Philly Front Office

Beating the Celtics was nice, but that achievement was quickly forgotten after getting trounced in 4 games by our other rival, the Knicks. It has most of the fan base begging for change, demanding firings, and hoping for trades. What is the fate of this team?

#SellTheTeam?

Coach Nick Nurse

The Sixers are reportedly going to evaluate both Nick Nurse and Daryl Morey to see if they still fit with the future of this team. Statements like that do not guarantee much job security, but it isn’t an automatic death knell either. Before we go defending anyone or trying to shift blame, we must ask ourselves: what is this person bringing to the table? For the entirety of the Nick Nurse tenure in Philadelphia, I can’t tell you what that is.

To say coaching this team is difficult is an understatement. Not only is it a tough market, but planning each game was particularly impractical considering Embiid was a game time decision damn near every day. Still, Nurse never seemed to be able to adapt to this. Oddly, what started as an inability to plan for games without him eventually flipped to concerning strategies for games with the big man. Embiid offenses were predictable and garbage by the end.

Essentially the plan was either give it to Embiid, give it to Maxey, or give it to Paul George with little offensive design or concern for situation. Could that be the players’ fault? Sure! Except, that means the coach is being tuned out. Either way, what is Nurse bringing to the table then? Not much. He’s got to go. I tough series against the Knicks could have changed things, but it’s time for the person in charge to get radical.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Sixers Avoid Luxury Tax! Team to Hang Banner…AGAIN

GM Daryl Morey

This is not as easy as you think from a practical standpoint. Daryl Morey does not make moves in a vacuum. He may be the man with the plan and the ability to execute on that plan, but he must listen to the guy writing the checks. If Josh Harris tells him to duck the tax, he is going to duck the tax. So, while the team fell short of its goal in our minds, did they in the mind of ownership?

At the trade deadline, the Sixers traded Jared McCain for the 22nd pick in the draft plus three future 2nds. Conveniently, the Sixers ended up just below the luxury tax by trading his $4.2m salary. What to make of this? It seems like Harris and company told Morey to get below the tax no matter what and trading McCain was the easiest most sure-fire way to do it.

Part of a GM’s job is to take the fire that should be directed at ownership. Just look in Dallas. For everyone who called for the head of Nico Harrison after the Luka Doncic trade, do you think he acted alone? Ownership wanted Luka out of there and told him to do it quick. No GM in sports is given that type of freedom to just trade their best player on a whim without any kind of bidding war or approval. Daryl Morey is very good at taking the fire for Josh Harris.

From here, Harris needs to decide not what is best for the Sixers (which may be getting rid of Morey anyway), but what is best for Josh Harris. Does blaming Morey for the team’s failures make Josh Harris look better? Yes, it probably does. Can he find someone splashy enough to draw all the attention away from him like Daryl has done the last for years? Well, wouldn’t you know it, he has Bob Myers sitting right next to him as the president of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. If the job doesn’t go to Bob outright, it will probably end up with someone in his orbit.

In the end, the Embiid extension, the Paul George contract, trading McCain, and so much more can be blamed on Morey. Were they his ideas? Maybe. Maybe not. Regardless, Harris gets to blame them on Morey in a way to wash away any of his own culpability.

20 Years of the Worst Contracts in Philadelphia

Joel Embiid

So, you want to trade Joel Embiid huh? The internet is rife with demands to get rid of Joel and build around Maxey. Of course, there is nothing of substance to this in the least. Why? Because trading him doesn’t work. Think of it like all those Mike Trout to the Phillies trade rumors. The idea of the trade is much easier than the execution.

Two years ago, Embiid signed a 3/$188m contract extension. Unfortunately, that extension does not kick in until this summer. Considering his health is day to day AT BEST, no one is going to take him. Don’t believe me? Let’s try some scenarios:

• Straight Up Salary Dump
  • NBA rules require salary matching in most scenarios so let’s say the Sixers just wanted salary relief and weren’t looking for any assets in return. Even if a team wanted to take on 3 years of talented uncertainty, how would they trade for a $60m max contract? The Sacramento Kings are the best and maybe only option by giving up Zach Lavine (and a little more salary). The Kings are the kind of team that would do this I suppose.
• We Want Assets
  • Good luck with that! If the Sixers want something in return for him, they would need to take on some bad deals. The problem is that the only player with a worse deal is Paul George. Even old reliable Jordan Poole only has 1 year left on his awful 4/$128m contract. There isn’t a set of contracts bad enough right now to get the Sixers in the black in a deal.
• What if We Gave You Something?
  • What are you willing to give up to get off of Embiid’s contract? Would you give a 1st round pick? Maybe you would. How about two? The problem with this option is that you cut off your nose to spite your face. You can’t rebuild or improve without the assets you just traded. Plus, any team you trade with isn’t going to part with anything good. This option is going nowhere.
• Best of All Worlds
  • In the whole league, there is only 1 trade out there that both the Sixers and the other team would even consider: Embiid to the Raptors for Jakob Poetl and 1 of Brandon Ingram, Immanuel Quickley, or RJ Barrett. Poetl has an awful contract at 4/$104m, while the other 3 are a mix of unavailable and overpaid. The Raptors have 4 players making between $30m and $40m next year and have maxed out their potential. This would be a big gamble for them but one that probably wouldn’t change their downside too much.

Joel Embiid and the Perpetual 1 Year Countdown

Paul George

PG was what we could have hoped for at times in the playoffs, but his contract is simply depressing. Two years left at $110.5m. Yikes! The only thing he has going for him is that he has only two years left on his deal instead of three. A team could theoretically see him as a better fit on their team than one of their own bad expiring contracts and assume getting off of his expiring deal next year won’t be that bad. Lot’s of hope in that hypothetical though. Simple fact is, he is a $25m player trapped in a $55m contract. Anyway, this could be a better Sacramento/Zach Lavine fit or possibly an upgrade over Jerami Grant in Portland (though they would have trouble matching). I don’t know what to tell you. There simply isn’t a lot of options out there for maybe the worst contract in basketball.

First Look at the 2026-27 Sixers

In the End

I love Embiid, I really do, but the idea of 3 more years of purgatory really stinks. That’s where the Sixers were all those years ago and it was just such a boring, unhappy existence. I would love a new coach, new GM, and new direction. If the Toronto deal (with Barrett) and the Lavine for George swap were available I would probably do both. That would clear the payroll out for this coming season while giving the team tradeable assets at the deadline. Would we be better? No. Would it allow the team to truly reset? It would. We need that.

Contracts: Spotrac

Photo: Imagn