The Philadelphia 76ers made a couple of gambles in the 2019 offseason letting key contributors JJ Redick and Jimmy Butler slip away in free agency. They then replaced those players with Al Horford and Josh Richardson and the team struggled on offense.
That is mostly due to the fact that Horford and Richardson were not able to make up for the shooting lost from Redick and Butler. The Sixers were not able to space the floor properly for Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid and that was a key factor in their struggles this season, especially in a 3-point happy NBA.
As the team continues to pick up the pieces and figure out what the next step is, general manager Elton Brand has stated that he will not trade Simmons nor Embiid. He wants to complement them better and ESPN’s Matt Barnes agrees that that is what Brand should do.
Barnes:
I put a lot of onus on Elton. I think they’ve taken a step back as far as what they surrounded then with. I think they were heading in the right direction a few years ago when they put shooting around Ben. You had JJ, you had (Ersan) Ilyasova, you had Jimmy, and a handful of guys that could play off Ben well and Embiid was Embiid…I definitely think they need to add to the roster because I agree, those are two generational talents, very talented young players and I think Ben Simmons is starting to come of age. I think he’s starting to get the fear of just shooting, you’re gonna miss. Everyone misses Steph misses but you have to be able to shoot it… I agree with Elton. You keep your two centerpieces, but you have to do a better job of surrounding them with guys that fit them.
There has always been a debate about whether the Sixers should break up the star duo, but now that there appears to be a clear solution to the problems that were present this season, they should grab more shooters around them. A sharpshooter will be paramount for their success in the future. [lawrence-related id=37474,37470,37467]