76ers gets Ish Smith back!

[NovU]

Only costs 2 second round picks for Ish Smith who was playing solid until Tyreke Evans came back. Couldn't they just sign him during offseason? Good job, Hinkie.

In the process, Tony Wroten is waived to make space for Ish Smith. Well, there goes away one potential all star.

[Kevin]

Wroten > Smith.

[benji]

They already had him last season and he stunk. And he stunk this season until recently. He's a terrible offensive player and even worse defensively because he's like 5-11. He's also 27.

But he does solve the Sixers need for a distributor/playmaker.

Dumping Wroten is a serious mistake though. He's no star and he was having a bad start to his season, but he's a rotation player at worst. And he was cheap as fuck.

[NovU]

Whoa whooa. Stub it, stop it right there. This is no place to unleash Christmas scrooge anger.

Wroten's not an ideal rotation player. He'd have absolutely no place in winning team. No team needs such a horrendous shooting careless high turnover prone PG/SG. Bottomline is he's in the league, thx to 76ers otherwise he'd be a Chinese.

This is a good move from all angle unless you prefer to see 76ers going for 5-77 this season. Absurd.

[benji]

This is the kind of deal you should be decrying, the Sixers dumped two potential pieces (three if you count Wroten) for a 27 year old who stinks worse than most of their roster but they'll play a lot this year to help lose and try to flip again as he racks up the stats on a garbage team.

[NovU]

Most 2nd rounds don't last their contract. Established loser is a good deal especially if you need one.

So would you rather see 76ers continuing to pile up the losses? Have you checked their stats this year? It's ridiculous you are supporting this. Good grief, they're 1-30.

[Stress Fracture]

Why didn't they just waive another guy? Wroten is good

[benji]

Established loser is a good deal especially if you need one.

So would you rather see 76ers continuing to pile up the losses?

Make up your mind.

Ish Smith isn't going to turn this team around. They're basically already broken for the year. If he's on the roster when this team makes it back to the playoffs it'll be as the 14th man.

In addition to targeting Smith, ESPN.com reported earlier this week that Sixers coach Brett Brown recently met with veteran guard John Lucas and veteran forward Chuck Hayes, as Philadelphia seeks to add a steadying influence to its young locker room.

With Wroten's departure, Nerlens Noel and Hollis Thompson are the only roster holdovers from the 2013-14 season.

[NovU]

That is just the reality. Established loser is what makes them instantly better. It's unfortunate but it's the result that Hinkieology has produced so far.

So you'd rather have them continuing on their path equivalent to 1-30. Great. If lucky you will have your 3rd win by end of the season.

The moves are finally being made in actuality to improve the record. What's not nice about that? Haven't they piled up enough picks and talents the whole time? It was bottomless jug you were trying to fill up. It's never ending greed you were trying to please.

[benji]

Dude, Ish Smith is not a move to improve the record. He's garbage. And they just dumped two second round picks and a 22 year old for him.

[NovU]

Ish does improve them a bit. Look at what they were playing at 1.

And I told you this. Second rounds rarely turns out to be anything. And Wroten was going for 4th straight season of below 100 ORtg. And Hinkie pre-planned to give him starting position and starter minutes this year. True spirit of tanking, is this what you admire on this beautiful Christmas day?

[benji]

Fine, dump Wroten, he's got a bum knee and his peak was third guard anyway.

Ish Smith has 3 seasons below 95 ORtg and 5 below 100. His career ORtg is 94.

In the D-League, his ORtg was 100. His TS was 47.6%. In the D-League.

He's 27.

Stop trying to spin this as some kind of upgrade. Ish might not even start on this team if it tries to adjust towards moving in the direction of 8 wins by the break. Marshall is a better crap versions of the same concept since he's 6-4 and Canaan's their only point who can score. McConnell arguably should start then Marshall off the bench.

This really isn't as bad of team as its record, they just need to stop playing Stauskas and probably Sampson and cut down Thompson's minutes to like fourth string. And figure out that big rotation now that Landry's back. They're not going to be a good offensive team but I don't see why they can't add three or four points per possession to pull themselves out of historically bad offense to above the Lakers since their defense isn't god awful. Main thing is they can't shoot and turn the ball over like mad. They lose a point a game off turnovers compared to the next worst teams. If they cut that down to that level they might even threaten the Nets.

I'd slow the pace down too. Slice a few possessions away from opponents.

[NovU]

Only reason Canaan saw minutes at 1 is because Hinkie didnt want to admit he fuck up trading promising rookie for him. Coach later had excuse to play mccon because Canaan sucked as a pg. But mccon wasnt the answer neither, he is low end prone to mistake rook.

