The Philadelphia 76ers get credit for swinging for the fences but, in the end, they did not make a splash in free agency. If they had adopted a different strategy, here are five free agents who could have helped this year.
The Philadelphia 76ers this offseason were like Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, going after the greatest whales in the sea. However, within 24 hours of the NBA’s official free agency period starting, the two biggest fish, LeBron James and Paul George were off the market.
Kawhi Leonard, the other major star available this offseason, was not a free agent. He was still under contract to San Antonio, who ended up trading him to Toronto. Reportedly, the Spurs wanted either Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid included in any trade, which was never going to happen.
After failing to land the big one, interim general manager Brett Brown and the rest of the basketball administration decided to focus on other ways to improve the team.
All the new editions to the Sixers roster since the end of last season came via the draft (Zhaire Smith, Landry Shamet, Shake Milton), trades (Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala) or its summer league team (Norval Pelle).
The Sixers thought they had a free agent signing in forward Nemanja Bjelica but he ended up backing out of an agreement. Jamal Crawford is doing everything but sitting on Brown’s front lawn waving a ‘Sign me’ placard to get a contract but, so far, they have not done anything with him.
The 76ers had their reasons for not going hog wild with free agents. Free agents usually want multi-year contracts, which the Sixers do not want to do. They want cap flexibility for 2019, when they can go whale-hunting again, as well as look to extend some contracts of current core players.
It was for that reason the Sixers let Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova go, as they signed multi-year deals with other teams. Two of its other free agents, J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson, agreed to one-year contracts that paid them less than the previous year.
While not Moby Dick’s, there were plenty of other fish in the free agent sea. Maybe they were not superstars, but here are five players who were free agents that could have helped the 76ers this season — without screwing up its future cap space or hurting the development of younger players.
5. Nerlens Noel
Yes, seriously.
Noel is the poster boy for ‘shouldn’t have listened to my agent’. After being traded from the Sixers to the Dallas Mavericks, he showed enough promise to be offered a $70 million contract at the end of the 2017 season.
His agent said it had to be a max deal or nothing, Dallas owner Mark Cuban, no dope, said, OK, nothing.
Noel then had a trouble-strewn final season with Dallas. First he got in hot water over a halftime hot dog, and then got suspended for reportedly not laying off the weed.
After all of that, Noel ended up signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder for a lot less than the max or even $70 million. The league minimum? Yeah, he is quite close to that.
A Nerlens Noel who came cheap would have been a nice pickup for the Sixers.
They would be getting an athletic young big who is better defensively than any forward or center currently on the roster except Embiid. He already knows the system from his previous stay in Philly, is good friends with Embiid and familiar with most of the other players and the town.
He would also be coming in with a chip on his shoulder, as being paid $68 million less than originally offered does that to people. Noel will be looking to prove himself, and no better way then to help the Sixers go far in the playoffs. He is only 24-years-old, so this would be far from his final contract.
Right now, the Sixers have no rim protector outside of Embiid. And while he survived his first full season in good shape, you never know about Embiid’s availability.
If he does have to miss some time, would you rather have Amir Johnson or Nerlens Noel as your starting center on a team with NBA finals ambitions?
4. Aaron Gordon
If you were ever wondering what player was taken in the 2014 NBA Draft right after the Sixers selected Joel Embiid, the answer is Aaron Gordon.
If the Sixers had someone in charge who looked more to the present than the future, Gordon very well could have become a Sixer. After all, two other teams passed over Embiid because of his broken foot.
But Sam Hinkie took Embiid (and waited two years for him as it turned out) so Orlando got Gordon, a highly-athletic 6-foot-9 forward.
For three years there appeared to be a big gap between the No. 3 and 4 picks. However, Gordon had a breakout season last year, averaging 17.6 points and 7.9 rebounds.
It appears that Gordon is about to put it all together and become a perennial All-Star. So why waste all those high producing seasons in Orlando, when he could help the 76ers take on the Celtics? Al Horford would have matchup problems with Gordon.
Rotating Gordon between small and power forward would either strengthen the bench immeasurably or, if he started, moving Saric or Covington to the second unit makes it stronger as well.
Getting Gordon would have been a bit more difficult because he was a restricted free agent. He could sign with whoever he wanted, but Orlando had the right to match the offer and keep him.
But the 76ers, before the Chandler trade, had a huge amount of cap space for this upcoming season.
If the Sixers were star-hunting and Gordon seems to be an emerging star, going after him made sense. Simply offer him a contract with a big first-year salary number that is a poison pill. If Orlando matches that offer, at the very least you have crippled an Eastern Conference rival as they would be cap-strapped. If the Magic decided the offer was too much, the 76ers added a real impact player.
The odds are that Orlando, since they do not have a heck of a lot else, would match virtually any offer sheet made to Gordon.
But after losing out on James and George, a big offer to Gordon would have shown the fans how committed they are to a championship team – and wrecked the chances of viability for fans in Central Florida.
3. Brook Lopez
If you had to list the qualities that Brett Brown values in a post player, they seem pretty simple: A good defensive player, fast enough to get out on the break, can shoot from outside but also knows how to score in the low post. If he could be a rim protector and an excellent passer, that would also help.
In other words: Brook Lopez
It was a real head scratcher that the 76ers made no attempt to sign the 7-foot tall, 10-year veteran that we know of.
Even last season, as a part-time starter for the Los Angeles Lakers, he averaged 13 points, four rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 blocks a game. He has made 246 3-pointers in the last two seasons.
