76ers are a cautionary tale to Pistons and rest of NBA

The Detroit Pistons and Philadelphia 76ers are the two surprise teams of the NBA this season but for different reasons. 

The Pistons are enjoying a renaissance after finishing with their worst record in franchise history just last season. Their 31st victory last night tied their win total from the last two seasons combined.  

A lot of us thought the Pistons would improve, but they are sitting in the 6th seed at the end of February, a result most didn’t see coming. 

Philly is on the other end of the misery spectrum, losers of seven straight, the 76ers are the 12th seed, a game and a half back of the lousy Bulls for the final play-in spot. 

There is now talk that they are going to shut down Embiid for the season, which would bring on the tank, as their 2025 pick is only top-6 protected and I am sure they’d rather keep it than to send it to OKC (is there a pick they don’t own?) if they aren’t going to make the playoffs anyway. 

Some of us saw this coming in Philly (pats self on back furiously) but they entered the season as one of the frontrunners to challenge for a title and have done anything but. 

The worst part for fans of the 76ers is that there is no easy way out for Philly, which should be a cautionary tale to the Detroit Pistons and the rest of the league. 

Detroit Pistons: Avoiding the bad monster deal 

I saw this post from Bobby Marks last night and thought about how quickly things can change in the NBA: 

Former MVP Joel Embiid is now untradable. I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence, but it’s arguable that Embiid now has the most untouchable contract in the NBA. 

He’s always hurt, may have to have another knee surgery, has clearly lost a step when he’s in there and Philly has four more seasons of this after this one. 

The scary thing about Embiid is that it could have happened to anyone, as nearly every team in the NBA would have signed him to that deal. 

The only contract that might be worse (along with Beal) is the one signed by Paul George in the offseason, as he has been a non-factor this season and Philly fans are probably wishing they had Tobias Harris back. 

Consider this: Paul is making $49 million this season (which will ramp up to $56 million per season over the next three years) and has scored 20+ points nine times this year. 

Tobias Harris has also scored 20+ points nine times this season. Malik Beasley has done is 21 times and the two Pistons are making a combined $31 million. 

Talk about value for money, these two Pistons are the epitome of it, while Embiid and George are on the opposite side as overpaid stars who aren’t producing or even playing. 

The lesson here is that you have to be careful who you give a max deal to, and having two guys on the wrong side of 30 locked into max long-term deals is a disaster waiting to happen, especially when the two guys have a long history of injuries. 

As tempting as it will be, the Pistons have to resist the urge to sign the wrong guy to long-term deals, which includes players with lengthy injury histories or ones who are at the end of their prime. 

The 76ers are now a bad team with no financial flexibility and no real way out of this mess, as I don’t think they could give Embiid or Paul away right now for nothing. 

Trajan Langdon understands this and made it a priority to sign guys who stay healthy in Harris, Beasley and Hardaway Jr in the offseason, a trait I hope he continues to look for in future additions. I'd also love him to stick to the short-term deals for veteran players.

In the Apron Era, we may see fewer teams handing out these ridiculous max contracts to guys who are 30+ years old and being much more cautious about that second max guy, as you can have one bad contract and possibly survive, but not two. 

As much as we’ve joked about it over the years, financial flexibility is now huge in the NBA, so the Pistons need to avoid big-name guys who come with tons of talent but also tons of red flags.