Agree with "avoid PG"... I am re-thinking what Mike suggested at end of last pod for considering DeRozan on a $30-ish million/per year at 2 years + player option. Seems like a good chemistry guy for Joel and Tyrese, hasn't been hurt a lot, has hit big clutch shots - and he's best buds with Jimmy and Kyle and they wouldn't hang out with a loser, right?
DeRozan replaces Oubre (as starter), and then Daryl can use his magic to focus on spending $18-ish million on replacing Tobias with a strong rebounding Bobby Portis-Aaron Gordon-ish PF. Maybe trade for John Collins - or I'm OK giving Miles Bridges a shot??
I was thinking about Collins. Athletic, rebounds, decent perimeter shooter and a manageable contract (1 yr at 26.6M with a player option at the same salary for ‘25-‘26).
Renounce Tobias, Covington, Batum, and Buddy (sorry man, numbers),
THEN.....
Trade 3 firsts (24, 26, 28) plus Paul Reed for Mikal Bridges and Dorian Finney-Smith.
SIGN UFA Nik Claxton.
Bring back Melton on a 1 year "prove-it" deal
Bring Back Lowry for a salary equal to the "room exception" (which is all he will get elsewhere).
SIGN UFA Andre Drummond for the vet min
Bring back on vet min deals Batum OR Covington, Payne, Bamba .
Sign Kelly Oubre for MLE money
Then give Maxey his max money
You will be under second apron, a non-taxpayer again (so you can go over in future to retain Bridges) and, vs last year's roster, you have effectively done the following:
upgraded Harris with Bridges
upgraded Batum OR Covington with Finney Smith
upgraded KJ Martin with Drummond
upgraded Reed with Claxton
all for the cost of 3 #1s and Buddy Hield
Any way this doesn't make you a team with a 3 year title window?
Don't really see how paul george wouldn't work out in year 1. Embiid and Maxey already work really well by themselves. PG is a good defender and a borderline elite 3 point shooter. Kind of hard to imagine adding PG wouldn't make a very good trio. I mean this isn't alchemy, he's obviously a pretty seemless fit oncourt. If it didn't work out, the most likely culprit would be the supporting cast, which the sixers have a bunch of first rounders to fix.
I don't hate the any idea of trading for ingram and bridges, but I think it's an inferior option, especially if the price is high. These guys are entering their primes as above average starters, and probably don't have much improvement left. Internal growth from having roster consistency is a thing, but talent is much more important IMO.
If the goal is to win a championship, then the sixers need to maximize the last few years of embiid's prime. Betting on the growth of an ingram instead of a clearly superior talent in paul george or butler is doing the opposite of that. Trying to do a "two timelines" thing is probably the biggest mistake morey could make this offseason. I love maxey, but he's a small guard that at this point can't make the sixers offense league average without embiid on the floor. Prioritizing maxey's prime over embiid's seems insane to me. Also, in all likelihood maxey will hit his prime 3-4 years from now, right as a PG/lebron 4 year max would be ending. I think the timing works out pretty perfectly actually?
Also, "an albatross contract that makes the Tobias deal look like a $1.99 used copy of R.E.M.'s Monster by comparison" Andrew I like ya but I think you got a little carried away here lol. Pretty hard to imagine a lebron/butler/pg contract being that much worse than tobis.
You're right once again AU. The options for star hunting are limited. The options for young upside 3 and Ds are limited. Who is the under the radar attainable guys becomes the question Daryl must answer. And if he doesn't our slim window closes and we have to consider the possibility of another damn process that apparently leads to somewhere bad or nowhere.
I'd rather give 4/$80 to Malik Monk than acquire Butler/Ingram/Siakam/PG although I guess they can do both. They need a 3 & D forward badly but there is a chance that giving lucrative contracts to any of those 4 forwards ends in disaster fairly quickly.
Agree with "avoid PG"... I am re-thinking what Mike suggested at end of last pod for considering DeRozan on a $30-ish million/per year at 2 years + player option. Seems like a good chemistry guy for Joel and Tyrese, hasn't been hurt a lot, has hit big clutch shots - and he's best buds with Jimmy and Kyle and they wouldn't hang out with a loser, right?
DeRozan replaces Oubre (as starter), and then Daryl can use his magic to focus on spending $18-ish million on replacing Tobias with a strong rebounding Bobby Portis-Aaron Gordon-ish PF. Maybe trade for John Collins - or I'm OK giving Miles Bridges a shot??
I was thinking about Collins. Athletic, rebounds, decent perimeter shooter and a manageable contract (1 yr at 26.6M with a player option at the same salary for ‘25-‘26).
Make the deal.
Here is the plan...
Renounce Tobias, Covington, Batum, and Buddy (sorry man, numbers),
THEN.....
Trade 3 firsts (24, 26, 28) plus Paul Reed for Mikal Bridges and Dorian Finney-Smith.
SIGN UFA Nik Claxton.
Bring back Melton on a 1 year "prove-it" deal
Bring Back Lowry for a salary equal to the "room exception" (which is all he will get elsewhere).
SIGN UFA Andre Drummond for the vet min
Bring back on vet min deals Batum OR Covington, Payne, Bamba .
Sign Kelly Oubre for MLE money
Then give Maxey his max money
You will be under second apron, a non-taxpayer again (so you can go over in future to retain Bridges) and, vs last year's roster, you have effectively done the following:
upgraded Harris with Bridges
upgraded Batum OR Covington with Finney Smith
upgraded KJ Martin with Drummond
upgraded Reed with Claxton
all for the cost of 3 #1s and Buddy Hield
Any way this doesn't make you a team with a 3 year title window?
THE LAST STEP OF "THE PROCESS"!
Don't really see how paul george wouldn't work out in year 1. Embiid and Maxey already work really well by themselves. PG is a good defender and a borderline elite 3 point shooter. Kind of hard to imagine adding PG wouldn't make a very good trio. I mean this isn't alchemy, he's obviously a pretty seemless fit oncourt. If it didn't work out, the most likely culprit would be the supporting cast, which the sixers have a bunch of first rounders to fix.
I don't hate the any idea of trading for ingram and bridges, but I think it's an inferior option, especially if the price is high. These guys are entering their primes as above average starters, and probably don't have much improvement left. Internal growth from having roster consistency is a thing, but talent is much more important IMO.
If the goal is to win a championship, then the sixers need to maximize the last few years of embiid's prime. Betting on the growth of an ingram instead of a clearly superior talent in paul george or butler is doing the opposite of that. Trying to do a "two timelines" thing is probably the biggest mistake morey could make this offseason. I love maxey, but he's a small guard that at this point can't make the sixers offense league average without embiid on the floor. Prioritizing maxey's prime over embiid's seems insane to me. Also, in all likelihood maxey will hit his prime 3-4 years from now, right as a PG/lebron 4 year max would be ending. I think the timing works out pretty perfectly actually?
Also, "an albatross contract that makes the Tobias deal look like a $1.99 used copy of R.E.M.'s Monster by comparison" Andrew I like ya but I think you got a little carried away here lol. Pretty hard to imagine a lebron/butler/pg contract being that much worse than tobis.
You're right once again AU. The options for star hunting are limited. The options for young upside 3 and Ds are limited. Who is the under the radar attainable guys becomes the question Daryl must answer. And if he doesn't our slim window closes and we have to consider the possibility of another damn process that apparently leads to somewhere bad or nowhere.
I'd rather give 4/$80 to Malik Monk than acquire Butler/Ingram/Siakam/PG although I guess they can do both. They need a 3 & D forward badly but there is a chance that giving lucrative contracts to any of those 4 forwards ends in disaster fairly quickly.