Sixers Post Mortem Talk (Where Do We Go From Here?)

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

Where do we go from here? Do we rebuild? Do we make trades? What do we need to do this offseason to get past Boston, Milwaukee, and Miami?

I fully expect a barrage of irrational hot takes and overreactions over the next week or two. I myself have about thirty of them circling my brain right now as I write this out.

I don't think there's a simple fix with this team as some of the issues are due to the mental makeup of our stars, others are due to lack of coaching, and some of it is just a devoid of talent that provide the right fit for this roster.
I'm going to get right to the point with some individuals.

James Harden...Do we want him back? There's a big part of me that does want him back and there's another part of me that is praying that he opts out. If that turned out to be the case, how would we even be able to salvage anything from him leaving? I personally think we're stuck with each other. Nobody is going to pay him superstar money with how quickly his legs are going and we aren't going to find any sort of viable replacement for him should he opt out. I mean...How likely would a sign and trade be? Not very, and Houston would be stupid to give up Jalen Green or Jabari Smith in return for James Harden. Unfortunately I think he comes back next season. I would love to hear solutions on how to deal with him and this situation though.

Tobias Harris...I've finally seen enough. I've supported him and stuck by him his entire time in Philly. Next year he's going to be playing on the last year of his contract. I would love to see him moved in the summer, but I think he'd be more of a deadline/ in season move once teams start to figure out if they're competing and if they're rebuilding. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any current suitors for him that are clearly rebuilding for the future. Toronto maybe? Chicago? Does Portland pull the plug and finally deal Dame? Could we get Wiggins for him? I don't know....I do know I've seen enough of him though.

Doc....Is he gone? I've backed him too the entire time, but he did nothing to help our cause today. He's also continued to prove himself in the playoffs by coming up short in close out games over and over again. I think I'm done after today. I can admit that. Getting whooped like this is inexcusable and he deserves the blame. The question then becomes who do we replace him with? Does coach Pringles walk through that door? Personally I think we should poach Sam Cassell away from him and keep it in house. That wont happen though.

In short, this is where we are currently at. A 2nd round fail until proven otherwise. What's the trajectory of this team? Are will still trending upwards or have we peaked? We're we good enough to win it all this year? I think we were, but we also knew we were going to have to go through Boston in order to do so.

What are the positives and Negatives?

For one, we have two incredible building blocks in Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. I love what D'anthony Melton did for us this year, I'm very excited about Jaden Springer next season, I like what Paul Reed has been able to do, I think we need to resign Jalen McDaniels. Obviously we're stuck with Tucker and I don't really mind that.

Keep Embiid, Maxey, Melton, Springer, McDaniels, Tucker, Reed. That's seven players, seven pieces to build around. That's what I've currently got.

Negatives, I think we need to do something with Tobias Harris and the remaining year of his contract, I think a decision needs to be made on Rivers, and I think Harden should opt out and move on. I'm personally hoping we can acquire a draft pick as well. I think this team needs an injection of youth. Maybe Springer provides that? But we also need to retool around Embiid if we are in fact keeping him.

[okboomer]

Joel has to go. I think it will be in 2024 though when no one shows up to the games next season.

[mksp]

Blow it up.

[Bum Adebayo]

We won't fix this mess of being around so many career losers (Doc, Embiid, Harden, Harris) in just one year, we just need to rebuild, Embiid is the first one that has to go because he is the player that can fetch the best return with a considerable margin. Enough of retooling, there is no quick fix, because with Embiid you just need a better player around him on offense because he is just not that guy, and he has to be willing to be a 30-32 MPG guy that focuses on defense and makes catch and shoot midrange and the occasional 3pt shot to provide some spacing, the offense can't run through him, unless there is an easy matchup ready to be exploited.

[the_process]

S&T Harden to Houston is easy. Add a 2nd and get the 47M (or whatever) TPE. Then use that to try and absorb a big salary (Beal?)

[phiphan]

I see no chance of a blowup. Embiid makes the owners too much money and provides Morey too much job security. I think we’re looking at basic retooling and many more years of mediocrity.

[brannigan73]

Where do we go from here? Do we rebuild? Do we make trades? What do we need to do this offseason to get past Boston, Milwaukee, and Miami?

I fully expect a barrage of irrational hot takes and overreactions over the next week or two. I myself have about thirty of them circling my brain right now as I write this out.

I don't think there's a simple fix with this team as some of the issues are due to the mental makeup of our stars, others are due to lack of coaching, and some of it is just a devoid of talent that provide the right fit for this roster.
I'm going to get right to the point with some individuals.

