August 23, 2024
Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
Five years after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Sixers, Ben Simmons decided his time in Philadelphia was over.
New Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey had done a fantastic job of turning around the organization in his first year at the helm, but as the team's devastating playoff exit at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks proved, the Sixers still had a long way to go.
The whole equation became a lot trickier when Ben Simmons, the NBA's Rookie of the Year in his first season of action with the Sixers and an All-Star in each of the next three, decided that he had enough of playing in Philadelphia and with Joel Embiid and co. Simmons and his representation made it clear to Morey and the rest of the organization that he would never suit up for the team again. Morey, meanwhile, made it clear that he was not going to trade a perennial All-Star for pennies on the dollar for the sake of appeasing Simmons.
In the newest edition of Sixers offseason rewind, let's take a look at how Morey handled his first serious adversity as the lead decision-maker for the team:
Before the Sixers had to handle the Simmons situation while simultaneously trying to fill out the fringes of a championship roster, they had three draft picks to make.
Because of their strong regular season showing the year prior, the Sixers' first-round pick was slotted back at No. 28 overall. They were thrilled to select Tennessee guard Jaden Springer, the third-youngest player in the draft class with jaw-dropping athleticism and top-flight defensive instincts. The Sixers knew Springer would be a multi-year project, but felt the upside of him maximizing his potential would be worth the wait.
If Springer does end up optimizing his tools, it will not be as a member of the Sixers: the young guard appeared in 50 regular season games across two and a half years before the team decided it would no longer wait on him to develop. The team traded him to the Boston Celtics in exchange for a second-round pick; that pick became the No. 41 selection in the 2024 NBA Draft which was used to select UCLA center Adem Bona.
The team also owned two picks late in the second round. At No. 50 overall, the Sixers selected big man Filip Petrušev. Two years later, Petrušev returned to the United States to ink a standard NBA deal with the Sixers. Petrušev logged 10 total minutes across three games as a Sixer before being moved to the Los Angeles Clippers as a minor part of a major trade.
With the No. 53 overall selection, the Sixers selected Western Kentucky center Charles Bassey, a former five-star recruit whose stock had fallen. Bassey was signed to a multi-year standard deal immediately, but only spent one year with the Sixers before being waived. He immediately caught on in San Antonio, where he continued to develop with the Spurs and looked like a rotation player in the making. A devastating injury derailed much of that progress, but Bassey still has plenty of ability entering his age-24 season.
As free agency opened and got underway, Morey continued to rebuff other teams' pursuits of Simmons, insisting the team would either bring him back or deal him for a true, needle-moving superstar. But it was an enormously difficult task to assemble a roster surrounding an unknown group of core pieces. Morey calmly proceeded, and strung together a collection of deals varying from notably beneficial to decent.
• Danny Green, who helped the Sixers in a major way in his first season with the team, was brought back on a two-year, $20 million deal with a non-guaranteed second season. Green took a step back the following year, but was still a quality two-way rotation wing. The second year of his contract was eventually used to facilitate a significant trade.
• Another player brought back was Furkan Korkmaz, who agreed to a three-year, $15 million deal with the team that was almost inconceivable two years prior. Korkmaz eventually fell out of favor in Philadelphia, but a $5 million average annual value was so little that it did next to no harm.
• The Sixers' backup center conundrum was rolling on, and so Morey got creative and signed a player that nobody anticipated becoming Embiid's backup: Andre Drummond, a long-time rival of Embiid. Drummond spent the first half of the season in Philadelphia before his inclusion in a trade was a prerequisite for Morey to accomplish his largest goal at the trade deadline (more on that in a moment), but during his time in Philadelphia he gave the team massive value for a player signed to a veteran's minimum contract. One could make a compelling case that Drummond remains the best backup center Embiid has ever had — fast forward three years, and Drummond is back in Philadelphia after signing a two-year, $10 million deal.
• In hopes of finding a stretch four to come off the bench, Morey identified Georges Niang as a target — and it proved to be a wise piece of scouting. Niang, signed to a two-year, $6.7 million contract that was barely above the minimum salary, became a critical rotation piece and a fan favorite during his two years in Philadelphia. Niang shot above 40 percent from beyond the arc in both of his seasons with the Sixers before departing for a Cleveland Cavaliers team willing to offer him a considerable pay raise that the Sixers could not justify matching. Niang gave the Sixers terrific value on the court and in the locker room over the life of his deal.
The most important decision Morey made during this offseason was not any of the draft picks or free agent signings: it was the trade he did not make. Plenty of teams offered collections of role players and/or quality starters to land Simmons, and the man in charge of the Sixers insisted that he would only move Simmons for a full-fledged superstar. When Simmons' trade demand turned into a public, embarrassing in-season holdout, many expected Morey to admit he was bluffing and sign off on a deal that could reduce his headache.
Whether you agree with Morey's philosophy about what the team needed to receive in return for Simmons or not, his steadfast commitment to sticking to his guns was admirable. And, with just hours left before the trade deadline, Morey capitalized on an even better player wanting out of their situation — and it was a player he knew quite well.
James Harden was unhappy with the Brooklyn Nets, and had his sights set on coming to Philadelphia to reunite with Morey, who traded for him with the Houston Rockets before Harden's ascension into a perennial MVP candidate and one of the greatest offensive engines in the history of the sport.
Suddenly, a deal had been made: Simmons, Drummond, Seth Curry and two first-round picks netted the Sixers Harden, giving Embiid a brilliant running mate.
While Morey's waiting game did pay off in certain respects, the timing of the trade did cause some complications: because the Sixers were singularly focused on acquiring Harden in a pursuit that brought them right up to the buzzer, they were unable to make any additional deals. By the time the Sixers were facing the Miami Heat in the second round of the playoffs, it was clear they did not have a complete team.
After yet another playoff elimination that upset fans, it was back to the drawing board for Morey — with a player option decision from Harden looming large as the Sixers mulled over various roster construction concepts.
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