CAMDEN, N.J. — Say goodbye to the Philadelphia 76ers.
No, not Joel Embiid. Tyrese Maxey is sticking round, too. Nick Nurse looks like an ideal long-term match as coach.
However for the remainder of the Sixers? It is time to just about want them effectively, with nearly the complete workforce — gamers equivalent to Kelly Oubre Jr., Kyle Lowry and Nic Batum — ending the season on an expired contract.
Workforce president Daryl Morey this summer time has about $65 million in wage cap house, a first-round draft choose, a max contract to supply to Maxey and loads of questions to resolve on easy methods to lastly, actually construct an NBA championship contender round Embiid.
“We’re not going to have continuity,” Morey stated Monday on the 76ers’ headquarters in New Jersey. “We’ll have continuity with our stars and our head coach, however we will have a variety of modifications this season.”
The Sixers’ first-round exit towards the Knicks made it 41 years since their final NBA championship. The Sixers have not even superior out of the second spherical since 2001. It is time to begin over — this time with a championship chase, not a Course of.
“We’re targeted on Joel and Tyrese and we’re targeted on now,” Morey stated.
The 76ers have cash to spend. However will they goal excessive for an getting old participant equivalent to Paul George? What a few wild-card play at LeBron James?
James and George must decline participant choices to hit the market. Nurse received a championship in Toronto with Pascal Siakam and was an assistant coach with the Raptors when DeMar DeRozan was on the workforce. Each gamers are free brokers and may very well be a pleasant slot in Philly.
“You need to issue within the age,” Morey stated. “We really feel like we’re within the window the place we’ve to win now. We’re largely targeted on getting the very best gamers that match with Joel and Tyrese.”
Embiid shall be 30 subsequent season and anticipating the All-Star heart to overlook a big chunk of enjoying time due to accidents is an unlucky ceremony of the season for the Sixers.
Embiid has by no means performed greater than 68 video games in a season and was restricted to 39 in 2023-24 largely due to knee surgical procedure. The 76ers completed 31-8 within the common season with Embiid — a few 65-win tempo — and 16-27 with out him.
“I really feel like I may have finished a greater job with the gamers in order that we had been in a greater spot to win with out him,” Morey stated. “That stated, we do spend 90 p.c of the time determining easy methods to win the title with him. It could actually’t be a giant focus, how we play with out him. We all know that workforce cannot win a championship. It is actually, how will we handle by it higher? I felt like, on me, the depth wasn’t fairly there when he was out to win on the stage we wished to win at.”
Whereas the Sixers and their followers would possibly want Embiid would take a summer time off to relaxation, he’s set to play for USA Basketball on the Paris Olympics. The 76ers will not stand in Embiid’s approach.
“It is a dream of his to signify the United State within the Olympics,” Morey stated. “I believe it is necessary to assist the goals of your greatest participant.”
With the Sixers in win-now mode, a string of strong seasons normally has them drafting towards the mid to late first spherical. Maxey in 2020 was the final draft choose who made any type of impression.
The 76ers are scheduled to select sixteenth and in addition maintain the forty first general choose within the second spherical. Whereas the draft high quality has been knocked for having little depth, Morey stated he is wonderful with staying at 16.
“We do not actually concentrate on the draft for assist now,” Morey stated. “I do actually love 16. The storylines have been that the draft is worse. I do not see that in any respect. I am very excited at who’s at 16. That stated, as you would possibly count on, we’ve all choices on the desk. Commerce into the long run so we maintain extra picks obtainable for future trades.”
Maxey’s profession skyrocketed this season together with his first All-Star berth, the NBA’s Most Improved Participant award and a season-extending 46-point effort in a Recreation 5 playoff win in New York.
“We must always all study to not guess towards Tyrese,” Morey stated.
He’s a restricted free agent, which means the 76ers may match any provide prolonged to the personable guard. Maxey is eligible to get a five-year, $205 million contract.
“A yr in the past, if we had polled everybody within the media or the GMs, it would not have been unanimous that Tyrese may take that step ahead that we hoped he may,” Morey stated.
“This offseason is a giant one. I owe it to the followers, to possession, to all people, to get this workforce in a spot the place we’re competing for championships. We clearly did not obtain it this yr.”
