- A move to the starting lineup has brought out the best in Sixers swingman Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. With J.J. Redick and Jerryd Bayless injured, Luwawu-Cabarrot made his fourth straight start Friday and is posting the best numbers of his career. “When you get more minutes, you have more time to prove yourself,” he said, “play our game and have fun on the basketball court. That was the biggest difference.”
The Sixers have reunited with veteran guard Larry Drew II, according to Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com, who first tweeted that the club was set to sign Drew to a 10-day contract. A formal press release issued by the 76ers has confirmed that the move is official.
Drew, who was in camp with the Heat in the fall, was waived before the regular season began and returned to the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Drew has been a regular contributor for Miami’s G League affiliate for the last few seasons, and this year is no exception. In 26 games with the 2017/18 Skyforce, he has posted 11.3 PPG, 7.5 APG, and 5.1 RPG.
Drew’s only NBA experience came back in 2014/15 for the Sixers. That season, he appeared in 12 NBA contests for the team, but struggled with his shot in limited minutes. Drew averaged 3.8 PPG and 3.8 APG with a .345/.154/.667 shooting line in 18.3 minutes per contest.
The timing of the move makes sense, as the Sixers are currently dealing with a number of injuries in their backcourt. In addition to long-term injuries to rookies Markelle Fultz and Furkan Korkmaz, the club also has J.J. Redick on the shelf with a leg ailment, and Jerryd Bayless has been battling a wrist issue. Drew will provide some depth and insurance at guard for Philadelphia.
The Sixers only have 14 players on guaranteed contracts, not including two-way players, so they have an open spot on their 15-man roster. As such, no corresponding move is necessary in order to add Drew.
The NBA trade deadline is just two and a half weeks away, and there’s no shortage of players around the league who could change teams. With that in mind, we’re taking a closer look at some of those top trade candidates, breaking them down by division.
While our focus will be primarily on teams expected to be sellers at the deadline, our lists may also include some players on contenders who could be used as trade chips when those teams look to make upgrades.
So far, we’ve covered the Southeast and Southwest. We’re examining the Atlantic Division today, so let’s dive in and identify seven players who could be on the move on or before February 8…
Courtney Lee, G/F (Knicks): Lee’s cap hit for this season is $11.75MM, and it will jump to $12MM+ for the following two seasons. That’s not great, especially since he’s already 32 years old, but there are many players with similar skill sets around the NBA who cost more. And many of those more expensive players aren’t knocking down shots as effectively as Lee is — his 13.6 PPG and .434 3PT% are career bests, and he has been the league’s best free throw shooter (.965 FT%). If the Knicks‘ recent slide continues and the club falls further out of the playoff picture in the East, Lee looks like a prime trade candidate — expensive enough that clearing his contract from the books would help the Knicks in the long term, but affordable and productive enough that he’d draw interest from contenders.- Willy Hernangomez, C (Knicks): After a promising rookie campaign in 2016/17, Hernangomez has been turned into a benchwarmer this season due to New York’s logjam at center. While the Carmelo Anthony trade has turned out well for the Knicks as a team, the arrival of Enes Kanter in that deal has reduced Hernangomez’s role significantly, and the second-year big man would likely welcome a deal if it means he’ll see more minutes. The Knicks have reportedly received some calls on Hernangomez, but the former second-rounder is still just 23 years old and is on a very team-friendly deal. In other words, Steve Mills and Scott Perry aren’t just going to give him away.
- Kyle O’Quinn, C (Knicks): Rather than moving Hernangomez, the Knicks would probably like to find a taker for O’Quinn, who is a little older (28 in March) and a little more expensive ($4.09MM cap hit). O’Quinn doesn’t have Hernangomez’s upside, but the veteran center is posting career highs in several categories, including PPG (6.9), RPG (5.8), and FG% (.596). His $4.26MM player option for 2018/19 won’t appeal to clubs looking to keep their books as clean as possible next season, but it may not be a deal-breaker for some potential suitors. O’Quinn isn’t the answer for a team seeking an impact player in the middle, but he could be a decent investment for a team that just needs a little more depth up front.
