Philadelphia 76ers Former Players Finding Homes In NBA

While the Philadelphia 76ers struggles as a team, former players are finding homes on rosters of other NBA teams with relative ease.

And so it goes. “No Sixer would start on any other NBA team” were the comments I had read on social media at the onset of this NBA season. With a roster injured and unfamiliar with the NBA and with each other, the early part of the NBA season for the Philadelphia 76ers was… uninspiring.

But as the seasoned crept forward, and players returned to health, the roster swelled to 14 healthy players, where the team oftentimes would enter games with fewer than 10 healthy players to place onto a basketball court. With healthier players, playing time was meted out judiciously by head coach Brett Brown. Sometimes the players would be on minutes restrictions from their sports medicine department. Sometimes the restrictions became a three on and three off cycle. Sometimes, the player simply had to show patience until the team had opportunity to extend to them.

But throughout the general NBA fanbase, the general consensus sets a tone of the quality of the Sixers roster as being categorized as some sort of “developmental” standard.   In short, give the Sixer players a year or two to build their skillsets, and then come a calling.

But that is not the way reality has been calling it. You see, when the Philadelphia 76ers set a player free, they don’t come back. Instead, they seem to end up getting quality minutes on another team, and a multi-year contract. That is, if their name is JaKarr Sampson.

But Jakarr is not the only Sixer to find the NBA a friendly place. Remember the 16th man, point guard Phil Pressey, who was released earlier in the year by the Sixers? He’s getting some playing time and some traction on the Phoenix Suns roster.

We touched based a few days ago on the forgotten Sixers, and whether any might warrant a relook to rejoin the team’s roster.  Of the six players to have had time playing for the Sixers this season – two are currently on NBA rosters, two are in the NBA D-League, one has signed on to play for Turkey in the European league, and only Tony Wroten, released on Christmas Eve 2015, has yet to catch onto an NBA roster.

EDITORS NOTE: Well after publication, the announcement of Tony Wroten signing on to the New York Knicks for a three year deal was released.

And with that news, virtually each player from the Philadelphia 76ers has emerged on a roster of another basketball team.  That is a significant statement.  While other players await their call up, no former Sixers player is waiting to step into the training gym.

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A third of the players on an NBA roster.  Hardly the results you might expect if you followed suit with the general consensus.  So what makes these Sixers players appealing to the rest of the NBA?

(1) They are field tested. – The Philadelphia 76ers have poured as much into their young players as any NBA organization. So when a team signs up a prospect who had time with the Philadelphia 76ers, they are likely to have the jump on comprehending the NBA game overall.  With the Sixers, players get minutes (unless you are Elton Brand, of course).

(2) They are hungry. – Philadelphia 76ers players are eager to compete, and each player is eager to contribute to an NBA roster.  Many have been overlooked in the draft, and realize the true value of an opportunity to earn their place on an NBA roster.

(3) They are versatile.  – As the Sixers have massaged their roster, players who had minutes as a power forward might find themselves getting minutes at small forward, or even shooting guard.  When the Sixers go small ball, smaller players have found themselves suddenly opposing a power forward.    But the versatility does not end there.   You see, the players are easy on the wallet.  Since so many have come to the Sixers organization on a try out basis, their lifestyle has not grown to the point where millions are needed to keep them comfortable.

So while the Philadelphia 76ers are a team struggling to put it all together, don’t buy into the scoop that Sixers players are not worthy of placing on other NBA rosters.  For teams entering the playoffs this year?  Perhaps not.  But nearly half the NBA does not on an annual basis, and all are looking for that young player to develop and groom to be ready to lead their team in four or five years.

Next: Will The Philadelphia 76ers Be Shopping For A Point Guard Again?

Virtually the entire Sixers roster is  locked into that “best is yet to come” mode.  And while it saddening to see a player fourish elsewhere when they might have contributed to my team, I can’t fault them for giving every effort to realize that NBA dream wherever the opportunity occurs.  And if those players who are making rosters elsewhere couldn’t make it here, then we can’t be down on this team.

Time happens.   Despite all the other factors going against the Sixers in this NBA, they have time on their side.  Time to settle back. Time to get comfortable.  Time for this team to start winning some games.