Sixers Offseason Thread Part 3

[Jailblazers7]

It was nice to keep our picks and use them on good young prospects. We should try doing that more often.

[the_process]

I think it seems like Morey is punting until the next opportunity to get a star, since this offseason it seems to be closed, but I don't really see it as punting.

He's going to have to spend $60m in free agent signings and despite his star chasing he's proven to be adept at identifying young vets who can be useful on Embiid-centric teams. I think Morey will view those signings as trade-able contracts from day 1, but I think it will also be guys who will be given the chance to show that star chasing may not be necessary.

He will sign young ascending guys to their second contracts as those are most often apt to provide surplus value. My favorite guys are Jalen Smith and Naji Marshall. I estimate that to take $35m combined. That leaves $25m to play with. Maybe split that in two or spend it all on KCP. I'd probably go in a different direction than KCP as I'm not sure that contract would age well. Maybe you don't like Marshall and Smith so pick your own second contract guys. There should be three of them that plug and play into the rotation.

I assume Oubre comes back for the room exception, Lowry for the vet minimum and Melton on a team friendly deal to maintain Bird rights next offseason. If I have to eat into the cap space for Batum, goodbye. Otherwise the minimum is fine.

I think that's a lot better team than this season right there and if Smith and Marshall make leaps you might be in real contention without a trade and you still have the assets. Morey would view it as a bridge team to the next star but I would think more of it than that.

I'm sorry, what? That's not accurate.

[MikRay]

I think it seems like Morey is punting until the next opportunity to get a star, since this offseason it seems to be closed, but I don't really see it as punting.

He's going to have to spend $60m in free agent signings and despite his star chasing he's proven to be adept at identifying young vets who can be useful on Embiid-centric teams. I think Morey will view those signings as trade-able contracts from day 1, but I think it will also be guys who will be given the chance to show that star chasing may not be necessary.

He will sign young ascending guys to their second contracts as those are most often apt to provide surplus value. My favorite guys are Jalen Smith and Naji Marshall. I estimate that to take $35m combined. That leaves $25m to play with. Maybe split that in two or spend it all on KCP. I'd probably go in a different direction than KCP as I'm not sure that contract would age well. Maybe you don't like Marshall and Smith so pick your own second contract guys. There should be three of them that plug and play into the rotation.

I assume Oubre comes back for the room exception, Lowry for the vet minimum and Melton on a team friendly deal to maintain Bird rights next offseason. If I have to eat into the cap space for Batum, goodbye. Otherwise the minimum is fine.

I think that's a lot better team than this season right there and if Smith and Marshall make leaps you might be in real contention without a trade and you still have the assets. Morey would view it as a bridge team to the next star but I would think more of it than that.

He can’t punt on a season when we have the most cap space in the league. Embiid prolly has 2 more years in his prime the time to do something is NOW!!! If Morey can’t get it done he has to go.

[AI_Efficiency]

I don’t want to get my hopes up, especially since he could go to Orlando or GS in a trade, but if the clippers are putting out statements basically that they’ve made their offer to PG and they want him back, but if he doesn’t take their offer they wish him the best, maybe he might actually walk. He could just be bluffing and is going to sign with them at the last hour, but he’s waited this long without caving on his demands. Non trivial chance he winds up somewhere else imo

[Ben]

Our franchise's cap space isn’t sufficient to sign a star, as it takes more than just money—lifestyle and tax breaks are also crucial factors. However, we can overpay for borderline stars or high-level starters.

If we’re after star-caliber players, we need to trade for them.

The good news is we have options. We can trade for a star depending on what’s asked of us. We can sign multiple borderline stars or high-level starters. Moreover, with an MVP-caliber player and a top 30 player in Maxey, we’re already talented. We just need the right structure for them.

If we’re pursuing non-star options, we need to identify players like Porzingis or Derrick White. Recently, players such as Caruso and Avdija were traded and could have been ideal targets. We can use our cap space, or a combination of cap space and picks, to acquire 2-3 such players. This strategy would make us as competitive as the Celtics.

A lot of Bulls fans were mad when the FO traded Caruso for Josh Giddey, getting back no draft picks, and IMO the Bulls could use Paul Reed as the 4 that Patrick Williams hasn't been able to become (or at least to split some time with PatWill and/or let him play some SF, where I think he belongs). Reed plus a 1st rounder for Caruso: I wonder whether that would have worked, or whether the Bulls were really excited about Giddey (who can play next to Coby White and let White guard the smaller opponent with Giddey taking the bigger guard) and were focused in on him specifically. I thought it was a fine trade for the Bulls based on Giddey's potential and age (leaving aside his off-court issues, which some fans felt should have lowered his trade value). But if Morey wasn't even trying b/c he didn't want to commit to bringing on guaranteed salary and thus impacting his purely theoretical, star-designated capspace, I would be really upset.