- DeMarre Carroll, F (Nets): Carroll’s contract was viewed as so toxic during the 2017 offseason that the Raptors had to accept Justin Hamilton‘s unwanted contract and attach a first-round pick and a second-round pick to get the Nets to take it on. With just a year and a half now left on Carroll’s deal, it looks a little more palatable these days, especially since the veteran forward has been more effective in Brooklyn than he ever was in Toronto. Carroll is averaging career bests in PPG (13.0) and RPG (6.8), and while his shooting line (.409/.346/.773) still probably isn’t as high as the Nets would like, the 31-year-old has been a solid rotation player this season. His cap hit ($14.8MM) may make it difficult to deal him unless the Nets take back another undesirable contract, but Carroll’s trade value isn’t nearly as negative as it was just six months ago.
- Amir Johnson, F/C (Sixers): The Sixers‘ unusual 2017 free agent strategy saw the team overpay a pair of veterans to avoid having to commit to them for more than one year. The 76ers are getting what they hoped for from sharpshooter J.J. Redick, who is once again knocking down more than 40% of his three-point attempts, but Johnson has been somewhat underwhelming. With multiple options ahead of him at both power forward and center, Johnson is scraping out minutes where he can, but his 15.5 minutes per game are the least he has played since 2008/09. While Philadelphia presumably values Johnson’s veteran leadership in the locker room, his $11MM expiring contract would make sense as a trade chip if the club looks to make a move at the deadline.
- Jonas Valanciunas, C (Raptors): Valanciunas’ situation is similar to the one Ryan Anderson finds himself in for the Rockets, which we discussed last week. Both players are on lucrative contracts despite being unplayable against certain lineups — they were also both frequently mentioned in offseason trade rumors as their teams explored upgrades. As we noted when we discussed Anderson, once he stayed put through the offseason, he became less likely to be moved during the season. That’s also the case for Valanciunas, who continues to start for the Raptors despite averaging a career-low 21.0 MPG. If Toronto makes a deadline splash, Valanciunas looks like the most logical outgoing piece, but I’m not counting on that splash.
- The Celtics’ $8.4MM disabled player exception: It’s almost certainly cheating to include the Celtics‘ DPE here in place of a player, but the fact is that if Boston makes a deal, it seems more likely to involve this exception than any one player. Only three Celtics players – Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, and Gordon Hayward – are earning more than the $8.4MM this disabled player exception is worth, and those three players are extremely unlikely to be moved at the deadline. The Celtics also still have nearly $10MM in breathing room below the luxury tax line, meaning the team can afford to use its DPE to take on a player without sending out any salary in return. The fact that the DPE can only be used on a player with an expiring contract limits Boston’s options somewhat, but the team would still probably rather use the exception than surrender a rotation player or two in a trade.
Here are a few more potential Atlantic trade candidates to monitor:
- Spencer Dinwiddie, PG (Nets): Dinwiddie has been a revelation for the Nets and he’s on a minimum salary contract through 2018/19. The club could sell high on him, with D’Angelo Russell penciled in as the point guard of the future, but I’d still be somewhat surprised to see him moved.
- Joe Harris, F (Nets): Another sell-high candidate for Brooklyn, Harris has made 38.7% of his three-point attempts with the Nets and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
- Joakim Noah, C (Knicks): The Knicks would certainly rather move Noah than either of the two centers listed above, but his contract will make it virtually impossible.
- Jerryd Bayless, G (Sixers): While Bayless has been a solid rotation piece for the Sixers, getting his $8.58MM salary for 2018/19 off the books might be a smart long-term play.
- Lucas Nogueira, C (Raptors): Nogueira has fallen behind Jakob Poeltl on the Raptors‘ depth chart and will be a restricted free agent this summer. If another team wants to roll the dice on him, he could probably be had.
- Bruno Caboclo, F (Raptors): The same goes for Caboclo, a former first-round pick and a 2018 RFA-to-be who hasn’t developed like the Raptors hoped.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
- Dennis Chambers of Basketball Insiders examines how potentially adding Rodney Hood and/or Lou Williams to the fold would impact the Sixers down the stretch.
While the team has not offered up an official date at which Joel Embiid will be cleared to play in back-to-backs, the Sixers center would like to do so by the end of the month, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes.
While the team has not offered up an official date at which Joel Embiid will be cleared to play in back-to-backs, the Sixers center would like to do so by the end of the month, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes.
Embiid, who was voted in as an All-Star Game starter earlier today, has averaged 23.8 points and 10.9 rebounds per game for the Sixers this season, but has only played in 31 of the team’s 40 contests.
Through the first three months of the regular season, the Sixers have played five sets of back-to-backs and in each game, Embiid has missed at least one match.
“I just need not to take days off,” Embiid said. “It’s not on me. It’s on the [Sixers’] medical staff. But hopefully, back-to-backs by the end of this month, I will be allowed to play.”
