Sixers sign former All-Star DeAndre Jordan, waive Willie Cauley-Stein

The Sixers are 3-0 since James Harden’s group debut. After knocking off the New York Knicks in back-to-back video games, the group improves to 38-23, third place within the Jap Convention.

However whereas the franchise has landed its greatest backcourt weapon since Allen Iverson, they may or may not still have some backup center issues. Cease me if you happen to’ve heard this one earlier than.

So that they’re turning to the accessible free agent pool for former two-time All Defensive group member, DeAndre Jordan. The signing grew to become official Thursday night time.

Possibly this was the mystery player, Morey hinted the Sixers could acquire via buyout on the Rights to Ricky pod he appeared on.

Earlier within the day, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski stated that this is able to go down, barring an sudden waiver declare. That means a bunch of different groups didn’t need Jordan, or Jordan didn’t need them, or some mixture thereof.

The Sixers haven’t had a transparent resolution right here since parting with Andre Drummond, who joined Ben Simmons and Seth Curry, that trio now in Brooklyn.

Paul Millsap, who came to visit from the Nets with Harden, obtained 56 minutes over 5 video games from head coach Doc Rivers. Millsap has’t seemed good — frankly he’s seemed dangerous. The group has been outscored by 25 factors in his temporary stint. Guards and facilities are having their approach with him.

Woj notes that the Sixers are parting methods with Willie Cauley-Stein to make room. Trill was signed to a 10-day contract however solely noticed six minutes of motion.

The group is in search of DJ to little question, shield the rim a bit, and catch some lobs following pick-and-roll motion with James Harden. The 14 year-vet is 33 years previous and appeared in 32 video games this season for the struggling Lakers. He began in 19 video games, averaging 4 factors and 5.4 rebounds in 13 minutes.

Philly received’t count on him to modify or shoot threes. You don’t have a tendency to search out helpful abilities like these on the wire this late in a given season.

So why is he right here? Effectively, few within the sport, if any, throw alley-oops to a rolling huge fairly like The Beard. Joel Embiid isn’t a lob risk and that’s tremendous. He’s higher off saving the finite variety of jumps in his super-maxed legs for contesting pictures on protection.

However it could be such a disgrace if the Sixers had no person on the roster who might catch lobs thrown with the sort of precision each time Jo takes a breather:

DJ in fact, was among the finest to try this in basketball way back. He and Chris Paul made some candy and cruel music collectively in Lob Metropolis underneath Doc.

Extra lately, Harden and Jordan put one thing on movie throughout their time in Brooklyn final season. Certainly that’s what caught the Sixers’ eye right here:

However whether or not or not DJ nonetheless deserves taking part in time on a contender is not less than a good query. LB’s Harrison Grimm simply doesn’t see it.

It doesn’t appear unimaginable that the Sixers can get extra out of Jordan than they will the opposite remaining reserve bigs on their roster. Possibly Harden can do what Kevin Durant and LeBron James couldn’t, and assist Jordan persistently discover a solution to supply stable minutes on a championship or bust squad, maybe we’ll see.

I’m not fully counting Jordan out. To me, Daryl Morey, after executing the Harden commerce, deserves the advantage of the doubt.

However it does appears needlessly dangerous to easily hand DJ the reigns with out holding a quiet event permitting gamers like Paul Reed and Charles Bassey to step up and compete too.

Right here’s the factor. The stakes are very excessive. This teaching workers could really feel assured they’ve seen sufficient from B-Ball Paul or Bassey in video games, in practices, or the G League, to make a last dedication they’re not the answer. They know greater than we followers do, for certain.

However this franchise has a latest historical past of blowing the backup huge minutes. I submit, Greg Monroe.

This head coach has a latest historical past of blowing the backup huge minutes. The final two playoff collection Doc misplaced might in all probability have been salvaged if he’d listened to the numerous followers and analysts who screamed “use Montrez Harrell much less, Ivica Zubac does higher towards Jokic!” And later “don’t simply play Dwight Howard it doesn’t matter what, there are matchups not suited to his skillset!”

So we followers ought to’t be fully ignored after we say issues like “let’s not less than see how participant X appears earlier than deciding to offer all of the reserve run to DeAndre.” If the Sixers are prepared to experiment and DJ wins out, nice. So long as it’s a meritocracy and never a gerontocracy, all of us win.

When the glass is half full, this can be a no brainer, one other low-opportunity value signing, and DJ figures to supply far more than Cauley-Stein, particularly if Harden himself endorsed the choice. When the glass if half empty, Doc goes to overplay his man moderately than experiment with playoff viable lineups and it’ll predictably combust in a few months as defenses put DJ in a slew of high-screens he hasn’t been in a position to credibly defend in a few years. That is Philly, we’re allowed to waffle backwards and forwards between each views as we se match.

Welcome to Philly, DJ! There’s nothing bizarre about being Joel’s backup, sincere!