Sixers Receive an Average Grade for 2021 NBA Offseason

The 2021 NBA offseason is slowly but surely winding down. In a little over a month, the Sixers will be back in Camden, New Jersey firing up the next step towards the new basketball year, which is training camp.

At this point in the offseason, the NBA Draft is in the rearview. The NBA Free Agency floodgates opened up and calmed down while the trade market has become quite quiet over the last couple of weeks.

The 76ers made some moves, as expected. In the draft, they acquired three new additions in Jaden Springer, Filip Petrusev, and Charles Bassey. 

They also re-signed Danny Green and Furkan Korkmaz while bringing in new additions such as Georges Niang and Andre Drummond. 

If the season were to start tomorrow, the Sixers would look somewhat similar to last year's team as the entire starting lineup from last season remains in place. Sure, that could change any day now as the Ben Simmons trade rumors continue to loom, but right now, Simmons remains a member of the team.

As Daryl Morey and the Sixers' front office have yet to find the right deal to move Simmons, the Sixers' offseason changes hardly made a splash around the NBA. And because of that, Sports Illustrated's own Michael Pina offered the Sixers just an average grade for their offseason progress thus far.

"In the end, it’s hard to grade the Sixers’ offseason until Simmons is traded with a return that better accentuates Embiid’s low-post domination. Running last year’s core back with a championship in mind would be silly, but right now that appears to be their intention."

In grade school, a C+ is passing. For underachievers, that's a solid feat. For an NBA team that's gunning for a championship, that won't get the job done. When you look at last year's Sixers from the regular season, running it back wouldn't be the worst idea as they notched the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

But as they failed to get past the second round of the playoffs once again, the 76ers proved that a notable change needs to happen. Daryl Morey is attempting to swap one of his stars for another, but so far, he hasn't received the right offer.

The Sixers are practicing patience with a potential Simmons trade, rightfully so. But if they hold out for a star that's not leaving their current situation (ie. Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal), then the chances of the Sixers running it back with a similar roster as last year's become much higher. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.