August 07, 2024
Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
Should the Sixers bring Marcus Morris Sr. back into the fold for the 2024-25 season?
Things have quieted down in the world of the Sixers, who are expected to sign one more player to a standard NBA contract between now and the start of training camp while considering swapping one of their three two-way players for a different option. The storm across the NBA has largely calmed down as well, without many significant pieces of business left to be conducted league-wide.
As anticipation for training camp and the preseason build, let's dive into some of your Sixers questions in a weekly mailbag:
From @OJPATTERSON: What do you think are the biggest factors in Daryl Morey and Nick Nurse not pursing a [younger] power forward project (like JT Thor or Luka Šamanić) vs. rumored vets (like Marcus Morris and Davis Bertans)?
In a vacuum, it would be a reasonable gripe to have with the Sixers that they continue to show interest in aging veterans. For the average team, this strategy would be troubling. But why the Sixers appear more interested in experienced players than younger ones with untapped potential is simple: they want to win the 2025 NBA Finals.
For obvious reasons, a team has a greater chance of extracting value from a signing if they agree to a deal with a young player -- perhaps on a multi-year contract that offers the team control over the player's future -- than if they sign a player near the end of their career on a one-year pact.
But for the Sixers -- a team singularly focused on maximizing their championship odds in the short term -- if one player is even marginally better than another in 2024-25 alone, they are likely going to be valued considerably higher. You never know when a veteran on the back end of the bench can swing a game for a team, but it happens plenty of times every year in both the regular season and playoffs.
From @KentHaines: Should [the Sixers] trade for Larry Nance Jr. at the deadline if he stays healthy this season?
Nance is a good player who can help most teams as a strong backup center -- and the Atlanta Hawks are likely looking to move him to clear up their logjam at the position -- but it is hard to imagine him landing in Philadelphia for a few reasons.
First of all, the Sixers brought Andre Drummond back into the fold and waived Paul Reed because they believe he is one of the most effective backup centers in the NBA and can solidify that spot on the depth chart. There are some serious concerns that come with Drummond -- particularly in a playoff setting, as I detailed last week in a story diving into Drummond's film and numbers -- but it is hard to imagine things going so poorly for the veteran rebounding extraordinaire that the team would feel the need to upgrade from him during the season.
Additionally, Nance is slated to earn a hair over $11.2 million in 2024-25, and the Sixers must send out more money than they take back in any trade, meaning if they traded for Nance alone they would have to send the Hawks a combination of players making more than $11.2 million. A deal of Drummond and KJ Martin works financially, but if the Sixers made that move, they would be largely unable to upgrade any other aspects of their rotation due to a lack of medium-sized salaries on the books aside from Martin's balloon deal.
If the Sixers did feel the need to add a backup center to the mix midseason, someone making in the range of $5 million to $7.5 million would be more appropriate.
From @TCappuccitti: What do you see as the biggest thing Joel Embiid will learn and take back to the Sixers from his Olympic experience?
I am of the belief that the most underrated aspect of playing for a team like Team USA in the Olympics is just practicing, working out and spending time with a collection of the best players in the world -- and in this case, some of the greatest players of all time. It is an opportunity that is often once-in-a-lifetime, and while each player and person's priorities vary, I would jump at the chance to learn as much as possible from players like LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
Let's face it: Embiid is filling a role unlike any he will ever have with the Sixers. He is never going to play with this many great players at the same time in an NBA environment, and it is hard to take too much away from his on-court approach as anything that will translate when he returns to being at the center of everything his team does on both ends of the floor.
But if you want to get into some niche stuff on the basketball side, one trend stands out: Team USA head coach Steve Kerr has often deployed Embiid as an off-ball screener for Curry, and while Embiid has never been a particularly good screener in the NBA, his sheer size and strength makes him a very good one in an international setting. If Embiid can continue to refine his ability to utilize his massive build to free up his teammates away from the ball, Tyrese Maxey could benefit tremendously.
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