The Sixers engaged in trade talks at March’s deadline for Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry, but ultimately weren’t willing to meet Toronto’s asking price. According to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, some executives around the NBA felt that Philadelphia should have been more aggressive in trying to land a play-maker who would’ve been an ideal fit on the roster, while others understood why the club was reluctant to go all-in on a 35-year-old on an expiring contract.
While there are varying opinions about the Sixers’ approach to the 2021 trade deadline, most people around the league agree that president of basketball operations Daryl Morey passed on Lowry because he hopes to land an even better star, says O’Connor. However, even if Morey is willing to put Ben Simmons on the table, it’s unclear whether the 76ers would be favorites for the next star who becomes available, given how the playoffs affected Simmons’ value.
Trading Joel Embiid is a “non-starter,” O’Connor adds.
Here’s more out of Philadelphia:
- Bobby Marks of ESPN (Insider link) and Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype look ahead to what’s on tap for the Sixers during the 2021 offseason. While Simmons’ future feels like the most pressing question to answer right now, the team’s extension talks with Embiid will also be critical — the All-NBA big man is eligible for a super-max extension that would add four years onto his current deal.
- The Sixers failed Embiid, according to Derek Bodner of The Athletic, who points to the coach, the rest of the players, and the organization as a whole as those who let down the star center. Despite Embiid’s development into a superstar and an impressive playoff performance on a torn meniscus, the Sixers appear “less flexible and more desperate” than they’ve been at any time since The Process began, Bodner contends.
- In the wake of the Sixers’ latest playoff disappointment, Dan Woiken of USA Today contends that the organization’s “Process” will be remembered as a failure.
- Tim Bontemps of ESPN takes a look at the end of the Sixers’ season, suggesting that this year may ultimately serve as a referendum on the Embiid/Simmons partnership.
- In case you missed it, we rounded up several Simmons-specific items earlier today.
Morey is going to decide if trading Simmons for sake of trading Simmons is the right move. His value has never been lower and the return for him is not likely to be tremendous. I’m not sure the fan base is going to be able to deal with Simmons for another season. The 76ers off-season should be interesting.
Trade market
Too available players
Simmons
Walker – trade again
McCollum
Porzingis
Joe Harris
Love
John Wall
Start with these guys
It will take 2 years to develop Simmons shooting
Embiid would be 30 years old
Trading away Simmons is necessary
Coach needs to do better final 5 minutes or late game
2 years? this has been something they’ve been attempting to fix for the last 5 years.
I’d make 3 team trade
Warriors get Simmons
76ers get Fox
Kings get Warriors package
Fox is available
be realistic. Sacramento is a tough place to attract talent. Fox is developing into a true star. he’s under contract for 5 more years. why…. WHY would they trade him? The trade has to make sense for both teams. they aren’t the minor league farm team for bigger and more successful franchises.
Out of box thinking
Simmons to Thunder for Shai and and salary cap
Simmons to Spurs for Murray and cap
I was actually playing around last night with the Spurs and Sixers in trade machine and wound up with Harris for Murray and cap space, moving Ben to the 4.
For repeater tax
25 million salary = repeater tax $88 million
Trading Simmons is necessary
You can find a way to do something like
Simmons for Lowry and Murray
3 years $70m for Lowry
anyone trading for Simmons knows shooting isnt what they are getting
If the sixers call the raptors it should be for Siakam. I trust Morey, I think he knows moves need to be made.
Simmons for Siakam is the correct trade but Philly needs to add 2 first Rd draft picks.
Siakim regressed in his 3pt shooting. He shot 30% last year. 13 of his 17 FGA were from 2pt range. Tobias shot 11 of his 15 from 2pt range too. Embid CAN shoot the 3 but I think the 76ers are best served to NOT bring in another guy whos going to clog the post like Siakim. They need a guard that can dish and shoot the 3.
If they’re calling Toronto it should be about VanVleet.
Trade?
Marc Stein hint Simmons has no market
Stein worked for ESPN for many years
well sounds like he’s in the minority with that opinion
Not really. A few other people have expressed the same opinion and/or were told the same by league insiders/execs.
