Mail-It-In Mailbag: Horford Trade Targets, Free-Agent Options, All From Six Feet Away

Locked at home for over two weeks, SixersAdam is losing his mind.

[SixersAdam insisting on holding up his license during Zoomathon to prove he’s legal]

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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Hey everyone -- I hope you’re all practicing social distancing and taking the other precautions necessary in order to keep all of us safe. With no real basketball games taking place, and AU covering the fake ones, I decided it’s time for another mailbag. I’ll start off with a few non-Sixers questions before buckling down a bit.

@efraincarmelo asks: If you had to pick one NBA team to quarantine together for a Big Brother type show who would it be?

Maybe I’m just biased, but would it not be the Sixers? We’d get to observe the Ben and Joel dynamic, there is a 100 percent chance we would over-analyze every single roommate selection. There would without a doubt be some hilarious Embiid content, and we’d see Matisse Thybulle be the picked-on younger brother of Tobias Harris and Kyle O’Quinn much more often.

@PanasonicDX4500 asks: Which Phillie would you most trust to shoot a game-tying free throw?

After thinking for a few minutes, I realized that there is an obvious answer here: Vince Velazquez. I have never (and will never!) buy Vinny stock as a starter, but his athleticism is jaw-dropping, from his left-handed infield assist in 2018 to his unforgettable stint in left field last season. Honestly, are we sure the Sixers couldn’t give Velazquez the Raul Neto backup point guard minutes and be fine? 

@tjflannery24 asks: If the season ends right now does the Thunder pick convey?

Yes! If the regular season does not continue, the Sixers will own Oklahoma City’s first-round pick, with a 1.5 game cushion. The Thunder and Rockets are each 40-24, tied for the 21st-best record in the NBA. So if there are no more games, a coin flip would take place in which the Sixers and Nuggets (Denver owns Houston’s pick) would vie for the 21st pick, and the loser would pick 22nd. So even if the exact draft slot would not be finalized, the Sixers getting the pick would. This is an especially nice boost because the value of the Sixers’ second-round picks took a hit over the last few weeks of the season -- they own Atlanta’s and New York’s second-rounders, and there was once a chance that they would be two of the first three picks of the second round. Instead, they are currently slotted at #34 and #36, which is certainly valuable to a cap-strapped Sixers team, but it does make trading back into the first-round a bit more difficult.

@_Stibar asks: What are your top 5 Sixers games of this season?

Without question, the best game of the season was the Christmas brutalization of the Milwaukee Bucks -- from the Sixers tying a franchise record for three-pointers made, to Joel Embiid completely shutting down Giannis Antetokounmpo, it was the perfect storm on the big stage.

After that, I’ll go with the following: (2) blowing out Miami in Jimmy Butler’s first game back in Philadelphia, (3) beating the Lakers without Embiid on the night LeBron became the third-highest all-time scorer, (4) beating the Cavaliers by 47, the team’s highest margin of victory since 1982, and (5) The Shake Game, which I wrote about recently.

@mwteller asks: Assuming Sixers have only taxpayer MLE this summer give me 5 guys they should target in FA

Some context for those less well-versed with the salary cap: the Sixers will likely have access to the taxpayer’s mid-level exception this offseason, which allows them to offer a contract worth up to three years, currently projected to start at around $6 million. It can be split up among multiple players, but given the price range, the Sixers should look to use it all to acquire a reliable bench piece. Here are potentially realistic options I like for five different potential areas of need:

Ball-handling: DJ Augustin

Perimeter scoring: Allonzo Trier

Shooting: E’Twuan Moore

Wing defense: Maurice Harkless 

Backup center (if Horford is traded): Alex Len

@kai_tremoglie asks: which Sixer has the least movable contract?

This is where I’m expecting some blowback, as I say that the least movable contract on the Sixers is not that of Al Horford, but it’s actually the Tobias Harris deal. Harris has certainly been better than Horford this year, but after this season, Horford only has two fully-guaranteed years left on his deal. Harris will be on the books for four more years and an additional $147 million (good for an average annual value of $36.8 million). And Harris is good, but that’s it -- just good. Not a star, not great, just a fine player. However, let’s jump back to Horford, because he is the more likely trade piece.

@jmkrav asks: Actual basketball question: I’d love a breakdown of Al Horford trade targets. Kinda-good-but-overpaid guys like Al but better scheme fits. Otto Porter for example.

Just from some preliminary research, here are a few players that could theoretically be swapped for Horford that help each team reshape and rebalance their rosters:

DeMar DeRozan, Andrew Wiggins, Harrison Barnes, Terry Rozier, Eric Gordon.

Not an appealing list, is it? As much as it seems reasonable in theory to expect this type of exchange of bad contracts, it doesn’t seem particularly feasible, unless the Sixers want to absorb a player with at least as concerning of a deal as Horford’s even when factoring in fit with the rest of the roster. I think if the Sixers trade Horford, it will simply be in a classic salary dump scenario.