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The Philadelphia 76ers are expected to experience many changes this off-season. Louis Williams could opt out of the final year of his contract. Spencer Hawes is a free agent. Andre Iguodala is likely to be traded. And Elton Brand could be amnestied.
With numerous free agents and the possibility of wiping Brand's contract off the books, the Sixers could have a decent amount of money to spend on external free agents. Who might they be targeting? Gordie Jones, via Nets Daily, speculates that Kris Humphries and Gerald Green could be potential targets.
"While Thorn is not permitted under the league's tampering rules to mention specific players, two unrestricted free agents who might help the Sixers are now with the Nets - guard/forward Gerald Green and power forward Kris Humphries," writes Jones, seeming to imply he was given the names by someone in the Sixers' front office.
Let's briefly look at both players after the jump.
Humphries would be a downgrade from Elton Brand on defense – he's fairly average – but an upgrade just about everywhere else.
One of the most compelling stats comes from Basketball Value: Hump's on/off court splits were the third best in the entire NBA in 2012, behind Blake Griffin and Beno Udrich. The Nets scored 106 per and allowed 108 per 100 possessions with Hump, but when he was on the bench, they scored only 95, while allowing 113.
Hump is an elite rebounder – on both ends of the floor – which would be a welcome addition to a team whose best rebounder was a 6'6" shooting guard.
Offensively, he's a decent pick n' roll guy, which would help Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner out tremendously. He scores most of his points in transition and cuts to the basket. He attempts a ton of shots at the basket and gets to the free throw line at a high rate. There's really nothing not to like here.
Hump is 27 and beginning to enter his prime. I'd prefer the Sixers enter full re-build, and avoid spending any significant money on a free agent like Hump. However; if the Sixers are going to employ the short-sighted approach of trying to build a team through free agency, Hump is a great fit. Something like 5 years, 50 mill is probably the type of deal we're looking at, which is pretty fair.
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As for Gerald Green, just say no. Seriously. He put up nice numbers on a really bad team for less than half the season. He shoots way too many long twos, doesn't get to the rim or free throw line. If the Sixers signed him to a minimum contract I wouldn't mind, but he's going to command a couple million, because GMs are historically prisoners of the moment, and will drool over his athleticism. In that case, the Sixers shouldn't touch this guy. Plus, he only has nine fingers.
(I can't wait for Hump to replace Dong, as the most-used, basketball-related, inappropriate word used on Liberty Ballers).