The Philadelphia 76ers season has had a life much like the experience of a roller coaster carriage making one of its looping, standardized trips. It’s been a thrilling ride so far, from the undefeated start and arrival of VJ Maxx (now officially coined by Tyrese Maxey), to Joel Embiid’s triumphant return-to-form after his battle back from the brink. The team sits in a better spot than most would have predicted as the new year grows distant, calling for decisions to be made about contending.
A little more than halfway through the season, the two biggest areas with room for improvement are the backup center position and the team’s three-point shooting. There are a couple of stones around the league that look like the perfect match for these two birds, if Daryl Morey has the constitution to make the throw.
A couple of stretch-fives for the 76ers
One would go so far as to say the 76ers have a Jay Huff-sized hole on their roster (7’1 with a three-point attempt rate of 64.3% and a 9.1% block percentage) but the price tag and availability of the Indiana Pacers big man may take Philadelphia out of the running. The next best thing? From Memphis by way of Australia, Jock Landale. He’s two inches shorter than Huff and a less willing deep threat, but he’s been a more efficient shooter this season and grabs a higher percentage of rebounds when on the court.
If this was the now-defunct television show Hole in the Wall, Landale might break a sweat but the odds are in his favor that he makes it through the Jay Huff-sized hole.
There are, of course, other options on the market, but Morey must tread carefully lest he find himself in a Russian nesting doll-type situation. The last thing he or anyone wants is to settle for an Adem Bona-sized solution to a Jock Landale-sized problem that was supposed to fill a Jay Huff-sized hole, which is really the answer to the Embiid-sized cavity created by his trips to the bench.
Room for error exists in the valley between Landale and Bona, as seen post hoc, so it's unlikely that Morey falls into such a trap, as experienced as he is.
Day’Ron Sharpe might just be the kind of player the 76ers need
The Brooklyn Nets have had no discernable direction as a franchise outside of a brief moment in 2021, sandwiched in the seconds between Kevin Durant making that shot in Game 7 against the Bucks and the world subsequently finding out that his toe was on the line.
Morey would be leaving money on the table if he didn’t at least pick up the phone to check in with Nets GM Sean Marks about Day’Ron Sharpe. Brooklyn’s managerial strategy with regards to its roster is so desultory, there can be no knowing if a trade is possible until it lands on Marks’ desk.
As for the merits of Sharpe as a player, his 19.9% total rebound percentage would place him in a tie for 7th among qualified players with Nikola Jokic–right behind Victor Wembanyama and ahead of Rudy Gobert.
Philly could steal Diabate from Charlotte
The Hornets are a franchise plagued with despair and regrettable decisionmaking, not too dissimilar from the Nets. This season, they are one of only seven teams that have defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, and they did so by the largest margin–27 points. At the same time, they are multiple games out of a play-in spot with a bottom-10 record in the league.
In that win over the Thunder, center Moussa Diabate was a +21 and grabbed 12 boards, six of which were on the offensive end. By the numbers, Diabate is tied with Portland's Donovan Clingan for the highest offensive rebound percentage in the NBA among qualified players at 17.2%. Offensive rebounding has never been Embiid's calling card (10.3% is the highest mark of his career), so Diabete could provide a change of pace on the offensive end in non-Embiid minutes.
Charlotte may be willing to part ways in exchange for draft compensation and some minor cap relief, which would come in the form of swapping Tre Mann’s remaining years on his contract for one of Philadelphia’s expiring contracts.