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Free Agent Point Guard Options for the Sixers

By Patrick Koerbler

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Cheap Point Guards Available for Philadelphia

Free agency 2015 started off earlier Wednesday, and while the Sixers have like a ton of cash to throw at free agents like Jimmy Butler and Khris Middleton, it’s unlikely that any of the notable free agents will end up in Philadelphia. With the NBA salary cap expected to rise up significantly in the coming years, teams around the league are aware that just about any contract agreed upon this off-season will be a good contract moving forward.

Are the Sixers looking to make the playoffs in 2015-2016? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean Sam Hinkie and company will be idle during the next few days. With the gluttony of young, developing big men the Sixers have, it’s important to put them in the best situation possible to succeed. Sneaking into the playoffs as an 8th seed may not be high on the priority list, but Jahlil Okafor’s and Nerlens Noel’s continued development should be.

Sixers’ fans saw how vital a point guard can be to a big man’s play. After the acquisition of Ish Smith, Noel was able to take his game to another level. Even with Smith not being a good shooter, simply looking for Noel and allowing him to get easier looks (like alley-oops) was a big step up from the previous point guard play of guys like Tim Frazier and Larry Drew II.

Currently, Ish is a free agent himself. It seems likely that he returns to the Sixers after his successful stint, but if for whatever reason he doesn’t return, here are a couple free agent point guards the Sixers could look to bring to Philadelphia on relatively cheap deals.

Jameer Nelson, 33 years old

The Chester-native and St Joseph’s product bounced around with Dallas and Boston last season before ending the year with the Denver Nuggets. Nelson certainly isn’t the player he used to be, and really at this point should be a back-up point guard in the league. But Nelson disagrees, saying, “I feel like I’m definitely more than a 15- or 18-minute guy, for sure.“ After drafting Emmanuel Mudiay and Ty Lawson still currently being in Denver, it’s tough to see Nelson having the role he wants in Denver.

He’d be a solid fit for what Philadelphia is looking for — he can space the floor with his three point shooting, he’s familiar with playing with a dominant big man due to his time in Orlando, and he’s a good guy to have in the locker room. The Sixers could do much worse than Nelson.

Cory Joseph, 23 years old

Joseph seems to be a popular choice among Sixers’ fans. He’s a young point guard that did a fine job starting in place of Tony Parker at times this season, averaging 13.2 points per game, 3.6 assists per game, and 4.5 rebounds per game in starts for the Spurs. He can really get into the lane, is an improving shooter, and would be familiar with Brett Brown and the system played in Philadelphia. It would probably take a decent amount of cash to pry him away from San Antonio, but he fits well and is still young enough that he may be worth it.

C.J. Watson, 31 years old

Watson is a career NBA journeyman having stops at Golden State, Chicago, Brooklyn, and Indiana during his eight-year career. He’s coming off one of his better seasons where he averaged 10 points per game, 3.6 assists per game, and made 1.2 threes per game while shooting 40 percent.

He’s not on the level of Nelson because he’s probably more of a combo guard than a point guard and he doesn’t bring any upside like Joseph would, but I think he still brings decent value. He’s a solid one or two year stopgap point guard who could really improve the team’s floor spacing.

You can follow Patrick on twitter at: @GoodDudePat.

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