Brett Brown told us this was coming.
The most jarring non-Twitter moment in the last two Sixers seasons came May 11. After the season ended Brown said the team needed to immediately add a superstar. Moments later Bryan Colangelo, then Brown's boss, contradicted him. Colangelo said that adding a star could wait.
Colangelo isn't Brown's boss anymore, and the Sixers are "star-hunting," as Brown put it last month.
The Inquirer learned that Brown and Sixers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer were scheduled to meet with LeBron James' representatives Sunday, the first day of NBA free agency. ESPN first reported that the Sixers would meet James' people.
Back at the practice facility in Camden, Marc Eversley and Ned Cohen were as conspicuously absent from the team's summer-league minicamp session as Brown. Eversley is the vice president of player personnel and Cohen is VP of basketball operations, and both have seen their roles increase since Colangelo's departure following Burner-gate. They're the logical people to negotiate with the Spurs, who are negotiating the trade of Kawhi Leonard.
Sell the farm, fellas.
The Sixers should push every chip in their kitty to the middle of the table.
They cannot allow James to return to Cleveland or go to Los Angeles. He makes every team an instant contender. They cannot let Leonard land in Boston. The Celtics will rule the East.
They have to chase these stars. They have to run them down. As long as Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons remain, the price is immaterial.
Feel free to trade Dario Saric and Robert Covington and any draft picks you want. Throw in Michael Rubin's helicopter, and Meek Mill, too. He'd learn to love San Antonio.
Give LeBron whatever money he wants, but give him power, too. Give him a voice in personnel matters. We all know that he's been running the Cavaliers through innuendo and implication for the last four years. Let's just stop pretending. He's 33, he's been in the league for 15 seasons, he's been in the last eight NBA Finals and he won three of them. James is at the height of his powers, he's the most valuable player every season (MVP voting has become embarrassingly useless), and he makes any team he lands with at least the second-best team in the NBA, and that's just because Kevin Durant plays for the Golden State Warriors.
As for Leonard, he's 27 and is just realizing the scope of his abilities. If those abilities land in Boston, then he might never leave because the Celtics, when whole, might be good enough to beat those Warriors. Leonard is telling people he wants to go home to Los Angeles, but winning tends to change perspectives.
The Sixers might be good enough to beat the Warriors, too, if they get both James and Leonard. You'll have to take that one on faith.
Embiid has played just 94 regular-season games in four seasons. As a rookie Simmons proved that he is a freak, but he also proved that he can't, and won't, shoot. So what. They are the future of the league. They will become MVP candidates. They should be all-stars every year. They are 24 and 21 years old.
With LeBron to lead them for a season or two, and with Leonard to complement them in his prime, Embiid and Simmons will win. Immediately. There is no price too steep.
It could happen. Don't scoff.
The consensus indicates that Leonard will sign with the Lakers when he becomes a free agent next season. Fine. This time last year the consensus was that Paul George would abandon the Thunder after one season to sign with the Lakers. Then, on Saturday, Russell Westbrook and the team threw George a party, and George agreed to return to OKC.
If it comes to it next summer, we're betting Embiid throws Kawhi a way better party.
It shouldn't come to it. The Sixers plus Leonard would instantly be better than the Thunder plus George, even without James. There is every chance that Leonard would stay if he comes to Philadelphia and wins, even a little.
He also might actually like it here. They both might.
Leonard and Brown also have a strong bond, forged when Brown was a Spurs assistant. That would influence Leonard's decision. As for LeBron, he mentors Simmons from afar. Perhaps LeBron would like to have stronger hand in turning Simmons into the next LeBron.
They're human. Relationships matter.
Draft picks matter less. Covington, even less.
Stars matter. Stars accelerate the development of ascending stars like Embiid, already an All-Star, and Simmons, the rookie of the year.
Brown knew this. Colangelo did not.
Brown's in L.A., chasing stars.
Colangelo's not.