- A feature by The Athletic’s Rich Hoffman profiles Sixers‘ draft-and-stash prospect Jonah Bolden. The 36th pick in the 2017 draft was named the Adriatic League’s Top Prospect, an award that Dario Saric and Nikola Jokic also earned during their stints there.
J.J. Redick suffered an injury to his left leg against the Raptors on Monday which forced him to leave the game early. X-rays came back negative, but an MRI conducted on Redick earlier today revealed bone edema and a small crack in the fibular head of his leg.
As a result of the injury, Redick will remain sidelined. He’ll be re-evaluated in 10 to 14 days, according to a team press release.
The Sixers play in seven games over the next 14 days, seeing the Bucks twice as well as the Celtics, Grizzlies, Bulls, Spurs, and Thunder once apiece. Philadelphia is currently sitting outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture with a record of 20-20.
- Sixers rookie Ben Simmons vows he won’t back down from a challenge, according to an Associated Press report. Simmons and the Raptors’ Kyle Lowry were ejected during the closing seconds on Monday after an altercation. Simmons believes that veteran opponents are trying to intimidate him. “I don’t know if they’re trying to test me or see how I am on the court, but I won’t play around,” he said.
4:58pm: The signing is official, per team release.
4:42pm: The Sixers will sign guard Demetrius Jackson to a two-way contract and release forward James Michael McAdoo, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets.
Jackson signed a two-way deal with the Rockets during the offseason after the Celtics waived him. Houston terminated Jackson’s contract and then signed him to a 10-day deal earlier this month. However, he did not figure in the Rockets’ plans and the 10-day deal bought him and his representatives time to find a better situation.
The 6’1” point guard made 12 cameo appearances with the Rockets, playing an average of 5.3 MPG. The Notre Dame product played five games for Boston last season after being selected in the second round as the No. 45 overall pick in 2016.
He’ll provide depth behind T.J. McConnell, Jerryd Bayless and top pick Markelle Fultz, who has been plagued by shoulder woes in his rookie campaign.
McAdoo signed a two-way contract with Philadelphia in late August but appeared in just three games.
Sixers center Joel Embiid may have interest in playing for the French national team, according to Orazio Cauchi 0f Sportando. During this week’s trip to London, the Cameroon native indicated he might be open to the possibility. Patrick Beesley, the head of French federation, will come to the United States next month to meet with Sixers forward Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and plans to address the idea with Embiid.
“Playing with France? You never know,” Embiid said. “Of course I’m not from France, if I ever play intertionally there’s Cameroon, but France could be a good opportunity. I have many relatives and friends in France.”
There’s more this morning out of Philadelphia:
- Rookie guard Markelle Fultz has gotten past his physical ailments, but his shooting form still appears to be broken, writes Dennis Chambers of Basketball Insiders. The muscular imbalance in Fultz’s shoulder has been corrected and he has been cleared for five-on-five practices, but the problems with his shot haven’t gone away. Even so, Sixers coach Brett Brown can’t wait to get the first overall pick back on the court. “I’m excited,” Brown said. “Because he completely connects the dots to what we don’t have. Anybody that can create their own shot, anybody that can create something for somebody else, is of extreme value to the collection of what we have, and that is his skill set. And what we can get out of him, how is he going to be integrated into the team when he gets back, that’s yet obviously to be seen, but I remain highly positive and highly optimistic.”
- President of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo believes the Sixers are still a playoff team, but admits inconsistent play has been a problem, relays Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Colangelo is counting on a boost from the return of Fultz and the possibility of using Embiid in back-to-back games, which was originally targeted for January or February. Colangelo said a trade is possible before next month’s deadline, but he won’t be disappointed if one doesn’t materialize. “We’re very consistent with our patient approach to developing the core players that we have,” he added, “and putting them in the best possible environment to succeed.”
- Ben Simmons is an exceptional talent, but he still has to learn how to succeed without Embiid on the court, writes Rob Mahoney of Sports Illustrated. Opponents aren’t afraid to double team Simmons without the threat of Embiid, and lineups with Simmons alone lose about nine points per 100 possessions.
- Sixers coach Brett Brown told reporters in London that he doesn’t like to hear Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons or any of his other young players being referred to as stars, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “We don’t yet have stars,” Brown said. “We don’t have any championships. We don’t have any all-stars. Like, we are very much at the foundation to get to where you just brought us too quickly, in my opinion. I’m the coach. I have to keep it real.”