The seasons follow one another and unfortunately resemble each other in Philadelphia, still prematurely eliminated from the title race after crossing paths with the Knicks in the first round. For the seventh consecutive season, the Sixers end their exercise either in the conference semi-finals or in the first round. They haven't reached the conference finals in… 23 years!
Once again, it is now up to management to try to find the best levers to improve the squad and finally allow Joel Embiid to reach the conference finals, or eventually the NBA Finals. It is therefore up to Daryl Morey to find the right formula. The president of the franchise should opt for a “turnover” in order to add new blood among the “role players”, since the contracts of “lieutenants” like Kyle Lowry, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Nicolas Batum are coming to an end. This will also be the case for Tobias Harris, who will be an unprotected free agent this summer. Given his last match, we shouldn't see him again at the Sixers…
Paul George, Pascal Siakam, DeMar DeRozan in the viewfinder?
Daryl Morey therefore announced the color by specifying that he would not touch three elements of the current squad, implying that all the other players were in the hot seat.
“We are not going to bet on continuity”, he confided. “We will have continuity with our stars and our coach, but we will make a lot of changes. We're focused on Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, and we're focused on the present.”
There are many avenues, especially among superstars who will potentially be free agents. We think in particular of LeBron James or Paul George who have a “player option” for 2024/25. The leads leading to Pascal Siakam or DeMar DeRozan, two players that Nick Nurse coached in Toronto, could also be likely to interest the Sixers. To see if such reinforcements would allow Philly to “win now”, as Daryl Morey wishes.
“Age must be taken into consideration”he added. “We have the feeling that we are in the phase where we have to win now. We are especially focused on recovering players who could fit with the profiles of Joel and Tyrese.”
Lessons to be learned from this new failure
Speaking of age, Joel Embiid celebrated his 30th birthday last March, and the urgency will begin to be felt. While a knee injury ruined his season and the playoffs, the Philadelphia superstar could concentrate on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. A choice that the management of the Sixers will accept, even if we imagine that they would have preferred see take the time necessary to return to 100% next October.
“It’s one of his dreams to represent the United States in the Olympic Games. I think it's important to support the dreams of our best player.”continued Daryl Morey, for whom the setbacks of Joel Embiid this season must also serve as a lesson in the composition of the squad. “I feel like I could have done a better job with the players to put us in a better position to win without him.” That said, we spend 90% of our time thinking about how to win the title with him. How we play without him should not be a priority. The question is how to better manage this situation. I felt like the depth wasn’t quite there when he was out to win at the level we wanted to win at.”
Finally, it will also be necessary to ensure the future of Tyrese Maxey, who is also coming to the end of his contract, but for whom Philly is ready to go all out, with a contract of 205 million over five years that only the Sixers will be able to offer him. The leader has (again) splashed Philadelphia's season with all his talent, and he should take even more responsibilities in the game.
“We should all learn not to set limits on Tyrese. A year ago, if we had asked the media or the GMs, we would not have been unanimous on the fact that Tyrese could make the leap forward that we hoped for.added Daryl Morey, who will also want to prove that he remains the man for the job. “This offseason is important. I owe it to the fans, to the owners, to everyone, and to make sure that this team is able to fight for a title. Clearly, we didn’t make it this year.”
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Joel Embiid | 39 | 33.6 | 52.9 | 38.8 | 88.3 | 2.4 | 8.6 | 11.0 | 5.6 | 3.8 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 34.7 |
| Tyrese Maxey | 70 | 37.5 | 45.0 | 37.3 | 86.8 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 6.2 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 25.9 |
| Tobias Harris | 70 | 33.8 | 48.7 | 35.3 | 87.8 | 1.1 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 17.2 |
| Kelly Oubre, Jr. | 68 | 30.2 | 44.1 | 31.1 | 75.0 | 1.4 | 3.6 | 5.0 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 2.9 | 15.4 |
| Buddy Hield | 32 | 25.8 | 42.6 | 38.9 | 92.3 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 12.2 |
| De'anthony Melton | 38 | 26.9 | 38.6 | 36.0 | 83.5 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 11.1 |
| Cameron Payne | 31 | 19.4 | 41.3 | 38.2 | 91.3 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 9.3 |
| Kyle Lowry | 23 | 28.4 | 44.4 | 40.4 | 84.8 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 4.6 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 8.0 |
| Paul Reed, Jr. | 82 | 19.4 | 54.0 | 36.8 | 71.8 | 2.4 | 3.6 | 6.0 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 2.4 | 7.3 |
| Marcus Morris | 37 | 17.2 | 43.9 | 40.0 | 86.1 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 6.7 |
| Patrick Beverly | 47 | 19.6 | 43.2 | 32.1 | 81.0 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 6.3 |
| Nicolas Batum | 57 | 25.9 | 45.6 | 39.9 | 71.4 | 1.2 | 3.0 | 4.2 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 5.5 |
| Ricky Council IV | 32 | 9.0 | 48.2 | 37.5 | 74.6 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 5.4 |
| DJ Wilson | 2 | 7.7 | 66.7 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 5.0 |
| Robert Covington | 26 | 16.1 | 44.9 | 35.4 | 87.5 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 3.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 4.5 |
| Mohamed Bamba | 57 | 13.0 | 49.0 | 39.1 | 68.0 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 4.2 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 4.4 |
| Jeff Dowtin | 12 | 11.8 | 55.6 | 47.4 | 75.0 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 4.3 |
| Daniel House | 34 | 15.0 | 44.8 | 30.0 | 76.1 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 4.2 |
| Jaden Springer | 32 | 11.8 | 39.0 | 21.6 | 82.4 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 4.0 |
| Kj Martin | 58 | 12.3 | 54.4 | 30.4 | 53.8 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 3.7 |
| Terquavion Smith | 16 | 5.3 | 39.1 | 37.1 | 60.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 3.3 |
| Furkan Korkmaz | 35 | 8.6 | 39.5 | 35.0 | 70.0 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 2.5 |
| Pj Tucker | 3 | 22.1 | 40.0 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 2.0 |
| Kenny Lofton, Jr. | 2 | 4.4 | 16.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Danny Green | 2 | 9.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| Darius Bazley | 3 | 3.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Philip Petrusev | 1 | 2.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Javonte Smart | 1 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
