Philadelphia 76ers: The problems with Malcolm Brogdon and Caris LeVert

Welp, another day, another Ben Simmons rumor; what else is new, Philadelphia 76ers fans?

On Tuesday, October 5th, Ian Begley of SNY reported that the Indiana Pacers are one of the teams who have talked to the Sixers about a potential Ben Simmons trade, with Caris LeVert being “among the players brought up in those communications.”

Now granted, the idea of the Indiana Pacers being interested in Simmons isn’t too surprising. They were the first team to semi-officially put in an offer for the three-time All-Star when news broke that Rick Carlisle’s squad was willing to part with Malcolm Brogdon and a first-round pick to get a deal done and have remained an interested party ever since.

What is surprising, however, is the inclusion of LeVert in trade conversations, as he has primarily been viewed as one of the team’s building block pieces alongside Domantas Sabonis. While LeVert alone may not be enough to get a deal done, especially since he was just reportedly diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back that could cause him to miss the start of the regular season, he’s the sort of ascending All-Star-in-waiting who could conceivably build on his 20.2-points-per-game 2020-21 season and breakout when paired up with a center like Joel Embiid.

On paper, both Carvis LeVert and Malcolm Brogdon would be nice fits on the Philadelphia 76ers’ roster moving forward, whether alongside Ben Simmons or in place of him, but neither player quite fits the mold of what Daryl Morey is undoubtedly looking for in return for his three-time All-Star point forward, thus making any hypothetical trade hard to justify.

The Philadelphia 76ers need a certain kind of player back for Ben Simmons.

Malcolm Brogdon is an ideal NBA combo guard.

He’s a decent enough ball handler, a good 3 point shooter in both percentage and volume, and a plus passer from the shooting guard spot. Whether paired up with a pure point guard in a Tyrese Haliburton-esque role or largely tasked with running the show alongside a secondary point guard like his tenure playing alongside both Victor Oladipo and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brogdon would surely start on almost every single team in the NBA today in one role or another.

Defensively, Brogdon is good too. He can cover either backcourt position and even some smaller forwards and presents the switchability to remain effective on the perimeter against an offense like the Brooklyn Nets with more scoring threats than they have shots per game.

Could the Philadelphia 76ers use a player like Malcolm Brogdon? Sure. Do they need a player like Malcolm Brogdon? No, not with Tyrese Maxey, Shake Milton, and Seth Curry already on the roster.

At best, Brogdon would start at the one next to Curry’s two, giving the team three switchable wing starters under 6-foot-6 and a slew of potential backcourt combinations depending on the situation. They’d be procuring a guard with experience playing off of a ball-dominant big who seemingly touched the ball on every possession in Damontis Sabonis and the sort of two-way contributor who wouldn’t need to be switch out in end-of-game playoff situations.

The team would not, however, be adding an elite scorer or an elite passer capable of taking advantage of their expansive collection of 3 point shooters off a drive or getting the ball in creative ways to Joel Embiid in the post for an easy two.

But what about Caris LeVert? Well, he certainly would help with the former.

When fully healthy, LeVert is an absolute force. He can sink shots from anywhere, attack the basket in a variety of different ways, and even dish a little bit when facing off against double teams. While the player affectionately known as “Baby Durant” improved his average points per game in each of his first four and a half seasons with the Brooklyn Nets, he really came into his own as a member of the Indiana Pacers, where he averaged 20.7 points per game in 32.9 minutes of action a night.

LeVert may not be a knockdown 3 point shooter statistically and is only an average NBA defender, but he can score like few other players the 76ers have employed over the last decade, maybe since Allen Iverson back in his prime.

High praise? Sure, but it’s warranted.

Playing off of Embiid, LeVert could be deployed in a very similar way to how Morey’s former team used James Harden before they went all-in on small ball. Mind you, LeVert isn’t close to the same player as Harden, but he similarly attacks the basket in similar ways, whether that be driving off of screens, dribbling himself into advantageous looks, or even winning in isolation with his very sweet stepback J. If Daryl Morey believed pairing up Embiid with Harden was a viable path to a championship, attempting to run a similar offense with LeVert as the perimeter focal point opposite Embiid’s post presence could yield similar results.

But then again, LeVert isn’t a facilitator and likely will never be moving forward.

For all of the love Harden receives for his scoring, the nine-time All-Star has really come into his own as a passer over the last decade – averaging 8.8 assists to go along with his 31 points per game. Even if you normalize LeVert and Harden’s stats over that same period of time – which isn’t hard, considering Harden averaged 36.7 minutes of action a night – the former still averages 3.5 fewer assists per game than the latter with a far less polished passing game.

Now granted, if you paired up LeVert with a traditional point guard like Patrick Beverly or Jeremy Lin – both of whom were in their mid-20s at the time – maybe things would be different. Maybe the Sixers would be able to grow out LeVert’s game, and he’d eventually become the sort of All-Star level player the Sixers have been looking for, but unless the team is also able to secure a veteran point guard in such a trade, a player who isn’t Philly’s favorite feel-good story T.J. McConnell but more like Boston-era Rajon Rondo, it’s hard to imagine the Sixers’ offense running much better than that of the 2020-21 Pacers, who relied more on movement than the methodical breakdown of a defense by two starters with multiple shooters on the wings waiting for open looks, as opposed to a 21-year-old combo guard who isn’t quite ready for prime time as a lead guard.

That is the kind of player the Sixers should be targeting in a trade for Ben Simmons – a primary ball-handler who can average 15 and six while playing decent defense, and most importantly of all, shoot at a decent clip from beyond the arc.

Is that player hard to find? Sure, but not impossible.

Fred VanVleet fits the bill, as does my personal favorite trade target, Darius Garland. If the Sixers can’t secure a perfect package for a max contract star and instead have to settle for a young player, picks, and cap filler, maybe they could swing a deal to secure Mike Conley‘s services from the Utah Jazz. While Conley isn’t the same player he once was, he averaged 16.2 points and six assists a night in 2020-21 whole, hitting 41.2 percent of his 6.6 shots per game from beyond the arc and just signed a team-friendly three-year, $72 million extension this offseason.

Even D’Angelo Russell, for all of his detractors, poor defense, and offensive quirks, could be better suited to be the Sixers’ 1B than either Brogdon or LeVert, not that a deal headlined by him would really be all that much better.

All-in-all, even a package of Malcolm Brogdon and Carvis LeVert wouldn’t be enough to fill Ben Simmons’ void as an offensive facilitator. At best, transplanting the Indiana Pacers’ backcourt to the City of Brotherly Love would be a lateral move for the Philadelphia 76ers. Throw in a couple of picks, and fans could surely even collectively convince themselves that it makes the team better. But ultimately, for the Sixers to exit a Simmons trade in a better position than where they started, they really need to identify an offensive triggerman who can run the show as both a scorer and a passer, not some supplemental role players. Ultimately, the goal should be to make Joel Embiid’s life easier, not harder, right?