The Sixers Can't Just Run It Back
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For my most recent piece on Nick Nurse, I had to go back and watch a good amount of the 2019 Sixers vs. Raptors playoff series. In the midst of rewatching that series, I was constantly struck by one thought in particular: watching those games felt nothing like watching 2023 Sixers vs. Celtics. 2019 Sixers/Raptors was like watching two great teams throw haymakers at each other; 2023 Sixers/Celtics was like watching two incredibly talented, but highly flawed teams vomit away each game with a barrage of unforced errors. Between the Sixers and Celtics, the two teams played maybe three combined wire-to-wire well-played games.
I say that because it helps explain the interesting contrast between how the fanbase (rightfully) felt after the Raptors series, versus how it feels now. Both Sixers teams made it to the same place – Game 7 of the second round – but the feelings afterwards were much, much different. The fanbase begged for the 2019 team to run it back, and can hardly stomach the thought of the 2023 team doing so.
One could easily intellectualize your way into thinking that the fanbase’s negativity and demand for major changes this offseason is an emotional overreaction. After all, this was a 54-win team that largely got along and had some bad injury luck in the playoffs. But sometimes, the fans’ antenna for the vibes is spot on. It sure was in 2019.
The unofficial Sixers Twitter slogan of the 2019 offseason was ~Run It Back~. Every fan could see exactly what that team really was – a legitimate title contender with all of the pieces to win a championship in the future. And now, in 2023, while a purely intellectual thought process could lead you to believe that Running It Back is the best option, it is actually the emotionally invested fan who is better able to arrive at the truth.
That team was so thoroughly unmasked and humiliated towards the end of the Celtics series that wanting to bring the entire team back for another crack at it just feels like it spits in the face of reality. I’m not sure any fan could buy into last year’s team plus Nick Nurse and Filip Petrusev being able to break through – and more importantly, I’m not sure the team itself could buy into that idea.
At the beginning of the offseason, my preferred course of action was to let James Harden walk, and initiate a two or three year plan to acquire the proper pieces and identity to avoid the fate of all recent Sixers teams. The news that Harden appears likely to return has obviously crushed those hopes, and with no other major changes having happened or seeming imminent, my greatest fear has now become Running It Back.
You’ve got to do something – anything – if you want anyone rooting for or associated with this team to believe they’re anything but a bunch of losers. If that means trading Tobias Harris for inferior talent and/or a longer term contract, so be it. If it means trading Maxey and Harris for a star, so be it. If it means trading Jaden Springer, Furkan Korkmaz’s contract, and a 2029 first round pick for a solid role player, so be it. The 2023 Sixers were unmasked as losers, and even if they are doomed to have the same identity moving forward, I at least need them to take on a new disguise so that I can pretend to not know who they are.
Of the possibilities that I just mentioned, a Tobias Harris trade feels like the most obvious one. Tobias – God bless him – is in many ways at the core of so many of this team’s problems. His decision making and thought processing speed hold this team back from their ceiling on both ends. His unwillingness to take contested 3s just won’t ever fully go away. His biggest strength – shot creation – is completely unnecessary. He’s competitive, but you’ll never find him in a scrum, diving for a loose ball, or taking a key charge in the playoffs. With Harden and Embiid lacking in that Tough Guy / Playoff Motherfucker energy, they desperately need someone in Tobias’ role to provide that, and he never has, and never will.
I’m open to the possibility that there’s no Tobias trade available right now that fills that void, but there has to be a trade that’s a stepping stone for filling that void. Perhaps trading Harris for multiple bad contracts and draft capital sets you up to cash in for a starter at the trade deadline; something like Harris for Tim Hardaway, Jr., Richaun Holmes, JaVale McGee, and a protected 2026 first round pick would be an interesting setup move to then flip that pick and one of those smaller contracts at the deadline. Trading him to Chicago for Lonzo Ball’s contract, Alex Caruso, and a couple of seconds would be interesting. Point is: even if the only Tobias trades available are part one of a two part trade, they’re still worth doing. They set you up for the future, and they change the vibes.
Outside of a Tobias trade, a Springer, Korkmaz, and draft pick package for a role player is something I could buy into – it would be a similar structure to the De’Anthony Melton trade from draft night last year. If they can flip that package into a wing who is roughly as good as Melton, that’s absolutely worth doing. And of course, that type of trade would not be prohibitive towards also trading Harris.
One of the blindspots that Daryl Morey is sometimes accused of having is discounting intangibles, chemistry, and narratives in favor of a cold, calculated approach that doesn’t get swept up in off-court considerations. If he decides to run back the exact same roster from last season, that criticism will have never been more true. This team’s core showed us exactly who they were in that Celtics series. Running It Back would be a disaster – it would lead to a joyless 50-win regular season followed by the exact same type of flame out in the playoffs. Sometimes, the energy around a team just needs to be shaken up, even if that means making a less-than-optimal trade. In this case, the team and anyone who cares about them are screaming for just that.