Sixers Trade Deadline Diary (Written Secretly At School)

So, how did they do?

[photo: Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images]

Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He has been legally banned from covering the team in person, but that ban will be lifted in March of 2020. He is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.

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Thursday, 1:58 AM

The Sixers just traded three second-round picks (2020 Dallas, 2021 Denver, 2022 Toronto) to the Golden State Warriors for Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III. I knew I’d write about whatever the Sixers do at the Trade Deadline, but had no clue how I’d do it. And quite honestly, I still have no idea how I’m going to map out the events of the next 13 hours. But it’s two in the morning, I’m exhausted, and the Sixers just added two rotation players. So I guess I’ll just start jotting down my thoughts and observations on this move…

• The Sixers have to move fast, as they now need to clear two roster spots before 3:00 tomorrow (I guess I should say today). This could be through trades, waiving players or both. The most likely candidates to be exiled are likely Jonah Bolden, Trey Burke and Kyle O’Quinn. My money would be on the first two being the ones sent packing if it comes to a simple cut or salary dump situation. It shouldn’t be too hard to find takers -- after their involvement in that crazy four-team trade, the Timberwolves need a living and breathing point guard of any quality. I could see them being a destination for the Sixers to ship off either Burke or Neto.

However, I wouldn’t yet rule out the possibility of the Sixers pulling off a trade with actual on-court incentives that also helps facilitate the Burks / GR3 move. They are likely still shopping the Mike Scott + Zhaire Smith + pick(s) package in hopes of finding a noteworthy rotation upgrade. That package allows them to take in a salary of about $12 million. They could combine Bolden and two minimum players in a trade for someone making up to roughly $7 million. So while the most likely outcome here is probably just cutting Burke and Bolden or trading them for some combination of cash considerations and a fake draft pick, it’s still feasible that the Sixers can make this work naturally. I guess we’ll see.

• This trade is a clear victory for those who support the hoarding of second-round picks. Because Golden State has been severely lacking in second-rounders, the Sixers’ ability to offer three of them -- and doing so while still being set up to average more than one extra second per draft for the next several years -- is likely what separated them from whoever they were bidding against. And now, they enter the final hours still armed with both the Knicks’ and Hawks’ second-round picks in the upcoming draft, currently projected to be picks #33 and #34.

While on the topic of those three picks, we might as well recognize that this front office is responsible for each one: the Dallas pick was acquired in the Nerlens Noel trade, the Denver pick in the Wilson Chandler trade and the Toronto pick in the Malachi Richardson salary dump.

• An hour and a half after a trade is probably too soon to speculate on how the rotation will be adjusted, but here’s my best shot: I think Burks and Robinson III combine to eat up the bulk of Mike Scott’s minutes. This will mean more minutes for Tobias Harris at the four. I’d expect Burks to assume backup point guard duties, at least at the start, as the Sixers will hope to empower him as a ball-handler. Then I would think Robinson III is given a small portion of the playing time that Thybulle and Korkmaz enjoy -- with a negligible amount being taken away from each. It’s crazy to say this, but the Sixers actually have a competition of sorts for playing time among guys who actually deserve run. Burks, Robinson III, Korkmaz, Thybulle, Shake Milton and James Ennis III all have real arguments to be part of this rotation. How Brett Brown manages the many conflicting urges will be fascinating to watch.

• Now, to some boring but necessary details: Burks and Robinson III are both non-bird free agents this summer, which means the Sixers can only offer them 120% of their 2019-20 salary for next season. This means there is no advantage acquired in this trade when it comes to bringing one or both of these players back after this season. The Sixers would have to dip into a cap exception for either of them the same way the rest of the NBA does.

• I guess I’ll wrap up with my overarching takeaway. Quite honestly, I’m conflicted. I like the fit of both of these players, specifically Burks, who will add creation and playmaking that the Sixers need in the half-court. And none of these second-rounders are particularly consequential on their own. And hell, I hypothesized nearly the exact terms of this trade in Tuesday’s column. But three second-round picks for two very marginal upgrades to the bench isn’t exciting to me. This is far from a disaster; I don’t even think it’s a bad move. But I’m expecting an amount of excitement in the morning that probably will be at least a little bit out of hand. It’s hard to imagine how these guys flip a playoff series in the Sixers’ favor. On the bright side, they will definitely help in the regular season. For a team that is dominant on their home floor, maddening on the road and in the midst of a chase for playoff seeding, that means something.

• We’ll see if there’s another move coming beyond freeing up the two roster spots. But for now, the Sixers have definitely bolstered their rotation, though not in a way that will dramatically alter their season. And that’s… what we all thought was the most realistic outcome? 

