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With the addition of Goran Dragic, The Process might actually lead to some wins for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Joel Embiid is a damn good player. He might miss out on All-Star recognition this season, but it’s clear the Philadelphia 76ers‘ long tanking experience might soon give way to winning basketball for the Sixers.
Unfortunately for long-suffering 76ers fans, it hasn’t yet. Philadelphia is 10-25, no longer in the absolute bottom of the NBA but still not exactly a powerhouse.
Embiid has helped, but he can’t take a roster that mostly consists of D-League graduates and free agency cast-offs to the promised land by himself.
He needs some help. Trading draft picks for veterans is becoming a worse idea with CBA changes and salary cap spikes, but there are certain spots where a really good player can be acquired for very low risk.
Isaiah Thomas was an All-Star last season and he’s won games for the Boston Celtics by himself, but at one point he was basically traded to the Celtics for nothing but a 2016 first-round pick from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The 28th overall pick in the draft is hardly worth an All-Star, but Thomas didn’t look that good on a struggling team he didn’t fit well with.
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Goran Dragic looks good right now with the Miami Heat, but they stink. The Heat are tied with the Brooklyn Nets for the most losses in the NBA and they’ve been worse than the 76ers this year. Miami is very aware of this and open to dealing essentially anybody on the roster.
It might not take much more than a late first-round pick to steal Dragic away from the Heat. Since Philly has so much cap space, they wouldn’t even need to send a player over to absorb Dragic’s salary, but they could obviously send anybody they wanted to back as well.
Philly has tons of second-round picks coming to them, a first-rounder from the Sacramento Kings, that fabled Los Angeles Lakers pick (originally a 2015 first-round pick, but with more lives through protection than a cat), plus a 2020 first-rounder from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Forget saving for the future–it’s literally impossible for the 76ers to use all of their picks and keep the players selected. Moves have to be made.
A second-rounder and that OKC pick, protected through No. 20, might be enough to get Dragic. If the 76ers wanted to deal Nerlens Noel there, maybe they could trade the players straight up, although the Sixers might want more than Dragic for him.
There are tons of deals that could be made, but the important part would be getting Dragic to Philadelphia. A serviceable point guard makes a massive difference to a franchise–Ish Smith saved the 76ers’ season last year.
Before Smith was acquired, Philadelphia was 1-30. That’s not a typo. They had lost 30 of 31 games. With Smith, the team finished 9-42. That’s not a great record still, but it’s a hell of a lot better than 1-30.
Dragic is far and away better than Smith, and it would be legitimately tough for defenses to contain pick and rolls with he and Embiid working together. Dragic is currently averaging 19.0 points, 6.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.
He’s shooting an efficient 45.5 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from three. Dragic would add an instant offensive spark, which is exactly what Philly needs. The Sixers are currently dead-last in offensive rating among NBA teams.
Dragic isn’t on a bargain deal, but around $17 million per year isn’t horrible and it certainly isn’t more than the 76ers can afford right now. The team would control him for this season and two more, even if he does decline his player option for the 2019-20 NBA season.
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This move probably wouldn’t instantly transform the 76ers into a contender for the eighth seed, but they’d be closer to competing with Dragic than without him. Embiid is fantastic, but he needs some assistance, especially while he’s on this minutes restriction.
Jerryd Bayless has been nothing more than an injury report regular in Philly, and Ben Simmons has yet to suit up. Even if he’s going to run the offense, he won’t come in and be an ace floor general for 36 minutes per night every game in his rookie season.
Dragic could help carry the load, and in the best case scenario where Simmons becomes the next Giannis Antetokounmpo, Dragic could either play more off-ball or be traded somewhere else.
Considering the wealth of draft picks the Sixers have, this is not a high-risk move for Philly.
It could make the team a lot more competitive though, and it would probably make Embiid happy to play with a skilled offensive player like Goran Dragic. And really, is there anything more important for the Philadelphia 76ers right now than making Joel Embiid happy?
