Are the Philadelphia 76ers ready to get serious about constructing a real NBA roster? According to head coach Brett Brown, they are.
"We're definitely going to be in the free-agent game," Brown said Wednesday, according to Tom Moore of Calkins Media.
After three years of chasing lottery ping-pong balls while stuffing the roster with bargain-bin castoffs, D-League call-ups, 10-day contracts, and minimum-salaried vets, it's a little strange to think about the Sixers sitting down with marquee (or even mid-tier) free agents.
Philadelphia was rumored to have kicked the tires on max-level restricted free agents Jimmy Butler and Kawhi Leonard last summer, but there was little chance those players' respective teams weren't going to match any offer sheet either one signed. The Sixers' interest was described as little more than "due diligence."
After this June, they'll have picked in the top four of three consecutive drafts, which would seem to have fulfilled their aim of building a sustainable foundation from the ground up after their scorched-earth campaign. After what's been the longest sustained run of transparent self-sabotage in NBA history, the question would then become how to transition from rebuilding to competing.
The Sixers hired legendary NBA executive and USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo for a theretofore nonexistent position (chairman of basketball operations and special advisor) in December to help them figure that out, and his reputation around the league could be crucial to getting players - and their agents - to the table when the time comes.
A report in January suggested that Sam Hinkie's oft-vexing practices as general manager - such as not returning calls promptly, if at all - had eroded his relationships with player agents around the league, and led those agents to steer their clients away from the Sixers. One particular agent reportedly said he didn't want his max-level clients in Philadelphia, and that he'd only encourage his mid-level players to sign there if the team was willing to exceed market value with any contract offer.
In other words, even if the Sixers have become receptive to the notion of being competitive, they could have a hard time playing the free-agent game. Brown, though, emphasized that he still believed in the Sixers' team-building strategy, and their future.
"As you seek stars," he said, "you can't forget foundation."