Yes, everybody is making their best guess what anyone is willing to do for such a massive contract for a player with such massive flaws.
Who is to say what the market will look like, how much value Philadelphia can get in return, and what owner is going to commit to a player with so much baggage. It’s not that nobody thinks Simmons can be useful, it’s the price tag on his contract and what the demand is for his services by teams that think they can get extra utility of him.
Embiid is a superstar. But he’s always hurt. Even when he’s played he’s always banged up in someway. I believe that is the main reason sixers haven’t won. Yes you can blame Simmons poor shooting, and obviously that doesn’t help, but Simmons does a lot of other things on the floor and is consistently on the court. Think of the haul the sixers could get for embiid. A star and some picks to keep young affordable talent coming to come off the bench. I’m not sure what star they could acquire, maybe Lilliard or Beal and then signing someone like Drummond to give them some size downlow still?
Trade away Embiid, 76ers won’t be top 10 teams in the nba
do you ever get tired of trolling?
You are the only one is trolling
It’s not all Ben Simmons Fault
Don’t have enough assets to acquire Lillard
Don’t have cap space to sign Drummond
Coaches should take some responsibility and spend some time to develop Simmons
it’s mainly Simmons fault.
Tobias gave you 20/7/3 on a 48/36/84 line.
Embid gave you 30/13/4 and 47/36/82.
Curry gave you 21/3/2 on 61/60/67.
other than Curry’s below average FT who else do you blame?
Simmons… great defender… good playmaker… but you simply can’t give $33 per to THAT guy when he can’t shoot from more than 10ft from the basket. Not only can he NOT shoot from beyond 10ft but he almost never ATTEMPTS to shoot from beyond 10ft. And his career FT is 60% AND the last TWO playoff runs his FT% plummeted to less than 40%.
Looking to fix other issues rather than addressing Simmons is like worrying about low windshield wiper fluid when the engine isn’t operating properly.
Harris had ok numbers, sure. But man was it hard to find him when it was nut check time.
if you think what im doing is “trolling” than you clearly don’t know what that word means.
Don’t have cap space to sign Drummond? How much are they going to spend on a backup to Embiid? If Drummond can attract a decent salary, it wouldn’t be to play the minimal role like Howard had. Or is the great plan to replace Embiid with Drummond in the quest to become a champion? Because every good team executive was probably thinking the same thing, if only Philly was playing Drummond instead of Embiid, they would be going to the conference finals.
Reading his, Marty, and wallys comments make my brain hurt.
trading Embid makes zero sense unless Philly has decided to rebuild. Does Philly fan want th o trust the process again? Yes. Embid gets hurt but he showed heart by playing thru it and gave you 30/14/4 on 82% FT and 36% from 3pt . The suggestion that he needs to be traded rather than the primary handler guy who was 10/9/6 on 33% FT and 0 3pt attempts and ZERO attempts in the 4th quarter should get a GM fired.
76ers have a bonafide centerpiece in Embid and contractually are committed to Tobias who is in his prime too. They can’t afford to “hope” Simmons, whos owed $140 mil…. learns how to shoot the ball…
I think you can move the Harris contract tbh.
Morey and Doc are the most overrated gm and coach in the league. The championship window with Embid is short and both tittle-tattled during the year. Not trading for Lowry because of Maxey was dumb. Doc’s lack of adjustments is telling and he now has the label of losing 5 game 7’s at home. Winter is coming soon to Philly.
no, it would have been dumb to meet Toronto’s absurdly high asking price. that’s why it wasnt just the Sixers who bowed out on him. Giving up Maxie for a 35 year old on an expiring contract who might not have even gotten the team over the hump would have been a good idea. go after Lowrie now.
How can “the process” be considered a failure if Hinkie got fired before he could use a fraction of the assets he acquired? It netted them a number one pick and a superstar in Embiid. It isn’t Hinkie’s fault the moves the front office made after he left haven’t resulted in better results.
Let’s not forget that he was replaced by an epic failure in Bryan colangelo
i dont see how anyone can call it a failure if Embiid and Simmons are still there, and a lot of the current team’s trade trees can be traced back to Hinkie moves.
