NBA Rumor: All Sixers Available; Cavs Benefit?
According to an NBA rumor all of the Philadelphia 76ers could be available at the right price. This is not overly shocking given the way the Sixers have acted, especially at the NBA Trade Deadline, what was surprising was that Joel Embiid was on the list, according to Forbes:
"In an unnoticed development at last week’s trade deadline, the 76ers were still trying to trade up for a top pick in this draft, indicating a willingness to talk about Joel Embiid or any player on their team, an NBA source told Forbes.com."
Embiid was expected to be the 1st overall pick in last year’s draft but his foot injury allowed him to drop down to #3 and the Sixers pulled him in. Embiid’s upside is high. He showed range, footwork in the post as well as elite level defense. His foot injury does bring up some concerns for his long term production but advances in medicine should minimize that.
While the Sixers reportedly were looking for “a top pick in this draft” it is possible that the Cleveland Cavaliers could look to benefit Philly’s long term desire for more picks. Here is a scenario that could play out around/during the 2015 NBA Draft:
- Cavs Trade Brendan Haywood: Much like the Sixers did with Javale McGee, the Cavs use the Haywood contract to take on a salary that another team wants while getting a future 1st Round pick, with protections. For example: Cavs take Lance Stephenson off the Charlotte Hornets books with a protected future 1st rounder in exchange for Haywood and a small piece (’15 Second Rounder, Joe Harris, etc).
- Cavs trade Picks to Sixers: The Cavs can’t trade their ’15 First Rounder until after using the pick. (Much like the Wiggins/Love trade this will likely have to happen after the player signs his contract and 30 days later.) The Cavs select someone for the Sixers and then trade that player’s rights and the pick acquired from the Hornets (as the example used above) in exchange for either Joel Embiid or Nerlens Noel. The Sixers acquire a young player (Cavs ’15 pick) and a conditional pick from another team (Hornets in our example) to continue their rebuild.
While that seems like an amazing scenario for the Cavs, based on recent history there are some possibilities here. Obviously coming out with Lance Stephenson and either Nerlens Noel or Joel Embiid would setup the Cavs for years to come. While that is the best case scenario, with the Sixers desperate desire to get more picks, acquiring Noel or Embiid seems reasonable.
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The Cavs also will have their ’18 First Round pick that they can move as well. Anything the Cavs can use to get a young, developing talent to go along with their Big 3 would be huge. Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving are the young parts of the Big 3, while LeBron James has hit his prime age of 30. Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert are set to become Restricted Free Agents after the season while J.R. Smith has a player option. Anderson Varejao‘s contract makes some of the future more difficult.
For now this is what we think we know: The Sixers are willing to move players, the Cavs could add a talent and pick with the Haywood contract (the Sixers did taking on Mcgee) and the Cavs will continue to try to add talent in anyway possible. Maybe all 3 of those things will come together this off-season.
What do you think about this NBA Rumor and the Sixers way of trying to build their team?