Sixers need help to keep pace with Nets
The NBA playoffs begin May 22.
To stick around until the postseason ends July 22, the Sixers have work to do before March 25, the trade deadline.
Whether it’s Kyle Lowry, Larry Nance Jr., Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker or a combination thereof, the Sixers need another shooter and probably another scorer coming off the bench to keep up with the Brooklyn Nets.
With scoring machines James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, the Nets have won 12 of their last 13 games. Durant has played only once in that time as he’s nursing a hamstring injury.
On a healthy night the Sixers can put two certified scorers on the floor in Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris. Embiid is out at least two weeks, and probably more with what the Sixers identified as a bone bruise in his left knee. He fell so clumsily after the collision there were fears he may have torn an ACL.
Coach Doc Rivers said Sunday he’s glad the news wasn’t
worse. Rivers has his fingers crossed that Embiid will be OK when he’s reexamined in two weeks, which coincidentally is a few days after the trade deadline.
Rivers and Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey should know before then which teams are serious about moving players. That’s what the next 10 or so days are for.
“Our team is good when Joel plays,” Rivers said. “If Joel or LeBron or Kawhi doesn’t play, they’re not as good. I think that’s obvious for everybody. But can they win? That’s what we want to find out. And that’s what we need to do. When we talk about winning games we need everybody. But during the regular season things like this happen. And you’ve got to figure out a way of pulling games out. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Lowry would be the perfect addition, for he’s a natural point guard with shooting and passing skills that have resisted the passage of time. He’s the guy you get the ball to in last-shot situations. He
gets the job done. The Sixers have nobody like that on the current roster.
Lowry has an NBA championship ring with the Toronto Raptors. He’s wired to play in Philly, as he hails from Villanova and grew up in the area.
Lowry’s biological clock turns 35 the day of the trade deadline. The buzz is the Raptors want to move him and his $34 million salary preferably to a contender he chooses. The salary could be an issue for a Sixers team already over the luxury tax line. Beyond that Lowry checks all of the boxes.
In a worst-case scenario with Embiid limited by his injury when he is able to return, Lowry could make the difference by getting the ball to the big guy where he’s most effective. Lowry certainly would mesh with Ben Simmons, who could alternate bringing the ball up the court and finding him outside the three-point line. Lowry is a career 36.8 percent shooter from downtown, including 40.3 percent this year. It would be worth sending Danny Green and his $15 million expiring contract, a firstround pick, Matisse Thybulle to Toronto to get this done. Morey could make this happen.
Nance, who recently
turned 28, is a rebounder, passer, capable shooter and versatile defender. The 6-7 forward with the Cleveland Cavaliers can defend any position, from point guard to center. He’s a career 34.9 percent three-point shooter and is under contract through 2022-23 with a little more than $32 million remaining. The Sixers reportedly are among his suitors. Doable, for sure.
Gordon (6-3) shoots and plays defense for the going-nowhere-fast Houston Rockets, and is highly recommended by a former NBA front office type. At 32, Gordon is a slightly younger and better shooting option than Green, who has a championship ring, has helped the Sixers at both ends and also has that expiring contract which comes in handy before trade deadlines.
The 6-5 Tucker is a small forward who shoots well, hits the boards, plays defense and works for those wretched Rockets.
Gordon and Tucker are ancillary gets. It won’t take nearly as much to bring them to Philly as Lowry or Nance.
Another guy who could help the Sixers is Doug McDermott of the Indiana Pacers. At 6-7, McDermott has no trouble getting his shots around the threepoint
line. The career 40.6 percent three-point banger has the skills to provide Rivers with 20 points off the bench if teams crowd Embiid or Harris. McDermott also has an expiring contract.
Even with a healthy Embiid, the Sixers were going to need another spark to keep them trending in the right direction with the Nets in pursuit.
“It’s just nice having as many guys as we can have healthy,” Rivers said. “We won the Chicago game without either one. That’s hard to do with your two best players out. Then we won in Washington without Ben. Now we have to win, and we have to do it for a little while without Joel. Obviously, the healthier you are the better team you are.”
The Sixers were just a half-game ahead of Brooklyn entering their Sunday night game with the San Antonio Spurs. Or, if you prefer, one big-time scorer behind the Nets with Embiid playing at an MVP level.
Lowry would even that up.