Daryl Morey and Elton Brand's Conundrum
Unknowns, and waiting, and seeing how things develop over a few months -- that all scares me.
This column is written by Mike Levin (@michael_levin) and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.
One of my core memories as a kid is going down to my parents' unfinished basement with freezing cold floors that would absolutely destroy the bottoms of my socks, and playing basketball by myself on my Grant Hill For Some Reason 6ft basketball net with my purple Space Jam ball. I would put on a cassette which had MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This" and "2 Legit 2 Quit" on it and try to do the Steve Francis reverse-between-the-legs dunk (this one) until my feet bled.
But the moments immediately before and after Hammer became the soundtrack to my montage of dunk attempts were terrifying. I've always been easily scared. Whether it's my active imagination or distaste for horror movies or the fact that the Boat In My Gut stays docked on a basketball court, it's the truth. So when I'd get to the top of the stairs to descend into the dark basement, my brain was zooming with possibilities about who or what could be down there waiting to attack me, a 10-year-old who just wants to do sick dunks to early 90s rap. Typically, I would confront the would-be assailants with my words. Something mature like "Okay guys, whoever's down here just come out!" It was the unknown that scared me the most, and if I could just SEE the thing that would be my untimely demise, maybe I could do something about it. I'd run around the basement (fast, like Stevie Franchise), checking behind the sump pump, around my parents' old luggage, past my siblings' triptych class projects & lost middle school presidential campaign posters, certain something would hop out and grab me. Fortunately, my running & talking kept the ghosts/aliens/temple guards from Legends Of The Hidden Temple away, and I would scramble back up the stairs to safety and boxes of Ssips iced tea.
This is roughly how I feel about the conundrum that lies at the feet of Daryl Morey and Elton Brand. I like to know what's out there! I like knowing the information! Unknowns, and waiting, and seeing how things develop over a few months -- that all scares me. Fundamentally I am also a little brother, impatient and demanding to be listened to.
The Sixers currently have 3 first round picks to trade. Other tradable assets include Jaden Springer, and maybe you could convince somebody KJ Martin qualifies. In a month, more players become trade-eligible. Two months after that is the trade deadline. Four months after that, the Sixers will have 5 first round picks to trade (when 2024 can be dealt on draft night and 2031 opens up a few days later) as well as a shit ton of cap space to sign a max player into without having to trade anything for them.
There are so many unknowns! I'm the scared little boy in an AND1 shirt with 83 words on it at the top of the stairs asking very loudly if the Pelicans think Brandon Ingram might become available by the trade deadline. I'm poking my head through the gap in the stairwell doing some light tampering with OG Anunoby & Pascal Siakam & Paul George's agents, asking if they'll just give me a concrete commitment to signing in Philadelphia in free agency. I'm swinging my Black Magic baseball bat around the place yelling for any Lauri Markkanen or Mikal Bridges trade offers to just reveal themselves so I can know if Marcus Smart or Alex Caruso are really the best possible options we're gonna get here.
This is why I'm not a GM. And why I don't write horror movies. I would be asking too many honest questions to my negotiator and murderer.
Daryl and Elton have about a month before the clock begins to tick. They have to use that time to assess how close the team is to really contending, who is likely to stick in the rotation, how Tyrese Maxey is developing as a lead guard, how Joel Embiid is improving as a passer and more unpredictable offensive hub, and what Nick Nurse feels like is missing from this team that would not undermine the system & style of play that has been successful thus far. By mid-December, teams will have a better handle on whether they're willing to commit to selling (the Bulls are already vocally kicking the tires). The bidding on a few big pieces will start, and a deal may not wait until February to get done. Decisions will have to be made while knowing what the unknowns are. White boards of lists of potentially available players in order of preference will have to be written and ideally not leaked. They could make a trade in January and take themselves out of the running when a better player becomes available days before the deadline.
The Sixers as currently constructed are not a title team this year. But because of Maxey's leap, Nurse's coaching, Embiid's buy-in, and a ton of athletic wing depth, they're closer than we thought they'd be. Maybe in that get lucky, one sprained ankle away tier. The decision of who to push the chips in for and when -- potentially the last chips of the Joel Embiid era -- is the most difficult one that a front office will make. Hopefully Daryl & Elton are less afraid of the dark than I am.