After years of draft building, the Philadelphia 76ers are ready to move to building through another resource: the free agent market.
The Philadelphia 76ers may be ready to move onto free agency very soon.
Most rebuilding processes in the NBA are a two-step process. Within the two major steps there is a lot of variation and difference between teams, but almost all teams take the two major steps to go from being a bottom-feeder NBA team to a high-level organization.
The first step is drafting. Since the teams that have the worst records have the best chance at the top draft picks, it’s natural that the rebuilding teams rely on the draft at first.
Here’s what the Sixers have been able to do in the draft over the past several years:
- 2013: Michael Carter-Williams (traded for Lakers pick)
- 2013: Pierre Jackson (has yet to play a regular season game with Sixers)
- 2014: Joel Embiid (with team, yet to play a game in NBA)
- 2014: Jerami Grant (a superb defender)
- 2015: Jahlil Okafor (a possible foundation for the future)
- 2015: Richaun Holmes (a reliable big man)
There has been more to their drafting, but those are the highlights. Overall, it’s been pretty good, and spotlighted by Okafor.
Second in the two-step process is free agency. Once the team has exhausted their time in the lottery, or at least the high-lottery, they move on to free agency where they try and sway proven NBA players to come play for their team and help brighten their future.
The Philadelphia 76ers have been in the draft stage of rebuilding for a few years now. While many believe that this season is a draft-heavy year for the team, I believe that in fact, this is actually the year that they will transition to rely more on the free agent market, even though they will be present in the lottery.
Midway through this season, Jerry Colangelo was hired as Vice President of Basketball Operations for Philly. His position was said to not interfere with General Manager Sam Hinkie’s role, and for the most part, it hasn’t seemed as if it has. This was the first sign of the team gearing up for the free agent market this summer, as Colangelo has positive relationships with most NBA player agents and teams, and can get deals done. Hinkie is unproven in that area. Colangelo networks for the team every single day and is making this team a high priority of his.
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Now, I understand, the Sixers have a possible four first round picks this season. Two of those picks could be in the lottery. The Sixers have a 64.3 percent chance of landing a pick in the top 3 (their own) and a 44.2 percent chance of claiming the Lakers’ pick (which would be if it fell out of top 3, but still would be top 15. With those encouraging numbers, most — including me, in some cases — would say that the draft is the priority this season.
These numbers also leave a 35.7 percent chance of Philly not getting a pick in the top 3, and a 55.8 percent chance of them not getting the Lakers’ pick this season due to its top-3 protection. That doesn’t seem quite as encouraging.
Even if the Sixers do snag the top pick and take Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram, I think the drafting portion of the rebuild is, for the most part, finished. It completed nearly a year ago, when the team picked Jahlil Okafor with the third pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.
Okafor has not turned this team around by any means. He will not play for the rest of this season, and the team only has 8 wins through this point in the year. But his impact on the court was impressive. Okafor averaged 17.3 points, 1.2 blocks, and 7.0 rebounds per game this year before an injury cut his season short. Those numbers are up there with this impressive class of rookie big men (that includes Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingis) and have been historic in some cases. He is the future, and he is the cornerstone. Everything from here on out in the draft is simply an added bonus, and layers on top of Okafor.
I’m not saying the draft isn’t important at all this season. I think that it’s a valuable resource that will push this team to being a much better squad next season. I simply think that as far as rebuilding goes, the real moves that will truly change this team and who is around, will be made in free agency. It’s almost time for Colangelo to show us what he’s really got.