To be honest I would have been very interested in Giddey over here if we had things that OKC wanted. Play Giddey as PG alongside Maxey and Oubre, see whether Siakam would come here since Indiana is giving him 4 years rather than 5.
Giddey/ Maxey/ Oubre/ Siakam/ Embiid

But obviously that ship has sailed if ever it even existed.

My main point was that Caruso didn't seem to cost a king's ransom, so if the goal is to identify and trade for non-star players (including Giddey), it doesn't seem as if Morey is doing that.

[Black Mage]

"We love Paul," Frank said after the Clippers selected Minnesota guard Cam Christie with the 46th pick in the second round. "We very much want to retain Paul, but we also very much understand and respect the fact this is a business.

"We hope Paul's decision is to be here. He's been awesome. He's been an All-Star. He's one of the best two-way players in the league. He's a terrific person. He's got great family, so we hope he's here but also respect the fact that if he chooses to opt out, that's his choice. He's earned it and we'll see how things play out."

I'm not convinced this Paul George thing is dead. The Clippers don't seem like they're budging on the contract. Maybe he just decides to take less since that's where he wants to be, or maybe he goes the opt in and trade route, but Frank specifically mentions opting out there.

I don't think it's happening, I just don't think it's dead.

I'm with you. Morey loaded up on a guard and bigs. He purposely avoided SF position despite numerous options at both picks. His complete avoidance of the position just screams that he feels strongly the SF position is being resolved in free agency.

[kriss73]

Not sure we're going to win anything either way, but if we miss on PG13, using the 60M of cap for KCP, Martin and Markkanen (trade Reed and picks for him) could be a decent plan B, espetially if KCP/Martin would be on short term contracts (2 or 3 years).
Then re-sign Lowry/Oubre/Batum.

Executing a trade of Reed+Council+picks for Markaanen would leave us with roughly 50M in cap space, enough for KCP and Martin.

An Embiid-Markaanen-Martin-KCP-Maxey rotation with Lowry, Batum, Oubre off the bench is interesting.

[76ciology]

Our franchise's cap space isn’t sufficient to sign a star, as it takes more than just money—lifestyle and tax breaks are also crucial factors. However, we can overpay for borderline stars or high-level starters.

If we’re after star-caliber players, we need to trade for them.

The good news is we have options. We can trade for a star depending on what’s asked of us. We can sign multiple borderline stars or high-level starters. Moreover, with an MVP-caliber player and a top 30 player in Maxey, we’re already talented. We just need the right structure for them.

If we’re pursuing non-star options, we need to identify players like Porzingis or Derrick White. Recently, players such as Caruso and Avdija were traded and could have been ideal targets. We can use our cap space, or a combination of cap space and picks, to acquire 2-3 such players. This strategy would make us as competitive as the Celtics.

A lot of Bulls fans were mad when the FO traded Caruso for Josh Giddey, getting back no draft picks, and IMO the Bulls could use Paul Reed as the 4 that Patrick Williams hasn't been able to become (or at least to split some time with PatWill and/or let him play some SF, where I think he belongs). Reed plus a 1st rounder for Caruso: I wonder whether that would have worked, or whether the Bulls were really excited about Giddey (who can play next to Coby White and let White guard the smaller opponent with Giddey taking the bigger guard) and were focused in on him specifically. I thought it was a fine trade for the Bulls based on Giddey's potential and age (leaving aside his off-court issues, which some fans felt should have lowered his trade value). But if Morey wasn't even trying b/c he didn't want to commit to bringing on guaranteed salary and thus impacting his purely theoretical, star-designated capspace, I would be really upset.

To be honest I would have been very interested in Giddey over here if we had things that OKC wanted. Play Giddey as PG alongside Maxey and Oubre, see whether Siakam would come here since Indiana is giving him 4 years rather than 5.
Giddey/ Maxey/ Oubre/ Siakam/ Embiid

But obviously that ship has sailed if ever it even existed.

My main point was that Caruso didn't seem to cost a king's ransom, so if the goal is to identify and trade for non-star players (including Giddey), it doesn't seem as if Morey is doing that.

I also think the Bulls could have done better for Caruso. The asking price at the deadline was reportedly a couple of first-round picks. The Bulls seem to value Giddey highly, likely hoping to recreate the Lonzo-Lavine-DeRozan trio that was so fun to watch. They might see Giddey as a potential replacement for Lonzo, but that's a big gamble, counting on Giddey to become a much better three-point shooter.

