Despite Fast NBA Rumors: Philadelphia 76ers Crawl Into FA

Despite NBA Rumors of max offers, contacts, big names and great fits, the 2016 NBA Free Agency haw opened at a crawl for the Philadelphia 76ers

It’s a tough business, this NBA. You chase players with your cash in hand while other team chase them with their cash.

Some teams win, and some teams lose.

Now it’s not to say that the first signing is necessarily the best signing.  But the Philadelphia 76ers have gone at least 0-2 for free agents we knew they expressed interest in.

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Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan was a huge target for the Philadelphia 76ers, and was clearly a test of Bryan Colangelo’s ability to swing a deal with a big name player in free agency.  Instead, the announcement came shortly after free agency began that he would be re-signing with the Toronto Raptors.

While the final dollars are not set, it will come in somewhere in the 5 year, $140 Million range.

But it was still okay, you see.  We had expressed interest in retaining our point guard Ish Smith, albeit in a reduced backup role for the team.  And entering free agency, it appeared that Ish Smith, veteran of six years in the NBA and nine different teams, would be fine with coming back to the team.

But we forgot to call him, especially after the Detroit Pistons had done so.  And so, with only one offer sheet in front of him, Ish Smith did the only sensible thing and committed to the Detroit Pistons. Two free agent targets, zero free agent signings.

We still have more names of players we have been linked to, such as Harrison Barnes,

Dion Waiters,

Alan Crabbe.

And Jordan Clarkson

Jordan Clarkson is a particularly interesting prospect, as the Philadelphia 76ers hold the rights to the Los Angeles Lakers first round pick (top three protected). By pulling him away from the Lakers, that would not only give the team a promising young hybrid guard who would compliment Ben Simmons nicely, but would also serve to weaken the Lakers team somewhat.

The Lakers hold Clarkson under the (Gilbert) Arenas provision, limiting the ability for the 76ers to offer more than the mid-range offer his first two years, but could swell those numbers in years three and four.  Jordan Clarkson would be a nice pickup for the team in this free agency.

Next: Free Agency Rumors: Ish Smith, Pistons Agree to Deal

I think fans are absolutely floored at the discipline of Bryan Colangelo so far.  He has shown will-power in not making bad trades entering the draft, and he’s letting the dust settle so far before signing free agents now.  Will it continue?  It’s hard to say.  But it’s a nice sign so far.