National Basketball Association

NBA Season Preview: Philadelphia 76ers and the power of restraint

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Heading into the offseason, new Philadelphia 76ers team president Bryan Colangelo had one mission: Don’t screw up the cache of assets that former general manager Sam Hinkie left for him to inherit.

Thus far, Colangelo has passed that test with flying colors, although his colleagues may have saved him from himself at times. Regardless, his patience during the second step of Philadelphia’s rebuild — particularly his refusal to be pressured into breaking up the franchise’s frontcourt logjam at less than full value — bodes well for the future.

The weeks leading up to the draft provided Colangelo with his first major obstacle, especially once the Sixers won the No. 1 overall pick at the draft lottery. Once Philadelphia settled upon 6-10 point forward Ben Simmons as its selection, Colangelo had to determine what to do with his increasingly crowded rotation of big men. Former top-six picks Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor struggled to coexist in 2015-16, while Joel Embiid appeared on track to make his long-awaited debut in the fall. With Dario Saric repeatedly hinting at his plans to join the squad over the summer as well, Colangelo suddenly had to worry about five young lottery choices vying for frontcourt minutes.

In late May, ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported the Sixers were “determined to gauge the trade market for both Okafor and Noel” and were “increasingly likely to move at least one of them in conjunction with the draft.” Trade chatter intensified over the ensuing weeks, with The Vertical’s Shams Charania reporting the Sixers discussed a possible deal with the Atlanta Hawks centered around Noel and point guard Jeff Teague (who Atlanta later dealt to the Indiana Pacers). A source told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer that Colangelo was shopping Noel and Okafor to “at least 15 teams” heading into the draft.

On draft night itself, Stein dropped a bombshell in the early going, reporting the Sixers offered Nerlens Noel, their two late first-round draft picks (Nos. 24 and 26) and Robert Covington to the Boston Celtics in exchange for the No. 3 pick. Pompey, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein and Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher had all previously reported that Philadelphia was enamored with Providence point guard Kris Dunn, which helps explain its supposed interest in the third overall pick. Boston, however, rebuffed Colangelo’s reported offer and selected Cal forward Jaylen Brown at No. 3 instead, perhaps sparing the Sixers’ new president of a questionable overpay.

Free agency figured to give Colangelo another chance to flip one of his young bigs, as teams that missed out on their top frontcourt targets could be enticed to make a panic move out of desperation. After Timofey Mozgov, Bismack Biyombo and Ian Mahinmi each commanded long-term deals with annual salaries north of $15 million, Noel and Okafor became exponentially more valuable, as both big men have at least one year remaining on their rookie contracts. Rather than ship one of them out at less than full price, however, Colangelo opted to stand pat and keep his full complement of frontcourt players heading into the season.

“The notion that we were out shopping any of them and aggressively pushing to make a deal is not the case,” Colangelo told The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski in mid-September. “But we certainly listened, because a lot of people thought we were in a corner. We’ve never felt like we’re in that corner. We feel like we’ve got three talented players that we’re gonna let work itself out.”

Elaborating on that position, Colangelo told Wojnarowski, “This is a year of experimentation and a year of feeling out exactly what we have before we make any harsh or rash decisions.” He noted that Noel, Embiid and Okafor will each hit restricted free agency at a different time (in that order), reducing the pressure on the Sixers to make an immediate move. Given the uncertainty about Embiid’s ability to hold up physically under the rigor of an 82-game NBA season, keeping both Noel and Okafor around as short-term insurance policies is defensible, even if it puts head coach Brett Brown in a bind to find playing time for all three.