2025 Offseason Free Agency Thread

[Arsenal]

My concern with Boucher is that his shotblocking has diminished a little in each of the last handful of years. He'll be turning 33 during the season. We'd be getting the worst version of him, at this point. That's something we really need to move away from. We already have too many guys on the decline (Lowry, Drummond, George, Embiid, Gordon).

Yeah, him and Lyles kinda suck but I think it would be good to get someone with a little extra salary that can play some PF minutes. Are these guys even worth it (giving playing time and worth more than the minimum) on a one year deal at this point? I'm thinking they are but not certain.

Lyles or Boucher provide us with a stretch big that we desperately need to open the floor for our stud backcourt. They would also provide useful salary ballast for an in-season trade. Either one on a one-year deal would be very useful.

However, we know ownership will instead CHEAP out to leave the door open to duck the tax.

[AI_Efficiency]

It's infuriating that it took Morey this long to figure this out.

Ah come on, we gave opportunities to 2nd rounders like Joe, Bassey, Bona but also even undrafted guys like Council and Edwards. I think we have been absolutely great with identifying and developing NBA players from the scraps. Perhaps that the presence of those vets are a reason that they have developed the way we've seen. Obviously there needs to be a balance, but I don't think you can blame the Sixers for being completely off the mark here.

Absolutely great? Bassey played 168 mins for the Sixers. The Sixers gave up on Joe after two seasons so they could get House to take his role, then Joe doubled his minutes on a championship team. They are examples of guys who really didn’t get a shot here.

Nevertheless, I was referring to free agent signings. We know they are going to draft young players. That is what the draft is. Utilizing free agency to find young players that you can further develop, who can become more valuable than what you are paying them, is not an avenue that Morey has had much success with.

Yea, I was trying to think how many players we have drafted and then given a second contract in the last ten years. I think the number is relatively small. So small that like, if the sixers draft you, you probably won’t still be here in five years haha.

[Kobblehead]

Trendon Watford marks the first time in Morey's tenure here that he signed a free agent to a multiyear contract who was under the age of 25. Previous to that, the youngest we signed to multis through unrestricted free agency were no younger than 28.

In this next phase of his tenure, I really want to see him focused on scale-able youth in free agency. And build through the draft, obviously.

[Iverson Armband]

For those worried about a Grimes contract, Andrew Nembhard signed for 3/60M last year and I think Grimes is every bit as good as he is.

[Ben]

For those worried about a Grimes contract, Andrew Nembhard signed for 3/60M last year and I think Grimes is every bit as good as he is.

3/$60M for Nembhard seemed very high given what he had achieved at that point... except for the playoffs. He far outperformed his 2023-24 regular-season play in last year's playoffs and then got paid. He did more or less the same thing this past year: decent but not great in the regular season, very strong in some of the playoff series. Very hard to set any kind of standard by his example. 'Cause doesn't it seem as if there have been many young guys who've done about as well in the regular season and then not gotten anywhere near as big of a contract?

[Kobblehead]

Career Per-36 Numbers
Trendon Watford (24 years old): 16.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1 steal, 0.7 blocks, 1.2 made threes
Trey Lyles (29 years old): 14.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.7 blocks, 1.9 made threes
Chris Boucher (32 years old): 18 points, 10.4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1.9 blocks, 1.9 made threes

On smaller volume:
Alex Reese (26 years old): 12.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 1.7 steals, 1.7 blocks, 2.5 made threes

^ If he has a strong Summer League, I'd like them to convert him to a regular contract. I'd rather have Reese than Boucher or Lyles. Lyles is defensively redundant with Watford in that they're both on the weaker end and provide little to no shotblocking. Boucher is turning 33 and diminishing on the defensive end for years now.

[mjkvol]

My concern with Boucher is that his shotblocking has diminished a little in each of the last handful of years. He'll be turning 33 during the season. We'd be getting the worst version of him, at this point. That's something we really need to move away from. We already have too many guys on the decline (Lowry, Drummond, George, Embiid, Gordon).

Agree completely. Morey has made clear how he is shaping this team, with youth and upside as the primary attributes for the players he is bringing in. Boucher is on the downside and at 33 will be of no use here when this team is ready to compete.

[FireMorey]

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[Iverson Armband]

For those worried about a Grimes contract, Andrew Nembhard signed for 3/60M last year and I think Grimes is every bit as good as he is.

