Surely the Philadelphia 76ers players and coaching staff are preparing for the first round series against the Toronto Raptors. While fans hope the team is ready to play this series, that doesn’t mean the front office isn’t preparing for this first round matchup either.
Daryl Morey who is the Sixers’ president of basketball operations should be scouting the Raptors’ free agents in this series. It’s fair to write the 76ers’ bench is the best it could be so targeting opponents’ free agents would be a smart action to take.
Before diving into this article it’s important to go over a couple of caveats. The first being is that the players on this list will be within the Sixers’ price range as the team doesn’t have much salary cap space. There will only be three players on this list instead of every free agent just to keep things simple. With that being written let’s begin.
3 potential Raptors free agents to scout: Svi Mykhailiuk
I’ll be honest, if I have to say Svi Mykhailiuk‘s name on The Sixers Sense Podcast, I will struggle to do so. That being written, he could be a low risk, high reward free agent signing. This is of course if he declines his player option and becomes a free agent this offseason.
Mykhailiuk is a 6-foot-7 sharpshooting journeyman who just finished his fourth season. On the surface, he doesn’t put out impressive stats. For his career, he has averaged 6.6 points on 35.3 percent shooting from deep.
This season has been worse with the Raptors. He didn’t receive consistent playing time and because of that, his stats suffered. Mykhailiuk averaged 4.6 points on 30.6 percent shooting from the 3-point line.
Mykhailiuk is the type of player who needs a bigger role to be more effective as a shooter and because of the Philadelphia 76ers’ need for shooters he might opt out of his contract for a bigger role on a contender might appeal to him.
3 potential Raptors free agents to scout: Chris Boucher
Chris Boucher is a unique talent as a stretch-big. He’s caused the Philadelphia 76ers some headaches as he’s averaged 10.3 points and 5.9 rebounds, while converting 55.6 percent of his 3-pointers for his career.
Boucher is a 6-foot-9 and 200 lbs stretch big man. He’s thin, to say the least, but he’s smart and long enough defensively to cause problems and he knows his role on offense to not be a detriment.
If the Sixers signed him, he’d probably be a power forward instead of center just because of his thin frame. That being written, he would be a nice fit next to the Core Four that the 76ers have. However, signing him doesn’t come without its risks.
Despite averaging 9.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks on 33.5 percent from deep, he’s had a down year this season. This year’s overall averages were solid but he only shot 29.7 percent from downtown which is the second-lowest of his career.
3 potential Raptors free agents to scout: Thaddeus Young
Bringing back a fan favorite is always a fun proposition for the Philadelphia 76ers. Thaddeus Young would fall into that category as he use to be one of the team’s better reserve big men about 8-14 years ago.
Young left Philly in the 2014-15 season as the rebuild named “The Process” was in its early stages. During his stint with the Sixers, he averaged 13.7 points and 5.5 rebounds. Since his departure from the 76ers, Young has also played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Brooklyn Nets, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, and now the Raptors.
Want your voice heard? Join the The Sixer Sense team!
He’s a solid veteran backup in his career only averaging 6.2 points and 4.0 rebounds this season and despite being slightly undersized for the center role, he can play either big man position at this point and is still good defensively.
Young would probably function as a mentor and a small-ball five option for Philly if he did indeed come back to the Sixers to finish his career. He’s only the ideal mentor for a player like Paul Reed so the fit makes sense both on and off the court.
The Raptors have a sharpshooter and two big men that the Philadelphia 76ers should be scouting during this series. It will be interesting if any of these players end up on Philly’s roster next season.