The Philadelphia 76ers announced that they will be adding Jerami Grant and Nik Stauskas to the Las Vegas summer league roster. *UPDATED* and Dario Saric will be joining them.
The Philadelphia 76ers are fine tuning their summer league roster, adding small forward Jerami Grant and shooting guard Nik Stauskas to their Summer League roster. The team is also adding guard Brandon Paul to the summer league roster. Paul played for the Charlotte Hornets in the Orlando Summer League, and his performance caught the eye of the Philadelphia 76ers.
To make room, the team will not be seeing the services of forward Thomas Gielo, guard Levi Randolph, forward Javon McCrea, nor forward James Nunnally. The team can carry a roster of 15 active players into the summer league series, and with the current roster, would have an opening to add one more player to the list.
Sixers add Nik Stauskas, Jerami Grant to Vegas summer league roster https://t.co/iu2qkbUHKL #SixersTalk
— Sixers Talk (@NBCSSixers) July 8, 2016
The Sixers’ complete Las Vegas summer league roster includes:
GUARDS
Bryon Allen, G, George Mason
Nik Stauskas, G, Michigan
T.J. McConnell, G, Arizona
Alex Caruso, G, Texas A&M
Maodo Lo, G, Columbia
Timothy Luwawu-Cabarrot, G, France
Kwame Vaughn, G, Cal State Fullerton
Brandon Paul, G, Illinois
FORWARDS
Richaun Holmes, F, Bowling Green
James Webb III, F, Boise State
Ben Simmons, F, LSU
Christian Wood, F, UNLV
Jerami Grant, F, Syracuse
Shawn Long, F, Louisiana Lafayette
*Dario Saric,F, Anadolu Efes*
With one opening remaining, there will surely be speculation that the team is either very close to signing forward Dario Saric and wish to afford him the opportunity to participate in this year’s summer league, or some other rookie free agent who warrants the reserved spot on the roster for his anticipated arrival.
And what do you know? I guessed correctly it seem:
Saric said he's going back to Zagreb to talk w/ his manager & his parents, then head over to the USA to see his teammates in summer league.
— CroSports (@CroSports_) July 9, 2016
The Philadelphia 76ers ended the first chapter of the 2016 Summer League with a win, giving them a 1-2 record in the three game series in Salt Lake City, UT. So far, the summer league story has been the heated competition for a forward role for either Richaun Holmes or Christian Wood, both of whom have had very solid early showings in the summer league.
Of course, the summer league has also debuted the arrival of point forward Ben Simmons as well as shooting guard Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. Each rookie has delivered better than expected, particularly in the context of such little chance to practice together as a team.
The inclusion of Stauskas and Grant can be interpreted in several ways. Optimistically, the players wanted to participate with the current roster, particularly in light of the team’s sensational passing and catch and shoot so far. A second reason may be that the coaching staff has been so impressed with the young roster so far, they want to up the talent level to see if the team continues to improve dramatically as the summer league progresses.
A third reason is that both Grant and Stauskas are in competition for roster spots themselves. Last season, Grant averaged 9.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists last season. Stauskas posted 8.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists. In the lineup with Ben Simmons, who will need to be surrounded by shooters to succeed, both players will need to step up their perimeter and overall scoring this year to help the rookie.
Their inclusion to the summer league roster may be the coaching staff attempt to determine if they can do so quickly enough to make a favorable impact on this season’s opening day.
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The Philadelphia 76ers will face the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, July 9th. to open the summer league series at Las Vegas, NV. Grant and Stauskas will likely be hoping that what goes to Vegas does not stay in Vegas.