Daryl Moore has been president of the Philadelphia 76 basketball operations operation for less than three weeks, but he has not wasted any time stamping his name on the team roster. While the league’s most famous trader was with the Houston Rockets, Moore made two draft day deals designed to address his new team’s biggest weakness.
In the first, he matched Al Horford for Danny Green with Oklahoma City (first and second-round elections, plus the rights of Serbian defender Vasiliej Mickey) – which the Thunder acquired in a previous deal for Dennis. Scröder – and Terrence Ferguson. In the second, Moore sent Josh Richardson and Seth Curry to the Las Vegas Mavericks in exchange for the 36th pick Tyler B.
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The pair of sixes from Joel Embid and Ben Simmons have been the best when surrounded by shooters. The lineup, paired with JJ Reddick, Robert Cuewington and Dario Šarić, for example, outscored opponents by 17.7 points per 100 assets. The Red pair, Wilson Chandler and Jimmy Butler amassed 12.2 more points per 100 goods than their enemies. With Radick, Butler and Tobias Harris, their margin was plus -19.6 in 100 assets.
The 2019-20 Sixers actually reduced the threshing rate at a higher-than-average rate (36.8 percent), but they tried trains less often than the average team. That shouldn’t be as much of a problem with Marxmen as he did (like three out of three for his career.34..3 percent) and slipping into green (percent0 percent) rotation. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Green has extensive experience working with all the striped stars as a 3-and-D person, while Curry has played with Damien Lillard, CJ Moll Clom and Luca Donis.
Morey’s attempt to protect the snipers did not stop there. With the No. 49 pick, the Sixers picked up Arkansas shooting guard Isaiah J.J. Despite joining only 34.2 percent of the trays last season, the draft was widely considered the best shooter. He hit 41.4 percent from deep as a new man during the 2018-19 season, making him a 37.8 percent shooter on more than 500 career attempts from outside the arc. He was also one of 10 power-conference players to hit at least 75 thrashes in the last two seasons.
In the next second round, Moore made Paul Reed his favorite analyst. Athletic forward who claims it Runs the floor like a deer, Reed was one of only 10 collegiate players after the 1992-93 season, averaging at least 10 rebounds, 1.5 steels and 2.5 blocks per game. Pair him off the bench with Mattis Thibule and Zaire Smith, and the Sixers have a whole mess of long, ranged defenders to throw at opponents and try to push some turnover, which in turn will help reduce any distance issues associated with Embed-Simmons. Combining increased transition opportunities at the expense of half the court property.
Morey’s first choice of the night, however, may be his most interesting. Kentucky Point Guard Tyris Maxi is not yet a knockdown shooter (he only scored 29.2 percent in his threshold), but his free throw percentage (83.3 percent) is encouraging, and he is extremely aggressive in trying to go downhill and get into the ring.
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The Saxons desperately need someone other than Simmons who can break the defense off the drive from the outside, and Maxi should be able to provide that for them. Harris and Richardson were the two most frequent drivers on the team except Simmons, according to NBA Advanced Status, but both were among the least likely high-volume drivers to pass on the drive rather than shoot. Philadelphia also often struggled to throw a basic entry pass embedded in a post on the floor without composite, and Maxi should help there as well. And at 6-foot-3, Maxi has the size to save both guard spots, meaning he could eventually fit in with Simmons if his jumper comes around.
During his tenure in Houston, Moore was famous for his strict adherence to the mathematics behind the basketball. He often said that if he did something different, if he had a different roster, and he has it now. He doesn’t have to abandon his principles by doing something different than he does with rockets, though. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that every acquisition of Morey is aligned with features considered valuable in the past: shooting, defense, athleticsism, shots on the rim. He may have changed cities and rosters, but he has not changed stripes.