It’s an absolute failure
care to elaborate?
better basketball minds then us have written articles on it but if you care to still defend “the process”, have at it
Result is absolute failure but process is absolute success?
so that’s all you had to say? that’s not nearly enough to convince me but okay.
Name of Upset is two way street
You blame Simmons, I upset
I blame Rivers, you upset
The “process” was successful in producing two top level players, however controversial Ben is on this board.
The process has failed in that Ben is a two-way playmaking forward with no shot, not a point guard. Yet the Sixers have played that game and wasted a lot of everyone’s prime and time catering to his flawed self identity.
Find a 3 and D point guard, (George Hill?) to run the offense through, play Embiid more outside with Simmons as a cutter at PF, plus Harris at SF and Curry at SG, and voila!
All they need is a new coach. Nobody even got traded in this post..
“The process” is a massive failure. Embiid slipped to them due to injury. That was just lucky on their part. After that every pick was underwhelming. Parker was a total bust. Simmons is not better than the 2 guys draft after him. Fultz lol.
They have to be targeting trading Simmons in a deal for Lillard
Sixers don’t have the assets for that, imo. Simmons is not as bad as he’s looked in these playoffs, but this is his lowest value. How many firsts would the Sixers need to include? Especially considering that, with Dame and Embiid, their firsts would be in the mid-20s? Four?
Simmons is not bad, but how do you sell trading away Dame to have a team built around Simmons and McCollum (Powell may leave in FA) to your fanbase? The fans would revolt.
what’s so unlikely about that? the Nets just gave up a load of 1sts for Harden.
It’s not that they don’t have picks, it’s that four may not even get it done. Tell me, would you trade Dame for Simmons and four firsts in the mid-20s range (presumably; at any rate, I would not expect them to be lottery picks) if you’re Portland? Only if you’ve decided to blow it up and do a full rebuild, which I don’t think the Blazers want to do.
well i mean, if you’re trading him at all arent you more than likely blowing it up? the Sixers have other assets that may be of interest in lieu of late 1sts id believe.
If the Blazers got an offer for Lillard based around Simmons they should take it. You’re not going to get much better than that. Rockets learned the hard way.
The Rockets/Harden situation seems way different to me and I would not compare them. Harden forced his way out and wanted nothing to do with Houston. Dame doesn’t appear to be demanding a trade. Portland is not desperate and does not need to grab what they can get. Simmons plus non-lottery/late round firsts is not equal value and makes the Blazers much worse, both this year and going forward.
Publicly Lillard isn’t demanding a trade and mentioned he wanted to win in Portland. No need to even think of trading him.
It wasn’t an imposter. Simmons IS as bad as he looked in the playoffs. He’s not as GOOD as he looks every regular season – when you’re playing against half the teams that won’t be in the playoffs.
That said, sure, he’s got some strengths, skills, and athletic, 6’10 frame. But, he has to learn how to play. As the Clippers were losing in last season’s playoffs, even before he got let go, I thought to myself that Doc would be the perfect coach for Ben and the 76ers. At his first media conference when he said he’s not worried about Ben’s shooting and that he was gonna “let Ben be Ben”, I knew I was wrong about him and we’d be exactly where we are today.
It probably won’t happen, but if it did, after dealing with Ben, Joel, and “Philadelphia” period all season, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear Doc was on the first thing smokin to Orlando this morning.
I think Powell will be back for what it’s worth. That move had “looking to the future” written all over it.
I sure hope not because I want the Knicks to sign him!
The playoffs…where real stars shine and it’s also where overated players are exposed when the lights are the brightest. Trae shined, Simmons got absolutely exposed! The process has failed. Ben for Buddy Hield and call it a day…
Kuzma, KCP plus a salary filler and a first round swap for Simmons.
Simmons if memory serves me put up 42 on the jazz so the kid can score the ball. The Sixers didn’t finish at the rim or hit their free throws that coupled with the loss of Danny green are the main reasons the Sixers are sitting home. With that being said no way this kid can return to philly, they ran A.I out, Lindros, Barkley, Wentz Now its Simmons’s time.
