FanHouse 76ers

Not everyone is waiting for 2010 – the mother of all free agent summers – to try to improve their team by throwing big money at the seasoned veterans.

Even in hard economic times, the top players like Carlos Boozer, Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Kidd will leave teams and get their financial reward in other places. The squeeze will be on the lower-level free agents who must settle for minimum or various exceptions.

What hurts this class is that only seven teams really have major room under the salary cap to make something happen, and they usually aren't the NBA's biggest spenders. Unless the free agents stay with their current teams, only Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Atlanta, Portland, Toronto and Detroit have major room.

Although there has been plenty of dancing and unofficial talks the last few days, the real dealings can't start until 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Here is a breakdown by position of the five most intriguing – and unrestricted – free agents.

In the weakest NBA draft in years, sitting out might have been the best thing to do. All the fireworks were done before it even began. The Cavs traded for Shaq. The Magic added Vince Carter. The Wizards snagged Mike Miller instead of the No. 5 pick. Several teams showed little interest in getting involved.

Keep reading after the jump for the Eastern Conference rundown.

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Philadelphia sat in strong position, needing a point guard in a deep point guard draft. Andre Miller is a free agent, and Louis Williams is an Eddie House clone. A few potential lottery picks fell down to the 76ers at No. 17: Ed Stefanski had his choice of Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague and UCLA's Jrue Holiday, a player once rumored to go as high as No. 4. The Sixers took Holiday, the youngest (and most unproven) of the trio.

Holiday is basically unformed right now. He has a good left hand, a good right hand. His shooting stroke isn't broken. He has length and athleticism and strength. He's a great prospect ... but he's going to need a bit of time (he's only 18). Philly needs a point guard now. Passing on Lawson in particular is surprising, considering the Sixers expect to contend soon, given the massive payroll and Elton Brand's ticking clock.

FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in Revisiting the NBA Draft.

Hard to believe that several NBA general managers can have regrets after two years, but it's true. The results of the 2007 NBA Draft are slowly reaping, which should teach a lesson to their 2009 brethren on Thursday about taking chances on raw college players, international prospects and even those who are allegedly "proven."

The biggest debate two years ago was whether the Portland Trail Blazers should take Greg Oden or Kevin Durant first overall. Oden was a franchise center out of Ohio State while Durant was the smooth scoring swingman from Texas. Durant had the better workout with the Blazers, apparently blowing the mind of coach Nate McMillan. Yet, the Blazers stuck with conventional thinking and took the big man.

The New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets, picking at No. 8 and 11, respectively, are busy preparing their teams for next summer's free agent class, trying to add complementary pieces now for the new stars they are hoping to attract.

The Toronto Raptors, at No. 9, are trying to make sure that free-agent-to-be Chris Bosh, doesn't go anywhere in 2010. All three teams should be able to get decent players where they are picking. In the Atlanta Division, the Knicks are the most likely of the three to trade up to get what they want.

Sure, the NBA Finals aren't even halfway over (or are they? Orlando can win at least one game, right?), but the rest of the league is officially looking toward the future. The Raptors and 76ers have completed the first trade of the summer, sending sharpshooter Jason Kapono south to Philadelphia in exchange for bruising forward Reggie Evans.

Raptors prez and GM Bryan Colangelo announced the move this afternoon. From Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: "We're changing the dynamic of our club with this move," Colangelo said. "This obviously addresses a few areas of need. ... [The Sixers] probably had too many bigs and we probably had too many finesse players."

When Eddie Jordan got canned from the Wizards, primarily because he mishandled his roster after his starting All-Star point guard missed two years due to injury followed by his starting center going down before the start of this season, most people said the same thing.

"That guy's not going to be unemployed long.'

Today the Philadelphia 76ers made sure that prediction came true, and hired Jordan as their new head coach.

So was it the right move?

Among the myriad NBA head coach executions this decade, Dwane Casey's ceremonial beheading still bothers me the most. So it's good to hear, by way of the Philadelphia Inquirer, that Casey (currently a Rick Carlisle assistant in Dallas) is the first candidate to get a second interview for the open 76ers job.

Few remember the post-Cassell/Sprewell Timberwolves teams fondly, but they really weren't that bad. In 2004-05, Flip Saunders' last season at the helm, the Wolves finished one game out of the eighth seed. That summer, Kevin McHale traded Sam Cassell for Marko Jaric and Latrell Sprewell decided $7 million a year wasn't enough cash for his services.

When it rains, it pours; and then you find out you have a leak and your roof guy is taking offers from the house down the street.

Tom Thibodeau has been an integral part of the Boston resurgence. Thibodeau is considered a defensive genius, and the Celtics' defense has been dominant, even in the face of aging superstars and injuries. Doc Rivers is great at finding cool phrases and inpsiring his team to play hard all the time, but if you want defensive Xs and Os, it's Thibodeau that may be the man behind the curtain.

After the Celtics got worked over Sunday night in Game 7 by the Magic, they probably weren't expecting more bad news this soon.

Well, while it's not catastrophic (that was the Garnett injury), it's still raining.

Let's take our attention for a moment off the NBA playoffs and look ahead to the 2009-10 season. It was a tough year for several players around the league. So tough, in fact, that they'll have some bouncing back to do next year.

Here are five players – and a sixth man -- who should have the most to prove in 2009-10:

--Tracy McGrady, Houston Rockets. Technically, a team with McGrady on the roster – this year's Rockets – advanced to the second round of the playoffs. That would be a first. Except we all know McGrady didn't play in the postseason and wasn't around down the stretch for Houston.