PHILADELPHIA — First, the good news. The Sixers haven’t closed the door on a return this season by superstar Joel Embiid, who in a month will have his surgically repaired left meniscus evaluated.
Nothing said at a press availability Friday by Daryl Morey, Sixers president of basketball operations, meant more than his on-the-record assessment of the big guy’s latest injury. Then again, Morey declined to provide any details at all, so his words should be taken like a SEPTA timetable … subject to change.
“I don’t want to give you a scale but we’re hopeful,” Morey said. “The feedback has been more good than bad. We’re hopeful and we’re building the team to make it better this year. Obviously, it’s not 100 percent, but we felt with Joel playing at an MVP level, we’re hopeful he can get back to that, that this is the year that we’ve got a real shot. The eye test, the data, whatever, shows that we were beating great teams. And really, only one or two teams were right there with us.”
Beyond that leap of faith, Morey had no problem saying he crushed it at the trade deadline by adding three-point launcher Buddy Hield. You could make a reasonable argument Morey was right because, as he explained, there were no big guys of value traded and basically few players of consequence changed teams. Of those who were moved, Canadian ex-patriate Kelly Olynk is about as valuable as that country’s dollar, which isn’t great. Robin Lopez? Spencer Dinwiddie? Bojan Bogdanovic? Ryan Arcidiacano? Sorry, Villanova fans.
“We feel like we got the best player at the trade deadline that was traded,” Morey said. “And we felt like (Hield) gave us exactly what we were looking for. He’s one of the best three-point shooters in NBA history. We really like what he adds to the team. And we feel like our healthy group, our playoff rotation with Buddy Hield, is right there with everyone in our league.”
Granted, the Sixers are desperate. Hield and guard Cam Payne, another of their four draft day trades, were thrust into the starting lineup Friday night against the sputtering Atlanta Hawks. The Sixers had lost three of four games in their most recent stretch without Embiid. They were 4-12 this season minus the reigning NBA MVP. Adding anybody who can score is like finding an oasis in the middle of a desert.
Landing Hield, who was averaging 12.0 points, and former Indiana Pacers guard Payne, who can play the point, was more potential offensive production than Morey could expect from what already was in the locker room. Morey intimated that teams had caught on to the tag-team scoring act of Embiid (35.3 ppg.) and Tyrese Maxey (25.6). By Morey’s calculations, Hield will do nothing but enhance the big two.
“With Joel and Tyrese, he puts the fear of God into other teams,” Morey said. “The shots are coming, and they’re coming in transition and they’re coming from deep. You need to pay a lot of attention to Buddy Hield on the court and I think that’s super valuable with Joel and Tyrese and opening up things for them. Buddy Hield is going to play significant minutes in our rotation. We feel Cam Payne can really give us good minutes. Another guy who can shoot, another guy who will give us solid minutes.”
The Sixers gambled that guard Jaden Springer, who was earning a defensive reputation shutting down past MVP or current MVP candidates, would not be able to help them for what now is their mythical playoff run. The former first-round pick was shipped to the Boston Celtics for a second-round pick in 2024. Morey praised Springer but also dared the media to expose that deal if the guard proves him wrong.
“We’re focused on winning the title,” Morey said. “We had to look at what are the odds Jaden Springer can help our playoff rotation in the one, two-year, maybe three-year horizon? And how does the second-round pick help us? And we thought the second-round pick helped us more. That’s just the reality of it. We think Jaden is going to be really good. I think his timetable is a little pushed out, though. If we’re wrong, we’re wrong and you guys can all go and write it. Our evaluation was that his timetable to help a playoff team is farther out than what the second-round pick could do for us.”
Time will tell on that, obviously. The same goes for Hield. To be sure, the 31-year-old shooter is with his fourth team. He wasn’t playing a lot with the Pacers. But again, the Sixers are desperate. Embiid is hurt again. He would be foolish to attempt a comeback this season if it puts him in danger of permanent knee damage.
Analytics aside, desperate teams do desperate things.
Contact Bob Grotz at rgrotz@delcotimes.com.
Source: Berkshire mont