Zo Names His Free Agency Dudes + Spike Wonders Why This Offseason Feels So Off

At least the playoffs are gonna be over soon.

These playoffs, if anything, have proven once again, that sometimes, all you need are dudes – and at least two stars and a competent scheming coach, but let’s focus on just having dudes for a sec. And not just any dudes, NO MORE UNITASKERS. You need, I need, we need, dudes who can do a bit on both ends of the floor. 

Here’s some (not all) dudes I think fit that mold:

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 

Feel like every team he’s on wins a championship or at least makes it to the finals. He’ll attract quite a few suitors and certainly won’t be cheap but good help and playoff moxy rarely is. 

Malik Monk

Been a MM guy since he was a Wildcat so happy to lead the charge once more. Perfect plug and play 6 man candidate who could very well end up a starter on the right team.

Derrick Jones Jr.

Seems to have found his footing in Dallas and they will most assuredly want to keep this group together, championship or not (most likely not). But the Sixers should at least send a text to the hometown kid on July 1st.

Andre Drummond 

Was nearly returned home at the deadline but reports say the price was too steep for Daryl Morey and Co. For me, outside of keeping the 16th pick and going big, he’s the best actual backup center option. 

Tyus Jones

Been a backup everywhere he’s been and pretty good at it! Unless you fancy the Monte Morris/Delon Wright/Justin Holidays of the world, a guy who shot 41% from three and was a more than steady ball handler should be near the top of your list.

Of course I have to qualify all these with everything being totally dependent on what happens with the team’s pursuit of it’s possible third star. There could be a little left, a lot left, or just some vet minimum scraps to go around once it’s all said and done. But that’s show business, baby.

SPIKE’S CORNER - ARE WE DEAD, OR JUST ASLEEP?

We’ve always said that the true Ricky season is the offseason. This went from making a lot of sense, when wins during the season didn’t matter much, and the offseason gave us drafts, trades, free agents we’d never get, etc… to honestly kind of sad. The real season shouldn’t be the offseason when your team is good. 

So we get to this year, where the Sixers have more cap room than they’ve ever had, with Joel Embiid playing better than he ever has, Tyrese Maxey having evolved to a top-tier guard. We’ve got Daryl Morey as the general manager, and a few key free agents and disgruntled stars (one being LeBron James) available. We should be in a frenzy. But I just don’t feel it. 

Perhaps it’s because we’ve all been here before. I assume it’s entirely possible that we are in “wake me when it’s June 30th mode,” knowing there is little we can say, do, or learn that will make us feel better or change our prospects. We are a lot older, wiser, and more tired than we were when this started. 

But I do wonder how much of it is that a lot of us have quietly given up real hope. That we will pay attention, watch the games, read the tweets, but have lost the true belief that we’re ever going to clear the mountain that’s been in front of us for over a decade. That for some reason, whether it’s Joel’s health, Paul George deciding to stay in Los Angeles, or some curse, that the season we’ve all been waiting for just will never happen.

Evaluating Daryl Morey's Time as Sixers GM and Previewing His Legacy-Defining Off-Season

I would not blame anyone who felt the second way. The tired metaphor that I used in the lead up to this year’s playoffs is that of Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football. And I dared to tell you that even though we lost in the first round, we kicked it a little bit this time (I apologize for that, it was probably a message that might have sounded better a couple of weeks after I delivered it). I would have a hard time debating anyone who told me that not only didn’t we kick the football, but we’ve fallen on our back after missing completely, and we’ve got torn meniscuses in both knees preventing us from ever walking again. 

I hope it’s not that though. Ultimately, everything we’ve had fun with over the last 11 years has been built on two things: hope and self-awareness. A combination that rarely sees the light of day. The sort of attitude that is like, “I know how fucking stupid I look. I don’t care. I’m going to turn it into a bigger joke than you ever could. But I know this is going to work out, and you don’t.” It doesn’t happen all that often.