Sixers fans remember his days with the Nets, when he was an effective player and quite athletic for his size.
With all its cap money committed to LeBron James and his friends, the Lakers did not try to keep Lopez.
Outside of superstars, the free agent market was quite tight this summer as most teams were up against either the salary cap or facing a huge luxury tax bill.
That left players like Lopez in a sort of limbo. He was certainly better than a veteran’s minimum contract but few teams (the 76ers being one of them) had the room to sign him to a salary he probably deserved.
After 17 days on the open market, Lopez finally signed with the Milwaukee Bucks, a team looking to make noise in the Eastern Conference.
He agreed, reportedly, to just a one-year deal worth $3.3 million. To put that amount in perspective, Mike Muscala will be paid $5 million.
Does anyone think Brook Lopez would not be an upgrade from Muscala (except for Bucknell alumni)?
If they offered Lopez, say, $3.5 million, he signs with Philly and then maybe the Sixers get something else helpful in the Atlanta-Oklahoma City trade, like a draft pick or outside shooting wing, as they would have no need for Muscala.
Yep, a real headscratcher.
2. Wayne Ellington
It seemed like a perfect fit. 76ers coach Brett Brown likes players who shoot 3-pointers. Wayne Ellington is a player who likes to shoot 3-pointers.
Oh, and lets throw in the fact that Ellington is from the Philadelphia area, having attended Episcopal Academy out on the Main Line. The 6-foot-5 guard played for the Miami Heat last season but even the reporters in that area could see how he might be an ideal player for Philadelphia.
More from Sixers News
- 3 Sixers players who could help Team USA Basketball
- 76ers 2k24 ratings: 3 most underrated players on Philadelphia roster
- 76ers head coach Nick Nurse bares lofty plans for Paul Reed this season
- Grade the Trade: 76ers swap Tobias Harris for superstar PG in mock deal
- Breaking Down Bombshell Report on Sixers Star James Harden
He was a high-volume 3-point shooter (sixth in the NBA) and had made 39 percent of his shots from beyond the stripe last season, and 40 percent against the Sixers in the playoffs. Besides being a local guy, he was also known for being a good citizen who would contribute to a winning culture.
Yes, the Sixers re-signed J.J. Redick to return as their shooting guard but Brown does not have a reliable 3-point shooter besides him currently on the roster.
Maybe Furkan Korkmaz will turn into a rotation player and maybe Fultz will regain his college form and, maybe, Robert Covington won’t go weeks where he makes 10-percent of his 3-point attempts. Ellington from outside is a relatively sure thing.
Although there was speculation the Sixers might be interested in Ellington, he was on the open market for 13 days.
With not much happening, Ellington went back to Miami on a one-year deal worth $6.27 million.
If the 76ers start struggling with outside shooting, remember they could have had Ellington launching them instead.
1. DeMarcus Cousins
Could you imagine the reaction in the NBA world, and particularly in Philadelphia, if one sleepy morning in July you woke up to the news the 76ers had just signed DeMarcus Cousins?
Hey Boston, you ready to take on a lineup of Embiid, Simmons, a rejuvenated Fultz, Covington and Boogie Cousins!
If you think the 76ers would have no interest in getting the 6-foot-11 center, he reportedly almost came in February, 2017 in return for Jahlil Okafor but the proposed trade fell through. And remember, all the people in place now (except one) were in the Sixers front office back then.
Speaking strictly as a player on the court, the guy does basically everything: score inside, shoot from outside, pass and rebound. The only thing he has not been able to do is stop getting technicals and being a general pain for whatever team he is on.
For an organization that talks so much about culture one wonders if they are a basketball squad or going to the ballet, Cousins’ history represents everything coach Brett Brown and management have tried to avoid.
However, two factors special to this offseason mitigate his usual behavior and would have made him an attractice pickup for the Sixers.
1. No one really wanted him
With his history of being, well, DeMarcus Cousins, the top teams did not want him to hurt their chemistry. On the other hand, the bottom teams had seen how he had been unable to lift the Sacramento Kings to even playoff status so, basically, who needed the aggravation?
Having suffered a torn Achilles tendon in January, who knew how good Cousins would be upon his return, and when exactly that would even be.
So when Cousins hit the free agent market on July 1, no one cared.
On a cheap one-year deal, Cousins ended up with the Warriors, the one team that had a locker room impervious to Cousins’ antics, and also the only one with so much talent they can toss him aside like yesterday’s news if he can’t play like he used to, or becomes a distraction.
If the Sixers had swooped in at the start with a decent offer, it would have been time to Boogie in Philadelphia.
2. Waiting for Cousins
The hoopla of signing DeMarcus Cousins would have to be tempered by the fact a team would have no idea when he would actually take the court.
He hopes to be ready by training camp but most experts think a December or January return to action is more likely. Of course, it is not like Golden State has to rush him to make the playoffs or anything.
The positive of the injury is that Cousins will have to slowly work his way into game shape.
If Boogie showed up 100-percent healthy for any team, he would expect to be starter. Now, coming back from a serious injury, playing time will come slowly.
If the 76ers had signed Cousins, no one’s nose would have gone out of joint because they would have their playing time cut. He would be more like a pre-paid mid-season pickup. Brett Brown could look at various lineups for a few months and see which ones would work the best when Cousins finally came.
DeMarcus Cousins, on a cheap contract and simply looking to get back to playing, would have been the best free agent move the 76ers could have made this offseason.