Sixers' offseason wish list | Bob Cooney
Some things to mull over until next seasons training camp.
NOW THAT Season Four of The Process is coming to a close, there are still many needs and wants when it comes to the 76ers. To that end, here is a realistic wish list for fans that may help during this long, long offseason, which won't end until sometime in late September when the team opens its first training camp at its practice facility in Camden.
On May 16, the Los Angeles Lakers fall out of the top three when the pingpong balls are pulled.
The Sixers own the pick of the Lakers, if it doesn't land in the top three. Should this happen, the Sixers could wind up with two picks in the top five, or maybe even better if their own pick lands in the top three.
Should this happen, it would give the team a bevy of options of what to do leading up to the June 22 draft.
Use lottery pick/picks to get some shooting.
Coach Brett Brown has said repeatedly that for this team to move forward, with the foundational pieces of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Dario Saric, his roster needs to more shooters this offseason. If you have a starting lineup that features those three, the offense could get congested very easily.
Yes, Embiid is capable of shooting from the outside, probably even better than many expected. But you don't want him to have to be the player who opens the floor with his outside shooting. Instead, you want a sharpshooter who will spread defenses and make it easier for the 7-2, 280-pounder to do his work down low. If you have that, Simmons can create off the dribble, which most likely will be his strongest feature to start, as shooting was not his strong point at LSU.
To me, Saric appears to be more of a scorer than a shooter, at least for now. I would call his outside shooting mediocre right now, and his 41.1 percent from the floor, including just 31.1 percent from three, backs that. If the Croatian can improve his shooting in the offseason, that would be a tremendous help in the way Brown wants to play.
"It's in him," said Brown, "the lift in his legs, the elbow under the ball and about a foot and a half more height on his arc. The adjustment to the three-point line is real for our foreign guys. It's significantly a different shot (the NBA line is about a foot-and-a-half deeper at longest point than in Europe). He historically has been a long two guy, a post guy, a bull-in-a-China-shop guy, and we're trying to grow him where he can use his mobility and creativity facing the basket. This whole thing is going to be judged in regards to our successes if we can have the shooting around Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. Some of that is going to be drafting well. Some of it is going to be free agents. But the most obvious is the development that we have to have for Dario and others over the summer as it relates to embracing the NBA three-point line."
To that end, get a stretch four who is a very good outside shooter.
This isn't said as a knock on Saric. He has proved that he belongs on the court for about 30 minutes a game. But I wouldn't mind seeing those minutes come off the bench, especially if you can pair a sharpshooter alongside Embiid to begin the game. Perhaps revisiting free agent Ersan Ilyasova?
No injury updates on anyone.
If we hear nothing from the front office or get no news releases that are titled "Medical Update," Sixers' fans should rejoice. A quiet summer of publicity for Embiid and Simmons and Jerryd Bayless would be a welcomed sight. The hope is that they all heal, can practice their craft and remain free of recurrence, or of any new injury.
Get some sort of value for Jahlil Okafor on draft night.
Obviously, this will be very difficult. When he was healthy and on the floor this season, Okafor didn't often come close to showing the form that allowed him to average 17.5 points and seven rebounds in the 2015-16 season. And now, although a full year removed from what the team termed "minor knee surgery" for a meniscus tear, his right knee has become troublesome.
Sometimes, though, draft night produces some interesting movements. And when healthy, Okafor is a legitimate offensive force in the paint. If the Sixers can somehow maybe get a shooter for him, perhaps someone who was very good from the outside in college but just hasn't been able to find his rhythm yet in the NBA, that should satisfy fans. Because really, that's pretty much what it comes down to now with the Duke product. He pretty much has to be moved now, both for him and for the team.
Gnaw on those for a bit. It should be a long, but busy, offseason.
@BobCooney76
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