 The Philadelphia 76ers President and General Manager Ed Stefanski has extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams. No financial details were disclosed.
The Sixers in accordance with the league’s collective bargaining agreement, in order for a team to retain its right of first refusal with respect to a restricted free agent, the team must tender the player a qualifying offer prior to 6/30.
A restricted free agent may sign an offer sheet with any team, but is subject to a right of first refusal with the team for which the player last played.
The Sixers are looking to retain two of their important young pieces. |
Restricted free agent Josh Smith meet with the Sixers yesterday with the hope that a deal could be worked out to obtain the services of the explosive forward from the Atlanta Hawks. Even Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter chipped in to help out to woo Smith to come play for the Sixers. The Sixers put out the red carpet to attempt to court Smith to play in Philadelphia. No deal was offered but the hope is that Josh Smith willl remember the visit and the impression it made on him. The Sixers are looking to secure a impact player to bolster their roster.
The Philadelphia 76ers now can look into potential players that they may be interested in to add to the current core that made a surprising playoff appearance last season. The biggest need the Sixers have is a power forward that can post and score in the low block. The Sixers will take a look at Atlanta's Josh Smith who is currently a restricted free agent. Although Smith isn't the prototypical power forward, his ability to rebound, block shots and hit the three could prove to be a valuable asset. Smith is also only 22 years old and would fit well in the youth movement the Sixers have with a good amount of young players on their roster. Smith also has good size at 6'9" 235 lbs. He is extremely athletic and versatile. He could definitely fit in nicely with the Sixers run-in-gun style. 
The Philadelphia 76ers bolster the frontcourt with using the #16 pick in the NBA Draft on Florida's Marreese Speights. Speights has ideal power forward size at 6'10" and 245 lbs.
Speights averaged 14.5 points and 8.1 rebounds. Speights is 19 years old and possess a strong offensive game who has the ability to score in the post and he can board. The Sixers fill a need but may need to be patient in his development.
The Sixers are still active with workouts as the draft quickly approaches next week. The Sixers will take a look at Ryan Anderson (California), Marreese Speights (Florida), David Padgett (Louisville), Callistus Eziukwu (Grand Valley State) and Kentrell Gransberry (South Florida).
Anderson the best of the crop is currently projected as a late first round pick. The 6-10 power forward averaged 21.1 points to lead the Pac-10 in scoring and also posted 9.9 rebounds per game last season as a sophomore. Speights had good numbers coming out of Florida where he posted 14 points and 8 boards a game as a sophomore.
In Game 2, it looked like the Pistons were back to their dominance as they rolled over the Sixers in impressive fashion. The Sixers in Game 3 gave the world notice that they are not here just to show up but they are here to win. The Sixers did just that by thoroughly outplaying the Pistons. Samuel Dalembert was the catalyst, exploding with 22 points and 16 rebounds. Andre Miller was also very good getting 21 points and 6 rebounds. Despite the continual struggles of Andre Iguodala, the Sixers have been playing some good team ball and getting key contributions from their bench, most notably Louis Williams and Reggie Evans.
