Feels like it’s free agency or bust for the Sixers this summer, at least judging by comments General Manager Elton Brand made after last night’s wonky and somewhat head-scratching draft.

To recap, the Sixers:

  • promised Matisse Thybulle and had to trade pick 33 to move up and select him at 20
  • traded pick 34 for future picks
  • attached pick 42 in a trade to clear Jonathon Simmons’ $1 million guaranteed salary
  • drafted a late blooming senior in Marial Shayok at #54 overall

Sixers Twitter seemed very annoyed by this turn of events, namely because it was generally agreed that the team needed affordable depth and a rotational piece or two to complement what would obviously be the pursuit of Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris in an effort to run it back with the starting lineup that took the Raptors to seven games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals

Instead, the Sixers, who only have four players under contract as of June 21st, turned five picks into two players, one of whom is a fringe prospect at best.

This should suggest to fans that the team is going to be uber-aggressive in free agency. They simply did not value some of the young talent in the draft, according to Brand:

“Championship aspirations, a lot of young guys, the youth movement, I don’t see that team winning a championship. But (salary) cap, we need flexibility. I need every dollar I can get. That was what a lot of those trades was about, making sure we have enough money so we can go into free agency and get the players we need. We need talent, and we actually pushed picks into the future that are very valuable. There are some trades we can’t talk about yet, but we got some really great value out of those and it’ll make sense soon.”

Brand said he felt like the team needed to go up and get Thybulle when other targeted players came off the board. And he wasn’t concerned about going into the draft with five picks but only coming away with two players:

“This year the optionality is a good thing for us at this time. Like I said, adding more youth to this team (wasn’t a goal) – like we’re gonna develop Zhaire (Smith). Jonah (Bolden) is developing, Shake (Milton) is developing. Now Matisse is gonna develop. Too many young guys on a team with championship aspirations does not work.”

Haywood Highsmith is also in the pipeline, if the Sixers want to give him another shot on a two-way deal.

But that was the interesting quote from Brand, wasn’t it? “Too many young guys” tells me that they are really gonna go for it in free agency, and if Plan A doesn’t work, I’m not exactly sure what Plan B is. I guess Plan B is just to go for the next best free agents on the board and/or stuff the roster with veterans who can play alongside Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. James Ennis and Mike Scott could certainly be back with the team, for example.

For what it’s worth, Brand did say the Jonathon Simmons dump was about cap space, which I think we all knew. The Sixers attached the 42nd pick and moved Simmons to Washington to clear his money off the books:

“We put them into the TPE (traded player exception) and now we have an extra million dollars we can use during free agency. I feel like I’m going to need every dollar. And picks are worth a certain amount. For us, I don’t think we can add.. I know we can’t add five young players to this established team, with 50+ wins two years in a row, a few bounces away from going to overtime and maybe the Eastern Conference Finals or beyond. Five young players wouldn’t have worked for that.”

So there’s your explanation. It’s not what I would have done, since every championship organization in every sport is typically continually replenishing the pipeline, looking for draft value, and bringing young players through the system. It’s not like the Sixers went into the draft with 10 rostered players, they literally had a ton of holes to fill, and it would not have hurt to turn five picks into three players while avoiding another Danny Ainge fleecing in the process.

But the front office is quite clearly focused on free agency, so the next few weeks are gonna be a doozy.

(Brand and Thybulle speak again today at 11 a.m.)