Philadelphia 76ers: Updates On The Roster Situation
By Cody Daniel
It has been a busy past few days for the Philadelphia 76ers as they have seen their share of roster additions and waivers while trying to put the finishing touches to their what will be a final 15-man roster.
The cycle began Friday after the Sixers sent roster hopeful Casper Ware to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for third-year point guard, Marquis Teague and a 2019 second round draft pick. From there, Ronald Roberts Jr., Drew Gordon and Malcolm Lee were all waived on Saturday. Then, surprisingly, Philadelphia, still with two cuts to make, went out and signed forward Malcolm Thomas, who is set to be on the final 15-man roster on opening night, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
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This leaves the Sixers with an 18-man roster needing to send three more guys packing, a handful of hopefuls who are on the cusp of making the final cut and none of them really having made a case as to why they are a necessity.
With the final rosters needing to be set at 15 by 5 p.m. ET today, the weaker links of the roster suggest the three final cuts will come between Marquis Teague, Elliot Williams, Chris Johnson, Brandon Davies and Jason Richardson.
The 33-year-old Richardson just suffered a stress fracture in his foot and is expected to miss the entire 2014-15 season, which leaves very little room to doubt that he’ll be let go of by tomorrow afternoon.
Via Bob Cooney of Philly.com
"“I don’t know,” said Brown, when asked if he thought Richardson would wear a Sixers uniform this season. “I think it’s going to be a challenge, no doubt. But I really don’t know. I just feel like he’s been out of it for a while and it’s going to be a really difficult task.”"
That certainly doesn’t give reason for any optimism surrounding Richardson’s future in Philly.
Davies becomes the next most likely to get cut with Woj stating Thomas will be on the Sixers 15-man roster on opening night. With Davies underperforming as usual and Thomas, a forward, being said to have a guaranteed spot, the foundation on which Davies’ hopes to continue into the upcoming season as a Sixer becomes much more unstable.
Sampson and Johnson have shown some very promising signs from a roster-filling standpoint, which would seemingly leave the final cut hanging in between Teague and Williams. Teague will be facing a spot on his third team in three seasons as a pro, but with Williams stepping up as a consistent double-digit scorer from the perimeter, it doesn’t relay any good news for the unproven Teague, who should be the cut sometime today.
Of course, when you’ve got a guy like Sam Hinkie calling the shots, there’s no telling how unusual these last minutes choices could play out.