Although the Philadelphia 76ers ended up losing two starters on the first night of 2019 NBA free agency, they did a great job of accounting for those losses. Here’s an analysis how we got here, and how the franchise moves forward.
Well folks, the 2019 NBA free agency period has already lived up to the hype. Even with names like Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving and many others hitting the market, no one could have expected this.
The Philadelphia 76ers had their own issues to work out — or so we thought. With three starters and essentially the entire bench hitting the open market, there was substantial reason to believe the franchise couldn’t truly “Run It Back.”
The arguments for and against doing so were both reasonable. On the one hand, the Sixers were really good with the quintet of Ben Simmons, J.J. Redick, Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid together. In 173 playoff minutes together, they blitzed teams by 26.0 points per 100 possessions.
With Redick at 6’4″ being the shortest member of that starting five, and everyone able to create his own shot, they were formidable opponents, and arguably a lucky bounce away from the Eastern Conference Finals.
An argument against keeping everyone was that the most common trends of success came with Embiid on the floor. In the 237 minutes “The Process” was on the floor against the Raptors, Philly was a cumulative +90. The only other Sixers with positive plus/minus tallies were Butler and Zhaire Smith, both under 20.
There’s a strong case that he’s truly what makes the Sixers go, and that an accumulation of elite talent isn’t going to move the needle much more. That would seem to be how the front office approached this summer, opting for fit instead of talent.
How Elton Brand and the gang approached this free agency would determine the franchise’s fate for years to come. They couldn’t afford to pay the wrong guy, even if it meant losing him (and all the assets the team traded for him) for nothing.
After an uneventful draft night, that impetus grew even stronger. You have to field a team somehow, and intentionally punting on an event that supplies you cheap labor is quite a bold move.
But it seems to have worked out. Let’s take a look at what the franchise gained and lost, and how it all fits together.