Simmons and Milton to GSW for Wiggins, Paschall, the 14th overall pick and a pair of second rounders.
Sixers then release George Hill from his non guaranteed contract and using Danny Greens expiring contract sign Kyle Lowry. With whatever money we have left from that and releasing Mike Scott, bring back Dwight Howard and make a play for a couple veteran FA’s for the bench.
1. Lowry. Maxey
2. Curry. Korkmaz. Joe
3. Wiggins. Thybulle. Reed
4. Harris. Paschall
5. Embiid. Howard
Plus the 14th and 28th picks in the draft and some veteran FA’s.
No thank you. I’d rather keep Ben than get Wiggins back. Although I’m a big fan of Paschall
I think you may be onto something. Because Simmons’ value as a former No. 1 pick is plummeting right down to Wiggins’ level – and fast.
GSW, to me, would be risking a lot on that trade even though Ben is still the better player. Assuming Draymond continues to deteriorate offensively, could they stomach having him AND Ben on the floor at the same time? Even Curry and Klay can only spread the floor so much.
I see where you coming from but I’d say back, Curry is 33, Klay 31 off a big injury and Green 31 and falling off quickly. They also need to build for the future and Simmons would give them a star for the future.
Simmons could work on his shot in GSW they have one of the best shooting coaches in the league. Green is a decent shooter from time to time and that offence would make 3 players all really good at making the right play/pass. The style GSW play aswell pushing the ball up the court as quickly as possibly would suit Simmons. Plus on the other side of the ball GSW would be very strong with Green calling defensive plays, Simmons and Klay two of the best on ball defenders and Wiseman with his athletic shot blocking. Plus for GSW shake Milton off the bench that a scoring boost.
You realize none of this works under the cap rules? You can’t use Green’s contract (it’s expired, not expiring) to get Lowry in a S&T, even if the hard cap didn’t prevent it – which it almost certainly would. Bottom line is you can’t carry 3 max deals and shop for FAs outside of the MLE, almost certainly the smaller one. Lowry is unlikely to sign for that.
The good news here is that if Morey comes around to your way of thinking on Simmons, then he’d almost certainly have the ability to move him to GSW without taking back Wiggins’ contract, but instead freeing up the cap space or a TPE he might need to get Lowry and perhaps another FA. Toronto, actually, might be a team that would take Wiggins for a modest charge.
When did I right sign and trade? Obviously I meant use the 15mil that Green was on, thats now expired to go towards Lowry.
Sign Lowry
Trade Simmons to Spurs in
Sign and trade for DeRozan
Doc is a waste of money! They will never win with him at the helm.
Simmons and Doc are both lame, and Embid doesnt have any clutch DNAs. It was so predictable that they were going to lose. He just wants to go home and rest. Lame!
Embiid would have been able to provide more later in the series if his body hadnt been as pushed to it’s limit as it has been. if the team had a more reliable #2 (which in this case I refer to Harris, being the second best scorer on the team) they wouldnt need to wear out Embiid playing him almost all of every game.
The fact is, the sixers just aren’t that good, and the Hawks were a lot better than people thought.
Philly March April May. 25-12
Atlanta March April May 27-11
I don’t think it’s the Sixers aren’t that good, I think you are more correct with your thought that the Hawks are a lot better than people thought. The Sixers problem (ignoring the 10k lb Ben Simmons elephant in the room) was depth. When Danny Green went out I told people it would change the series. We had to rely on way to many Milton/Korkmaz minutes and they are just horrible. Green is still levels above them.
Atlanta clearly became a different team in the second half. Philly is that good – in the regular season.
Limitations of Harris/Simmons just keeps getting exposed down the stretch of playoff games where you need an elite wing/guard to create shots.
Speaking of..Clippers-Hawks finals plus 1600.
500 will get you 8k.
Unless Kawhi comes back which depending on who you listen to seems no better than MAYBE, I don’t think Clippers get past Phoenix.
I think the Hawks are coming out of the East, but the Suns are probably steamrolling anyone they meet.
I agree. The Suns are on fire
Trading Ben Simmons for a 35 yr old Kyle Lowry, was not the answer. And I def would NOT do a sign and trade this offseason.
