The Sixer Sense
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REVISED: Bryan Colangelo Let’s Make A Deal

Bret Stuter|

The Philadelphia 76ers have limited options to adding maturity to their current roster. Ideally, Bryan Colangelo is telling the NBA “Let’s Make A Deal!”

NBA free agency is the path to riches and ruin for many general managers.  It is a path of committing limited salary dollars to a player who has never produced for your team prior to the signing.  You hope your scouts, analytics, and “gut instinct” are right about the guy, as you enter into a commitment to someone where you pay them and they perform for you.

The money seldom changes from the original terms of the contract, but the performance can swing wildly.

There is another path to a rebuild, particularly with a team teeming with youth and inexperience.  That is the trade, the willingness to part ways with value in the hopes of gaining more value for your team.  In the case of the Philadelphia 76ers, the value we give up are trade picks, of the four we may have on draft night, Bryan Colangelo is listening to offers.

The fact that the worst team in the NBA is already lighting the “for sale” sign on draft picks is not a great marketting strategy, unless Colangelo has several teams already competing for the picks.  The struggle with that strategy is two-fold.  Trading in the days leading up to the draft mitigates the value of that pick, as someone of greater value may fall to us at that pick.   The other senselessness is the reality that the team is already young.  Getting older is no strategy at all, it’s merely placing Bryan Colangelo back into his comfort zone with our roster.

And that sounds both frightening and wrong.   Between trades and free agency, I’d prefer the team elect a free agency focus.

In the world of NBA free agency, there is an inherent risk of signing a free agent. That is due to the fact that at least one other general manager did not (1) see enough value in the player to make the effort to retain him (2) The player’s salary demands exceed the value to his former team (3) The players wants to play for a championship team and is jumping to the free agency market to improve his chances (4) the player is either too old or too young to fit the core of his former team or (5) the player’s skill sets are not aligned with the scheme of his former team.

In the NBA, we’ve placed a great deal of emphasis upon the need to add veterans to the team’s roster – veterans who, for all intents and purposes, become free agents for less than great reasons.  In short, we are shopping for high fashion in a pre-owned store. We might get lucky, but it will be choosing from a pile that has been picked over.

Yes, sometimes you find a bargain, but oftentimes you do not.  And there is the challenge in the NBA – succeeding at a rate which exceeds the odds.   You see, for the team to use this avenue to bolster the team roster, they might succeed once or twice.  But repeating the process merely brings the team to the inevitable signing of a player who does not work out.

And there we go, backwards.

More from Free Agency

Now Bryan Colangelo knows all of this, and he’s had his fair share of positive and negative signings or failures to sign in the NBA free agency market.  But the pursuit of maturity is a quest that the younger Colangelo has been on for some time. Note the commentary in an interview from March 3, 2016 from Vice Sports, where he shares thoughts on young men playing professional basketball:

"If you had the opportunity to make a change to one aspect of the game, what would it be? – Vice Sports“I would say probably the age limit of the player eligibility should be increased by at least one year. In the draft process, the evaluation of players is based so much on projection rather than production that it is sometimes the most difficult aspect of the job. We are generally dealing with underdeveloped players, both physically and emotionally, and the more opportunity for them to grow and develop as young men and as basketball players will benefit both the evaluator and the athlete alike.” – Bryan Colangelo"

These are the words from the man in charge of the youngest roster in the NBA.  You think we sit tight on our roster? Reread that quote, a quote made at a time he was known to be negotiating for the Philadelphias 76ers executive position.  He doesn’t appreciate youth on an NBA roster.  So the alternative is – getting older.

Getting older on this roster means out goes young players, and in comes older players.  In some ways, that exchange lends itself more readily to outright trades in the NBA.  But other teams, knowing there is blood in the water in Philadelphia, are likely to press their advantage to the fullest. Unfortunately, based on the terms of the transition and the narrative that is becoming very public far in advance, there is little chance of the Philadelphia 76ers surprising anyone in a trade.  And so, they’ll sit and let us make the phone calls to them. The team making that first call is more likely to give more than they get in return.

Free Agency is far more neutral, albeit the Sixers have admitted to an expectation of overpaying free agents just to get our foot into the door.   But what about the track record of Bryan Colangelo in free agency?  As expected, it was a mixed bag.

July of 2006 was a very productive time Bryan Colangelo with the Toronto Raptors.  On July 13, 2006, he signed free agent Anthony Parker.  Parker was a valuable shooting guard not just for his stats.  He then followed up with that signing by inking free agent Jorge Garbajosa to a deal on July 21, 2006.  Garbajosa was a huge contributor to the team both on and off the basketball court, but he was injured and was unable to return to the team.  That likely led to Toronto’s early exit from the playoffs that year.  Both Parker and Garbajosa were great locker room additions as well, solid performers whose upbeat work ethic blended well on that team.

But the NBA is unforgiving, and win by the sword only to die by the sword.  In July, 2007, Colangelo struck another free agent deal, this time with Jason Kapono.  Kapono was a three point shooting champion who was signed by way of a full mid level cap exemption.  Unfortunately, Kapono failed to deliver for his new team, the Toronto Raptors.

Next: Allen Crabbe May Be The Perfect Fit

Once more, in July of 2012, he made a run with sacks full  of cash ($19.5 Million over a three year contract) at Landry Fields in an attempt to reunite with former prospect Steve Nash.  Nash would go on to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.  All the while, Fields would struggle for the Raptors, plagued by a nagging elbow injury. But even before the ping pong balls bounce for or against the Philadelphia 76ers, Bryan Colangelo is talking packaging draft picks for veterans:

Josh Wilson has a nice story which captures the new “message”, which has been proclaimed all along.

And so, its a win some lose some venture we are about to undertake.   The fear that we must all face is knowing that at some transaction, we will give up more value than we receive.  At some signing, we will overpay for a player who will produce less than expected.   At some future point in time, we’ll be challenged to rationalize this turn in the road was for the best all along.  It may very well be that we could be quite pleased with the outcome, but we could also be quite disappointed going forward.  It all comes down to how well our new President of Basketball Operations, Bryan Colangelo, does the deals.

Merely winning more games is not the goal of this team.  But it may be our final destination.