Bobby Marks explores the paths the 76ers can take at the trade deadline | NBA on ESPN

Bobby Marks explores the paths the 76ers can take at the trade deadline | NBA on ESPN

All right happy Wednesday hopefully everyone’s doing uh great out there you had a great Christmas a great Christmas Eve and uh you have a safe uh and healthy New Year 2024 wow time has certainly flown by uh we’ve got an article up on espn.com uh Tim bontemps and I put

Together a little bit of a I guess we call them filled out the 76ers uh trade primer and you’re probably saying wait there’s 5 weeks until February 8th which is the trade deadline the reason why we put it together is because starting on January 1 the aggregate restrictions of

Nick Batum Marcus Morris Robert Covington and KJ Martin get lifted so what does that mean those contracts can now be combined with other salaries so Philadelphia wanted to go out and make a Marcus Morris and Robert cumington trade and uh trade both guys together which earn roughly around $29 million they are

Free to do so um and now every player on that roster is certainly trade eligible um except for Paul Reed who’s got a January 15th restriction Reed also has uh to give approval on any trade because he signed an offer sheet with Utah that was eventually matched he can’t be

Traded back to Utah um the gist of the article is that we kind of look at a lot of different paths that Philadelphia can take certainly in the next 5 weeks and then certainly in the uh in the off season where they could have I think a $100 million in expiring contracts which

Leads you to $55 million in cap space um but that would take you to gut down that roster here um Philadelphia is certainly going to be active the James Harden trade has given this organization New Life um it’s bolstered their draft equity which was limited uh at one time

It certainly has balanced out their roster uh and now they are in contention with the teams above certainly Milwaukee Boston uh we could put Miami in that equation uh top four uh in the uh in the Eastern Conference not ready to put Orlando there um quite yet and I’m not

Ready to put New York there right yet but there are certainly six or seven really good teams in EAS conference here I think the big thing for Philadelphia is well hey it takes two to tango and although everyone wants to make a deal out there um you’ve got to find the

Right partner um that you’re not willing to kind of give it all there’s no disgruntled Allstar out there um I wouldn’t put Zack LaVine in there and I think how this Sixers roster has been constructed and how Tyrese Maxi has taken off to become that second star um

You don’t have to go Star chase the team that we we talk about a lot in the article is the Denver model uh Denver had Murray in in in yic and they were able to go out and make two separate trades they added cavius K Pope back

Right before the start of 2022 uh off season free agency they added Aaron Gordon a year before in a trade with Orlando cost him a 2025 top five protected first uh that’s the model and how you want to go out and and build this roster here the model

Isn’t to go into the off season basically renounce all your free agents and have Tyrese Maxi who’s a restricted free agent Joel embiid Paul Reed and Jaden Springer as your loan holdovers and to go Target big name um free agents that’s not the model anymore certainly

In this in this uh in this how this collective bargaining agreement works the model is to go out explore the trade market kind of going an in between here go out and explore the trade market but also keep free agents to be like you know DeAnthony Melton and maybe Tobias

Harris and maybe add around those two players um as well as embiid Maxi um you know certainly some of the players that we have mentioned it’s not to gut it and then all of a sudden you’ve got 55 $60 million in cop space because as history

Has shown and we wrote about it here free agents do not not leave their own teams um to sign somewhere else maybe that will change this off seon and and I although Drew holiday and Paul and um Paul George and kawh Leonard and Pascal cakam and ogan anobi sound appealing and

You have money to go out and sign one of those players free agents do not leave their own teams the list goes on and on as far as players either um extending with their own team or resigning with them as a free agent for example Kyrie Irving resigns in Dallas Giannis extends

In Milwaukee if you go back to 2019 and that was kind of a unique year when kawhai went to the Clippers and then Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving went to Brooklyn that does not happen you know since then the only two players that we could put up as Allstar level players

Was Jaylen Brunson last off season in 20 um22 with the Knicks who went from Dallas to New York and then this recently with Fred Van vet in Houston where Houston had all that money to spend as far as cap space and where the Rockets are a little bit different is

That they already had a base of infrastructure of younger players here there already six or seven players on their roster so they can go out and plug in Dylan Brooks and Fred Van VY and Jeff Green and and some of those other players here Philadelphia basically has

Two Marquee guys and you don’t build these days with three max level players it’s just very hard to do as far as where these rules are going to be so when you look at Philadelphia leading into the trade deadline they as I said they are going to be active they are

Sitting on basically 90% of their rosters are going to be free agents certainly the patum situation is interested because before the season he comes out and it’s there’s word that he’s going to retire after this year he’s not going to play for Team France after the Olympics and he’s been very

Good for them so how does he factor in moving forward here you certainly would have to look at the expiring contast of Marcus Morris uh Robert Covington two names just based on where that number can get you that $30 million number Philadelphia also has to be a careful

