Philadelphia 76ers: Pay for shooters, draft a big wing

What are the Philadelphia 76ers‘ biggest needs? Like remove player names, money, who is actually available, etc.; what are the archetypes Daryl Morey should be looking for this summer to build around his Big 3 of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and James Harden.

In my humble opinion, there are two big needs the Sixers should value above all others: 3 point shooting and defense, especially on the wings.

A big ask? You bet; I would imagine most of, if not every single team in the NBA could use help at least one of, if not both of those areas, but considering the Sixers’ Top-3 players are either backcourt scorers or a two-way center, the team’s lack of complementary pieces is hard to ignore, especially when watching teams like the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics play a significantly more impressive brand of basketball in the NBA Finals.

So, with that in mind, how do the Sixers’ needs fit into the actual NBA landscape? How can they utilize their albeit limited assets, the 23rd overall pick in the draft, their MLE, and a few trade chips to make the team better and hopefully seal some of the cracks that led to yet another first-round exit?

Well, considering this year’s draft is filled with quality forwards of all shapes, sizes, and ability levels, conventional wisdom would suggest the Philadelphia 76ers should probably start there and then buy shooting when free agency opens up a few weeks later.

The Philadelphia 76ers could conceivably take a huge step forward this summer.

If you’re a team looking to get wing help but don’t have a pick in the lottery, you’re in luck; the 2022 NFL Draft is absolutely loaded with promising young wings of all shapes, sizes, ages, and ability levels who should hear their names called from pick 15 and beyond.

From Tari Eason, to Ochai Agbaji, E.J. Liddell, Kendall Brown, Jalen Williams, Jake LaRavia, Trevor Keels, Christian Braun, Patrick Baldwin Jr., Dalen Terry, Wendell Moore Jr., David Roddy, and even Nikola Jovic, not to be confused with Nikola Jokic, the Philadelphia 76ers will have a slew of viable forwards who could play small or even power forward for the team this fall, and potentially become the sort of fifth starter Philly has been desperately looking for in the post-Ben Simmons era.

Of the players realistically expected to be available at 23, E.J. Liddell is the most obvious choice, as he’s been linked to the team a number of times in mock drafts by a variety of different outlets but don’t overlook players like Jalen Williams or Christian Braun, as both attempted at least 100 3 pointers in 2021-22 and hit them at a clip well above the NBA average. All three would be quality selections at pick 23, but if Williams or Braun – most likely Braun – fall into the second round, don’t be surprised if Daryl Morey tries to pull off a trade and exchange some future assets for a read-made rotation player.

Assuming the Sixers are able to secure a bigger forward like Liddell who can smooth out the rough edges as a 3-and-D wing, the next step would be adding shooting in free agency, ideally, shooters who can rebound or contribute in another way, but shooters who can space the floor for playmakers like James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid one way or another.

As you can read about here, the highest-percentage shooter likely to hit the open market is Bryn Forbes, who is a career 41.3 percent marksman from deep. While Forbes is a smaller off-guard who doesn’t provide much value on defense, he’s a nimble shooter who can move off the ball and re-energize some of the sets in Doc Rivers’ playbook that were unofficially retired when Seth Curry left town. There are also players like Ben McLemore, who isn’t an elite shooter percentage-wise but put up 417 attempts in 2021-22 despite only appearing in 64 games and has experience playing alongside Harden during their shared time in Houston.

Ideally, the Sixers would look into a player like Nicolas Batum or Malik Monk, both of whom hit their attempts from 3 well over the league average and percent intriguing optionality in addition to their proficiency as shooters, but it’s hard to imagine either LA team letting them go, or the Philadelphia fielding the most lucrative offer on the open market. Still, Embiid is planning on playing for the French National Team moving forward, so maybe, just maybe, he can convince Batum to make his way to South Philly.

If the Sixers can somehow enter the 2023 NBA playoffs with a starting five of Tyrese Maxey, James Harden, Nicolas Batum, Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid, and Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle, E.J. Liddell, Christian Braun, and Paul Reed coming off the bench, the chances of making it out of the second round becomes a good bit better indeed.

On Twitter, friend of the blog Francis Parker asked a very simple question: If the NBA had an expansion draft and you could only protect one player other than Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and James Harden, who would it be? The results varied a ton, from Matisse Thybulle, to Shake Milton, Paul Reed, Jaden Springer, and even Charlie Brown Jr., but what the thought experiment clearly showcased is that the Philadelphia 76ers just don’t have a lot of “foundational players,” who should be considered untouchable. While they also don’t have a ton of chances to fix that this summer, if Daryl Morey plays his cards right, maybe, just maybe, we can get a definitive answer to that question and even add a fifth and even sixth name added to the list. Goodness, that certainly would be nice.