Completing the Process

In the 2015-16 NBA season, Elton Brand played 17 games for the 76ers to close out his 17-year NBA career. On September 20th, 2018, Brand was named the general manager for the 76ers. As of February 8th, 2019, Brand has positioned the 76ers as favorites to come out of the Eastern conference with arguably the best starting lineup in the East.

But how did we get here?

Well, Brand inherited a team that had pieces but was not there yet. After years of essentially losing games on purpose to get higher draft picks for years under old management, the 76ers finally put together a winning team last season with superstars Joel Embiid and last season's rookie of the year Ben Simmons. With help from sharpshooter JJ Redick, and key role players like Robert Covington and Dario Saric, the 76ers finished the season with the 3rd best record in the East, and made it to the conference semi-finals last season. But that was not good enough.

Fast forward to this season, Minnesota Timberwolves star Jimmy Butler was unhappy and wanted to be dealt. Brand knew this was an opportunity to get one of the top 15 players in the league and form a Big 3 in Philly. With that being said, the 76ers traded Covington and Saric to the Timberwolves for Jimmy Butler. The roster they had was good enough to put them in 5th place in the East before the deadline. But Brand and the Sixers organization know they need to put together a contending team now, and the trade deadline was perfect for that.

The first deal the Sixers made was bringing in all-star caliber forward Tobias Harris from the LA Clippers. Harris is averaging a career high 20.9 points a game and 7.9 rebounds a game, while also shooting 43% from the three point line and 49% from the field. He has been very good at creating his own shot this season and ranks in the top 20 in jump shots off the dribble, while also having a career year from the three point line. Harris has also been very good in pick and rolls this season and even though the 76ers rank in the bottom of the league in pick and roll offense, Harris will add another dynamic to the Sixers offense that they desperately need.

In the Tobias Harris trade, the 76ers also got one of the more efficient bench players in the game, Boban Marjanovic. Boban is an absolute giant standing at 7-3 and weighing 290 pounds. While only playing around 10 minutes a game this season, Boban is averaging 6.7 points and 4.2 rebounds a game while shooting 60% from the field and 75% from the free throw line. While his numbers are not anything to marvel at, he will give Joel Embiid some much needed rest, while basically protecting the paint with his massive size.

Mike Scott will also come to Philly from the Clippers deal. The 30 year old is averaging just under 5 points and 3.5 rebounds a game in 14 minutes. While not taking very many shots, Scott is shooting a respectable 38% from three and the added bench depth will be important moving forward through the rest of the season as the fatigue begins to set in.

To round out the trade with the Clippers, the 76ers also acquired James Ennis, who is averaging a career high in points with 7.3 a game. The 28 year old was averaging about 23.5 minutes off the bench for the Clippers and at small forward, Ennis will add some depth to a team that definitely needs it. Ennis has played for the Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, Memphis Grizzles, Detroit Pistons, and Houston Rockets, so he has played under a number of different systems and should adapt very quickly. Defensively, Ennis brings a tenacious mind to not let his man score and offensively, he is shooting 36% from three, which will help stretch the floor off the bench.

Lastly, all Sixers fans knew it was coming, some were sad, others not so much, but the Markelle Fultz era is over. In a trade with the Orlando Magic, Fultz is going to Orlando while the Sixers get to bring in 29 year old Jonathon Simmons. Everyone may remember Simmons from his first year in the league with the San Antonio Spurs and being very good for them during his time there. While averaging almost 14 points, 2.5 assists, and 3.5 rebounds a game last season, Simmons has struggled so far this year, only averaging about 7 points a game, along with 2.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds a game. Simmons is not much of a shooter, only shooting about 22% from three this year, so his fit with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid will be brought into question and he may not get nearly as many minutes, but he does give the 76ers an athletic wing to bring in the game if need be.

