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Philadelphia 76ers Roster Stands At 14 After Bogut Buyout

Oct 15, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Shawn Long (36) moves the ball toward the net during the fourth quarter of the preseason game against the Detroit Pistons at the Wells Fargo Center. The Pistons won 97-76. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 15, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Shawn Long (36) moves the ball toward the net during the fourth quarter of the preseason game against the Detroit Pistons at the Wells Fargo Center. The Pistons won 97-76. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia 76ers Roster stands at 14 after Andrew Bogut contract buyout. How does team fill roster?

The Philadelphia 76ers entered the NBA Trade Deadline with four centers, three of whom were young and eager to earn quality playing time. No problem, the team had assured all that trading two of the team’s young centers was a top priority. However, the team emerged from that same deadline with five NBA centers.

Atlanta Hawks center Tiago Splitter and Dallas Mavericks center Andrew Bogut joined the team for a short duration.  Neither player will likely remain with the 76ers through the end of the season.  In fact, the 76ers have already taken a step in that direction by buying out  Andrew Bogut’s contract.

Bye Bye Bogut… .But…?!?!

This now allows Bogut to shop his services to any team. It also frees up a roster spot for the Philadelphia 76ers. But what will the team do with an open roster spot?

I couldn’t agree more. We took a look at potential call ups previously as the ten day contracts became an NBA option.  But at that time, the team needed back court help.  Right now, the team is a little better off in the back court.  T.J. McConnell has risen to the occasion. Behind McConnell, the team has Sergio Rodriguez.  Waiting on the rehab pile is both Jerryd Bayless and Ben Simmons.  Add to that the part-time spot duty of Nik Stauskas and that appears to be fairly deep.

In the shooting guard realm, the team has Stauskas, veteran Gerald Henderson, and a noticeably improving Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.   While many of these factors were in place when the team tapped Chasson Randle to join the team, both Sergio Rodriguez and Gerald Henderson have returned to health.

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Front Court Needs Help

The team has since lost the services of both Nerlens Noel and Ersan Ilyasova.  Both players slotted in the front court of the team.  As the team has added Justin Anderson, he will undoubtedly back up Robert Covington at the small forward position. Despite injury, Tiago Splitter is expected to remain on the team, albeit in a mentor/advisory capacity until he heals enough to take the court.

In the meantime, Dario Saric stands as the lone healthy player for the four (albeit Robert Covington can play the position in a pinch). So now in the face of four injured players, and trading a power forward and center, the Philadelphia 76ers must now consider reinforcing the front court. Thankfully, the Delaware 87ers may have the answer.

The Short and the Long of it

Shawn Long should be familiar to Philadelphia 76ers fans. He’s the 6-foot-9 255 pound forward who played very well for the 76ers in summer league and in preseason. He was undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft, but he is by no means short of passion nor of athleticism. He averaged nine points a game in summer league.

But his production exploded with the 87ers.  While he has yet to perfect that perimeter shot, he is deadly within the arc, hitting on 53.9 percent of his shots for a 20.3 points per game average on an average of 29.5 minutes of play.  But he is not just a scorer. He is quite versatile, pulling in 11.2 rebounds, dishing out 1.5 assists, reaching in for .6 steals and getting up for 1.3 blocks per game.

NEXT: Bryan Colangelo, Honeymoon Is Over

The team is not in any hurry to fill the roster with just anybody.  But with a team roster rapidly filling with wounded and healing, they cannot tarry too long.