Philadelphia 76ers: Where’s the accountability for Elton Brand?

He’s the one who put together this underperforming Philadelphia 76ers team, so why does Elton Brand seem to be the only one dodging the criticism?

Given the championship-level standard set in place, all isn’t well for the Philadelphia 76ers heading into the All-Star break.

Philly currently sits just fifth in the east at 33-21 and just 5-5 over its last 10 outings. A team viewed as a legitimate contender for the conference crown, they have a bottom-third road record at 9-19 despite a sparkling 24-2 record at home.

Fingers are being pointed every which way, from Ben Simmons‘ lack of shooting to Joel Embiid‘s excess shooting to Al Horford‘s underperformance to the coaching job done by Brett Brown.

Those criticisms are legitimate, but they’re merely branches emanating from the root of Philly’s biggest issue: Its general manager and his decision-making.

However you may feel about Elton Brand‘s current tenure as the general manager of the 76ers, conservative is not something that can be attributed to his team-building approach.

For someone who hadn’t yet experienced the front office at the highest level, Brand was eager to capitalize on the championship opportunity in front of him with a young dynamic duo playing far above its experience level.

This desire served as the impetus behind deals that brought in Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris, followed by the trading of Butler for Josh Richardson and the signing of Horford.

Butler was a much-needed perimeter scoring presence while Richardson was as good a return as the Sixers were going to get for the All-Star’s services under the circumstances.

Knowing, however, the max contract it would take to re-sign him, trading for Harris last season only to implement him as a fourth and sometimes fifth option offensively seemed counterintuitive, especially at the cost of one of Philly’s only reliable 3-point shooters in Landry Shamet.

Even while averaging 19.1 points per game on 36.7 percent outside shooting, he’s not the caliber player Philly should be giving $180 million, a dollar amount that places him inside the top-20 earners in 2019-20.

Then there’s Horford, the player posting the worst PER and true-shooting numbers of his 12-year career, although that’s not completely his fault.

Brand gave Horford $100 million so Embiid wouldn’t have to go through the former All-Defensive big-man in the playoffs while serving as adequate insurance in the games Embiid was almost guaranteed to miss.

Those are about the only two reasons for Horford to be a Sixer because nothing else seems to be working in his favor. He thrived in the space of the Boston Celtics’ system, but Philly ranks just 23rd in threes attempted and 21st in makes per game.

What does it say about the Sixers’ frontcourt duo that Horford and Embiid are a minus-1.7 in over 400 minutes of action?

Brown has tried to do his best with what’s been placed at his disposal, surprisingly playing both Harris and Horford at their ideal positions for a majority of their minutes — 73 percent at power forward for Harris and 68 percent at the center spot for Horford — but to no avail.

Even with the deadline additions of Alec Burks and Glen Robinson III, the Philadelphia 76ers lack perimeter shooting, forcing Brown to stagger the minutes of his best five.

Most teams tend to employ a similar strategy to make sure at least one star remains on the court at all times. Philly seems to do it out of dire necessity to ensure each player can play to their strengths.

The starting five of Simmons, Richardson, Harris, Horford and Embiid have an impressive net rating of +8.3, 10th-best among five-man lineups in the league. But while their defensive rating of 97.1 would rank No. 1 in the league, a 105.3 offensive rating would place them 27th overall.

What good is there to signing a five-time All-Star to a nine-figure salary if he can’t adequately play alongside the team’s best player? Or paying a scoring forward $180 million who hasn’t proven he can close out the games that matter?

Talent is important, but there comes a point where cohesion and fluidity among so many recognizable names become even more crucial.

Whispers of an Embiid/Simmons split only grow louder not because they don’t perfectly complement each other. It was Brand who made the game more complicated by blinding himself to what would bring Philly closer to a title with moves that would help him earn his GM stripes.

The Philadelphia 76ers can only move forward with what they have, which is probably still enough to realistically pursue a title. But before you call for the firing of Brown or head to the trade machine for either Simmons or Embiid, look no further than the pawn of Philly’s chess pieces to see who’s responsible for these circumstantial struggles.