Philadelphia 76ers: Acquiring Nemanja Bjelica would right Brett Brown’s wrong
Though his interim reign was short, only lasting for three months from June 7 through September 18, 2018, Brett Brown‘s time as the Philadelphia 76ers‘ GM will shape the franchise for years to come.
Overreaction? You tell me.
Tasking with handling the Sixers draft and free agency, Brown was responsible for drafting Mikal Bridges, Landry Shamet, and Shake Milton and also trading Bridges to the Suns for Zhaire Smith and the Heats’ 2021 first. Post-draft, Brown then oversaw the signings of J.J. Redick, Amir Johnson, and Jonah Bolden, traded Richaun Holmes to the Kings for cash and landed Mike Muscala in a three-team trade that shipped Justin Anderson and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarout to Atlanta and OKC respectfully.
Brown was also responsible for locking up Milton and Demetrius Jackson on two-way deals and signing Norvel Pelle to his training camp contract before handing power over to Elton Brand just before the start of the 2018-19 season.
While some of those decisions look really good (Milton) and some look really bad (Bridges), it’s a move that ultimately didn’t happen that will forever be remembered as one of the more confusing personnel sagas in recent memory.
The Philadelphia 76ers acquiring Nemanja Bjelica would be beyond surreal.
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After spending three years with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Nemanja Bjelica was looking for a change.
A Serbian national who didn’t make it over to the NBA until the tender age of 27, Bjelica spent three years as a part-time player with the pre-Ja Morant Grizzlies and was looking to cash-in on his first bite at the free agency apple.
Brett Brown, with a freshly minted mid-level option and emboldened to spend after a surprisingly successful season the year prior, wanted to land a stretch shooting power forward to pair up with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid a la Ersan Ilyasova the year prior.
On paper, landing Bjelica presented a marginal upgrade over their former Turkish forward.
During his final season with the Grizzlies, Bjelica hit 41.5 percent of his shots from beyond the arc while hauling in a career-high 6.8 points and 4.1 rebounds a night. If offered a more expansive role than his 20.5 minutes of action a night, maybe something like the 26.3 minutes a night Ilyasova averaged during his two stints with the Sixers, there was reason to believe the 6-foot-10, 234-pound Serbian big man could have been an ideal addition to the way Brown wanted to play.
Brown was so bullish on Bjelica that he offered up a one-year deal worth $4.4 million to secure his services, a deal the forward’s camp agreed to, only to have him back out shortly thereafter to continue his basketball playing career in Europe.
If that was the end of it, then so be it. The Sixers landed Muscala to fill the same role and ultimately traded for Tobias Harris to address their 3 point shooting from the power forward position need once and for all. But then, well, Bjelica undecided to go to Europe and signed a three-year, $20.5 million deal to join his fellow countryman Vlade Divac in California’s capitol.
Trading in his blue, green, and greys for a royal shade of purple, Bjelica had a career year with the Kings in 2018-19 and followed it up with an even better season in 2019-20; a season that saw the 31-year-old averaging 11.5 points and 6.4 rebounds while knocking down 41.9 percent of his 4.4 3 point shots.
But in 2020-21, Bjelica has fallen out of the Kings’ rotation in favor of Hassan Whiteside and Chimezie Metu and now looks like a prime candidate to be traded before his contract expires at the end of the NBA calendar year.
And wouldn’t you know it, the Philadelphia 76ers are once again reportedly interested in the stretch four’s services moving forward.
In a true twist of NBA irony, the Sixers are still in desperate need of a 3 point shooting reserve power forward, with their current option, Mike Scott, having missed the last 13 games with a knee injury. Assuming some team doesn’t swoop in and offer something crazy like an unprotected first-round pick to procure Bjelica’s services, a move that would be incredibly risky considering his flight risk status, the Sixers should be favorites to land his services.
Will they? Who knows. The Heat are reportedly also interested, and they may be willing to throw a better package the Kings’ way to help right a season that is rapidly getting away from them, but objectively speaking, Daryl Morey should be able to swing a deal if he really wants to.
And if he does, you’ve got to imagine Brett Brown will be kicking himself knowing that Doc Rivers gets another advantage he was unable to bag.
Next. Sixth Man Tyrese Maxey could pay playoff dividends. dark
Whether the Philadelphia 76ers opt to trade for Nemanja Bjelica or instead look to a player like P.J. Tucker, their lack of a viable 3 point shooting big behind Tobias Harris is becoming more and more of a glaring issue with each passing game. Though they still technically have 40-plus days to get a deal done, as the NBA trade deadline isn’t until March 25, it would probably be wise to address this issue now and overpay ever so slightly than wait for a player like Harris to go down with even a short-term injury and have to suffer through a string of losses without a true backup plan to thwart disaster. Otherwise, this team could fall apart like Brett Brown’s squad in the Orlando Bubble.