Philadelphia 76ers: Don’t expect a Paul Millsap buyout

Folks, what’s more official than being official? Jersey picture official.

That’s right, while we’ve seen the breaking news announcements from Woj/Shams, the team’s official press release, and even a video of Daryl Morey hugging his once and future franchise player coming off a PJ, but to many, until Harden threw on the red, white, and blue and took the court for the Philadelphia 76ers. that second shoe was just waiting to drop.

That officially happened on Monday afternoon, when new Sixer James Harden put in some on-court work with his new teammates across the river in Camden. While it wasn’t an official game, let alone a full-on 5-on-5, it certainly was nice to see the former league MVP take the court alongside – fingers crossed – future league MVP Joel Embiid and even put in some work alongside his soon-to-be backcourt mate Tyrese Maxey.

And on Tuesday? Well, Harden turned in his practice pinnie for a Nike swoosh and still uncanny Crypto.com patch and even answered a few questions about how he feels about playing in Philadelphia and about his immediate future with the franchise.

The press conference, which was scheduled for just after Brooklyn’s big coming out part for Ben Simmons, was light, bright, and fun and only featured a few frustrating questions about the number of teams Harden has played for over the past 14 months. It also, lest we forget, featured Paul Millsap, who was also traded to the Sixers from the Nets. After roughly 10 minutes of questions near-solely tasked to Harden and Morey, Millsap finally got into the conversation via a question from team reporter Lauren Rosen, to which he responded, “First of all, it appreciate it; it was getting sort of weird up here.” From there, Millsap described his initial feelings about the team’s culture, overall attitude, and eagerness to take the court at the Wells Fargo Center, maybe even in the team’s next game against the Boston Celtics.

Could some of this be conjecture? Sure, but when Daryl Morey described having an interest in signing Paul Millsap over the summer, it’s pretty clear the Philadelphia 76ers aren’t going to be buying out the four-time All-Star anytime soon, even if they are also reportedly in the market for another big man.

The Philadelphia 76ers seem to have a plan for Paul Millsap.

At his heart, Paul Millsap is a defensive specialist.

Sure, he can score and averaged double-digit points for a decade from 2009-20, but ever since signing a one-year, $10 million extension with the Nuggets heading into the 2020-21 season, his offensive production has sort of fallen off a cliff, averaging just nine points on 7.2 shots in roughly 20.8 minutes of action per game in Denver before averaging 3.4 points on 3.5 shots in 11.3 minutes with the Brooklyn Nets over 24 games so far this season.

And yet, despite clearly losing a step from his prime, Millsap has actually turned in his best defensive Raptor rating since FiveThirtyEight started tracking the metric back in 2013, with his +3.5 rating tied for 19th association-wide among contributors who have played 270 or more minutes.

While the decision to play Millsap at center for prolonged periods of time, an idea Doc Rivers floated last week, is a bit perplexing, as Paul Reed has seemingly run away with the opportunity to replace Andre Drummond over his first two games post-trade deadline, there is a good case to be made for utilizing the pride fo LA Tech as a defensive-minded frontcourt player the same way Matisse Thybulle is deployed on the wings. Situationally speaking, Millsap has the versatility to play three-through-five and can switch between the three positions on the defensive end of the court if need be. He can play alongside or in place of Joel Embiid, a role Drummond couldn’t fill, and despite his limited opportunities, Millsap’s rebounding numbers are actually far more efficient this season than in any of his previous 16 seasons dating back to his rookie season in 2006.

Now granted, it probably wouldn’t be the best idea to see Millsap trotted onto the court alongside Embiid regularly, as he isn’t much of a floor spacer in either efficiency or volume, at times, when the Sixers really need to steady things on the boards or match size with size – basically when they play the Orlando Magic – the case could be made that four-time All-Star could serve as a calming, veteran presence on the defensive end of the court, which is one aspect the team has lacked over the past few seasons.

If Doc Rivers really needs a stop, it’s hard to see a weakness in a lineup featuring Tyrese Maxey, Danny Green, Matisse Thybulle, Millsap, and Embiid.

Could this all change tomorrow? Sure, maybe Paul Millsap will take the court and look like he’s trapped in quicksand, or multiple former Daryl Morey favorites like Ben McLemore and Dwight Howard will wriggle themselves free from their current teams, and the front office will opt to forgo an extended look at the new number 8 on the bench in favor of two more game-ready contributors. But at an introductory press conference celebrating the arrival of James Harden, Paul Millsap got a bit more love from the Philadelphia 76ers’ brass than a player destined for the buyout market typically would, as we collectively witnessed firsthand with Goran Dragic’s swift exit from San Antonio.