The Philadelphia 76ers are heading into free agency on Tuesday with three rotation questions still open and a roster that looks thin beyond its top four players. Kelly Oubre Jr., Quentin Grimes and Andre Drummond are all unrestricted free agents, and all three were vital pieces of Nick Nurse's rotation last season.
That is why the Jaylen Brown Sixers search is really about something more immediate: whether Philadelphia can keep enough of last season's team together while it tries to add help. Mike Gansey and Jameer Nelson are making decisions for the Sixers for the first time, and they are doing it with a team that has not yet decided whether to break up the core of Joel Embiid, Paul George, VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey.
The Sixers already made a few small moves around the edges. They drafted Labaron Philon Jr. last week, then on Monday picked up team options on Dominick Barlow and Dalen Terry while declining Trendon Watford's option. Those moves do not answer the bigger question, but they show the front office is trying to preserve flexibility while free agency opens and the market begins to move.
Even after reaching the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, the roster still has obvious gaps. Adem Bona is expected to return after playing a lot of minutes at center, but Justin Edwards and Paul George are the only true wings on the roster, Johni Broome is back after barely playing last season, and the Sixers need at least one more guard. They could also use another wing and more help up front, which leaves the team trying to fill several spots at once without much room for error.
The money helps, but only to a point. The Sixers have access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, worth around $15 million, and the biannual exception, which is projected at $5.5 million. That gives Gansey options, especially if Philadelphia wants to chase one of the returning free agents and still plug the holes around them, but it does not erase the pressure created by a thin depth chart in a deeper, more talented Eastern Conference.
Philadelphia is trying to operate quietly in a league built on rumor and innuendo, and that makes the next step harder to read than the calendar suggests. The team can talk about continuity and development, but the practical test begins Tuesday: whether Oubre, Grimes or Drummond is back in the fold, and whether the front office uses its limited tools to keep the rotation intact or starts rebuilding the edges around its top four.
