After exiting in the first round of the playoffs, the Philadelphia 76ers are bound to make a series of big moves this offseason focused on building up to the combination of their star duo of Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. Both players are good cornerstone players because they have enough talent to lead this team, but they need more help, as evidenced by the loss to the New York Knicks in the first round of this year's playoffs.
Both teams suffered serious injuries in the series, with Embiid playing with injuries and the Knicks making the playoffs without Julius Randle before losing Bojan Bogdanovic and Mitchell Robinson in the series. But in the end, the Knicks won the series 4-2 with a support lineup that was far stronger than the 76ers, and the performance of new signing Buddy Hield, who was highly expected by the 76ers, was disappointing.
Hield, who was traded to the 76ers by the Indiana Pacers before the trade deadline, is an excellent three-point shooter who, on paper, will get a lot of open shots when the opposition defense is too focused on Maxey and Embiid and seems to be a good fit for the 76ers' current roster.
Unfortunately, the deal didn't work out as the team had initially hoped. Although Hield did everything in his power to prevent the team from being eliminated, he scored 20 points in the sixth game of the opening round. But his performances in the first five games were lackluster, largely negligible, with no playing time in the fourth and only four minutes in the third.
At the season farewell press conference, a 76ers executive was very honest about the Buddy Hield trade and didn't put the blame on the player, but took it all himself, but his remarks also hinted that Hield would not be back on the team's roster.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with Buddy, it's just that his compatibility with the team isn't as good as I thought it would be, and he's played most of his game without Joel [Embiid], but I think when Joel comes back, his impact and shooting will give him more open shots, but he doesn't," the executive said. It was my fault that it didn't turn out as well as we had hoped. But I still think it's one of the better deals and I'm really happy that he showed what he's capable of in Game 6. ”
"No one is more disappointed than him because he's out of the rotation. I think Nick [Nass] has rightly seen that it's hard for Hilton to influence the game based on the opponent's defense against us. I think Kyle Lowry and Cameron Payne both contributed to the team, so they were able to contribute at a high level. Hield didn't play as well as we would like it to, but I do think it can still work in the future, depending on Joel [Embiid] and the rest of the players around Tyrese [Maxey]. ”
The 76ers executive finally got back into the picture, and because Hield didn't play well with the Philadelphia 76ers, he got some not-so-good coverage and was widely questioned by the outside world, but basketball is a five-man affair after all, and not every trade can be successful. With Hield's contract expiring at the end of the season, and the executive's words not mentioning Hield's return to the team, the 76ers clearly have no intention of bringing him back to the team, and they will inevitably put all their eyes on the free agent market, hoping to get a better player than Hield.