The Philadelphia 76ers' lengthy rebuild that started in 2013 and survived a 10-win season and 26- and 28-game losing streaks was planned with a big payoff at the end.
The No. 1 seed, the home-court edge and playing an Atlanta Hawks team that fired its coach and didn’t have a single All-Star wasn’t enough to even get the Sixers to the East final.
About the only thing Sixers can trust is the second-round exit: Three of ’em in the last four seasons and a first-round sweep last year.
Tobias Harris wasn’t worth his max contract and the bench was mostly a bust in the postseason. Head coach Doc Rivers played 10 deep in Game 7 and some of his lineups were baffling at times when the Sixers needed their stars in the game.
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Embiid rose to the level of one of the NBA’s elite players but again was hampered by an injury that slowed him in the postseason. He’s signed through the 2022-23 season but he’s eligible for a “super max” deal that could pay him $191 million from 2023 through 2027. Could the Sixers really risk tying up that much money in an injury-prone center who would be 33 by the end of that contract?
Team president Daryl Morey gets his first big offseason to shake up the Sixers. Standing pat isn’t an option and he spoke Tuesday about his vision for the offseason — and what that means for embattled All-Star Ben Simmons.
"I have to do better, everyone has to do better," Morey told reporters.
The pain of losing to the fifth-seeded Hawks wasn't lost on Morey.
Morey knows that this is a critical offseason for Simmons.
What's next? Stay tuned.