Philadelphia 76ers: Buying high on Larry Nance Jr. isn’t a bad idea

The Philadelphia 76ers need another primary ball-handler to close out games. The Sixers need a knockdown shooter to bolster their paltry shooting percentage from beyond the arc. If Daryl Morey doesn’t land another max-level player at the deadline, the season is a wash.

These are all very realistic approximations of what fans around the web are saying about the Sixers’ final opportunity to improve their fortunes with the NBA playoffs less than two months away, and to some degree, all are valid concerns.

For all of the positives Ben Simmons has put on tape over the 2020-21 NBA season, most notably his recent string of 20 point performances, he’s still not aggressive enough to take over a game in the fourth quarter and is still a tad too inconsistent from the charity stripe to make a living from the line. While Joel Embiid has proven himself a serious closer who is unguardable within 15 feet of the basket, someone has to get him the ball to do any real damage, as his handle isn’t strong enough to be a full-time driver from the top of the key.

Adding a player like Kyle Lowry or even Victor Oladipo would surely help with that aspect of the game.

The Sixers also have the unfortunate distinction of taking only 29.1 3 pointers a game on average, which ranks 28th among the NBA’s 30 teams. With only three players shooting at or above 40 percent on the season in Embiid, Seth Curry, and Tobias Harris, adding a sharpshooter like Buddy Hield, Malik Monk, or even Philly’s own Wayne Ellington could surely add some additional firepower to Doc Rivers’ offense on the way to a championship run.

While I don’t necessarily agree that the Sixers need to address any of their needs with a max-contract player, as there are a ton of relatively attainable options across the trade market with varying contract sizes and lengths, it’s clear this current squad just doesn’t have what it takes to outgun Kevin Durant, and James Harden, and Kyrie Irving – plus maybe Blake Griffin – over a seven-game series.

So naturally, when news broke that the Sixers were potentially interested in Cleveland combo forward Larry Nance Jr., and one of the teams interested in his services was willing to surrender multiple firsts for the second-generation Cavalier,  it left many a fan scratching their heads.

But hey, it shouldn’t though, as Nance is the exact type of player the Sixers should be targeting in what may go down as their most important move of the Daryl Morey-era.

Larry Nance Jr. could wear a lot of hats for the Philadelphia 76ers.

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Initially drafted with the 27th overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2015, Larry Nance Jr. is what one would call an NBA late bloomer.

A four-year contributor at the University of Wyoming, Nance joined the Lakers in the final year of the Kobe Bryant-era and appeared in 66 games with 22 starts under then-head coach Byron Scott. While one wouldn’t call Nance a “difference maker” by any stretch of the imagination, as he ranked ninth on the team in points per game – behind eventual Sixers assistant coach Roy Hibbert – he still performed admirably as Julius Randles’ primary backup and eventually played well enough to be acquired by the Cavaliers midway through the 2017-18 season in a last-ditch attempt by GM Koby Altman to field one final contender with LeBron James.

And unsurprisingly, considering his father is a Hall of Fame Cavs forward, the younger Larry Nance found a home a few miles north of his hometown of Akron.

Initially tasked with splitting time between the four and the five alongside LeBron-holdovers Tristian Thompson and Kevin Love, Nance really came into his own under head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, where he was tasked with expanding his game out all the way to the wings.

Since Bickerstaff came to power first as an interim then full-time head coach, Nance has averaged 10.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game while draining 37.6 percent of his 3 point attempts. While Nance is still a work in progress as a perimeter defender on the wings, the 28-year-old is currently ranked third among all power forwards in defensive +/- with a +1.97 and has the size, speed, and athleticism to serve as a prototypical multi-position defender in switching situations.

Could Nance’s numbers be a tad inflated? Could Nance have hit a particularly lucky streak from the field as a shooter and sink back down to his career average of 33.3 from 3 point range? Sure, that’s totally possible, but even though his shot is a tad unconventional, there are just too many positives to Nance’s game to simply write him off as a one-shot wonder.

You see, Nance is a classic energy guy. He can full-court press, be a player in the fast break, and throw down a monster dunk to get his teammates fired up when appropriate. Nance is always looking for an errant pass, willingly crashes the boards, and is big enough to set a screen for both guards and even fellow forwards.

Do you like how the Memphis Grizzlies use Brandon Clarke as a complementary big alongside Jarren Jackon Jr.? Or how about when P.J. Tucker would serve as the do-it-all “roll player” to James Harden’s “whiz wit” down in Houston? That’s the kind of player Nance could be in Philly, and, in case you haven’t been watching, the Sixers really need that sort of player on their roster, too.

Whether tasked with playing the three spot in the starting five between Seth Curry and Tobias Harris, serving as a backup four a la Mike Scott’s usage under Doc Rivers, or even as a small-ball five playing off of 6-foot-10 guard/forward/gamer Ben Simmons, Nance is the type of player who can average 30 minutes for the team with ease.

And the best part of all? Nance is under contract through the 2022-23 season at an average salary of $11.2 million.

While surrendering a boatload of picks for a player like Kyle Lowry or Victor Oladipo could unquestionably make the Sixers a better team, the NBA doesn’t have a franchise tag like the NBA, and the variability that a player could be acquired for multiple first-round picks only to leave in free agency for nothing may be too risky for a statistician like Daryl Morey. Securing the rights to a player like Nance for two and a half years left on a very value-conscious contract mitigates some of that risk and gives the team another asset to move down the line if something better becomes available.

And hey, it’s not like there aren’t guards who couldn’t be had on the cheap in a separate deal too. Eric Gordon is all but surely the odd-man-out in Houston, and he was named Sixth Man of the Year under Morey’s watch back in 2017. Even if the Sixers had to surrender a first and then some for Nance, they should still have the assets needed to pull off a deal like that from a team willing to part with any player over 30.

Sidebar: The Sixers should probably be calling about Eric Gordon regardless of whether they acquire Nance. That deal just makes too much sense.

Will the Philadelphia 76ers ultimately pull off a big trade for Larry Nance Jr.? Probably not. Chris Fedor, the reporter who initially reported on the league-wide interest in Nance, mentioned that Koby Altman considers the second-generation Clevelander a building block piece moving forward. With that being said, Nance is the type of player the Sixers should be targeting in a trade, even if they’d be buying while his value could be at an all-time high. With needs across the board and a core in their prime, landing a non-star player on a long-term contract who can wear a lot of hats may just be the perfect middle ground to get the Sixers where they need to be in 2021 and beyond.