Front office faces tough decisions in offseason
CAMDEN, N.J. » One by one, the Sixers met Thursday with management at corporate headquarters, the scars from their 114-112 playoff-elimination loss to the Boston Celtics still fresh for all to see.
Coach Brett Brown and basketball operations president Bryan Colangelo told the players what they liked about them this season, what they needed to work on and in most cases, what was expected next season.
Players with expiring contracts, with the exception of J.J. Redick, were put on hold during their exit interviews. Until management steps up, Amir Johnson, Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova are slated to become free agents. Redick indicated he and the Sixers are on the same page about a possible return, although it could get tricky with the numbers.
Then there was guard T.J. McConnell, who is under contract and who the Sixers tried to replace with first-round draft pick Markelle Fultz. McConnell sparked the Sixers to their only victory of the series, a 103-92 triumph in Game 4. Fultz didn’t play at all in the series. Like most of his teammates, he wore athletic apparel.
McConnell met with team brass in a business suit. Fierce cross examination revealed he was married in that suit just a year ago.
“I see the word ‘interview’ and I don’t think I’d ever go into an interview with sweat pants on, or shorts on,” McConnell said. “Just trying to be professional.”
The Sixers need Redick, who elevated his scoring to 18.2 points per game in the postseason. He wants them. True or not, there’s a rumor out there that the $23 million contract he signed this year had a gentleman’s agreement, or whatever you want to call it, that he’d be amenable to returning the following season. Redick said he wants to be back, that he loved playing for the Sixers and that he’s interested in years, not one year. Redick turns 34 in June.
“I think it’s a mutual appreciation and I’m sure we all hope that I am back,” Redick said. “I’m proud of the individual season I had. And from the team perspective, we far exceeded any expectations that I have in terms of wins and losses, playoff seeding and advancing two rounds in the playoffs. And probably most important is the culture here. This was probably my favorite year of my career. Playing in Philly is its own experience and our fans, the city, the buzz about sports and this team has been amazing.”
Unless we’ve missed something Redick on the roster for next year.
In all truthfulness, the Sixers can get by without Johnson, despite his immense maturity and leadership, Belinelli and his off-balance jump shots and Ilyasova, who has size and does a little bit of everything.
Take this from the Sixers’ top player, though, McConnell is a necessity in spite of the sentiment that there’s not enough room on the roster for him and Fultz, who lost his game somewhere between here and Seattle.
“It’s tough,” Joel Embiid said of the situation with those guards. “But T.J. is that type of guy that you have to play. I mean this series against Boston, without him in Game 4, I don’t think we win that game. So, he’s proven to you that you have to play him. He’s going to do his best. He’s going to play hard. He’s going to press full court. He’s going to do his job offensively, that’s to put share the ball. And if he’s open, he’s going to shoot it. We’ve got a great coaching staff. They’re going to figure it out. I’m excited.”
Even Ben Simmons, who gets paranoid at the suggestion that he play anywhere but the point, seems to have warmed up to the success he had sharing the floor with McConnell. And Simmons should. The young man who says he’s going to address his shooting and shot selection inadequacies in the offseason was a liability in the Boston series. The Sixers were minus-63 when Simmons was on the floor, and plus-48 when he was on the bench, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
Did we mention the Sixers were with McConnell on the floor?
“I’m going to be here working plus42 my butt off every day,” McConnell said. “And like I said, Markelle is a special player. That’s not a lie. And if he plays at the level they drafted him to play at, if there’s a spot for me, great. If not, that’s out of my hands.”
Fultz, on the other hand, said he learned a lot from sitting on the bench and practicing with teammates this season. He also said, point blank, “I’m just looking to prove I belong here.
“Coming back next year, I think once I join that and just go out there it takes us to the next step,” Fultz said of the rotation. “Obviously, the stuff we did this year nobody thought we were going to do. Coming in next year we’ve got bigger expectations and everything and I just can’t wait to put my foot on it.”
On it, and hopefully not in it.