August 22, 2024
Trevor Ruszkowski/USA TODAY Sports
To replace long-time head coach Brett Brown, the Sixers hired Doc Rivers after his departure from the Los Angeles Clippers.
After the unmitigated disaster that was the 2019-20 season, the Sixers needed to make changes -- serious changes. And they did: former head coach Brett Brown was replaced by Doc Rivers, and weeks before the offseason began, former Houston Rockets lead executive Daryl Morey arrived in Philadelphia to lead a new-look Sixers front office -- with Sixers General Manager Elton Brand being demoted to the No. 2 role in the organization's decision-making pecking order.
In one night, Morey completely transformed the team he inherited. In the newest Sixers offseason rewind, let's look back at a 2020 offseason that brought massive implications for the Sixers' future:
When the 2020 NBA Draft began on Nov. 18, Morey had not yet made an official transaction as Sixers President of Basketball Operations. Morey entered the night owning a first-round pick and four second-round choices, and by the end of the night, the entire complexion of his new team had been altered drastically.
The first move Morey made was one that had to be done as soon as possible -- shedding the remaining three years of Al Horford's disastrous contract. Morey sent the Oklahoma City Thunder the No. 34 pick, a lightly-protected 2025 first-round pick and the draft rights to international guard Vasilije Micić to swap Horford for veteran three-time NBA champion Danny Green (the Sixers also received Terrance Ferguson and Vincent Poirier in the deal). At the cost of a distant first-round pick -- one that we now know is not a particularly valuable asset -- and a second-round pick, Morey had turned the team's most distressed asset into an ideal starting wing alongside Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
Green spent two years with the Sixers following the trade and gave them quality minutes, particularly in his first season. Green's athletic decline was noticeable, but he was still an excellent shooter with some defensive chops.
Swapping a player who negatively impacted the team's floor spacing for one of the league's most proficient three-point shooters was a massive boon for the Sixers -- and they did it again hours later.
When the Sixers were on the clock at No. 36 overall, they dealt the selection along with Josh Richardson to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for one of the most accurate three-point shooters in league history: Seth Curry. Once more, the Sixers had exchanged a player who was a poor shooter for the position they were playing for one who would dramatically improve the team's floor spacing.
Curry's year and a half in Philadelphia before being part of the packaged that netted the team James Harden from the Brooklyn Nets were the best days of his NBA career. He formed a lethal two-man game with Embiid, gave the team reliable three-point shooting and even had a few massive playoff performances.
The second round in 2020 continued to be a roaring success for the Sixers. At No. 49 overall, they selected Arkansas sharpshooter Isaiah Joe. Unfortunately for the Sixers, Joe's ascendance to achieving everyday rotation status happened after he was waived by the Sixers -- perhaps they let him go prematurely -- but he has massively outperformed his draft slot.
Back up one more time at No. 58 overall, the Sixers selected athletic DePaul big man Paul Reed. Reed spent the majority of his rookie year on a two-way deal, but showed more than enough promise to earn a standard NBA contract. Reed went from prospect to fringe rotation player to full-fledged, full-time backup center behind Embiid. Reed was waived this summer after the first season of a unique three-year offer sheet he signed with the Utah Jazz in 2023, essentially turning into a cap casualty when the team was able to add Caleb Martin. Certainly, Reed has flaws as a player. But at the No. 58 overall pick, adding a player who would give you multiple years of even decent backup center play is a massive victory.
But before their successes in round two, the Sixers made a move that -- perhaps more than any single other move Morey has made since taking over the Sixers -- altered the long-term trajectory of the franchise.
Even in the moment, it seemed hard to believe that a dynamic guard from Kentucky by the name of Tyrese Maxey was available at No. 21 overall. The Sixers thanked their lucky stars that they could draft Maxey, and he has easily surpassed even the most hopeful expectations since arriving in the NBA.
Now having four years of experience under his belt, Maxey has made a significant leap before every single season of his professional career; this sort of rapid, steady rise is almost unheard of. Maxey was an exciting combo guard prospect who was forced to become a full-time starting point guard for the first time in his life when Simmons began an in-season holdout -- and held up just fine. He became a shooting guard when the team traded Simmons for Harden, and blossomed once again. When Harden staged an in-season holdout of his own, Maxey was thrusted back into the point guard role. Now, he is one of the single best point guards in the NBA.
Maxey -- who earned an All-Star nod and the NBA's Most Improved Player Award in 2023-24 -- was rewarded for his relentless work ethic and jaw-dropping skills with a five-year max contract worth more than $200 million this summer. The importance of Maxey to this franchise simply can never be overstated; he injected new life and new energy into an organization desperate for both.
The Sixers' roster was mostly complete by the time free agency began, and Morey did not have a ton of financial resources at his disposal to add more veteran talent. With the backup center slot again being an issue, Morey signed veteran Dwight Howard to a one-year deal the veteran's minimum.
While his fit with Simmons was poor because both players were non-shooters, Howard generally gave the Sixers good minutes in the regular season and appeared to be a positive influence in the locker room after winning his first NBA championship alongside Green with the Los Angeles Lakers. When the playoffs arrived, though, Howard struggled mightily. His services in Philadelphia were valuable, but by the end of the season it was clear that the Sixers needed to go in another direction at the position.
Among the players to depart from the 2019-20 Sixers in free agency were Raul Neto and trade deadline acquisitions Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III.
In 2020-21, the long-term outlook for the Sixers became a whole lot stronger. The team went 49-23 in a 72-game season, good enough to earn the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Perhaps the most crucial development was Embiid's development into a full-blown superstar-caliber player. Rivers helped Embiid get closer to reaching his maximum potential on offense, using him more often at the nail as opposed to in the low post.
Meanwhile, Simmons turned into the best perimeter defender in the NBA --finishing as the runner-up in Defensive Player of the Year voting behind Rudy Gobert -- while Tobias Harris had his best full season as a Sixer, Green and Curry did exactly what they were asked to do and all of the pieces clearly fit.
But after the Sixers cruised past the Washington Wizards in the first round, they suffered an all-time heartbreaking defeat to the young, upstart Atlanta Hawks -- a series that included a blown 26-point lead at home in Game 5 and a fourth quarter meltdown in Game 7 which featured Simmons infamously passing up an open dunk attempt in what would prove to be his final game with the team before demanding a trade.
Morey had clearly gotten the Sixers back on track. But there was a lot of work to do to get back to being true championship contenders...
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