NBA Lockout Ends: What Happens Next for the Philadelphia 76ers

Early Saturday morning, the NBA and the group formerly known as the National Basketball Players Association reached a tentative agreement to end the 149-day lockout.

Now what?

Well, before the 76ers—and the rest of the league—can resume business as usual, the NBA's players and owners need to officially agree to the deal. The two groups only need a majority of their respective members to ratify the new collective bargaining agreement, and that appears to be a foregone conclusion at this point.

Since it should take about 10 days or so for all of the legal wrangling to be sorted out, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that the league year will start on December 9.

In the interim, Doug Collins and the rest of the 76ers' coaching staff will get together and finalize their preparations for the upcoming season. And while the finer points of the CBA are being hammered out, the three 76ers playing overseas—Craig Brackins, Nikola Vucevic and Lavoy Allen—will exercise the NBA opt-out in their contracts and/or make their way back to the States for training camp.

And that's when the madness truly begins.

Coinciding with the beginning of training camp on December 9 is the start of the league's free agency period. With the season starting on December 25, the 76ers won't have the luxury of courting free agents as they would during a typical offseason.

However, due to their salary cap situation, they can't do much courting to begin with.

The 76ers' main priority during the abbreviated free agency period will be to re-sign their two restricted free agents—forward Thaddeus Young and center Spencer Hawes—as quickly as possible. Once those players are in the fold, the Sixers will be better able to assess their cap situation going forward.

Philadelphia could gain some much-needed flexibility salary-wise if they decide to use the amnesty clause included in the new CBA.

The clause allows each NBA team to waive one player prior to the start of the season and have that player's contract removed from the team's salary cap.

Using the amnesty clause on small forward Andres Nocioni makes perfect sense for the team. The 76ers have already informed him that he doesn't fit into their long-term plans, and buying him out of his deal frees up $6.65 million that they can use to re-sign Young, Hawes and/or other inexpensive free agents to fill out the roster.

If the lockout-shortened 1999 season is any indication, the 76ers will need every warm body they can get for the 2011-12 campaign. This season, each team will play 66 games between December 25 and April 26—a span of approximately 124 days.

A condensed season favors a team as young as the 76ers: with 10 players on their projected opening night roster 25 years old or younger, Philadelphia should be able to deal with the rigors of back-to-back-to-back contests better than most squads.

The official NBA calendar isn't set to be released until next week, but according to several reports, each team will play 48 games within their own conference and 18 games against teams from the opposing conference.Because of the unbalanced schedule, Philadelphia will play 12 Western Conference teams only once this season.

NBA action will kick off on Christmas Day, but it may be a while before the 76ers start their home campaign. Because of a previous commitment to "Disney on Ice," there are no open dates at the Wells Fargo Center during the last week of December.

Even with a revised schedule, the Sixers' first home game won't come any earlier than January 2. So, once the 2011-12 slate is officially unveiled, expect the 76ers to begin the season with a four or five-game road trip.

Make no mistake: The 2011-12 campaign is going to be hectic for the 76ers' players and coaches, as well as for the team's front office.

But they'd all prefer a hectic season over no season at all.