Odd that they harp on Lowry when it seemed Harden was just as much on the table a month prior.
The issue with Lowry for all of these teams was the same: He’s 35 making 30m and he’s a FA. No contender has 30m of dead salary to send out and no contender is going to give up actual assets for a guy who can walk in 6 months.
Harden, on the other hand, is A) the better player, B) the younger player, C) under contract, and D) WAS EITHER GOING TO PHILLY OR THEIR DIRECT COMPETITION WHO ALREADY HAD KEVIN DURANT. He’s better than Lowry, Beal, and probably a slight notch above Dame. Morey knows his odds – January was the time to push all in.
it was never about Simmons. rumors indicate the team was willing to trade Simmons in said deal, but Houston wanted a load of the team’s other young guys plus picks. it was probably more about Maxey + Thybulle + picks than Ben. and agakn, as ive said, if you do that deal, Harden very well may have gotten injured anyway, and then you’re also down Ben and presumably at least one if not both and more of the aforementioned other guys. in essence, they probably would have just lost in 6 instead of 7.
Well it was about Simmons at least to the extent that he was the centerpiece. I think most likely it was Simmons + Maxey + either Thybulle or a pick, at least from the rumor mill.
I’ve heard the argument about Harden getting injured so what does it matter, but it’s impossible to say if he would have pulled his hamstring in Philly too. But let’s say he did – he’s still under contract next year, and he’s still eons better than Ben right now.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, Brooklyn doesn’t have him. I really think that’s why Morey should have gone all in – Maxey, picks, whatever. It would have simultaneously made Philly better AND made their path thru the East significantly easier.
The Harden was a risk crowd baffles me today –
Upon day 1 of Brk until the day he got hurt he was the best player in the NBA….I say this as NOT a Harden fanboy one bit ….Did we just forget about 1/3 of the year?
Yes Philly def should have tried harder to get Harden but to be fair IDK if Houston even wanted Ben and that salary to begin with….I think the picks (and money saved ) was what they wanted all along ….didn’t hurt that they are unprotected and the Brk Big 3 has combustible capabilities making them potentially lottery bound sooner rather than later
The Harden trade was going to be a fleece no matter which team won it……. Imagine if he was made available this offseason?? I think the pull would have been double what they received from the Nets
My gut tells me Ben to Por and Lillard stays –
Cj can be worked to Philly or a 3rd team gets involved and Philly gets a different name for the salary match
Ben can kinda do all the dirty things so Lillard wont have too – Think its a nice pairing tbh and may be the best spot for Ben
Por and Philly oddly feel like they are in the same sinking boat…Perhaps joining forces in a trade can rectify both
Philly has young playmakers. They shouldnt have traded Maxey in a Lowry trade either b/c Lowry is the player Maxey is most compared to
Other GMs overplayed their hands. Several guys should have been dealt that weren’t and they have nothing to show at this time. Some S&T for bad contracts.
When did people get so thirsty for PGs? Lowry is more Marcus Smart than Chris Paul. You really want to sell the farm for him?
I’d try and trade embiid. His trade value is high for being constantly injured. He wasn’t the reason they lost but I never thought theses two could play together effectively. Ben needs shooters and a more switchable center to be effective. I’m not going to act like these playoffs fell on him because they did but you’re going to get nothing for him that will help this team win. Embiid will get a lot.
Why is Philly management and their developmental program not being ripped into. They drafted Ben knowing he couldn’t shoot the 3 or a consistent free throw. Instead of putting Ben into a position to succeed, the put him into a position to fail. Shame on the organization. The best thing that could happen for Ben is to be traded to a team with a good developmental program like Spurs, Miami or my hometown Toronto Raptors.
That solves it. Just fix the draft so that every young player that needs development starts in one of those programs. The league will be better for it by having a better product and those teams can’t hold every player indefinitely. Maybe after three or four years they can get redrafted out to other organizations.
I seriously can’t understand why ANYONE would think that the 76ers HAVEN’T TRIED to bring im everyone short of Jesus Christ to help Simmons improve? You think they make that kind of investment and DON’T try and help him????? at some point it’s on the player.