ORLANDO -- The plan for the Sixers heading into this off-season was to get bigger, stronger and acquire better shooting.
The Sixers front office believes it has done that. The franchise hasnt necessarily hit a home run, but it did add solid pieces and was fiscally smart in the process.
"We knew that if we tried to come back with the same team we didn't think we would be as good," Doug Collins said, candidly. That is not to take anything away from what our team was, but we thought we had to try to do some things. Had we re-signed Spencer (Hawes) and re-signed Lou (Williams) and kept our team together with E.B. (Elton Brand), we would have been a luxury-tax team."
"Our feeling was we had about maxed our team out as it was constituted," team president Rod Thorn said. "Doug and his guys did an incredible job over the past two years getting this team to where they actually got it, but there comes a time when you need to make some changes and my feeling was we needed to go in that direction."
To make those changes, cutting ties with Brand via the amnesty provision was necessary because it gave the Sixers salary cap flexibility.
On the other hand, Lou Williams had been in the Sixers plans. They offered the seven-year veteran a three-year, four-year or five-year deal. The Sixers were told Williams had a better offer on the table. The Sixers would not say what they offered Williams monetarily, but numerous NBA sources say the increments were 21 million for three years, 26 million for four years and 30 million for five years.
In the end, Williams took a three-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks believed to be worth 15.5 million.
"When Rod was presented with the fact that Lou had a deal for more money, then we could go to you have to be proactive," Collins said.
Proactive at that point was picking up a phone and calling agent Mark Bartelstein, who represents scoring specialist Nick Young. Young has more size than Williams (6-foot-6) and comparable scoring statistics, though Young does his work shooting jumpers while Williams creates off the dribble.
Twelve hours after Williams representatives turned down all three Sixers' offers, Thorn and Collins had a bona fide shooter in Young. The fifth-year guard signed just a one-year deal for 6 million.
We think we are signing a guy who has a tremendous amount of upside and can score the ball, Collins said. When you get a presentation like Rod got, you have to say we have to move on because you start losing out. Those people get deals really quickly.
The organization continued its proactive approach Friday by signing veteran big man Kwame Brown. The team has not officially announced the signing but Bartelstein, who is also Brown's agent, told CSNPhilly.com the two sides have an agreement.
The front court will be like a Rubiks Cube. Collins and his staff will have to tinker with the big men to find the right combinations that make them effective as a unit.
When asked if second-year big man Lavoy Allen could be the Sixers starting power forward in that mix, Collins was protective.
"I don't want Lavoy all the sudden thinking he is cast in the role of taking over for Elton Brand," Collins said. "And how our team was constituted, Thaddeus Young is a huge part of our team and when Thad is on the floor he needs to play with good rebounders.
"We will have to think long and hard about Thad being a starter and the reason that would be is because Evan (Turner) and Dre (Iguodala) are two of our best rebounders.
"If Thad were to come off the bench, then we are not a good rebounding team so there are a lot of things that go into how the pieces fit.
Collins did say losing Brand leaves a hole in terms of veteran leadership, while losing Williams takes away a strong personality and big voice. The head coach has told Iguodala, Turner and Jrue Holiday it is incumbent upon them to take over the team moving forward.
E-mail Dei Lynam at dlynam@comcastsportsnet.com.