Ish is back improved. He has played some solid ball with AD and Ryan. He will be better than anyone at PG for 76ers. Marshall? He is coming off an injury. Starting job is up in the air but still very favorable situation for Ish.

Height concern is less in this small ball era btw. It is a weak argument since his counterparts arent much better.

[benji]

Only reason Canaan saw minutes at 1 is because Hinkie didnt want to admit he fuck up trading promising rookie for him.

The guy the Rockets are paying $10 million to play a total of 76 minutes for their team and who crashed and burned in the D-League. For one of two guys on the Sixers who can shoot the three.

[shadowgrin]

This trade wouldn't have happened if that Jew Adam Silver didn't interfere by forcing the Sixers to hire Jerry Colangelo as the team adviser.

This trade has Hinkie pissing on Colangelo written all over it.

[[Q]]

Merry Christmas, Tony Wroten.

It's a bad look any time you have to deal for someone you had last season.

[mp3]

Pretty surprised they dumped Tony Wroten!

Ish was solid for them for about 10 games at the end of the season just like Thomas Robinson was but the Sixers didn't try to bring back either one of them because they probably had a Dleaguer in mind to replace them.

[[Q]]

They're obviously having issues at PG and trading MCW for the Lakers pick didn't help, but I guess it was a gamble and could possibly work out depending on whether they get Simmons with their own pick this year and whether they can get a PG with the Lakers pick this year or next.

[NovU]

because they probably had a Dleaguer in mind to replace them.

That's what they are all about, D-League treasure hunter.


Hinkie intended to get away playing a small SG at PG. Now, Ish may be short but he's a PG which they needed.

[Spree#8]

I've been saying since the summer that letting Ish go and counting on Canaan to be the primary point guard was a very, very bad idea. Didn't predict 1-30, but it was bound to be ugly since Canaan is a mediocre ball handler, poor passer and has no vision. To put it simply, he stifles the offense when playing PG because he's not a PG and kills the defense when he plays SG because other teams' SGs absolutely abuse him. All he can do is jack threes.

Wroten was nice to have around as one of the only leftovers from the beginning of the process era, but it was becoming clear he had no future in Philly anyway. His third season with the team, he's made no progress whatsoever. Still can't shoot for shit, still doesn't play defense for shit, still gets to the rim at will but struggles to finish, still willing to kick the ball out to teammates but very likely to throw it into the stands, still getting to the free throw line well but can't even make them. He's a fatally flawed player and the things he does well, he doesn't do well enough to justify all the shortcomings of his game. The rest of the league clearly sees this as well. Knowing Hinkie, he surely attempted to get at least a protected 2nd rounder 5 years from now for him and still found no takers.

The offense should benefit from having Smith back. He uses elite speed to break down the defense and is adept at finding open guys once he does. Doesn't play defense, but none of our PGs really does anyway. Maybe he can revive Noel, see if Okafor can be useful in pick and rolls and get Covington a few open looks. The Sixers might become watchable again.

The ugly part of this move is that Hinkie could have just re-signed him in the offseason. He also had a chance to claim him off of waivers when he was cut by Washington during training camp. Two second rounders is a pretty vast overpay for someone you could have had for free (twice), especially since they should both be in 31-40 range. Might have had another guy like Grant or Holmes, who are no stars but have their uses. This is a very uncharacteristic move for Hinkie and perhaps a hint that he really is losing power in the organization.

[[Q]]

What happened to the much-hyped Pierre Jackson? IIRC the Sixers held him hostage and then he wound up tearing an ACL in summer league

[benji]

The Sixers waived him before both of the last two seasons started.

They had originally signed him after the injury, not before.

[NovU]

This is a very uncharacteristic move for Hinkie and perhaps a hint that he really is losing power in the organization.

I have a feeling this move was a confirmation to that.

Trading for a guy that you let go is Hinkie admitting it was a mistake on his part and I am not sure he was 100% fan of this move.

[Spree#8]

Well, we didn't have to wait long for the results. Ish opens up the game for all others, even if his scoring is inefficient. Still looks like a monster compared to all the other garbage Philly has been trotting out at PG.

The other interesting thing is that Oak sat this one out.

[NovU]

I didn't watch the game. Did Ish play well? It seems he had a decent game surprisingly as a starter though he had a team worst -8 +/-.

And yeah, this one was without Jahlil and I can't wait to see how he'll fare with a real PG not a small SG pretending to be a PG. But perhaps, his absence allowed Noel to play like Noel from last season. Gonna be interesting how Ish changes the mix.

Grats on the much needed second win.