For Ish Smith, it may have been music to his ears to hear that he was getting traded back to the Philadelphia 76ers on the day before Christmas. With Jrue Holiday on a minutes restriction and other important players on the roster such as Tyreke Evans and Norris Cole out of commission to begin the season, Smith had been very productive with the New Orleans Pelicans in the month of November. Those players are now active, making Smith a seldom-used player. A move
Once again, to the dismay of GM Sam Hinkie and the rest of the folks running the Philadelphia 76ers,.the NBA will insist the franchise play all 82 games this season rather than just skip straight to the only part they seem to care about: the draft lottery. After all, no team has seemed to make less of what goes on between the lines from late October through mid-April than the team that has openly flaunted the rules, believing it is the
The NBA trade deadline usually brings a lot of activity with it each year. Thursday, however, there was a surplus of trade activity. It almost seemed as if, if there was a deal to be done, it was done. If you’re looking for the details of the trades, our own Chris Sheridan broke down the trade deadline activity earlier this afternoon.. [Sheridan: Analyzing Thursday’s Trade Deadline Deals — Sixers Win] If you want to know what the players were thinking as the deals
The Cleveland Cavaliers are making moves. Specifically, general manager David Griffin is trying to go all in on the talented but flawed roster of his team right now. It started with the removal of Dion Waiters on late Tuesday night, as the guard had not lived up to the role as a starter or a bench player for the team. For him, they were able to acquire J.R. Smith (who made a not-so-glorious debut on Wednesday with an zero-of-five shooting performance),
It must be hard to stay positive after your team loses its first 14 games, and counting, regardless of the team’s desires or intentions for the season. The Philadelphia 76ers have lost all these games by an average of 16 points thus far. A 91-83 loss to New York on Saturday at Madison Square Garden was just the fourth time this season that they didn’t lose by double digits. They fell 114-104 on Monday night at home to Portland, but their coach remains abnormally upbeat. “Nobody
It wasn’t supposed to be like this for Kevin Love when news broke that he would be joining LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in Cleveland over the summer. Sure, he was supposed to sacrifice like everyone else. That’s expected when you build a super team like this because there is only one basketball to go around. Just ask Chris Bosh, who went from averaging 24 points in Toronto to never sniffing 20 points again (regularly in the 18-point range) when he
At this time of the NBA season, when all stimulating conversations must be cooled off with the buzz-killing “small-sample-size” argument, it might be a good idea to attack this issue from the other side. Which player is shooting the lights out at an unsustainable clip, who is playing out of his depth, and whose numbers will eventually straighten themselves out? Before it’s too late, fans, here are your “sample-size All-Stars.” [Read more…]
In a perfect world, the Philadelphia 76ers would flip a switch and have the calendar turn to 2016 or beyond. By then presumably all their wounded would not only be walking, but running at full speed. Dario Saric, the Croatian sensation, would be ready to show the NBA what made him such a hot draft commodity. Some of those other “assets’’ general manager Sam Hinkie has acquired since arriving in 2013 would have proven their value, justifying the moves that brought them