The past Hinkie-led trade deadlines for the Sixers have been all about selling. They traded away core players like Thad Young, Michael Carter-Williams and Evan Turner for basically just a bunch of draft picks. This year however, and maybe it is because Jerry ColAngelo is in the fold, but the Sixers will not be selling as willingly, and in fact it looks like they may actually be buying.
Both Sixers and Nuggets have had discussions with Clippers about Blake Griffin, per league sources. @sn_nba earlier reported Nuggets talks.
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) February 5, 2016
Sam Amico is an NBA insider, so this report is rather valid. The Sixers would not doubt be acquiring a top NBA talent if they could pull this off, but should they? Blake Griffin is a special player in this league and it someone that any team could build around. On the other hand, there is a reason to why he is available. With recent poor behavior, the Clippers could be opting to get themselves rid of a player that is doing more bad than good. Let’s also admit that the Sixers are not exactly the model of off-court-behavior, with the latest actions of Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor.
On the court, he still may not be a great fit. Certainly one of the Sixers prized big men would be involved in the trade, and most likely a top pick. For the Clippers though, none of those centers really would fit. Nerlens is learning to play power forward sure, but he is not there yet, plus he is a premier shot blocker, a talent the Clippers already possess in DeAndre Jordan. Okafor is a true center, and even though Brett Brown has toyed with the idea of him moving to the 4, Big Jah’s best utilized as the 5. Again the Clippers paid a ton of money to Jordan to play that position. Lastly, Embiid is somewhat of a mix between the other two and would probably fit the Clippers pretty well; the only problem is that he has not played an NBA minute yet. Although he may have the highest potential out of the three, he would have the least trade value because of his injury history.
For the Sixers, like I said earlier, Blake is an undeniable top player in this league. Griffin could also slide right in and play pretty well alongside any of the bigs because he is an in and out power forward. He can hit the long two as well as post up, which would complement whomever he was playing with. Furthermore, if the Sixers were able to keep their own 2016 first rounder, the 2017 Sixers conceivably reach the playoffs. A combination of Griffin, Noel/Okafor, a hopefully healthy Embiid, and either Brandon Ingram or Ben Simmons could lead to some immediate results.
This trade is really not that likely, so this is somewhat of a hypothetical. On the other hand though, a trade would not be totally shocking. Ultimately, due to the fact that the Clippers are not going be too impressed with anyone the Sixers attempt to throw their way, Blake Griffin is not going to wear a Sixers jersey anytime soon, but hey, we have won 7 games this year, it is okay to dream a little.
