The Sixers have officially been eliminated in the second round for the fourth time in five years. After getting absolutely shellacked in Game 5, the Sixers came home and offered the fanbase an even more embarrassing performance to chew on for the next several months. The final score was 99-90 in Miami’s favor, but it wasn’t that close. The Sixers’ complete lack of fight and spirit was transcendently lame. A thoroughly embarrassing way to end the season .
Now, there are a plethora of questions facing the franchise ahead of yet another “pivotal” offseason (we say this after every Sixers season). Philadelphia has its sights set on a championship, but once again, Philadelphia has come up well short of a championship. This team is not built to win four seven-games series in a high-stakes environment. We’ll have to see if Daryl Morey can change that over the summer.
It’s time for the Sixers to look in the mirror and really evaluate the team. Here are the five biggest questions we’ll eventually need answers to.
Sixers’ biggest offseason questions: Will Doc Rivers return?
Doc Rivers has multiple years left on his (expensive) contract. He didn’t coach an egregiously bad postseason, the Sixers have plenty of excuses to throw out there before getting to Doc, and he’s one of the most respected names in the industry. And yet, here we are, wondering if he’ll be around next season.
I think the majority of the fanbase is ready to move on from Rivers. I’m in that camp. I don’t think he’s a particularly good coach. There are worse options out there, but Rivers is not the guy his reputation and accolades would suggest. He’s too stubborn, his teams historically crumble in big moments (gestures at Rivers’ entire tenure), and there’s simply no defensible reason for his mismanagement of the Sixers’ (admittedly poor) depth chart in advance of the postseason.
A lot of the onus for Philadelphia’s failures actually falls on Daryl Morey and the front office. You need more than four good players to win a championship, especially when your top four aren’t healthy. But Doc has not been the right fit for this team from the very jump, and it feels like a shift in leadership would do this team good.
Plus, there have been countless rumors of Doc being in consideration for the Lakers job. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Rivers has coached in LA before and he’s the type of big name the Lakers would no doubt appreciate. It feels like he might be gone, but the contract is a big factor here. Is Sixers ownership willing to eat that much money?
Sixers’ biggest offseason questions: What is Danny Green’s future?
Danny Green went down in the first quarter of Game 6 with what looked like a significant knee injury. We will have to wait on the MRI and the official diagnosis, but Green’s future is very much up in the air — not only due to health, but due to his contract.
Firstly, you just have to feel for Danny. His many shortcomings aside, he was essential to the Sixers’ playoffs run and he has now been hurt in consecutive postseasons. And, at his age, a long-term knee injury casts quite a bit of doubt over his future in the NBA. It’s really unfortunate.
For the Sixers, the question becomes: do you still pick up Green’s $10 million team option for next season, or do you let him walk into free agency (and potentially retirement). Green isn’t worth $10 million on paper, but that’s a pretty valuable expiring contract (read: trade chip) for the guy who is still your fifth best player. If Green was perfectly healthy, the Sixers would probably pick up the option without much hesitation. Now, the water is a bit murkier.
On one hand, you could still dangle Green’s expiring $10 million on the trade market even if he’s not going to play. The Sixers don’t have much financial flexibility right now, and that contract could be one of the few paths to acquiring a meaningful upgrade somewhere on the roster. On the other hand, does ownership want to shell out $10 million and the ensuing luxury tax penalty for a guy who might miss the entire season? If that’s ultimately the case, it could really test ownership’s commitment to spending big and winning games.
Any way you slice it, Green’s future is in doubt. Here’s to hoping the knee injury isn’t a serious as it looked.
Sixers’ biggest offseason questions: Have we seen the last of Tobias Harris?
Tobias Harris probably deserves better than this. More than perhaps any of Sixer, he really showed up this postseason. His effort was there every night, he brought it on both sides of the ball, and he played the best basketball of his career in the process. Harris deserves his flowers despite the disappointing finish. That said, we can’t ignore the contract. We can never ignore the dang contract.
Next season, Harris is due $37.6 million. He is due $39.2 million for the 2023-24 season. Those numbers are simply not on par with his impact. Harris was integral to the Sixers all season, but he’s not giving them enough for that price tag. And that contract in particular is why the Sixers’ financial flexibility is so limited.
Prior to the trade deadline and even after the Harden trade, we heard rumblings of Philadelphia potentially dumping Harris’ contract in the offseason. Is that still on the table? If the Sixers can dump Harris into another team’s open cap space, it would open up the opportunity to either sign another major free agent or two. Or, if the Sixers can find the right partner, they could swap Harris for lesser players on more affordable deals.
