NBA Free Agency: One move every team needs to make
By Tom West
Philadelphia 76ers: Take a shot with Harrison Barnes
The 76ers are ready to pay someone. Multiple players, in fact. Bryan Colangelo wants the team to start improving and he wants to be aggressive in doing so, and having just under a measly $25 million in salary on the books makes adopting that mindset easy (at least as easy as it can be for the woeful 76ers).
On top of that, Sean Deveney of Sporting News has reported comments from within the NBA that Philadelphia may actually be a more attractive free agent destination than we’d expect:
"“By all indications, they’re going to be aggressive, and I think once you get past that first tier of free agents, you are going to have a perfect storm in Philadelphia that is going to make players want to go there,” another agent told SN. “Brett Brown is a good coach. They’ve got money. They’ve got playing time available. I mean, it couldn’t be a more different situation than what we’re used to.”"
As a team a million miles away from the Durant sweepstakes, though, the 76ers could be using that apparent interest (to whatever degree it exists) and their money to be the team that’s ready to overpay and offer out one of the huge max contracts of the summer. That includes making a “serious push” for Harrison Barnes, according to ESPN, and with nothing to lose at this stage, it makes sense to take a swing on his potential.
Yes, Barnes disappeared in the Finals and was disappointing at many times over the latter stages of this season, but he’s still shot 39 percent from three over the last two seasons, he’s a highly athletic 6’8″ wing, he can play at both forward positions and can use his surprising strength to guard fours in the post, and may be able to improve his face-up game, post ability, and shot off the dribble as time goes on to become more of a go-to scorer on the right team.
It’s easy to hate on Barnes because he will be getting more than he’s currently worth. But with the 76ers having almost no chance of attracting the top players available and having years till they’re close to competing in any regard, using some of their endless cap space on Barnes makes some sense.
At the very least, even though the costly move has some element of risk, what other new team would be better suited to throwing a bunch of money at Barnes? (Hint: this is the last time Barnes will appear in this piece).
Any veteran guards the 76ers can lure to Philly will also be a priority.
Next: Brooklyn Nets