of irrelevance and struggled to get off of Doc Rivers’ bench.  Personally, I thought his Kentucky teammate Immanuel Quickley was going to be a better pro, and so far I have seen nothing to convince me that isn’t true.  If the right deal comes along, and I mean Lowry, Brogden, or Ball, I would move Maxey without hesitation.

I have heard the fans howling about giving Maxey away, but what in the world are we talking about?  Yes, he has a great floater, attitude, and work ethic, and yes, we all saw the big game against the Nuggets.  But years ago I watched career backups Dana Barros and Willie Burton score 50+ in Sixer uniforms, and neither one was ever anything more than a decent backup. Most of you have probably never even heard of them, which is my point. The hard truth is that he will probably never be more than a nice bench player, in which case let’s move him while his trade value is still high.  I would absolutely love to be wrong and have him become a star here.  But I have seen nothing to indicate that might happen.

What is comes down to really, is are you willing to deal with the future at a later date and try to win it all right now, this season.  Joel Embiid can’t have more than 4-5 stud years left in his tank, possibly less, so shouldn’t the priority be trying to win while we still have the best big man on the planet?  What good will it be having a talented young guard in five years if he is only playing on an average team?  Windows of opportunity like this are rare, so we can’t refuse to go for the brass ring because we like a young guard who isn’t a star and may or may not be a starter in five years.

If Maxey, Danny Green, and two first-round picks gets us Kyle Lowry, Malcolm Brogdon, or my personal favorite, Lonzo Ball, then let’s go get that done.  If they want Matisse instead of Maxey, then I swallow hard, and shed a tear, but I still do it.  Because at the end of the day the goal is to win the championship.  It’s not to be fun, or to be pretty good.  We fans didn’t suffer through the tanking years for a nice run to the Eastern Conference finals.  I want to win.  If it costs us a young guard, so be it.  In case no one noticed, we have other young guards (Isaiah Joe, Shake Milton) that have bright futures.

If we can get George Hill or Delon Wright without having to give up more than second-round picks and deep bench fodder, so be it.  I don’t know how much better that makes the Sixers, but I trust the decision makers.  By 6 PM tomorrow, we will all know exactly what this team will look like going into the playoffs.  The next 24 hours are about seeing if the front office can improve this team without messing up the great chemistry that they seem to have.  It’s time for Daryl Morey and Elton Brand to make some hard decisions. How much would you be willing to pay for a parade down Broad Street?