Sixers free-agent target: PG Patrick Beverley

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With the Sixers in need of guard help and Sam Hinkie saying the team will be "discerning" in free agency, we take a look at which players they could target on the open market.

Patrick Beverley, point guard
Age: 26
Height: 6-1
Weight: 210
Last team: Houston Rockets
2014-15 salary: $925,000
Status: Restricted free agent

Scouting report
Beverley could be involved in one of the rare cases when a player actually helped himself by not being on the court.

Beverley missed the end of the regular season and the entire postseason after having surgery to repair torn ligaments in his left wrist. And while the Rockets made a run all the way to the Western Conference Finals without him, it was clear just how much the team missed his ball-handling ability (hello, James Harden and your 13 turnovers in the Rockets' series-clinching loss to the Warriors).

When Beverley is on the floor, he carries a huge chip on his shoulder. That comes from being drafted in the second round and forced to play in Ukraine, Greece, Russia and the D-League before finally getting a legit shot in the NBA.

That chip mainly manifests itself into tenacious defense. To put it simply, Beverley is a pest. He takes every play to the whistle. That level of intensity and hustle earned him NBA All-Defensive second-team honors after the 2013-14 season, his first as a full-time starter. It has also given the Chicago native a reputation for being a borderline dirty player. Just ask Russell Westbrook.

Still, Beverley's skills aren't limited to defense. The PG averaged double-digit points for the second straight season in 2014-15 with 10.1 a night. Plus, he chipped in 4.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Beverley won't necessarily wow anyone on offense. However, this past season's NBA Skills Challenge champ has the ability to do a little bit of everything you need from a guard.

Projection
Beverley is a restricted free agent, which makes things tougher. However, the one thing going for the Sixers in this instance is that Hinkie's Houston mentor, Daryl Morey, has other free agents such as Josh Smith and Corey Brewer to also re-sign that could make bringing everyone back more difficult.

Beverley is in line to see a significant bump in salary. After making just under a million last year, he could fetch a contract worth around $9-10 million annually.

Beverley is a nice player, who provides exactly the type of intense D and three-point shooting (36.1 percent for his career) the Sixers are looking to add. But I don't see the team forking over that kind of money for him. Throw in that Beverley likely wants to see how deep of a run he can help the Rockets make after missing last season's playoffs, and it would appear the Sixers will need to keep looking for their next lead guard.

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