That being said, it’s really hard to get off of a contract of that magnitude. Teams aren’t going to view Harris as a positive-value contract even after his strong postseason. The Sixers would have to give up assets (on top of the two first-round picks already sent out in the Harden trade) to make a team like OKC or Detroit even consider it.
Harris’ willingness to embrace his role as a two-way, 3-and-D forward at season’s end makes him a lot more palatable to keep around. The Sixers should be content bringing Harris back if need be. But without getting rid of Harris, the Sixers can essentially rule out impact free agents or a blockbuster trade.
Sixers’ biggest offseason questions: Can Daryl Morey fill out the bench?
The Sixers’ starting five is really, really good. At least, the ‘Big Four’ is really, really good. There are valid complaints to lob at Harden, Maxey, Harris, and even Joel Embiid, but that quartet has been largely dominant when healthy and on the floor together. It’s the complete dearth of talent elsewhere on the roster that really screwed Philadelphia in the end.
With Green’s future in doubt, the need for more talent on the margins is even greater. Say what you want about the Harden trade in hindsight, but Morey’s greatest failure as Sixers GM has been his inability to effectively work the margins. The Sixers’ most reliable reserve in the playoffs was Shake Milton. I’m pretty sure Milton would straight-up not play for the teams remaining in the playoffs.
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Matisse Thybulle’s future as a viable rotation-level player in the postseason is very much up in the air. Georges Niang is great in the regular season but he’s basically done once the playoffs role around. Furkan Korkmaz isn’t reliable, and the Sixers invested two roster spots in cooked, no-longer-playable veteran centers that Doc Rivers nonetheless tried his absolute hardest to play.
If the bench doesn’t get better, it might not matter how good the Sixers’ top four is. All the contenders have reliable benches — at least one or two players who can step in and provide 15-20 quality minutes in a big game. The Sixers are basically left hoping one of Milton or Niang gets hot on a given night while ignoring the defensive end of the floor.
Morey has generally done a good job since arriving in Philadelphia. He made something out of nothing with the Al Horford contract, he flipped Ben Simmons for James Harden (the right move in the moment, even if it ages poorly), and his moves on the margins have been largely solid (Maxey at 21, Reed/Bassey/Joe in the second round, Niang on a mini contract). He was dealt an impossible hand with the Harris/Horford contract conundrum and the Sixers’ lack of flexibility, but Morey’s main selling point is his creativity. He has to figure something out, because the bench isn’t good enough.
Sixers’ biggest offseason questions: What does James Harden’s contract look like?
James Harden went AWOL in the Sixers’ Game 6 defeat. Harden has a history of postseason no-shows and his clear deterioration athletically is a real concern moving forward. The 32-year-old is due for a contract extension soon. The question is, will he sign one this summer, or will he pick up his $47.4 million player option?
There’s no bad outcome here. The Sixers are basically committed: there’s no way Harden just walks. And, he probably shouldn’t. Philadelphia is Harden’s best chance to compete right now, and for Philadelphia, Harden clearly made them a better team. We can lament his poor closing effort all we want, but the Sixers don’t get to Game 6 of round two without Harden. He’s still quite good. Should the Sixers have traded for Harden? Maybe not, but at this point, the Sixers have to see it through.
If Harden picks up his option, then it’s pretty simple. The Sixers will pay out the final year of his contract and they don’t have to worry about the extension immediately. They can wait and see where he’s at next season, and if his play deteriorates further, the Sixers can consider exploring the trade market with his (massive but movable) expiring contract.
If Harden wants an extension, then it’s a matter of how much, and for how long. Harden has stated multiple times that he is willing to take less than the supermax to help the Sixers win. Is that true? It’s an admirable notion, but most players take the money — and rightfully so. Harden has earned his respect over the years and Philadelphia would be hard-pressed to pay him far below the max, even after this postseason.
There’s some financial wiggling Morey can do to re-sign Harden and sign another max or near-max star if he manages to clear the books (meaning, he gets rid of Harris and Green). He could also re-sign Harden, dump Harris, and theoretically sign meaningfully depth pieces. But, the much likelier outcome is: Harden picks up the option/re-signs, Harris stays put, and the Sixers spend all summer working the margins.
“Run it back” is essentially what’s probably going to happen. The Sixers can run back the same core four and still hope to compete — especially if Embiid stays healthy and Harden looks better after a summer of proper training — but Morey is going to have to step up here.