• I wouldn’t bet on another major shoe dropping in the next 12 hours (it’s now 2:45 AM on Thursday as I am writing), but it’s worth noting that all of the assets we have mentioned the most when discussing Sixers trade options are still there. The Scott + Smith package can still be assembled for a quality contributor. They can still use one or both of the New York and Atlanta second-rounders. So they won’t be done if they don’t want to be. By now it has probably become clear that this is a running diary of sorts of my thoughts as everything unfolds. That means I could be several hours away from being able to write out these next thoughts. And yet, you’re just one line away. Until then…

Thursday, 12:23 PM

No moves yet, but here are some thoughts on a few developments that have taken place since late last night:

• The Sixers ruled out Kyle O’Quinn for tonight’s game due to “personal reasons,” while Trey Burke and Jonah Bolden are not with the team. We’ll have a resolution of some sort in the next few hours, but I don’t think this is indicative that a move has already been made -- instead, it’s likely a precautionary measure of some sort. But again, the Sixers should be disappointed if the day ends in two cuts. They remain capable of swinging another deal that could both improve the team and clear roster space.

• It seemed as if Miami was closing in on a trade with the Thunder to acquire Danillo Gallinari, but those talks appear to have stalled. This is a win for the Sixers in multiple respects -- yes, a major competitor in Miami failed to make another significant upgrade on top of the Andre Iguodala trade. But additionally, the Sixers should be rooting for OKC not to sell off parts, as they are officially in the range where their first-round pick could convey to the Sixers. OKC is tied with Dallas and, funnily enough, Philadelphia, for spots 19 / 20 / 21 in the draft order. As a reminder, the pick is top-20 protected. That means if it’s #21 or worse, the Sixers get it, and if not, OKC retains it. If the latter becomes true, the Sixers get OKC’s second-round picks in 2022 and 2023 -- which is still meaningful, but would obviously not be as good of an outcome.

Thursday, 2:45 PM

Shams Charania just reported that the Sixers were trading James Ennis III to Orlando, who had to waive his no-trade clause to facilitate the deal. But now the tweet is deleted, so who the hell knows? Time’s running out here, so we’re due for an answer soon. Of course, you will know what happened as you read this as I sit here frantically attempting to decipher cryptic tweets.

Thursday, 2:52 PM

Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice reported the deal first: the Sixers are shipping Ennis III to the Magic for a second-round pick. The Sixers now have one roster spot left to open up to facilitate the Burks / Robinson III deal. 

Ennis III had a no-trade clause after signing a one-year deal as a non-bird free agent. I guess it isn’t shocking that he was willing to move on given the steep decline in minutes he has seen over the last month. Nobody is sure why, but it seems like he was definitely in the doghouse.

Orlando has all of their own second-round picks moving forward, plus that of the Lakers in 2020. So this is mostly a salary dump.

This is obviously not a happy ending for Ennis in Philly, but it’s hard not to look at his brief time here fondly. He came in and struggled at first, but eventually solidified himself as a trusted and valued member of this rotation. He gave strong minutes in the playoffs, particularly against Toronto, and took a discount to come back and try to win a championship. Most importantly, he is without question the best pound-for-pound offensive rebounder I have ever seen.

Thursday, 3:00 PM

It’s 3:00! But still, we’re waiting for word on who else the Sixers are moving to free up roster space. My money is on Trey Burke, but we’ll see.

Thursday, 3:01 PM

The Athletic Orlando Magic reporter Josh Robbins is reporting that the second-round pick the Sixers are receiving for Ennis is the Lakers’ second-rounder this year. This puts the Sixers back at four second-rounders in the 2020 Draft.

Thursday, 3:14 PM

Waivers it is! Keith Pompey just reported that the Sixers are waiving Trey Burke. Burke, whose contract became guaranteed less than a month ago, had a brief stretch of good outings but never really earned the trust of the coaching staff. 

The roster now stands at 15 players: Ben Simmons, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, Al Horford, Joel Embiid, Raul Neto, Shake Milton, Alec Burks, Glenn Robinson III, Matisse Thybulle, Furkan Korkmaz, Zhaire Smith, Mike Scott, Jonah Bolden, Kyle O’Quinn.

So now, let’s zoom out and look at what the Sixers did in the aggregate…

• Incoming: ncoming: Alec Burks, Glenn Robinson III, 2020 Lakers second-round pick.

• Outgoing: James Ennis III, Trey Burke, 2020 Mavericks second-round pick, 2021 Nuggets second-round pick, 2022 Raptors second-round pick.

All in all… pretty good, I guess? It’s definitely not bad. A net loss of two second-rounders to upgrade from Ennis and Burke to Burks and Robinson III seems easily manageable, especially considering the Sixers’ already-existing abundance of seconds. Simply looking at this as a valuation of the assets in and out, it seems like the Sixers did decent work here. But do any of us think that Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III are going to swing the outcome a playoff series for this team? Are we even sure they swing the outcome of a playoff game? I’m not. And from that lens, it’s harder to buy these moves. But I don’t blame the Sixers. For better or for worse, they are now in a position where they simply cannot leave any stone unturned when it comes to improving this roster in the short-term. 

And now, in what should be the final game with the current iteration of this team, the Sixers will take on the Bucks in Milwaukee in a few hours. I’m taking a nap. I earned it.