Nick Nurse is going to get a fully healthy Joel Embiid and a developed Tyrese Maxey on his squad come next season. So, this means that the Philadelphia 76ers could theoretically be one of the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference. To further hammer that point down, they could very well be getting someone who could help lead their team in the wings. That could be exactly the plan moving forward as the NBA offseason looms over the rest of the league.
Nick Nurse's ideal candidate
The 76ers have an expected cap room of $55 million. This means that they can likely get upgrades at the wing spot. It can help Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey carry the offensive load. Nick Nurse outlines that the team does have plans to revamp the roster during this NBA offseason. The 76ers head honcho even described the perfect candidate that they are looking for, via The Herd with Colin Cowherd.
“Obviously we got a lot of cap space and a lot of roster to fill. I mean I think you know Tyrese (Maxey) was amazing this year. Joel was playing the best basketball of his career, which is saying something until the injury. So I think we got two great guys to build around. Finding the right pieces that are going to be able to space, and shoot, defend, and rebound, have some IQ, have some late game you know moxy and guts, and the things that it takes for us to get to where we want to go,” Nick Nurse declared.
The 76ers found it hard to make a deep NBA Playoffs push. After all, Joel Embiid was injured heading into the postseason. This meant that Tyrese Maxey and the rest of the squad had a very little margin for error. All of those woes in terms of defense, interior presence, and scoring depth would then get exposed by the rising New York Knicks.
Now, they have an opportunity to sign a safety net after learning from their mistakes last season. A big need that Nick Nurse and the front office could pull off is a wing.
Why a wing for the 76ers?
The personnel that they had were not producing as expected during last year's campaign. Tobias Harris was expected to be that guy for multiple years now. But, the numbers clearly did not back it up. He churned out 17 points on 48.7% shooting from all three levels of scoring but this was clearly not enough. The void that Joel Embiid left needed him to score more and light it up from outside the arc.
That is exactly what the 76ers could be looking for in the NBA off-season. Someone who can do a lot of all-around work but also knock down three-pointers once Tyrese Maxey or Embiid kicks it out to them. However, they could be making an exception if someone like Jimmy Butler is interested in joining the squad. With an expiring contract with the Miami Heat, he could very well be headed to join the 76ers system soon in pursuit of a title.