As the 76ers continue into the summer with a relatively similar roster as last season (James Harden move pending), is Philly entering a “pause year,” where the franchise waits things out until they are able to make bigger moves in the years to come?
For a franchise that went through The Process, boasts the NBA MVP, and is a consistent playoff team, is a “pause year” an acceptable course of action at this time?
Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie debated to open up The Morning Show on Tuesday.
“While I think they still try to seek out a Tobias or Harden deal if the right deal is there…as of now, the idea is to run it back, don’t muck up the salary cap in subsequent years, hope Nick Nurse can get the main four guys, Joel, Harden, Maxey, and Tobias, to actually track down and defeat the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, and Denver Nuggets, and go at it that way,” Joe said.
“I can’t say I love the strategy, because I don’t believe the Sixers are gonna win the title next year...fundamentally, I think there are flaws in the strategy…even if Nick Nurse is the greatest coach of all time, when there’s four minutes left in game six of the Conference Final, it’s still Embiid and Harden out there.”
Jon says it’s too early to consider 2023-24 a “pause year,” because there are still loose ends inside and outside the Sixers roster.
“We don’t know that this is a pause,” Joe said. “What we know is that Daryl Morey can be trusted as it pertains to James Harden, and we didn’t know that prior to this period. We expected Daryl Morey to cave to James Harden’s desires...I do trust Daryl Morey, especially because nobody thought he could do what he has done, to turn his back on James Harden a bit.
“I expect something to be worked upon. I expect Daryl Morey is working on contingency plan upon contingency plan, and I believe he’ll ultimately do what is best for this team.”