PHILADELPHIA — I’ve long been of the belief that any team built around Joel Embiid is a team that needs a Plan B. Last year, the Sixers did not have one, and they ended up paying a heavy price. With Embiid sidelined for the first two games of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Heat, Doc Rivers was forced to put the ghost of DeAndre Jordan out on the court for 31 minutes. In those 31 minutes, the Sixers were outscored by 31 points. They lost both games by a combined margin of 30 points. The numbers may not be pretty, but they sure are tidy.
Which brings us to the news that the Sixers announced on Tuesday, and the alternate history it might have spawned had they instead announced it in May. Would the presence of a backup center like Montrezl Harrell have altered the balance of power in the Miami series? That’s probably a stretch. There’s a reason the two-year deal that he signed with the Sixers will pay him only the veteran minimum. With a 6-foot-7, 240-pound frame and nine career 3-pointers, Harrell offers a pick-and-roll center in a power forward’s body and all of the lineup conundrums that entails.
Still, if nothing else, his addition provides a fitting end to an offseason in which Rivers and Daryl Morey did everything in their power to preempt the desperate straits that ensnared them last postseason.
