It was a roller-coaster season for the Philadelphia 76ers before play was suspended due to COVID-19. The Sixers had a record of 39-26 and were in the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
The 76ers played like an elite team at home. They were a stellar 29-2 at Wells Fargo Center. However, the Sixers were only 10-24 on the road and that's why they were in sixth place in the East despite their amazing home record.
Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris and Al Horford all got booed at some point during the season at home. There has been talk that the franchise could look into trading either Embiid or Ben Simmons since the two All-Stars continue to be a bad fit with each other and the addition of Horford only made things worse.
If the 2019-20 season is canceled altogether, Sixers general manager Elton Brand has a lot of work to do in order to improve the 76ers. Here are three things the former No. 1 overall pick should do.
3. Trade Al Horford
The Sixers signed Horford to a lucrative $109 million contract last summer in free agency. The team was looking forward to Horford and Embiid dominating in the post together.
However, Horford's fit with the Sixers was awful from day one. He wound up coming off the bench before the season was suspended and got booed at home games.
Horford was making $28,000,000 this season and he's owed $27,000,000 next season. Brand has to own up to the mistake of signing Horford in the first place and get rid of him because there's zero floor spacing on the court when Embiid, Simmons and Al are playing together.
In 60 games for the Sixers this season, Horford is averaging just 12.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists. To make matters even worse, two Sixers fans told Adam Aaronson of “The Rights To Ricky Sanchez” podcast that their ticket sales representatives cited contributing to the pay of Horford as a reason why their prices increased significantly.
2. Extend Josh Richardson
The Sixers acquired Richardson from the Miami Heat in the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade deal. He averaged 13.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists before play was suspended. Richardson was also shooting 42.9 percent from the field, 32.7 percent from beyond the arc and 78.9 percent from the free-throw line.
Josh was making $10,100,000 this season. He's set to make $10,800,000 next season and has a player option worth $11,600,000 for the 2021-22 campaign.
The Sixers should look into extending his contract now. Richardson is a sound two-way guard that the franchise values a lot. Plus, he's developed great defensive chemistry with Simmons, as both guys are All-NBA defenders.
1. Acquire more shooters around Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons
Instead of trading either Simmons or Embiid, the Sixers need to acquire more shooters around their two best players.
When Simmons puts his head down and drives to the basket, he collapses the defense and usually draws multiple defenders. The 76ers need more sharpshooters on the outside for Simmons to kick it out to.
Moreover, when Embiid gets double teamed in the post — and that happens all the time since he's one of the best centers in the game — the Sixers don't take advantage of it. The team ranked 19th in the NBA in 3-pointers made with 742. That's far too low of a number for a Sixers team that has three explosive scorers in Embiid, Simmons and Harris.
The future of the Sixers is certainly one to pay attention to.
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