Philadelphia 76ers: 3 trades team should make before deadline

1. Miami Heat

Ultimately, the Miami Heat would be landing their man. After seemingly being at the forefront in the pursuit of Jimmy Butler’s services earlier this season, this deal would seal the Heat’s search for a star, while representing a solid saving of face for the Sixers.

After doing a featured article on Embiid last season, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN recently met up with Embiid for the first time since last season, and was somewhat taken aback by the indirect feedback as it related to Butler’s tenure with the Sixers:

"“A lot has happened since the spring, so it was ‘How are you doin’, how’s it going with Jimmy?’ Let’s put it this way, it didn’t take long for me to find out that things aren’t going as well with Jimmy, and that not only have they not been going that well….we’d gotten various descriptions of this – one person said it [Butler’s confrontation with coach Brown] was very unprofessional, another said it was much more than a typical player-coach disagreement.”"

Given Butler has had acrimonious departures from his previous stops in the league, the Sixers would clearly not be alone in moving on from Butler, despite how this may look from the outside. With this in mind, Shelburne added that it may in fact be in the Sixers’ best interests to give serious consideration to trading Butler, even providing examples of why this is the case:

"“We’ve seen franchises that saw certain problems right away and hoped they got better. I’ll go back to the Lakers and Dwight Howard. The reasons why Dwight Howard left Los Angeles were evident well before the trade deadline, and they just chose to ignore them. They just chose ‘Oh, he really wouldn’t leave us, would he?'”"

Finally, Shelburne finished by stating:

"“I would say the most likely thing is that Jimmy does not sign long-term in Philadelphia.”"

Bearing all that in mind, here’s the outline of the proposed deal:

Given the relative uncertainty of Butler re-signing, and the already documented problems since his arrival, cutting bait as soon as possible makes sense moving forward.

In Josh Richardson, the Sixers would receive a two-way swingman currently enjoying the best season of his career. While he has cooled off in recent weeks, the 25-year-old Richardson is averaging 17.7 points, 4.0 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game while shooting at a 37.2 percent clip form long distance on 6.6 attempts per game.

This features a red-hot start to the season, in which the fourth-year star averaged 20.5 points over the first 21 games, and now overall has 14 games of at least 20 points this season.

As for Kelly Olynyk, the Sixers’ relative lack of depth in the frontcourt means his arrival would address a significant area of need. Due to the Heat’s crowded frontcourt, Olynyk’s playing time has dropped this season.

However, when given an extended run, the Canadian native has delivered. This season, the Heat are 5-1 when he plays at least 29 minutes, with Olynyk being a +57 during this span. As a seven-footer with the ability to face up and stretch the floor, Olynyk’s unique skill-set would be a terrific complement both alongside Embiid and in a reserve role.

Ultimately for the Heat, landing Butler would provide team president Pat Riley with the legitimate star he has long desired since the breakup of the Big 3. While his contract extension would naturally be costly, the Heat are one of very few franchises in the league who would take a risk on Butler considering the issues that have followed him in his last few stops.

If all three of these trades were to take place, the Sixers would have a rotation consisting of the following:

Starters:

• G – Ben Simmons
• G – J.J. Redick
• F – Josh Richardson
• F – Kelly Olynyk
• C – Joel Embiid

Reserves: 

• G – Jeremy Lamb
• G/F – Terrence Ross
• F – Wilson Chandler
• G – T.J. McConnell
• G – Landry Shamet
• C – Amir Johnson

Overall, these proposed deal certainly provide the Sixers with a deeper roster, while also providing significant flexibility for next summer in their search for potential free agents.