James Harden...Do we want him back? There's a big part of me that does want him back and there's another part of me that is praying that he opts out. If that turned out to be the case, how would we even be able to salvage anything from him leaving? I personally think we're stuck with each other. Nobody is going to pay him superstar money with how quickly his legs are going and we aren't going to find any sort of viable replacement for him should he opt out. I mean...How likely would a sign and trade be? Not very, and Houston would be stupid to give up Jalen Green or Jabari Smith in return for James Harden. Unfortunately I think he comes back next season. I would love to hear solutions on how to deal with him and this situation though.

Tobias Harris...I've finally seen enough. I've supported him and stuck by him his entire time in Philly. Next year he's going to be playing on the last year of his contract. I would love to see him moved in the summer, but I think he'd be more of a deadline/ in season move once teams start to figure out if they're competing and if they're rebuilding. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any current suitors for him that are clearly rebuilding for the future. Toronto maybe? Chicago? Does Portland pull the plug and finally deal Dame? Could we get Wiggins for him? I don't know....I do know I've seen enough of him though.

Doc....Is he gone? I've backed him too the entire time, but he did nothing to help our cause today. He's also continued to prove himself in the playoffs by coming up short in close out games over and over again. I think I'm done after today. I can admit that. Getting whooped like this is inexcusable and he deserves the blame. The question then becomes who do we replace him with? Does coach Pringles walk through that door? Personally I think we should poach Sam Cassell away from him and keep it in house. That wont happen though.

In short, this is where we are currently at. A 2nd round fail until proven otherwise. What's the trajectory of this team? Are will still trending upwards or have we peaked? We're we good enough to win it all this year? I think we were, but we also knew we were going to have to go through Boston in order to do so.

What are the positives and Negatives?

For one, we have two incredible building blocks in Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. I love what D'anthony Melton did for us this year, I'm very excited about Jaden Springer next season, I like what Paul Reed has been able to do, I think we need to resign Jalen McDaniels. Obviously we're stuck with Tucker and I don't really mind that.

Keep Embiid, Maxey, Melton, Springer, McDaniels, Tucker, Reed. That's seven players, seven pieces to build around. That's what I've currently got.

Negatives, I think we need to do something with Tobias Harris and the remaining year of his contract, I think a decision needs to be made on Rivers, and I think Harden should opt out and move on. I'm personally hoping we can acquire a draft pick as well. I think this team needs an injection of youth. Maybe Springer provides that? But we also need to retool around Embiid if we are in fact keeping him.

Whats the point in that? Is something magical going to happen to make up for the loss of Harden? As bad as he was in some of the play-off games he averaged 20 and 10 in the regular season. So you let him go and how are you going to be anywhere near Boston or Milwaukee. Springer and McDaniels suck btw. Don't mistake me as advocating for reseigning Harden btw, I think totally blowing up this team is just as good.

[RussellandFlow]

Whatever direction they go, Glenn Rivers can no longer be the coach under any circumstances. He has to be in the top 3 of most overrated coaches in NBA history, living off of that one title from 2008 when most believe it was Thibs and the other assistant coaches that did the actual coaching and they won in spite of him thanks to KG, Pierce and Allen not because of him.

[Arsenal]

S&T Harden to Houston is easy. Add a 2nd and get the 47M (or whatever) TPE. Then use that to try and absorb a big salary (Beal?)

Agree we're better off without him. Get that massive TPE then let's roll. Dude is washed.

[the_process]

Embiid got absolutely owned in the 2nd half. I know, I know, everyone was petrified to shoot. Still, if you’re the MVP, you cannot get owned. I definitely would be looking to move him. Morant wants to be the new AI apparently, right?

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

We won't fix this mess of being around so many career losers (Doc, Embiid, Harden, Harris) in just one year, we just need to rebuild, Embiid is the first one that has to go because he is the player that can fetch the best return with a considerable margin. Enough of retooling, there is no quick fix, with Embiid you just need a better player around him because he is just not that guy, and he has to be willing to be a 30-32 MPG guy that focuses on defense and makes catch and shoot midrange and the occasional 3pt shot to provide some spacing, the offense can't run through him, unless there is an easy matchup ready to be exploited.

Ugh, it's all the trolls responding, but hey...I'll actually take this one because it's thought out.
My question for you is this...Who exactly are we supposed to run the offense through on this roster? Tyrese Maxey for all the good that he does can not be counted on to do that. James Harden has no lift or quickness anymore and is simply too inconsistent to take on that role at his age. I guess you hope that Maxey evolves into that type of player? It's puzzling to me that your solution to this is to simply trade Embiid and rebuild. You have Harden who is putting on a good poker face, but is clearly going to opt in because NOBODY is going to pay him 30 million dollars much less a max deal. You have Tucker under contract and it's an impossible one to move should we decide to pull a youth movement. Tobias is still on the books and is probably more of a deadline deal type of move if at all.

