As I've been saying all along, this is a key offseason for the Philadelphia 76ers as they'll have to consider whether to give a serious thought on whether to have one last run at the title or to start thinking about the future. It's never an easy decision to make, because sometimes it only takes one more move to take an average team and place them as one of the elite teams in the league.
Here is the contract status of players on the roster who'll be under 30 at the start of next season:
Information taken from Storyteller's Salaries
Michael Bradley (26) - Restricted FA
Samuel Dalembert (24) - Restricted FA *Bird Right's*
Josh Davis (25) - Unrestricted FA
Willie Green (24) - Restricted FA
Andre Iguodala (21) - 3 years, $7,064,529 left on deal.
Kyle Korver (24) - Restricted FA
John Salmons (25) - 1 year, $1,669,001 left on deal.
Matt Barnes (24) - Restricted FA
That's eight players who are currently on the roster who'll be under 30 at the start of next season (53%), six of those eight players are free agents (75%). The Sixers currently can (and according to Billy King will) go over the cap to match whatever contract offer Samuel Dalembert receives in the offseason.
After that things get dicey, I say that because they'll only have the MLE, LLE and league minimum to work with to improve the team. While Kyle Korver has improved drastically in the past season, the Sixers have to make a decision whether he's worth the idea of address the front court with the MLE (according to King, they'll match Korver as high as they can).
So if the Sixers re-sign Korver and Dalembert it gives the Sixers the lineup of:
PG: Iverson, SG: Iguodala, SF: Korver, PF: Webber, C: Dalembert
And a bench that consists of:
McKie, Jackson, Ollie, Salmons.
Would the playoff experience this team has picked up this offseason make them a good enough team to offset the loss of players via free agency?
I'm not trying to paint a picture of gloom and doom, I just want to see what other people think of the team's situation. At this point they would most likely still add six more players to the roster with what they have left at their expense. The Sixers would still have Mashburn's expiring deal, the LLE, and the minimum, and possibly the ability to buy their way into the second draft.
The team on the other hand would be amazingly over the cap, with true freedom in free agency something that's not expected to come for at least three years.
Knowing what I've said, how would you approach this offseason? Is there something that would be available out there that could put the Sixers up there with the Pistons and Heat at the top of the East? Or would rebuilding be easier to accomplish?