Sixers offseason rewind: After breakout season, team trades Mikal Bridges, misses out on LeBron James in 2018

The 2017-18 NBA season ended in pain for the Sixers when they fell to the rival Boston Celtics in the second round of the playoffs, but after a 52-win season, it was clear that Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and co. they were poised to become a long-term force in the Eastern Conference.

• PREVIOUS REWINDS
• Sixers Offseason Rewind: The summer of 2016 changes everything as a new era begins
• Sixers offseason rewind: Bryan Colangelo trades for Markelle Fultz in 2017 as team continues to chase contention

However, just before the start of a crucial offseason, there was a changing of the guard within the team’s front office. General manager Bryan Colangelo was forced to resign after a stunning scandal involving a network of “burning accounts” posting sensitive information about the team on social media. Without enough time to search, hire and install a new traditional head of basketball operations, the Sixers put head coach Brett Brown in charge of the staff on an interim basis.

The team had little time to worry about the embarrassing nature of what happened: There were bigger fish to fry as the team had a chance to surround Embiid and Simmons with the pieces needed to become a sustainable contender at the championship.

NBA draft

The Sixers’ enormous collection of assets paid dividends in 2018, as the team entered the night owning 10 percent of the entire draft pool. The team had two first-round picks (No. 10 overall and No. 26 overall) along with four second-round picks.

For months, it seemed like a no-brainer that the Sixers would use the No. 1 pick if they could. 10 on Villanova wing Mikal Bridges. The ideal 3&D wing in today’s NBA, Bridges seemed like a perfect fit in every way imaginable: he grew up a Sixers fan and played many college basketball games in the Wells Fargo Center, not to mention he possessed a skill set customized for someone. playing alongside Embiid and Simmons. Bridges’ mother even worked for the team.

It was a match made in heaven. When the Sixers were on the clock with the local product still on the board, they helped Bridges realize his dream by selecting him. Bridges donned a Sixers cap, shook NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s hand and began his first press conference as a Sixer. He had no idea that as he spoke, the team was reaching an agreement to trade his draft rights to the Phoenix Suns.

In a stunning move, the Sixers traded Bridges’ rights to Phoenix for the No. 16 and an unprotected 2021 first-round pick belonging to the Miami Heat without a direction. At No. 16, they selected a Texas Tech prospect named Zhaire Smith. Smith’s potential was clearly off the mark — he was arguably the best athlete in the draft class, as well as one of its youngest players — but he was considered far from contributing to a team hello The Sixers had amassed what many believed to be one of the NBA’s most valuable future draft assets, but in the process they went from adding a sure rotation contributor to a long-term developmental project.

You know what happened next: Bridges established himself as one of the league’s most promising young players — unlocking his potential as a perfect winger while also becoming a considerably better scorer than anyone anticipated. Smith made 13 NBA appearances over two years before being unceremoniously traded to the Detroit Pistons, who promptly waived him. His rookie season was derailed by a traumatic allergic reaction, giving him even less time to develop in an organization desperate for production from young players.

The Sixers were able to get immediate production from their rookie class, however, as they selected Wichita State sharpshooter Landry Shamet at No. 26, who almost instantly became a reliable piece in Brown’s rotation . Shamet was coming off a highly impressive rookie season before the Sixers completed a deal for Los Angeles Clippers forward Tobias Harris. The two assets that allowed the Sixers to acquire Harris in a contract year: Shamet and Miami’s 2021 pick acquired in the Bridges-for-Smith deal. But Shamet failed to build off his excellent rookie season and fell out of NBA favor. Shamet remains a free agent more than six weeks into the 2024 offseason.

Instead of trading foreign second-round picks again, the Sixers traded the No. 1 overall pick. 38 and no. 39 for a collection of three future second-rounders with real value. Then they packed the No. 1 overall picks. 56 and no. 60 to move up and take pick no. 54. There, they selected a long guard from Southern Methodist University whose draft stock dropped after a shocking showing at the NBA Draft Combine: Shake Milton. Milton spent his rookie season on a two-way contract, but spent the next four years on a standard NBA deal with the Sixers. He gave the team plenty of meaningful contributions, including a long stint as a starting point guard. Milton’s run as a viable NBA contributor may have ended in 2023-24, but he’s already massively outperformed his draft slot.

Free agency

Entering free agency, the Sixers had one goal in mind: sign LeBron James. The man who would become the league’s all-time leading scorer appeared certain to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers, and while the Los Angeles Lakers were considered the clear favorites to acquire James’ services, whispers about the Sixers’ viability in them. conversations persisted until the beginning of the negotiation period.

The Sixers reportedly won a meeting to pitch James to come to Philadelphia and have spent the first 24 hours of free agency particularly focused on finalizing their pitch. I later learned that James himself was not present at the meeting; the Sixers have only spoken with his representation. James inked a long-term deal with the Lakers, and suddenly the Sixers’ top target — along with many of their other top picks — was off the board.

One could argue that the Sixers shouldn’t have wasted their time trying to get James to come to Philadelphia, but they pretty much maxed out their ability to build a strong roster after missing out on James and many other notable targets on the first day off. agency: The team brought back JJ Redick on another one-year deal — this time worth $12.25 million — and Amir Johnson on a veteran’s minimum deal. They absorbed veteran wing Wilson Chandler in their remaining cap space, receiving two second-round picks from the Denver Nuggets in the process as Denver tried to lower the luxury tax threshold.

The team later packaged a disappointing first-round pick, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, with Justin Anderson in a three-team deal that netted them a big deal over the Atlanta Hawks: Mike Muscala. The Sixers also sent young center Richaun Holmes to Phoenix in exchange for cash considerations, clearing the way for the team to sign Jonah Bolden, a big they took in the second round the year before.

The team’s only other losses were the departures of Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova, two veterans who dramatically improve the team’s floor spacing in the second half of 2017-18 after coming to Philadelphia via the trade purchase.

result

The Sixers’ roster that ended the 2018-19 season was nothing like the one they built during the offseason that preceded it. In November, they dealt Robert Covington, Dario Šarić and Jerryd Bayless to the Minnesota Timberwolves for disgruntled star Jimmy Butler. In February, they traded for Harris, which also included Chandler and Muscala heading to the Clippers, while giving the Sixers a quality stretch four off the bench in Mike Scott and an exciting center in reserve in Boban Marjanović.

The Sixers lost their first playoff game, a disastrous home contest against the upstart Brooklyn Nets, before dismantling the vastly inferior team for four straight games. They went on to face Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors in an epic seven-game series that ended with Leonard’s iconic quadruple jumper and buzzer beater. The Raptors went on to win the NBA Finals, and the Sixers were by far their toughest test during their run to glory.

Suddenly, a team that was thought to be set up for lasting success was at a crossroads: They were willing to re-sign two free agents in Butler and Harris to keep an excellent team together, even if it put in danger the long-term perspective of the team? Their eventual response would drastically alter the course of the franchise.

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