Since bringing in the new guys, the Sixers are 2-0 with wins over the Denver Nuggets, 117-110, and the Los Angeles Lakers, 143-120. The game against the Nuggets, who hold the NBA's best record, showed exactly what the Sixers could be capable of as the new "Big 4" combined for 63 points, which excludes JJ Redick going for 34 points in that win. All of the new guys got substantial minutes, except for Jonathon Simmons, who was out with an abdominal injury, and while some of the guys off the bench did not put up big numbers, the promise of just getting some relief for the starters is what was hoped.

While the Lakers matchup was not close, Harris notched his first 20 point game, scoring 22, and Simmons even saw a little bit of action.

With free agency coming up and some of the questions circling about what Jimmy Butler may do, bringing in some guys to make the 76ers real contenders is very important and Elton Brand went out and did exactly that. After two games, the promise for this team to make a deep push in the playoffs seems high and the excitement surrounding the team is soaring. From ownership, to the coaches, to the players, to the fans in Philadelphia, everyone has been waiting for a team to make Philly basketball exciting again and here it is. The Process has been trusted, and it has officially arrived.

New Orleans vs LA

With the NBA trade deadline come and gone for the 2018-19 season, there was no bigger question than: Is New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis going to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers by the deadline? Davis, who still has another year left on his contract, was eligible to resign with the Pelicans to a 5-year $230 million super max deal after next season, if he wanted. Instead, Davis did not see a future in New Orleans and asked his agent, notably, agent and close friend of Lakers star LeBron James, to ask for a trade.

So the fun began. 

Davis immediately was rumored to want to play for the Lakers with LeBron and would sign an extension with the team but inevitably opened his list of teams he would re-sign with to the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Los Angeles Lakers. Now to add a wrinkle into this, the Boston Celtics wanted to be apart of the trade for Davis and wanted the Pelicans to wait until this off season so they could make an offer for Davis, even though their star point guard Kyrie Irving may end up leaving the team in free agency this summer, and Anthony Davis' dad spoke publicly and said he does not want his son playing for Boston. Notable that Davis did not add the Celtics to the teams he would sign with, but Celtics owner Danny Ainge remains optimistic and wants to trade for Davis anyways.

So do you have all that?

Okay good, now here is what makes some of this so interesting.

The Lakers have a good young core with LeBron James as their leader. They have 2017 second pick of the draft Lonzo Ball at the point guard, 2017 27th pick Kyle Kuzma, and a young and talented star in Brandon Ingram. For the Lakers to have a shot at Davis, the Pelicans wanted Ball, Kuzma, Ingram, point guard Rajon Rondo, shooting guard Lance Stephenson, wing Michael Beasley, 2 first round picks, and for the Lakers to take on Solomon Hill's bad contract through next season. So essentially, the Lakers would be giving up their entire young core, both of their point guards, and three of their bench players just for Davis. The Lakers made it very clear they want to win now and want Davis for this season. While Davis is one of the best players in the league and will make a huge impact on any team he gets traded to, that is a steep price nonetheless. Personally, I think the Pelicans were not smart to not accept the trade because it gives them a good young core and some draft picks to work with in the future, but they decided it was not enough and have decided to hold on to Davis through the rest of the season. 

The interesting part about the Pelicans holding off on the Lakers deal, is it makes it apparent that they are intrigued to see what the Celtics will offer them and have a chance at dealing Davis to Boston this summer.

So where do the Lakers go from here?

The NBA is a business and most guys in the league can be traded at any minute, but for young guys, hearing your name in trade rumors can be hard to deal with and bring down your confidence a little bit. This was no more apparent than the other night when the Lakers traveled to Indiana to take on the Pacers and lost by 42 points with LeBron sitting on the opposite side of the bench from his teammates during the game. 

So how do the young guys recover from almost being traded and essentially knowing this offseason they can be traded at any moment while also trying to make a deep run in the playoffs this season? That is something that will be interesting to watch as the season continues but, as far as the organization is concerned, landing Davis this summer is at the top of their priorities because they know, if you get LeBron James and Anthony Davis paired together, the Los Angeles Lakers will finally be a championship contender again.