With Yabusele out...What should the Sixers do during the duration of Free Agency?

The Philadelphia 76ers had an overall encouraging start to their offseason. They picked the super athletic and talented guard out of Baylor, VJ Edgecombe. If you remember from the last blog post... I didn't want this to happen. However, that was before the whole Ace Bailey fallout, with him canceling workouts and interviews and overall showing the Sixers in every possible way that he does not want them to draft him.

With that being said, I watched way more Edgecombe highlights leading up to the draft, and the more I watched, the more I fell in love with his raw talent. He embodies everything the Sixers did not have last season... toughness and athleticism, along with great on- and off-ball defense. Things he needs to work on are shooting the three and his playmaking, but if you think about it, those are two things that can be improved with more practice. For example, LA Clippers Center Brook Lopez, who was on the Brooklyn Nets, was an okay player but mainly relied on his size and strength to be successful. He was then traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, where they essentially told him what he was doing wasn't enough. So he learned how to shoot threes at a higher clip. Once he did this, he brought his 3-point percentage from just 10% in the 2014-2015 season all the way to his highest percentage in the 2022-2023 season of 37.4% (Stat Muse). So why am I mentioning this? Because you can practice shooting threes and get better at it over time. He has the two aspects of a prospect that you can't necessarily just practice: athleticism and defense. With that all being said, I am super excited about VJ.

Now this takes us to today, July 1st, where one of our main priorities of re-signing our surprising star...has vanished. Guerschon Yabusele was an awesome piece in the overall disappointment last season, but now we will have to watch him in the Orange and Blue over on the New York Knicks. The Sixers are still looking for a solidified starting-caliber power forward, but their time is running out. Below are some names I would like for the Sixers to look at when considering who to pick up:

• Chris Boucher

• Precious Achiuwa

• Larry Nance Jr.

Each one of these players would be a great addition to the team. My favorite, however, is Chris Boucher. Boucher would give the Sixers an extra boost by shooting from the outside a lot, along with providing some solid defense as well. Something also to mention is that Boucher has played in the Nick Nurse system, which sets him up well to immediately make an impact on the team.

The final thing I will mention is that if the Sixers do not re-sign SG Quentin Grimes, then GM Daryl Morey should be embarrassed. Giving up one of Grimes and Yabusele is fine, but giving up both shows that he was being too stingy with the money aspect. I will say, however, if the Sixers end up re-signing Grimes, then I would 100% consider this offseason a success and believe the Sixers could make an impact in the injury-riddled Eastern Conference.