PHILLY SEASON REVIEW: 1ST YEAR UNDER (NEW) DIRECTION
Philadelphia, PA: Back at business after an year absent from the league, Marcos came Beck to the league after several stints, two Finals appearances and a ring with the Chicago Bulls, now to lead the Philadelphia 76ers, a franchise doomed by the fact that their GMs never sticked around or were active enough to help the great core of Jabari Parker and co to win a championship, into glory.
76ers owner Josh Harris wasn't so sure about bringing Marcos in, at first.
Talks between Josh Harris (Philly’s majority owner) and Marcos were shaky at first. Used to having lots of power and full control of the Bulls’ roster under Jerry Reinsdorf’s Bulls, Beck wanted the same level of freedom to shake things up, even if that meant dealing away most of the core responsible for the Sixers’ playoff appearances almost every season even without reliable management. Harris and the rest of Philadelphia’s owners were reluctant of how fans would react to possible Jabari Parker, Adreian Payne and Jabari Brown deals, and even top young players like Lonzo Ball and Mo Wagner were in risk of being dealt away as well. Even with fully knowledge that a transformation would happen overnight, they handled Beck a 5-year deal as the new GM of the Philadelphia 76ers. The retool was set to begin, and so it did.
HOW IT WENT LAST SEASON
After only some weeks, Philly had dealt 9 of their 12 players, cut another one, and brought in 12 new faces (11 via trade and Shelvin Mack as the first acquisition as a mid-season free agent). Old team leaders, like superstar scorer Jabari Parker and team captain Adreian Payne were moved in the very first deal as Beck set a clear direction for the franchise: not a complete rebuild, neither a retool just for retooling around different players. They wanted to get younger, deeper and wanted to build a roster capable of maximizing Lonzo Ball’s unique skillset of elite playmaking and defensive instincts.
So, after deals with the Pistons, Spurs (twice), Wolves, Pelicans (twice), Lakers (twice), Wizards, Cavaliers, Kings, here’s the full list of departures and arrivals for the Sixers since Marcos came in.
Jabari Parker headlines the list of players who left Philly
OUT:
Jabari Parker
Robert Williams
E’Twaun Moore
Damian Jones
Adreian Payne
Jabari Brown
Royce O’Neale
Festus Ezeli
Kyle Guy
2nd PHI 27’
2nd PHI 28’
IN:
Jamaal Murray
Brian Bowen
Bam Adebayo
Caleb Swanigan
Michael Gbinije
Jawun Evans
Bojan Bogdanovic
Darion Atkins
Terrence Jones
Derrick Favors
Nicolas Batum
1st CLE 28’ (top-6 protected)
The starting lineup of Ball (24), Moore (30), Parker (30), Wagner (24) and Williams (22) turned into the same Ball and Wagner + Murray (25), Bowen (20) and Adebayo (23). The bench, headlined by Payne and Brown, both already at the declining stages of their careers, was completely retooled, with Swanigan (24), Gbinije (26) and Evans (25) as the 3 mostly featured players. They even managed to add a future protected first rounder from the Cavs, but gave up on some prospects as well in Royce O’Neale and Kyle Guy, two draftees from the previous regimes.
Philly went on to make the playoffs as the 4th seed of an incredibly strong Eastern Conference. Took a while for them to figure out how to maximize the talent in this team, learn how to properly win games, and it’s possible to say they were so busy fighting for a postseason berth there was no time to try out new strategies and lineups. They ran whatever worked out first and, even though they were able to beat a strong Cleveland team in 7 games in the first round of the playoffs, they were no match for Miami’s well constructed roster and the tactical variations Silogical uses in his team.
So, Philly finishes this (half) year of the “new process” with high hopes that internal improvements and better team building around the core four (Ball, Murray, Bowen and Wagner) should be the next goal for them in order to take another step towards contention.
Lonzo Ball has been selected team captain moving forward.
The team heads into the offseason with 8 players under contract (or with RFA rights):
- PG Lonzo Ball
- PG Jawun Evans
- SG Jamaal Murray
- SF Brian Bowen
- SF Michael Gbinije
- PF Moritz Wagner
- PF Caleb Swanigan
- C Bam Adebayo
They’ll also add another projected rotation player with the number 20 pick in this year’s draft.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Will Adebayo stay or find himself a new home via Sign and Trade?
There have been many talks about Bam Adebayo joining another organization via Sign and Trade this upcoming Free Agency. As good as he is, and Philly has enough room to bring Bam and Wagner back on max deals if needed, he’s not the best fit on a team with 3 ball dominant starters (plus another one developing in Bowen and Swanigan, off the bench, also demanding touches). They are rumored to be shopping Bam to multiple teams with advanced talks, but no deal set on the table yet. Rumors point out that they are trying to move multiple future first rounders to add a second pick in this year’s draft, one labeled as a weaker one in terms of star power, but very good when it comes to rotation players that should help the team add a much needed depth.
Expect multiple rumors and reports to pop up, but not many deals to be done, though. The plan is not to change dramatically from what is currently in place, retaining the starting-4 (only replacing Adebayo for a lower usage, better defensive player) and bench pieces, while relying massively on Brian Bowen’s improvement as he enters year two in the league. It doesn’t matter who’s going to be in the roster come regular season, though, the goal is the same: win a ring for a once hopeless franchise.
2020, 2023, 2027