Because they’re right below that um that first apron number so any trades they’re going to go out and make it’s likely going to be within 110% as far as salary that they’re going to go out and and and do um and you also want to keep the you know you know the I

Guess the powderful of of draft assets here where you don’t want to go out and all of a sudden trade the uh the 26 and 28 picks that you got from the Clippers as part of the hardened deal you don’t want to go out and move you know um

Let’s say 2029 first or 2030 first here because you do want that available if you want to go out and make another deal perhaps this summer so I think for Philadelphia is it’s basically reassessing where they are right now can this roster as is compete with the top

Three or four teams in Eastern Conference you can then you look at West as far as where Denver is Minnesota some of these other teams here I think you’re another guy away um you know who is that third guy is it you know you’re certainly going to hear a lot of names

About boam bogdanovic in um in Detroit does bud donovic make sense for example Marcus Morris and um a protected first um you know certainly you’re going to hear a lot about Alex guso Alex guso makes sense you know that those are the type of deals you’re looking at as far as two

Players that can come in and maybe it doesn’t cost you as much as going out and getting that that one guy and then what happens is that you slide those guys in and then you have a decision to make as far as with your own free agents

As far as retain them or you basically can punt on cap space this off offseason here and you have two guys you add at the trade deadline and then you go out and and retain two of your free agents De Anthony Melton and Tois Harris for example here so there’s a lot of

Different directions that Philadelphia can go in here and we go into all of um all of it it’s interesting when you look at the track record of Dow Mo 81 trades he’s made during his tenure in Houston and now in Philadelphia it’s the second most in among all Executives behind s

Prey in Oklahoma City as far as even more than Pat Riley since Riley took over in with that Heat team in the late uh in the late 90s here he is not accustomed to building rosters with cap space he’s only had cap space three times in his career and they went out

And sign um Dwight Howard Eric Gordon Ryan Anderson three of those names um you know certainly have missed out on opportunities you know based on you know whether it be you put Chris Bosch in there um players like that so the cap space model although Houston was able to

Go out and do it and now we a 500 team the cap space model is is not the way it goes these days as as far as how you build out your your your roster but on the other end when you’re looking at the trade market as I said like it takes two

To tango like Philadelphia could could be sitting on all these expiring contracts and they could be looking at you know what with this draft Equity now they have three picks that they can move in a deal first round picks they’ve got a bunch of seconds they’ve got a trade

Exception I think the first when you look at it you know they owe Oklahoma City that protected first in 2025 it’s got some protection in 26 they ow Brooklyn a pick two years later so that’s why we’re saying there’s three tradable first they can move their 2024

First on the night of the draft that gives them another one because of you can’t trade first in back-to-back years they’ve got the least favorable first in the 2026 that was acquired in that Clipper trade with Harden they’ve got a Clipper first in in um in 2028 their

Swap rights um in 2029 they’ve got their own Mo first and move in either 29 or 30 so there are first out there to do and but it’s it’s a matter of who is that guy going to become available um you know what happens let’s say if um

Donovan Mitchell all of a sudden becomes available at the trade deadline which I don’t think or becomes available um when you’re when it we get to the off season here Philadelphia could be in a spot to add a marquee guide so that’s where the conservative nature um but you’re also

Walking that fine line of trying to build a continue to build a championship um around Joel embid who’s extension eligible also this summer here um but I would say this Philadelphia has more options than they did three months ago when James Harden was still on this

Roster you were look you going into an offseason where you were going to basically just have cap space and you were not going to have any Equity as far as draft picks and you were going to have to figure out how to build around

Maxi and um and and beid now you have a lot of things to work with as far as as I mentioned you know a trade exception worth you know north of six million dollar here all those expiring contracts it’s just a matter of if you’re doing a

Puzzle it’s a matter of kind of fitting the puzzle pieces here but it does take another team out there to make a deal um so Philadelphia is certainly going to be a team to watch over the next um you know over the next 5 weeks trade

Deadline is February 8th you can go on espn.com read about the different paths that Philadelphia has the the Denver model is the best model to do but not every team can go out and build a roster like that and go out and um you know add two two high level starters and only

Give up a first round picks a first round pick in in the deal here um you’re going to hear a lot about teams as far as you know whether it be Zack LaVine and the Lakers and and you going out and what you’re seeing in Phoenix right now

When you go out and add three high level players who are making you know $40 million it gives you such a lack of safety net to add around them you’re basically playing the minimum Market every year and that’s where you get into trouble here so I think for Philadelphia

The best bet is go out try to get two players at the deadline retain your free agents that you want to sign whether it be Harris and or um Melton you know certainly two players there and go from there um but do expect Philadelphia to

Be active um that is it we got 13 minutes I feel guilty Tim bontemps is not honest with me but um you can read all about uh the 76ers on espn.com have a great New Year he

Bobby Marks delves into the latest surrounding the Philadelphia 76ers around the NBA trade deadline.
#ESPN #NBAonESPN #NBA

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