The Philadelphia 76ers have a loaded frontcourt.
For some strange reason, they’ve spent multiple first-round picks in recent NBA drafts on big men when the league is trending toward a faster-paced game with outside shooting increasing in importance.
Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid all need lots of playing time to fully develop as top centers, and it probably won’t work in Philly.
A trade likely will come at some point, and 76ers general manager Bryan Colangelo admitted as much in a recent interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
“Absolutely not. But I think what we are comfortable doing is saying we’re not going to make a bad deal just to make a deal,” Colangelo said when asked if he was comfortable going into the season with all of these centers. “So when I say in a playful way, ‘No, I’m not comfortable,’ I think we could be a better basketball team if we could distribute that talent better and maybe take one of those assets and address other needs on the roster.
“But I think, right now, again, it’s best to say we like all of them. We want to see if we can make the most out of each of them in terms of their contributions to this team. But at the end of the day, the reality says probably one has to go at some point — but only when the deal is right.”
Colangelo was hired in the middle of last season to repair the mess created by his predecessor, Sam Hinkie.
Removing this logjam at center and building depth at other positions should be Colangelo’s first major move in the long road back to prominence for Philly.
Thumbnail photo via Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports Images
