We've looked at the two biggest front office moves that the 76er's made in Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler. The moves were risky, but I've hopefully argued that the moves were not bad moves at the time. Spoiler alert, we are going to examine the two other moves that were considered mistakes that I can argue weren't all that bad, or at least not the fault of the front office. That leaves us with the one mistake I think that has truly doomed the 76ers. But more on that next time.
The Redick decision was a similar situation to Butler. Redick is a sniper, a guy that everyone needs on their team that can hit threes at not just a good clip but an elite one. He fits in perfectly (at least offensively) to Simmons and Embiid. The 76er's didn't manage to hold on to him, which was unfortunate, however by most accounts Redick made the choice to not resign with the 76er's. The 76ers wanted him, he wanted to be there, but the 76er's were cash strapped from a different deal and simply couldn't match what the Pelicans offered him.
Redick is also quite small for a shooting guard defensively, and doesn't really have play-making skills, so playing him at the 1 and defending the point guards of 2020 was not a slam dunk proposition. He also said he sensed the 76er's wanted to get bigger across the board and the eventual replacement, Shake Milton, does fit that criteria. Now that could be an organizational failure, but in that same interview he didn't say he was told by the 76er's they wanted that, he just had a feeling. The 76er's offered a contract, and were simply beat out. Retaining Redick would've been the right move, but they didn't fail to do so because they thought Redick was not valuable.
Moving on to Markelle Fultz. The 76er's traded up to get Fultz, who wound up not really playing for the 76er's due to injury, which led to some bad blood that really couldn't be foreseen and Fultz being shipped to Orlando. Of course with the pick that they had originally Boston selected Tatum who has become an All-NBA level player. There are two parts that people take issue with. First they gave up a first round pick to move up, and then they chose Fultz. Trading up is the worse move in my opinion, but it's not terrible. They moved up only two spots, sure, but moving up to the first overall pick has it's own extra value beyond the spot itself. The extra pick was dependent on either their own pick which should've been a low pick as the 76ers were contenders, or the Kings pick, also a near playoff team and they were protected in the off chance it would have been the 1st pick. It ended up 14, the bottom of the lottery, which is not extremely valuable (although it's still a lottery pick don't get me wrong). Is it worth the right to get exactly who you want? Did the draft have a guy that was worth moving up for?
As awful as Fultz tenure here was, he was a legit college star. He averaged 23.2 points per game, on .476/.413/.649 shooting splits. The free throws percentage was worrying, but that the 3-point percentage was great, considering he was taking a not small 5 attempts per game, and most of his shots came off the dribble as the primary ball handler and scorer of his Washington team. He also chipped in 5.7 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.8 stocks (blocks+steals) per game, showing a strong all around game as well. A true do it all guard, but especially an incredible scoring threat to partner with Simmons and Embiid. His size was also pretty tantalizing. While nothing special from a height perspective (most list him at 6'3" but early publications had him 6'4" or even 6'5"), the 6'9" or 10 wing span is well above average for his height. He had handles, athleticism, three-level scoring and passing chops especially in the pick and roll. His immense body control in the air and on the ground were commonly cited as his best attributes and multiple draft outlets compared him to names like James Harden and Deangelo Russell. The decision to take Fultz cannot be seen as a true mistake in the moment.
Whether it was injuries, attitude, mental make-up or fit, Fultz did not even come close to working out in Philly, and the rival Celtics ended up taking a guy that will become one of the faces on the NBA in Jayson Tatum. It sucks, it's unfortunate, but this isn't a Marvin Bagley over Luka Doncic. Fultz was seen as the best player in the draft, and fit the 76er's extremely well, being an all around offensive star at the guard spot, while Tatum could clash positionally with Simmons. Tatum averaged six less points on much worse 3-point percentage, and seemed to specialize in the "dying" mid-range game in the modern NBA. Of course, his shooting and ability to score in isolation jumped up multiple levels in the NBA and his average athleticism hasn't been an issue that some might have thought, but blaming the 76er's for picking Fultz over Tatum is unfair and revisionist.
So far these articles have been very favorable to the 76er's front office. I'm probably being too apologetic, but that's going to end really quick next time, where we examine what might be one of the biggest mistakes in recent years, signing Al Horford.
