June 27, 2017
Now with the NBA Draft in the books, teams will hop right into free agency when the new league year starts this Saturday. Here is how some of the most recent free agency rumors could affect your Philadelphia 76ers.
Ever since Adrian Wojnarowski opened the floodgates at the beginning of the offseason, Clippers shooting guard J.J. Redick has been linked to the Sixers in free agency rumors. The Inquirer’s Keith Pompey wrote about the possibility of the Sixers landing Redick (that’s spelled with one D, by the way!).
And The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor is reporting the same thing that Woj had: Redick will also draw a ton of interest from the Brooklyn Nets in addition to the Sixers.
Multiple league sources I’ve spoken to expect the Sixers and Nets to make a hard push at Redick. Were he to go to either of those teams, Redick could receive an opportunity unlike anything he’s had before. He is one of the greatest 3-point shooters in league history, and is coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high six 3-point attempts per game. That’s a lot of triples, but it’s not enough. Even Sixers swingman Robert Covington averaged more last season, at 6.1 per game, and he shot only 33.3 percent.
How it affects the Sixers: From a basketball standpoint, the choice between the Sixers and Nets is a no-brainer. Redick would be a great fit offensively with players like Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz and Joel Embiid (defense is another story). Not only has he shot 45 percent from three the last three seasons, defenses have to game plan for Redick running off screens.
Of course, basketball isn’t the only consideration when it comes to a free-agent destination. The Nets aren’t very good, but Redick already owns a pretty nice penthouse apartment in Brooklyn.
We’ll get more into specific free agents like Redick later this week, but the L.A. Times is reporting that Redick “could get a deal from another team for $18-$20 million per season.” With any free agent that isn’t a true max player, I believe that the years are more important than the average salary.
How about the Sixers coming up in Carmelo Anthony rumors? In his latest piece chronicling the drama between Anthony and Phil Jackson, the New York Daily News’ Frank Isola mentioned that Anthony thought about playing for the Sixers:
Anthony, according to the same source, was toying with the idea of orchestrating a move to either Philadelphia or Washington, which would keep him close to New York. However, Anthony’s mindset now is to stay in New York and play for the Knicks . . . even though Jackson doesn’t want him.
How it affects the Sixers: Even if they don’t want Melo (and they shouldn’t), it’s not a bad thing that Anthony considers the Sixers as a viable destination. It sounds like Anthony will try to wait Jackson out in New York and remain close to his son.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
Like the new PhillyVoice Sports page on Facebook
