‘Star search’ lands versatile Harris in sixplayer deal
McCaffery: Dealing for Harris risky, but gives Sixers four star players and shot at title
PHILADELPHIA >> Even if it took a while, Brett Brown was right: The 76ers were ready to go star hunting.
In a second major move within three months early Wednesday morning, rookie general manager Elton Brand fit the Sixers with a fourth star-level NBA talent and, in the process, the most complete starting lineup in the Eastern Conference.
Tobias Harris will join All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, former AllStar Jimmy Butler and J.J. Redick in the kind of lineup necessary to win an NBA championship in 2019. The 6-9 Harris, who can score from anywhere, will arrive from the L.A. Clippers along with massive center Boban Marjanovic and perimeter threat Mike Scott in exchange for Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala, Landry Shamet and draft choices.
Also Wednesday, the Sixers acquired guard Malachi Richardson and a 2022 second-round draft choice from Toronto for cash considerations. In the deal, they also gained the draft rights for Emir Preldzic.
Richardson, 22, has averaged 1.4 points for Toronto, but has played most of the season in the G-League. He is in his third NBA season. The Syracuse product is a native of Trenton, N.J.
Preldzic was a draft selection of Phoenix in 2009 and has played professionally in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Turkey.
“We are in the unique position to contend now and we think this trade positions us well for the postseason,” Brand said in a statement. “Tobias is one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA and possesses an innate ability to impact the game on both ends of the floor, while Boban and Mike provide valuable skillsets, size and depth to our team. All three players bring high character to our locker room and we are excited about their fit alongside Joel, Ben, Jimmy and our entire roster.”
Though Chandler and Muscala had not been what the Sixers had envisioned when they were hired to replace Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova, the package sent to Los Angeles was costly. Shamet has been a fringe Rookie of the Year candidate and has been likened, league-wide, to a developing Redick-level shooter.
The Sixers also spent their 2020 lottery-protected first-round pick, secondround picks in 2021 and 2023 and, most notably, a value pick that Brown had likened to NBA gold. That was the 2021 unprotected pick from Miami that the Sixers acquired in the draftnight trade of Villanova product Mikal Bridges to Phoenix. It was with that pick that Brown, then acting as the general manager, essentially proclaimed would enable the Sixers to spend on another star.
“The notion of star-hunting, star-chasing, star-development is at the forefront of everything we do,” Brown famously announced at the time. “The time line is now.”
Initially, the speculation was that the Sixers could use that pick to wrap a package and land Kawhi Leonard. The Spurs did not bite on that, instead moving Leonard to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan. But Brand, who had since replaced Brown as GM, was able to use it to help acquire Harris and complete an eye-opening starting lineup.
Averaging 20.7 points with his ability to score from both behind the arc and in traffic, the 26-yearold Harris has become one of the NBA’s most difficult matchup nightmares. His versatility, ability to switch and willingness to run should make him the fourth high-level star necessary to win championships in the modern NBA.
As recently as Tuesday night, Brown insisted that he knew of “nothing imminent” in the trade market. He did, however, loosely share a wish list.
“I look at it almost this simply,” he said. “When you fast-forward out and say, ‘What wins in the playoffs?’ it’s men. It’s, ‘Can you switch?’ and it’s, ‘Can you make a three?’ That’s how I see it. That’s modern-day NBA basketball.”
Harris fits all of those descriptions.
The Sixers were also known to be looking for a big body to both back up Embiid and provide him with some late-season rest. At 7-3 with a 7-10 wingspan, and with the ability to protect the rim and finish with consistency, Marjanovic should be a valuable addition. Scott, a backup, can be a dangerous outside shooter and could help make up for the loss of Shamet.
Since the beginning of the season, Brand has aggressively remade the roster, already spending franchise pillars Robert Covington and Dario Saric for Butler. With neither Butler nor Harris signed for next season, though, the message Brand sent Wednesday was clear: The Sixers are seeking a championship this season.
Originally, the Sixers believed Muscala and Chandler, a couple of veteran forwards, would make a difference. Neither, though, was ever fully healthy. And Muscala, who’d made just 68 of
199 three-point attempts while sputtering on defense, was a particular disappointment.
“I want to thank Wilson, Mike and Landry for their time as members of the
76ers organization,” Brand said. “They were great teammates and contributors, and consummate professionals. I wish them well in their respective careers.”
The NBA trade deadline is at 3 p.m. Thursday.
“Every year, and I have been doing this a long time,” Brown said, “often times it never plays out the way you think it would.”
The Sixers will begin their push for a championship with their new, fourstar lineup Friday against visiting Denver … on a night when they will retire the No. 2 of the player who led them to their last championship, Moses Malone, in
1983.
“The thing that I know is you can talk all you want about talent,” Brown said. “There needs to be a team mentality as well. There needs to be something with chemistry. You don’t just go buy that. The ecosystem of talent and team sometimes is a conflict.
“But at the end of the day, in my head and my heart what I do know is you’re going to need some of the chemistry, some of the team, some of the togetherness. You’re going to need that. I don’t care what your roster says. You’re going to have find ways to run that part of a team.”