The Sixers' offseason is full of possibilities.
As president of basketball operations Daryl Morey acknowledged last month, anything from a huge home run to a less than satisfactory result could happen.
“I think there's a chance that all the balls go up and all of them land,” Morey said at his season-ending press conference. “People are going to be mad, and that's fine, but the one thing you definitely don't do in that situation is hurt yourself. … The biggest mistake you can make, and will never make, is if some of the better options don't work out – trading for cap space, free agency, using draft picks. If all of those things don't work out the way we want them to, we're never going to just spend a ton of money on a so-so player and sign him.”
“That means we can't continue to build a championship contender team around Joel (Embiid) and Tyrese (Maxey). So in that scenario, we're going to sign short-term deals and use our draft picks to prepare for trades or the next opportunity. We want to open every door to being a championship contender team, but we can't close all the doors for the future unless we feel the moves we're making will at least make us the best team in the East.”
With 64 wins, the Celtics are favored to be the top team in the Eastern Conference this year, and they opened the 2024 NBA Finals with a Game 1 win over the Mavs on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, the 76ers have been waiting for the summer season to officially begin. Once the Finals are over, teams will be able to negotiate with their free agents this offseason under the NBA's new Collective Bargaining Agreement. We'll soon see how the 76ers will approach that opportunity with role players like Nicolas Batum, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Kyle Lowry, who fit well alongside their All-Star duo.
“We're interested in just about every free agent,” Morey said, “but we're certainly not going to bring everybody back. That's the reality of the league.”
Next up on the schedule is this year's NBA Draft, which will be held over two days on June 26 and 27. The 66ers have the 16th and 41st picks, but Morey is not sure he will select a prospect and has always shown an openness to trades. Since joining the 66ers, he has made three significant trades on draft day, acquiring Danny Green, Seth Curry and De'Anthony Melton.
Given the complete lack of players under contract and Morey's open-minded, star-acquiring style, few outlandish hypotheses exist.
If the Bulls are finally willing to sell, could the 66ers acquire All-Defensive guard Alex Caruso? Could Brandon Ingram or a high-scoring third option move to Philadelphia? The 66ers are widely reported to be interested in Paul George, but he has yet to receive his desired contract extension offer from the Clippers. Could the 66ers acquire a non-star player or two?
A month from now, the roster won't just feature Embiid, Maxey and some question marks.
The Sixers need to have good answers and be prepared for any situation, whatever that may be after suffering yet another early playoff exit.
“I think the story of how you win in this league, because I've been around for a long time,” Morey said, “I know there was a time when jump-shooting teams couldn't win. Recently, you couldn't win even with big men. Now the story is, you need big men to win.”
“The reality is you need very good players, players who are better than your opponents, and there is no set formula.”
