Sam Hinkie talks Noel's offense, free agency

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The Sixers are set to open up summer league play this weekend and excitement is building around the chance to see Nerlens Noel take an NBA court for the first time (see story).

When he does take the floor for his first real game since February 2013, expect defense and dunks. That's what the Sixers want. Anything else is a bonus.

"I think he'll be helpful [on offense]. He'll be a really strong rim finisher," general manager Sam Hinkie said Wednesday on 94-WIP. "Hopefully he'll shoot well from the free throw line. We've worked a lot on his shot -- there's been a lot of talk about that. If he shoots even 60 percent from the free throw line, he'll be wildly helpful, because I think he'll give teams pause about sort of an automatic foul on him when he catches the ball as a roller. And then we'll see how far his jump shot comes along. We're all excited to see that. ... We're all watching closely to see how that goes.

"I think our anticipation is that he's going to be a beast around the rim, and that he's going to be really active on the glass, and he's going to run the floor and be a solid finisher. Everything else is gravy. If he can make a 12-footer, great. If he can make a 16-footer, great. If he can make free throws, great. But we don't even need that for him to be a useful player for us."

With free agency opening up earlier this week, there are plenty of useful players on the open market for a Sixers team with plenty of salary cap space. However, with the franchise in full rebuilding mode, are the Sixers even focused on adding any impact talent in free agency?

"We have as much cap room as any team in the league and a willingness to use it for something that will move our program forward, so we're happy to do that, but it will have to be at the right price," Hinkie said. "We were in a similar situation last year ... and we didn't find anything that we thought moved the needle for us, so we didn't do it. Instead we did lots of small things. We picked up Tony Wroten. We made some trades. We traded for players into our cap space. We signed several free agents that ended up playing for us -- younger guys like Hollis [Thompson] and the others. This year I'm not sure how it will go."

Because the Sixers have so much cap space, they have been linked to several free agents. Hinkie wouldn't comment on any directly, including Jeremy Lin, who could reportedly be on the move to Philadelphia if the Rockets land Carmelo Anthony (see story).

"I can't. There's a lot of talk," he said. "When you have the most cap room in the league, everybody uses you as their stalking horse whether there's anything there or not."

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