Are Sixers In Better Position This Year To Be Really Competitive?
This week the 76ers have made more moves to get their roster ready for the 2018-19 season by trading Richaun Holmes to the Suns which opens up salary cap space to sign Jonah Bolden to a multi-year deal. Also the Sixers acquired Mike Muscala to fill the void left by Ersan Ilyasova, sending Timothe Luwawu-Cabbarrot to the Thunder and Justin Anderson to the Hawks. These trade come weeks after the 76ers acquired Wilson Chandler from the Nuggets to go along with 2018 First Round Draft Picks Zhaire Smith and Landry Shamet; Philadelphia has overhauled their supporting cast to give their young stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons more dynamic players to work with for the upcoming season.
Keith Smith of RealGM.com joined Mike Gill on Friday with his perspective on the 76ers moves so far this offseason:
"If you look at their moves in the NBA Draft, adding Zhaire Smith, that’s a guy they’re hoping at some point this year can come in and play. I know there’s been a little bit of hand wringing among the Philadelphia fan base of 'We just kind of gave away Justin Anderson and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot' - The reality is how many wings do you need? They’re already well stocked with starting level wing guys and then you’ve got Furkan Korkmaz, you’ve got Zhaire Smith, you’ve got Landry Shamet....As much as everybody likes to say the league’s transitioning to a bunch of guys who are between 6’5 and 6’10, you still can’t play ten guys like that. They’ll have to have some guys who are primarily ball handlers and a couple big men - (Sixers) saw one of their big weaknesses against the Celtics was they didn’t have enough shooting throughout that entire series and (Mike) Muscala is a really good shooting big man. He’s got great range from about fifteen feet all the way to the Three Point Line....They’re in better position this year to get after it and be a really competitive team because the other thing that I think is being forgotten is you have to factor in a year of growth for one of the youngest teams in the NBA."
Hear what Smith had to say about Kawhi Leonard traded to the Toronto Raptors, perspective on Markelle Fultz improvements this summer, and expectations for the 2018-19 Boston Celtics' season