I'm not a fan of Giddey. I've long believed that the Thunder should have traded him while his value was high. It got to a point when users from Australia attacked me personally for criticizing Ben Simmons and Josh Giddey lol. I just believe that players like Giddey (and Anthony Black) don't fit well in today's NBA, which demands shooting and shot creation from guards. Hey, why not just go get Elfrid Payton?

As for Morey, I think he revealed his strategy by drafting McCain. If he believed we had no chance of landing Paul George or Brandon Ingram, he would have drafted Dalton Knecht instead. Morey seems intent on settling the other guard position and the backup center position in the draft while using cap space and possibly trading draft picks to address the small forward and power forward positions.

[76ciology]

Btw, I’d like to take a chance again on Charlie Brown Jr.

[Negrodamus]

I’m thinking Morey just took the BPA in his, and my, opinion without consideration of fit.

I think he has something solidified for FA at this point otherwise he wouldn’t keep hammering that we’ll be the best team in the East. Although I was surprised that he didn’t immediately make a trade for BI after picking McCain.

PG signing with us makes the most sense based on what’s out there. If he pulls it off, we will be very interesting next year.

[Negrodamus]

Btw, I’d like to take a chance again on Charlie Brown Jr.

Sorry, only one player named after a fictional character allowed per team. We already have Davey Jones.

[Jailblazers7]

I think I’ve convinced myself we’re going to get PG. We’re the only team that allows him to both get a 4 year max & compete for a title. Clippers seem unwilling to give him that 4th year and opting in is a pretty risky move for a guy with his injury history. Also, if some trust has broken down with his relationship with the Clippers I’m not sure I’d trust them to trade me to his chosen destination.

[Negrodamus]

I think I’ve convinced myself we’re going to get PG. We’re the only team that allows him to both get a 4 year max & compete for a title. Clippers seem unwilling to give him that 4th year and opting in is a pretty risky move for a guy with his injury history. Also, if some trust has broken down with his relationship with the Clippers I’m not sure I’d trust them to trade me to his chosen destination.

Not to mention we're for whatever reason inextricably linked to Clippers castaways: Tobias, Doc Rivers, PG

[AI_Efficiency]

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2024/6/28/24187804/2024-nba-free-agency-preview-paul-george-pat-riley-los-angeles-lakers

This article this morning was really selling me on Brandon Ingram. I don't know what he would cost, but I'm open to the experiment.

[the_process]

KCP 3-66
Jalen Smith 3-30
THT 3-30
Batum 1-7
Drummond 2-10
Saric 2-10
S&T KJ Martin 3-72 (yrs 2&3 UNG) plus better of 26 OKC/PHI 1st to BKN for Cam Johnson
Hinkie special for Bona
Vet min for Lowry
Sign Oubre with the Room Exception
Max out Maxey

Maxey/Lowry/McCain
KCP/Oubre
Cam J/THT/Council
Smith/Batum/Saric
Embiid/Drummond/Bona

That's a fine 2nd round exit team that has depth and a bunch of tradable contracts.

[Negrodamus]

A league source said Philadelphia has interest in Thompson. If the Nuggets lose free-agent-to-be Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who has decided to decline his player option and enter the market, a league source said Denver has pegged Thompson as a possible replacement. Caldwell-Pope, as it were, is believed to be a strong possibility for Orlando. There are a handful of other rival teams also in play for Thompson, depending on his price tag.

Klay Thompson and Paul George would be a reason for Morey to be making these bold statements. I think Klay is washed but the reputation still remains.

[Embiid P]

I think I’ve convinced myself we’re going to get PG. We’re the only team that allows him to both get a 4 year max & compete for a title. Clippers seem unwilling to give him that 4th year and opting in is a pretty risky move for a guy with his injury history. Also, if some trust has broken down with his relationship with the Clippers I’m not sure I’d trust them to trade me to his chosen destination.

I just hope he either **** or gets off the pot ASAP. The last thing we need is for him to keep us in limbo, Morey waits for him to make his decision while other FAs who could really help us fly off the board only for him to re-sign with the Clippers in the end.

[FireMorey]

Klay and Ingram wouldn’t be a bad haul. I actually think fit wise it’s better than Ingram and KCP since Ingram and KCP are both 3’s and I’m not sure who would be your 2 guard. Im sure they could make it work with both of them, but your 2 would probably Melton or something.

[the_process]

THJ and 2nds for Grimes.

That's a hell of a trade for Dallas IMO.

[Slacktard]

Btw, I’d like to take a chance again on Charlie Brown Jr.

Thinking each off-season... Ok this will be the one.

The Charlie Brown was in us all along.