One more day before the 76ers - and every other team - can officially begin pursuit of free agents.

That means, of course, a team can be on a preferred player's doorstep at 12:01 tomorrow morning, as Los Angeles Lakers' general manager Mitch Kupchak said he would be with Lakers' shooting guard Sasha Vujacic.

"I'm getting older - I don't know about 12:01 in the morning," Sixers president/general manager Eddie Stefanski said.

But there are Sixers dollars to be spent, whether in free agency or in the trade market. The Sixers have a little more than $11 million under the salary cap. Only the Memphis Grizzlies have a comparable amount, and possibly even more, but they don't seem nearly as likely to spend it.

For all the people who screamed blasphemous things when the Sixers traded Kyle Korver - their best shooter - to the Utah Jazz for the expiring contract of Gordan Giricek and a future first-round pick, that essentially is the deal that created their summertime leverage.

"Now we have to see if we can do something with the opportunity we made [for ourselves] with that move," Stefanski said. "We traded a very nice player to Utah . . . [and now we have] the chance to use that money on somebody good."

Stefanski offered no clues as to who "somebody good" might be, but like every other team he's waiting to see whether Elton Brand exercises his $16.44 million option with the Los Angeles Clippers. A key unrestricted free agent is Antawn Jamison, of the Washington Wizards. Restricted free agents who might fit the Sixers' needs include the Atlanta Hawks' Josh Smith and the Golden State Warriors' Andris Biedrins.

When you finish 40-42, you need more than one element to take a major step forward. But here is the Sixers' dilemma: They will probably have to use all of their cap space if they hope to add the most critical piece, a low-post player who can rebound, defend, score and - by virtue of those skills - command a double team. Stefanski and assistant GM Tony DiLeo have been adamant in their belief that first-round draft choice Marreese Speights will not have an immediate impact. (Whether they're winking at each other and recalling that then-GM Billy King and DiLeo adopted the same stance on Thaddeus Young a year ago is another issue.)

But, in any case, a perimeter shooter and/or an additional point guard might have to come at the veterans' minimum. And don't think about the possibility of the Sixers using the mid-level exception: They don't have one. By rule, a team can have money under the cap or the exception, but not both.

Complicating - or enhancing - their plans, the Sixers have said repeatedly that they intend to re-sign restricted free agents Andre Iguodala and Louis Williams. Iguodala rejected an in-season extension offer of $57 million; both players have the option of accepting 1-year tenders and becoming unrestricted at the end of 2008-09.

Six shots