The trade deadline is approaching quickly. The February 6 deadline is merely days away and it’s now crunch time for general manager Elton Brand and the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Sixers have been linked to names such as Bogdan Bogdanovic and Robert Covington as well as a bigger name like Danilo Gallinari. Whatever the case may be, the Sixers need to add more shooting to a roster that does not have a true sharpshooter.
ESPN’s NBA insider Adrain Wojnarowski revealed that the Sixers still want to acquire a sharpshooter before the deadline to help make a serious push for an NBA championship. He revealed on The Woj Pod:
Philly is trying to win a championship and they’re trying to figure out the right mix. They need more shooting. They lost in the last two years, having a roster that included JJ Redick and Landry Shamet. JJ leaves as a free agent, Landry was in the Tobias Harris trade, that’s certainly an element they would like to add to this team.
The Sixers have capable shooters in Josh Richardson and Tobias Harris and those two players can make open looks as well as Furkan Korkmaz, but they are not the shooters that Redick and Shamet where during their time in Philadelphia. Redick did shoot a combined 40.7% from deep during his two seasons with the Sixers and the team has had issues replacing that production.
Now, the one big thing that Wojnarowski added was that the Sixers will not trade Al Horford, who was the team’s big free agency pickup. Horford has had his struggles trying to find his fit in the Sixers offense next to Joel Embiid, but his defense against the Milwaukee Bucks and their superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo is a big asset for them.
Wojnarowski said:
I think the hard part for them, and they’ve acknowledged it, how do they stack together contracts and picks to bring back an established player? You look at their roster and you go OK, they don’t want to trade Al Horford. They brought Al Horford in there because they wanted his size. They’re trying to beat Milwaukee. They want to beat the Bucks to win the East and they need size to do that and they need Al Horford to do that.
With the reluctance to move Horford, and it makes playoff basketball sense, it’s tough to really come up with any real assets and make a home run type of move. The only real assets they have are Zhaire Smith and Mike Scott’s contract. Something like that would be able maybe net a guy like Covington and add shooting and double down on their defensive identity.
Whatever the Sixers decide to do, they better do it fast. The deadline is creeping up and it will be gone in the blink of an eye. Brand and his staff better get to work. [lawrence-related id=24802,24784,24764]