I just disagree that trading Embiid is a logical option, but at least you added an opinion to this and gave reasons why. I don't see Embiid as the issue here. I think who we've put around him has been the problem. I think paying Tobias Harris 180 million dollars over keeping Jimmy Butler because Ben Simmons wanted the ball has been the problem. I think paying Al Horford a ridiculous amount of money to be a backup to Embiid has been the problem. I think we made the wrong trade when we finally did move Ben Simmons. Getting James Harden was a decent consolation prize to an otherwise disastrous situation, but Harden looked past his prime prior to even coming here. It was expect the worst and hope for the best with him. I think trading Embiid is the final nail in the coffin of what once was The Process. That's cool if you're ready to do that, but some of us see it differently.

[Arsenal]

I see no chance of a blowup. Embiid makes the owners too much money and provides Morey too much job security. I think we’re looking at basic retooling and many more years of mediocrity.

Morey's ass has to be on fire at this point. He'll fire Glenn if he has any sense, but that will only buy him 1-2 more years at most.

[the_process]

I see no chance of a blowup. Embiid makes the owners too much money and provides Morey too much job security. I think we’re looking at basic retooling and many more years of mediocrity.

Morey's ass has to be on fire at this point. He'll fire Glenn if he has any sense, but that will only buy him 1-2 more years at most.

I agree. One more early exit and Morey gets the ax as well.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

S&T Harden to Houston is easy. Add a 2nd and get the 47M (or whatever) TPE. Then use that to try and absorb a big salary (Beal?)

That's what I'm saying. I think we have to. May I ask how exactly this would be an easy thing to do? It doesn't seem easy. We aren't fooling anyone into giving us anything significant in return for him should we decide to sign and trade him. He's done as a big time player in this league.

[Arsenal]

Happy to resign Shake if the price is right ($8M/yr or less?) and let him start besides Maxey. He could be just as good as typical Harden in the playoffs at this point.

[Lou_23]

Transition year. Not Harden, keep Harris expiring, not sign Maxey an extension until 2024 and go hard with a lot of salary space to 2024 FA.

We dont have assets to do other thing.

And keep Rivers , he is a good coach with worse teams.

[Arsenal]

S&T Harden to Houston is easy. Add a 2nd and get the 47M (or whatever) TPE. Then use that to try and absorb a big salary (Beal?)

That's what I'm saying. I think we have to. May I ask how exactly this would be an easy thing to do? It doesn't seem easy. We aren't fooling anyone into giving us anything significant in return for him should we decide to sign and trade him. He's done as a big time player in this league.

Just get the TPE and worry about getting a player later. Someone will shake free.

[Arsenal]

Transition year. Not Harden, keep Harris expiring, not sign Maxey an extension until 2024 and go hard with a lot of salary space to 2024 FA.

We dont have assets to do other thing.

And keep Rivers , he is a good coach with worse teams.

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I want Glenn out, but you're correct that if we're punting on next year then might as well keep him.

[DCasey91]

If they are all in on Embiid then there’s the following options:

S&T trade Harden - If the parties are amicable. Would suck if he walks for nothing but getting 1.5 seasons out of Harden is better than nothing from Simmons

Look at Ingram if he wants out and offer Maxey or involve the Rockets in a 3 way deal.

Use Harris as the money swap and exhaust all options before trading him for whatever you can get

Keep Melton, try and get Reed on a team friendly deal

Rest can go kick rocks.

Or else fails trade the house you have for Luka Don Doncic. Yes I would trade literally every thing we have including Embiid and all the picks for him.

Even if we have nothing afterwards don’t matter we got a Doncic.

But in reality this ain’t going to look pretty. Fingers crossed for Ingram.

[UptownPhilly]

Burn it to the ground. Full rebuild.

We had glaring holes starting the season. We needed to fix the wing position. What did Daryl Morey do? Sign PJ Tucker to a 3 year contract and Danuel House lol

Doc Rivers. I’d be surprised if he’s here for another 24 hours.

Joel Embiid is not a leader. Poor body language, apathetic, smiling at the end of a massive blowout. Get this clown out of Philly.

Harden, the choke artist extraordinaire and strip club connoisseur. Let him walk.

Tobias Harris. Hopefully his massive expiring contract is an asset.

Maxey, he’s cool, but gonna command a payday soon.
I’d be open to moving him for a lottery pick if the price is too high.

Everybody else, expendable.

This team has peaked and it sucks to admit that as a diehard fan. We are officially on the treadmill.