In keeping with this year’s hugely climactic lead-up to the trade deadline, the Philadelphia 76ers made sure to join the fray. After a long streak of inactivity on the market, the front office made two, quick moves to get the ball rolling, deadline two of their players to ride the wave of the many deals already finalized before the deadline.
Having said that, it would be highly disingenuous to judge the teams’ activity on a pure quantitative basis. After all, both of their moves were made to dump salary and free up cap space fo rreasons yet to be unearthed. In reality, the team has not done anything to improve their cause this season.
There is still some time left for the 76ers to make a move that would improve their prospects this season, and the market is not necessarily bereft of options for them to address their biggest roster issues. Having said that, all signs point to the front office being much more passive than everyone expected, proving that suspicions about their strategy may be rooted in truth, after all.
The 76ers may be headed to an unwanted path this season after trading Caleb Martin
It yields constructive knowledge at this point that the 76ers pulled the trigger on both Martin deals backed by the need to clinch some luxury tax savings for themselves. However, an interesting tidbit in the Caleb Martin deal only confirms what fans have been speculating about the team’s strategy moving forward.
Aside from Quentin Grimes, who has been a net positive this season thanks to his strong play for the Mavericks, his former team, Philly was able to take back its own second-round draft pick this year, which was previously conveyed to another team as part of the George Hill trade four years ago.
Magnifying the impact that this has on the short term would not do it justice, though. The 76ers seem determined to also build the roster through the draft, and having a second-round pick to utilize this year, where the draft class is perceived as a pretty talented and deep one, is good practice.
Still, a second-rounder is unlikely to be of much value unless the 76ers would be picking in the 30’s. Fortunately (or unfortunately for those who want to go all-in on this particular season), Philly is in a position to finish comfortably in the lottery.
At this point, it should not shock anyone if the Philadelphia 76ers intentionally try to remain seated where they currently are and just forsake the possibility of making the playoffs. They aren’t that healthy anyway, and are clearly parts (plurality intended) away from being a top contender in their conference alone.