- Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are the only long-term certainties for the Sixers, so the team’s new general manager should be a creative thinker who isn’t afraid to shake up the rest of the roster if it moves the team closer to title contention, writes David Murphy of Philly.com. The 76ers are considering both external and internal candidates as they seek a new head of basketball operations.
Former Cavaliers GM David Griffin interviewed for the Sixers’ vacant GM post earlier this summer, tweets Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. An NBA source tells Pompey that the team decided Griffin didn’t fit its front office structure, which emphasizes “collaborative decisions” over the traditional model where the GM is responsible for personnel moves.
Griffin has been among the top executives on the market since deciding to part ways with the Cavaliers after the 2016/17 season. He is given much of the credit for quickly assembling a championship-caliber roster once LeBron James opted to return to Cleveland in 2014.
Griffin has reportedly been a contender for front office jobs with the Knicks, Hornets and Pistons over the past year, but wasn’t able to reach an agreement with any of those teams.
The Sixers, who have been without a GM since the Bryan Colangelo Twitter scandal in June, began interviews for the position this week with Larry Harris of the Warriors, Gersson Rosas of the Rockets and Justin Zanik of the Jazz first in line. Internal candidates Elton Brand, Marc Eversley, Ned Cohen and Alex Rucker are scheduled for interviews next week. Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas turned down an offer to interview, according to Pompey.
The Sixers are expanding the list of candidates for their vacant GM job and will interview four more prospects next week, tweets Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Former Sixers player Elton Brand is joined on the list by fellow team executives Marc Eversley, Ned Cohen and Alex Rucker.
Philadelphia began interviews for the opening this week after receiving permission to talk with Larry Harris of the Warriors, Gersson Rosas of the Rockets and Justin Zanik of the Jazz. The organization has been operating without a GM since Bryan Colangelo departed in June amid charges of releasing sensitive information on Twitter. Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas was scheduled to interview as well, but decided to decline the opportunity, Pompey adds (Twitter link).
Brand played for five teams in a 17-year NBA career, finishing up with the Sixers in 2016. He is vice president of basketball operations in Philadelphia and serves as GM for the Delaware Blue Coats, the organization’s G League affiliate. Cohen is the Sixers’ assistant GM, Eversley is senior VP of player personnel and Rucker is senior VP of analytics and strategy. All four were promoted to their current positions after Colangelo left.
Ex-Sixers forward Shawn Long has signed a contract with New Zealand Breakers, according to a Sportando report. Long played 18 games with Philadelphia in 2016/2017, averaging 8.2 PPG and 4.7 RPG in 13 MPG. He toiled in the G League last season with the Delaware 87ers, averaging 14.6 PPG and 7.7 RPG in 33 games following a seven-game stint in China. The Timberwolves took a look at Long during a free agent mini-camp in June.
We have more from around the pro basketball world:
- LiAngelo Ball anticipated that the Lakers or Suns would draft him in the second round, Andrew Joseph of USA Today reports. The younger brother of Lonzo Ball said the reality show Ball in the Family that he was in contact with the Lakers that day. The Lakers ended up choosing Kansas’ Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and the Suns took Colorado’s George King. LiAngelo Ball said after the draft he thought his shoplifting arrest with UCLA in China might have played a role.
- Spain will be without nine prominent NBA players in the upcoming FIBA World Cup qualifiers, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando notes. Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Willy Hernangomez, Juan Hernangomez, Ricky Rubio, Jose Calderon, Alex Abrines, Nikola Mirotic and Serge Ibaka have all passed up the tournament.
- Former Hornets and Mavericks guard Aaron Harrison agreed to sign with a Turkish team over the weekend. Get the details here.
- The Sixers are expected to begin interviews for their GM opening on Tuesday, tweets Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. They have received permission to talk with Larry Harris (Warriors), Gersson Rosas (Rockets), and Justin Zanik (Jazz), and all three are set to interview the week. Mike Sielski of the Inquirer is criticizing the team for keeping the position open for so long after Bryan Colangelo’s departure in June.
The Sixers have been granted permission to interview three candidates for their open general manager position, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. According to Wojnarowski, Larry Harris (Warriors), Gersson Rosas (Rockets), and Justin Zanik (Jazz) are among Philadelphia’s potential targets. Team ownership intends to start meeting with candidates next week, league sources tell ESPN.
An assistant GM and director of player personnel for the Warriors, Harris previously spent nearly two decades with the Bucks, serving as Milwaukee’s general manager from 2003 to 2008. He headed to Golden State for the 2008/09 season, initially serving as an assistant coach before moving to the team’s front office.
Rosas has spent the better part of two decades with the Rockets and is currently the executive vice president of basketball operations for the team. A close associate of general manager Daryl Morey, Rosas had a brief stint as the Mavericks’ general manager in 2013 but returned to Houston shortly thereafter. He was reportedly considered for front office openings in Charlotte and Detroit earlier this year.
Zanik, who held an assistant general manager position with the Jazz until 2016, left to join the Bucks at that time. Milwaukee appeared to be grooming Zanik as the eventual replacement for general manager John Hammond, but the club passed over him last summer following an unusual GM search, opting to promote Jon Horst instead. Zanik left the franchise in the wake of that decision, returning to Utah in his old assistant GM role.
