Milwaukee Bucks: Assessing the East landscape after the trade deadline

Milwaukee Bucks saw the Philadelphia 76ers pick up an old friend on deadline day

For the majority of the 2020-21 season, everyone in the East has been chasing the Philadelphia 76ers as they’re 32-13 and hold the top seed.

They’re currently keeping pace while being without their superstar center Joel Embiid after he suffered a bone bruise earlier this month. And while they didn’t make a big deadline blockbuster for veteran Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, the 76ers made a move on the edges to acquire former Bucks guard George Hill in the aforementioned three-team deal that sent Rivers to Oklahoma City.

As all Bucks fans are aware of, Hill should give the 76ers a nice scoring punch and organization at the point guard spot and around their core of Embiid, Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris.

Whether this approach will help push the 76ers over the top remains to be seen. The Sixers’ overhauled front office headlined by the arrival of Daryl Morey in the offseason has so far valued the continuity and starpower of their current core versus shaking it up for potential upgrades, whether it was for Lowry or James Harden.

Time will tell whether Phaildelphia will continue adhering to this approach and a lot will be riding on their ability to at minimum, reach the Eastern Conference Finals with their current core. Otherwise some major questions will re-emerge as far as the Embiid-Simmons-led partnership is considered.