76ers' Free Agency Primer: What do they need?

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76ers' Free Agency Primer: What do they need? originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The NBA's Free Agency window is slated to open on Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m. EST, which will allow the Philadelphia 76ers to start making moves to improve and bolster their lineup ahead of the upcoming season. But the question beckons: What do the Sixers need in free agency?

A good place to start is to look at Philadelphia's depth chart with all of their existing contracts, and recent decisions to opt into certain team options, including the likes of Dominick Barlow and Dalen Terry.

PG	Tyrese Maxey	Labaron Philon Jr
SG	VJ Edgecombe	Labaron Philon Jr	Dalen Terry
SF	Paul George	Justin Edwards	Jabari Walker
PF	Dominick Barlow	Justin Edwards	Jabari Walker
C	Joel Embiid	Adem Bona	Johni Broome

Some depth on the wing​

One thing that immediately stands out is that the roster looks a bit bare, given the contract expiration of the likes of Quentin Grimes, Kelly Oubre Jr, Andre Drummond, and Kyle Lowry, among others. This could be the first area that the Sixers will look to target in free agency, with their forward choices being abundant, with names such as Jonathan Kuminga, John Collins, Khris Middleton, and Maxi Klebi all slated to be available in the market.

With Barlow being the only starting quality forward for the Sixers, the four could be one of the positions that the front office could swarm to when free agency opens on Tuesday afternoon.

Some of these choices make a bit more sense than others, but it's clear that any choice would help fill out Philadelphia's roster.

A backup for Embiid?​

One area that the Sixers don't inherently need to fill on paper, but might be an essential given the loss of the aforementioned Drummond, is a player to help provide higher-quality minutes when Joel Embiid needs to sit. In the squad at the moment sits second-year guard Johni Broome, who struggled in his rookie season, given his season-ending injury in February, as well as Adem Bona.

While Bona received more time in his sophomore season with the Sixers, his game didn't expand that much in the roughly 300 more minutes last season. He would only score seven more points while securing significantly more rebounds. But what the stat sheet can't reflect is his shaky ability with the ball in his hands, sometimes not always looking too confident down the hills.

This could lead the Philadelphia front office to look for an improvement, which could lead them to the likes of Moritz Wagner, former Sixer Nikola Vucevic, Jaxson Hayes, Kevon Looney, and defending NBA Champion Mitchell Robinson, among others.

Some veteran figures to help Maxey, Edgecombe, and Philon grow?​

A last potential area that the Sixers could target is some veteran figures that could help some of the younger players, including a six-year veteran in Maxey, help grow their game. In the past, there have been players such as PJ Tucker, Eric Gordon, and, most recently, the aforementioned Lowry, who have helped certain members of the team expand their game on and off the court, something that the aforementioned Maxey has talked about at length in the past.

Apart from Lowry, there are some players who could certainly fill that role in the free agency market, chief among them are Marcus Smart, Gary Payton II, Russell Westbrook, and Mike Conley. The veteran role isn't an inherently vital or important role to the team's operations itself, but it's certainly a luxury to have when you have some younger players.

Do you bring back Grimes?​

A key talking point throughout the Sixers' free agency period will be the decision on whether to bring back Quentin Grimes or not, who is coming off his qualifying offer, which was one of the bigger stories to develop over the course of last year's offseason. The 26-year-old had quite the interesting season for Philadelphia, having missed the team's preseason games in the Middle East due to his late contract decision, while being hot-and-cold throughout the year.

When all was said and done, Grimes carved a solid role coming off the bench, appearing in 75 games, averaging 13.4 pointsa nd shooting with 45 percent accuracy from the field. As previously discussed, the Sixers are quite bare for depth in the guard department, but given the drafting of Philon and the starting core of Maxey and Edgecombe, there might not be a pathway for more minutes available to Grimes at the moment.

This could see him go elsewhere, but for now, only time will tell.

More Sixers news:

• Sixers' Tyrese Maxey puts league on notice with recent post
• Sixers' Tyrese Maxey named to All-NBA third team
• Did the Sixers just find their Jared McCain replacement?
• 76ers decline team option on veteran forward following rough season
• 76ers opt to bring back standout forward after impressive season

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