TRADE DEADLINE: Philadelphia 76ers Head coach Nick Nurse rejected $85.9 million offer from the …see more-NFL….
We’ve already seen a pair of blockbuster NBA trades go down, but it’s been awfully quiet on the trade front with your Sixers.
We’ve seen credible reporters link them to names like the Bulls’ Zach LaVine and the Hawks’ Dejounte Murray. We know that Daryl Morey has said he’d like to add depth at guard and another big. We also know that the Sixers are pretty damn good as currently constructed with Joel Embiid having yet another MVP-caliber season and Tyrese Maxey looking like an All-Star lock.
So, as the Feb. 8 trade deadline draws closer, what will the Sixers do?
How the Sixers see themselves
The Sixers’ patience and quietness on the trade front are purposeful. In case you hadn’t noticed, they’re playing great basketball.
Overall, the Sixers are 29-14 — five games behind the top-seeded Celtics, just one-and-a-half games behind Doc Rivers(!) and the No. 2 seed Bucks — in their first season under new head coach Nick Nurse. They’re playing a different and refreshing style of basketball under the former Raptors coach.
Even more impressively, the Sixers are 26-7 when Embiid is in the lineup. That’s an .787 winning percentage. They have wins against Boston, Oklahoma City, Minnesota and Denver. According to Basketball Reference’s adjusted ratings, the Sixers have the sixth-best offense and seventh-best defense with the third-best net rating. They’re actually two games better than they were at this point last season with James Harden in the fold.
Simply put: When Embiid is healthy, the Sixers can hang with anyone.
Nurse is a big X-factor here as well. Beyond their preexisting relationship, Morey brought Nurse in for his ingenuity and recent success getting a team that was on the cusp over the top. Morey likely wants to give Nurse a chance to get the most of (a healthy) Embiid, Maxey and, yes, even Tobias Harris come playoff time.