Sixers need to reinforce time-trading to maintain pressure with Brooklyn nets

The Philadelphia 76ers currently sit at the top of the Eastern Conference with a 22-11 record, but are unlikely to make it to the March 25 NBA trade deadline.

League sources told Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer that the Sixers “are still looking for big moves for promotion [their] odds of competition, “possibly including the pursuit of Toronto Raptors’ point guard Kyle Lowry. Adrian Wojnarowski told ESPN that team president Daryl Morey” has been active, and that the -always looking for the big deal, “although he noted” that may not be available at this trade date. “

With the Brooklyn Nets starring in progress, the Sixers must use the trade-off date to keep up with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Co. Kildare. in the Eastern Conference arms race.

On Thursday, a source told Keith Pompey about it Philadelphia Researcher that “Lowry would be in Philly” and that the “Sixers and Raptors might be able to do something,” but producer Lowry abruptly rejected that report. Even if the Sixers can’t make a deal for a star like Lowry, Bradley Beal or Zach LaVine, Morey doesn’t seem likely to think of a small head into the trading date.

“I’ll be honest: The focus is on people like the bench may not have achieved much lately,” he said last week to Mike Missanelli’s 97.5 Fanatic. “Those things tend to go away in the playoffs while reducing your rotation. That doesn’t mean we can’t add a hard player if there’s one out there that is we think our top six or seven will be. But one thing is that all you have to do is use your funds to upgrade the ninth one. “

Ben Simmons’ starting five, Seth Curry, Danny Green, Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid outscore opponents with 16.4 points per 100 possessions, according to Clean Glass. But without Simmons or Embiid on the floor, the Sixers score 6.0 points per 100 possessions of the season. Subtract Harris from the equation as well, and they will get out 13.8 points per 100 possessions, running in the 3rd percentile league nationwide.

The Sixers bench averages just 31.6 points per game, which is tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third lowest mark in the league. While the five starters have complementary skill sets, the main resource is usually the experts who struggle to create a crime for each other.

The Sixers rely on Shake Milton as their point guard in the second unit more than necessary. The first scorer is a high school ball player rather than a traditional floor general, but he’s better at creating for himself and others than any of their other stores.

Furkan Korkmaz is basically a spot hunter who can create pictures of himself off the dribble. Dwight Howard is not in danger of getting more than a few feet away from the basket. Matisse Thybulle is a defensive threat, but has scored two points or less in 16 of his 30 appearances. Rookie guard Tyrese Maxey can occasionally give off an offensive spark with his patented flowers, but is unable to create scenes for others.

“That second unit, on and off, has had that problem all year,” head coach Doc Rivers told reporters earlier this month. “… The ball has to move… and that was one of the problems that we had with that unit throughout. They are all scores in that unit. Tire [Maxey] really the scorer. Tobias [Harris], which we use as a marker. Shake is a scorer. Furkan [Korkmaz is] a scorer. We need to give someone to each other. ”

Rivers has been making a steady move in recent games to revive the bench – rookie guard Isaiah Joe got more runs than usual in Sunday’s loss against the Toronto Raptors – but he understands in short all-conservative line-ups are not the way to go.

“We have Joel, Tobias or Ben with that unit,” Rivers said last week. “And when we’re not, sometimes you just look at the direction.… Basically, we used the second unit in the second half to get to eight minutes. [left]. “

The line of five of Milton, Thybulle, Korkmaz, Harris and Howard has outperformed opponents by 16.0 points per 100 possessions, according to Glass Cleaning, so it may be a Harris-plus- unit. reserve one way to keep the bench going. Harris ’presence in that lineup addresses one of the Sixers’ biggest needs heading into the trading date: a big piece.

“I’d like to give Doc chess pieces if I can,” Morey told Missanelli. “It’s a big thing that could be a floor that I think is something that could be helpful.”

A knee injury has limited Mike Scott to just 14 games this season, but the Sixers have averaged 5.9 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor. That’s the second worst sign of any rotating member, ahead of just Maxey.

According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Sixers are known to be “among the teams considering Sacramento Kings forward Nemanja Bjelica, who is a career as a 38.8 percent three – point shooter. The Houston Rockets carry PJ Tucker figures in the mix as well as Morey ‘s history in Houston.

The Sixers have a $ 8.2 million trading player exception that will help make mountain upgrade possible, and could be active in the buying market with the remaining $ 4.8 million of the mid-payer exception taxes. The biggest question is to what extent any of these changes could add to the playoff mix.

“We’re just focusing on how to increase our competition numbers,” Morey told Missanelli. “And if something comes up, it’s something that’s more substantial than a back-end mountain thing.”

Unless otherwise noted, all stats through NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the glass no Basketball reference. All salary information through Spotrac.