3/$60M for Nembhard seemed very high given what he had achieved at that point... except for the playoffs. He far outperformed his 2023-24 regular-season play in last year's playoffs and then got paid. He did more or less the same thing this past year: decent but not great in the regular season, very strong in some of the playoff series. Very hard to set any kind of standard by his example. 'Cause doesn't it seem as if there have been many young guys who've done about as well in the regular season and then not gotten anywhere near as big of a contract?

And there are some who have done less and have gotten at-least what I anticipate Grimes will get. Grimes is young, plays defense, shoots and first perfectly next to our best players. Of course seeing him in a playoff setting first is ideal, but this isn’t a perfect world. I’m not holding it against him that this team sucked.

I’m also not saying you hand him a blank check, but acting like he isn’t worth atleast 15M after seeing some of these contracts being handed out is crazy.

[Mik317]

Morey has to go lol

he keeps lowballing dudes and then wonders why people don't **** with him

[Embiid P]

Morey has to go lol

he keeps lowballing dudes and then wonders why people don't **** with him

Embiid, PG, and Maxey would all beg to differ (hopefully).

[Stanford]

Morey has to go lol

he keeps lowballing dudes

Sounds like he needs to STAY. I wish he had lowballed PG and Embiid.

[ProcessDoctor]

I think Morey is just very cognizant of the 2nd apron and doesn’t believe in paying role players. I don’t agree that Yabu wasn’t worth the TMLE, but I understand the principle of not overpaying role players in this NBA economy.

[Arsenal]

Morey has to go lol

he keeps lowballing dudes and then wonders why people don't **** with him

Josh Harris is the actual one doing the lowballing. He fooled y’all again!!!

[FireMorey]

Morey's problem isn't lowballing, but he does have a problem. I was listening to RTRS the other day and Mike went on a rant that I couldn't agree with more. And that is Morey has been terrible on the finer details. Things like re-signing KJ Martin so you could trade him for some quality player and not only not being able to do that, but having to give up picks to get off the contract. Seriously, like that is amateurish stuff that we'd mock other organizations for. That's the type of stuff that would get other GMs fired or at least really make them look bad in the eyes of their owner. Signing Drummond and a year later desperately trying to get rid of him. Signing Caleb Martin and, credit to him, he got Grimes for him in a trade, but my god, Martin was a disaster for the Sixers. So bad they had to get off his contract mere months after giving it to him. Trading multiple picks for George Hill and then having to let him go because he sucked.

Every year he makes at least a couple moves like that where he comes off as so amateurish. Then it's like you gotta let Yabusele go because you can't sign Grimes in time to get his contract straightened out so you can avoid the hard cap. I guarantee you a team like Thunder would have gotten all that straightened out and lined up weeks ago.

Have any of these moves killed the Sixers? No, but they add up, and they feel like the moves of a novice GM, not a guy who was hired to replace a novice GM.

[Monix]

Re-signing Grimes at anything over $15M will be a mistake - he put up numbers while on the ball in non-competitive minutes and hasn't been nearly as efficient when playing a role like he needs to on a playoff team.

We've seen this before --> Jeremy Lin

Hold the line, if he signs his QO let him prove he can play that role

Just ask Georges Niang...

[sixers hoops]

Morey has to go lol

he keeps lowballing dudes and then wonders why people don't **** with him

Other GMs in trades? Or free-agents?

I know some GMs don’t like dealing with him because he reportedly makes ridiculously lopsided trade offers. However, he gives out some crazy contracts.

[M2J]

To not sign him, let him do his thing again and trade him to a contender seems criminal.

But I can only assume that he tried to do that before.... The only thing that holds me back from believing that is that they actually were trying to win going into the trade deadline as Joel was still playing

[PhillyFan11]

Trendon Watford marks the first time in Morey's tenure here that he signed a free agent to a multiyear contract who was under the age of 25. Previous to that, the youngest we signed to multis through unrestricted free agency were no younger than 28.

In this next phase of his tenure, I really want to see him focused on scale-able youth in free agency. And build through the draft, obviously.

Letting the same GM that got you into a position of needing to rebuild be the one to do the rebuilding is one of the dumbest things a sports franchise can do.
Achieved nothing and put the team in a horrific position…no problem, take another crack at it Daryl. I’m sure it will be different this time around

[the_process]

Re-signing Grimes at anything over $15M will be a mistake - he put up numbers while on the ball in non-competitive minutes and hasn't been nearly as efficient when playing a role like he needs to on a playoff team.

We've seen this before --> Jeremy Lin

Hold the line, if he signs his QO let him prove he can play that role

Just ask Georges Niang...

I don't see Grimes accepting anything less per year than what NAW (4-62) got.