Philadelphia 76ers Waive Carl Landry Tibor Pleiss Sign Cat Barber

Surprisingly, the Philadelphia 76ers cut two front court players in power forward Carl Landry and center Tibor Pleiss, and added point guard Cat Barber

Carl Landry may not have been an ironman player last season for the Philadelphia 76ers. Few could disagree that he was most certainly one of the most productive players off the bench. In fact, it was his returning to play, coinciding with the trade for point guard Ish Smith, which witnessed a burst of minor success with the team. But today, in a minor surprise, Carl Landy joined 7-foot-3 center Tibor Pleiss today. Neither player is a Philadelphia 76ers going forward.

While the moves today open up two roster spots, the team already has a use for one of those positions, as they take on undrafted free agent Cat Barber.  Barber has been on the 76ers roster since July, but it has taken the team a significant amount of time to free up a roster spot to fit in the young player.

Roster changes for a 10-72 are not only nothing new, they are expected.  But cutting Carl Landry is surprising for two reasons:  first, the team was preaching a strong need for veteran leadership. With the removal of Landry, the team has removed all veterans from the front court.   With the NBA veterans limited to Gerald Henderson, Jerryd Bayless, and in a lesser role, Sergio Rodriguez, the team has done a complete 180 degree turn on surrounding the young centers with veteran mentors of Carl Landry and Elton Brand.

Secondly, the team needs shooters for Simmons.  Landry was the most accurate shooter on the team in the 2015-2016 season.  In fact, it was his steadfast ability to play consistently, regardless of how seldom he saw that court, which endeared him to the Philly fans.

Next: Scorched Earth

Scorched Earth

Now the team has thinned out the front court to a point where you begin to wonder who plays reserve?  Clearly the starters will be a combination of Embiid and either Noel or Okafor on off nights.  At power forward you likely will see Dario Saric.  At small forward, you slide in Ben Simmons.  But the question begs to be asked, who is on the bench?

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If you believe the team will keep all three centers, then Noel or Okafor will back up there. Could the plan be to push some of their time to power forward as well? Will the team give Richaun Holmes a larger role?  Who comes in at small forward behind Simmons?  Should the team give Robert Covington reserve time, what role is left for Jerami Grant?

Start Ben Simmons at power forward? If so, then the team has just shot itself in the foot by cutting Carl Landry, whose efficient shooting accuracy would have been fun to see on the court.

Assuming Simmons starts at power forward, where does the team place Dario Saric?   Cutting Carl Landry has opened up the debate.  In short, the team should cut a player when they have a better opportunity.  Since salary cap issues are not a concern, the question is what, or even, who?

Next: New Jam

New Jam

Part of the resolution of the 2015-2016 roster for this season was a belief in the team resolving the point guard issues of the past.  When the off-season began, I was relieved to see the team bring in veterans to help the team in the back court.

But someone forgot to turn off the back court faucet and it’s beginning to overflow.

So far this off-season, the team has added Sergio Rodriguez, Jerryd Bayless, Gerald Henderson, “Cat” Anthony Barber, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and Brandon Paul to the ranks of T.J. McConnell, Hollis Thompson, and Nik Stauskas.  That’s nine players for two roster spots. I also neglected to point out that the team is working to evolve Ben Simmons into a point guard this season.

Tell me again how the log jam is in the front court?

With this roster, is small ball part of the planning of the team?  Half of the available roster spots are filled with back court players, and one more opening remains to be filled.  While we have toyed with the notion of the team innovating a tall ball lineup, the current make up of this team is skewing more and more to a small ball feel.

Next: Joel Embiid Has an Advantage for Rookie of the Year Award

With plenty of questions with the teams front court, the cutting of Carl Landry only invites more questions to be asked.  When will those answers come?  We have a few weeks remaining before teams begin to prepare for the new season.  Perhaps we’ll know then. But count on us to keep asking the questions.