2017 NBA free agency grades: Amir Johnson to join Philadelphia 76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers added yet another veteran, agreeing to a one-year, $11 million contract with power forward, Amir Johnson.

The Philadelphia 76ers have agreed to a free agent deal with veteran power forward Amir Johnson. The 76ers look to finally be turning a corner. After years of tanking under the veil of “Trust the Process,” the 76ers are finally bearing some fruit from all of those losses.

For years, the only way a veteran would join the Sixers was if they were a salary dump with an asset such as a draft pick attached to them. This offseason, things have changed. With so many young pieces in place, Philadelphia has become an attractive place for free agents and the 76ers have had some success landing veterans.

Their first deal in free agency was signing veteran sharpshooter, J.J. Redick. Redick agreed to a one-year, $23 million deal with the 76ers. He is an excellent fit for what they are trying to do and should fit in seamlessly.

Redick was just the first signing, as it didn’t take long for the 76ers to jump back into the free agency pool with the signing of Johnson. Johnson agreed to a one-year, $11 million deal with the 76ers, according to ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Like the Redick deal, people will look at this and think that it is a lot of money to give a player. But, for Philly, this is another great deal.

Money is not a problem for the 76ers; they are flush with cap space because the majority of their roster is playing on rookie contracts. As a result, the high money amount is actually beneficial for the 76ers as it will help them get up to the salary floor.

Even with Johnson in the fold, the 76ers still have plenty of cap space to play with. ESPN‘s Bobby Marks reports that Philadelphia has more than $15 million available to spend still, which means they could add even more veteran talent to their roster if they so please.

Johnson played in 80 games, starting 77 of them, for the Boston Celtics, who earned the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference last season. His stats aren’t going to jump out at you, as he averaged only 6.5 points and 4.6 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per game.

However, this addition to the 76ers is about more than statistics.

On the court, Johnson will bring a much-needed veteran presence to a roster that is full of young players in need of some guidance. Johnson has played 12 seasons in the NBA and will bring plenty of experience, especially playoff experience, along with him. Both are important on a team that will undoubtedly go through some growing pains and will need to learn how to win in the NBA.

Johnson has played in 42 playoff games in his career; the rest of the 76ers’ roster, outside of Redick, has 34 combined games of playoff experience.

The veteran presence that Johnson will bring cannot be overstated. For a team that was rebuilding as long as Philadelphia was, they need as much guidance as they can get since they haven’t done much winning.

People can argue over the price that the 76ers paid, but it was a worthwhile deal for them. Johnson won’t be relied upon much to produce on the court. They already have Dario Saric as the starting power forward with other players capable of sliding over to play power forward as well.

Johnson will probably be the third power forward on the depth chart, which is good. If the 76ers suffer injuries, something that has been as prevalent as the losses in recent seasons, they have an able-bodied veteran to step into the lineup.

Johnson’s signing most likely won’t result in as much production as Redick, but it is an important one in its own right. The 76ers added another veteran to advance their rebuild and kept their books open in the future. It is a win-win for Philadelphia, who looks ready to win some games for the first time in a long time.

Next: 2017 NBA free agency tracker - Grades for every deal so far

Grade: A