Sixers Notes: Free Agents, Colangelo, Brown

The Sixers’ front office recognizes that it hasn’t created an attractive environment for free agents, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Although that means being ignored by Kevin Durant, Andre Drummond and Dwight Howard this summer and probably by Stephen Curry, Blake Griffin and Russell Westbrook next year, the long-term goal is to turn Philadelphia into a contender for big-name free agents. “I think you have to create an atmosphere that is really attractive to free agents,” said chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo, “and you need to create a pool of players that others want to join, and they see the future and the potential. We could talk in theory about how that’s going to happen. But we just need to go out and start doing things. When we do, I think we will have a shot to become a destination.”

There’s more out of Philadelphia:

• Colangelo will be evaluating his roster over the remainder of the regular season, Pompey writes in a separate story. Colangelo, who was hired to his current position in December, was in Philadelphia late this week to meet with coach Brett Brown and GM Sam Hinkie to plot strategy for the draft and free agency. “So right now the important thing is, and this is what we’re talking about: What can we get out of the last 25 games?” Colangelo said. “Find out as much as we can about what we have before you talk about what we’re going to be doing.”
• Colangelo defended Brown’s performance and indicated the front office will continue to be patient with its coach, according to Brian Seltzer of Sixers.com. Brown has an ugly 45-177 record in nearly three years in Philadelphia, but Colangelo believes he is a solid coach because of what he has accomplished in other venues. “I’ve had chances to see him in action [as an assistant coach] in San Antonio, but more importantly, in U.S.A. Basketball world competition,” Colangelo said. “He coached the Australian team.  I’ve seen what he can do.”