On Wednesday, the Sixers announced they’d waived two big men, in veteran forward Carl Landry and center Tibor Pleiss. The timing of the moves was interesting, since August 31 represented the deadline for teams to waive players and stretch their 2016/17 cap hits across the next three years.
According to Derek Bodner of PhillyMag.com (Twitter links), however, the Sixers won’t stretch the cap hits for Landry and Preiss, which makes sense, considering how far below the salary floor Philadelphia already is this year — carrying $9.5MM in dead money for the two bigs won’t have a major impact on the team’s spending flexibility.
Here’s more on the Sixers’ Wednesday transactions, along with a few more Eastern Conference items:
- According to Bodner (via Twitter), Landry, who is entering a contract year, wanted an opportunity to play a decent amount of minutes in 2016/17. The Sixers had a crowded frontcourt and didn’t view Landry as a long-term piece, so the team was willing to cut him to allow him to seek that opportunity elsewhere.
- In his recap of the Bucks‘ offseason, Bobby Marks of The Vertical gives the front office credit for “thinking outside of the box” when it comes to the Thon Maker draft pick, and suggests that Matthew Dellavedova and Mirza Teletovic are “blue-collar” additions.
- Fifth overall pick Mario Hezonja had an underwhelming rookie season in Orlando, prompting Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer to examine how the Magic might use him this year, and how much patience they’ll have with him.
- Discussing Tyler Johnson, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra praised the young guard’s “incredible work ethic,” adding that Johnson “makes you re-sign him,” as Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel details. Johnson technically signed a four-year, $50MM offer sheet with the Nets this summer, which Miami matched.