Following the dismissal of Bryan Colangelo in Philadelphia, the Sixers initially targeted big-name NBA GMs and presidents like Morey, but have since cast a wider net, focusing more on executives who would view the Philadelphia job as a promotion rather than a lateral move.
Team owner Josh Harris recently said that the 76ers want to make sure they find a perfect fit, and would be content leaving their interim structure in place if necessary. Head coach Brett Brown is currently serving as the club’s interim president of basketball operations, though he has plenty of help in the front office — Ned Cohen, Marc Eversley, and Elton Brand were among those receiving promotions this week.
The Sixers have signed Anthony Brown to their offseason roster, according to RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions. It’s a one-year, minimum-salary pact with an Exhibit 10 clause, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Philadelphia now has 19 players under contract.
Brown, a second-round pick in 2015, spent his first two NBA seasons with the Lakers, Pelicans, and Magic before signing a two-way contract with the Timberwolves last summer. The 6’7″ forward only appeared in one game for Minnesota, but had a strong year in the G League, averaging 18.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 3.6 APG with a .459/.402/.797 shooting line in 45 contests for the Iowa Wolves.
Brown’s two-way deal with the Timberwolves expired earlier this summer, and the club moved on by signing Jared Terrell and C.J. Williams to fill its two-way slots, leaving the former Stanford standout on the lookout for a new team.
While Brown appears set to attend training camp with the 76ers, there’s no clear path to a spot on Philadelphia’s 15-man regular season roster. The club currently has 14 players on guaranteed contracts, with T.J. McConnell and his non-guaranteed salary seemingly penciled in for the 15th and final spot.
- The Sixers should have spent more time this summer pursuing young up-and-comers in executive roles around the league, rather than focusing on ‘elite GMs,’ Derek Bodner of The Athletic argues. Philadelphia’s GM search has dragged on for 11 weeks and now it reportedly will focus on candidates further down in their current team’s organizational chart. The Sixers should have been vetting those types of candidates much earlier, Bodner adds.
A total of 28 trades have been completed by NBA teams since the 2017/18 season ended, including a pair of three-way deals. The Sixers have been involved in a quarter of those swaps, completing seven deals during the 2018 offseason. While Philadelphia has been the most active team on the trade market, the Hornets aren’t far behind, having finalized five deals of their own.
[RELATED: 2018 NBA Offseason Trades]
It’s a little ironic that the Sixers have completed the most trades of any NBA team this summer, since Philadelphia is the only club without a permanent head of basketball operations in place. Head coach Brett Brown has served as the interim president of basketball ops since Bryan Colangelo was fired in June, but if there was any uncertainty about the structure of the team’s front office, it certainly didn’t impact the 76ers’ ability to make deals.
None of the Sixers’ trades was a blockbuster, but a few of them will have a noticeable impact on the team’s 2018/19 roster. Wilson Chandler and Mike Muscala were acquired in separate deals, while Philadelphia’s most interesting move saw the club trade Mikal Bridges for Zhaire Smith and a future unprotected first-round pick.
As for the Hornets, they also fired their general manager earlier this season, replacing Rich Cho with Mitch Kupchak. Given the new-look front office and a team salary that was hovering close to the tax line, it’s not as surprising that the Hornets have been active on the trade market over the last couple months. Kupchak’s most noteworthy moves involved Timofey Mozgov — the Hornets sent Dwight Howard to Brooklyn for a package that included Mozgov, then flipped him to the Magic in a three-way trade involving Bismack Biyombo.
Here are a few other notable details related to this offseason’s trades so far:
Teams that have made the most trades:
- Philadelphia 76ers: 7
- Charlotte Hornets: 5
- Atlanta Hawks: 4
- Brooklyn Nets: 4
- Dallas Mavericks: 4
- Los Angeles Clippers: 4
- Oklahoma City Thunder: 4
- Orlando Magic: 4
- Denver Nuggets: 3
- Phoenix Suns: 3
Teams that haven’t made a trade:
- Golden State Warriors
- Indiana Pacers
- Miami Heat
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New Orleans Pelicans
- New York Knicks
Players that have been traded multiple times:
- Timofey Mozgov: Nets to Hornets to Magic.
- Darrell Arthur: Nuggets to Nets to Suns.
- Dakari Johnson: Thunder to Magic to Grizzlies.
- Rodney Purvis: Magic to Thunder to Celtics (waived by Celtics).
- Hamidou Diallo (draft rights): Nets to Hornets to Thunder.
- Maarty Leunen (draft rights): Clippers to Mavericks to Rockets.
- Renaldas Seibutis (draft rights): Mavericks to Clippers to Cavaliers.
Future first-round picks that have been traded:
- Mavericks‘ 2019 first-round pick to Hawks (top-five protected).
- Nuggets‘ 2019 first-round pick to Nets (top-12 protected).
- Raptors‘ 2019 first-round pick to Spurs (top-20 protected).
- Heat‘s 2021 first-round pick to Sixers (from Suns; unprotected).
- Thunder‘s 2022 first-round pick to Hawks (top-14 protected).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
- In addition to announcing several front office promotions today, the Sixers also indicated that assistant coach Kevin Young has been promoted to the front of the team’s bench this season. Jim O’Brien, formerly an assistant on Brett Brown‘s staff, will now serve as a senior advisor to the head coach, per the club. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported the changes.