Says FiveThirtyEight.com:
The Sixers went into the NBA’s free-agency blitz with an eye on keeping together as much as possible of last season’s 51-win outfit (which took the eventual champion Raptors to seven games in the playoffs), including potentially re-signing free agents Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris and JJ Redick, plus working out an extension for Ben Simmons.
That didn’t quite all come together for GM Elton Brand on Sunday — but maybe his team came out ahead on the other side.
Redick is gone; Butler was traded. But Harris and Simmons signed new deals, Al Horford (above) was added, and the Butler deal brought an intriguing package of talent headlined by ex-Heat guard Josh Richardson.
The resulting team looks … actually really good?
The Sixers are still very good — if not better!
Projected opening-night depth chart for the 2019-20 Sixers, based on CARMELO plus/minus ratings
| EXPECTED MINUTES PER GAME | PLAYER RATING | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLAYER | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | TOTAL | OFF. +/- | DEF. +/- | TOT. +/- | |
| Ben Simmons | 33 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | +2.2 | +1.7 | +3.9 | |
| Josh Richardson | 13 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 35 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.9 | |
| Joel Embiid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 34 | +1.9 | +4.1 | +6.0 | |
| Tobias Harris | 0 | 0 | 16 | 15 | 2 | 33 | +1.0 | -0.4 | +0.6 | |
| Al Horford | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 12 | 28 | +0.7 | +2.5 | +3.2 | |
| Jonathon Simmons | 0 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 19 | -2.2 | -1.4 | -3.5 | |
| Matisse Thybulle | 0 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 17 | -1.7 | +1.0 | -0.7 | |
| Mike Scott | 0 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 16 | -1.6 | -1.0 | -2.6 | |
| Jonah Bolden | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 11 | -1.3 | +1.0 | -0.3 | |
| Marial Shayok | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -1.8 | -1.2 | -3.0 | |
| Zhaire Smith | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.9 | -1.0 | -1.9 | |
| Replacement-level PG | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.7 | -1.0 | -1.7 | |
| Team total | 240 | +2.0 | +5.1 | +7.1 | ||||||
| Expected wins | 58.8 | |||||||||
| CARMELO team rating | 1686 | |||||||||
Says FiveThirtyEight.com:
NBA Free Agency Diary: Did The Sixers Lose Jimmy Butler And … Get Better?
