PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ben Simmons posted Instagram photos of his shirtless shooting drills and wrote the caption, “Let’s have a great week.”
The 76ers are off to a pretty good start.
One win away from the Eastern Conference finals, the Sixers are set for another new look when training camp opens and they chase their first championship since 1983. Jimmy Butler, a four-time All-Star hailed as the missing piece when the Sixers traded for him in November, is off to Miami. JJ Redick, one of the top 3-point shooters in team history, is headed to New Orleans. Meaning the Sixers lost two starters on a 51-win team poised to contend for conference titles and more for years, defections that could have stunted the franchise — had general manager Elton Brand not poached All-Star Al Horford from Boston.
Horford signed on for four years, Tobias Harris agreed to a five-year contract, key reserve Mike Scott has a new deal and Josh Richardson is a solid consolation prize in the Butler deal.
In a chaotic East , the Sixers are still in the mix as a top team.
“Crazy,” 76ers forward Zhaire Smith said of NBA free agency. “I never knew it was that crazy. It was crazy.”
Just a bit.
But winning 50 games and a round in the playoffs is no longer good enough for coach Brett Brown and the Sixers. Redick was their lone reliable 3-point ace and Butler turned into a valuable clutch scorer in the playoffs. The team wouldn’t have gotten to Game 7 against eventual NBA champion Toronto in the semis without them. And Horford, Harris and Richardson are expected to keep the dropoff at a minimum — but are they enough to push the Sixers over the edge into a title team? Throw in Smith, who missed most of his rookie year, and 2019 first-rounder Matisse Thybulle, and the Sixers should be tougher defensively.
So what’s left? The Sixers have about $7.7 million in salary cap space left and only nine players under contract. They need a backup point guard, another shooter and maybe even a true backup center — and Monday marked just the first full day of NBA free agency.
