Sixers sign Willie Cauley-Stein, who fits well with James Harden

The Sixers will sign veteran center Willie Cauley-Stein to a 10-day contract, according to John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Cauley-Stein will occupy the 15th and final roster spot for the Sixers, who opened up a vacancy with the James Harden trade earlier this month.

Cauley-Stein played 18 games with Dallas this season before getting waived, averaging 1.9 points and 2.1 rebounds in 9.8 minutes. As recently as the 2019-20 season, however, Cauley-Stein was a regular starter who received consistent minutes and impacted both sides of the floor.

The move obviously correlates to Andre Drummond’s inclusion in the Harden trade. Without Drummond, the Sixers have gone to Paul Reed and Paul Millsap to back up Joel Embiid. There’s no guarantee Cauley-Stein will win the role, but he should get a real chance to stick around.

The Sixers sign Willie Cauley-Stein, who pairs nicely with James Harden on paper.

For Doc Rivers, the deciding factor in determining Embiid’s full-time backup should be pretty simple: who fits best with James Harden. The Sixers should make every effort to stagger the Embiid-Harden duo, meaning the backup center should play almost exclusively with Harden at point guard.

Harden has long thrived most with rim-running centers who set solid screens and play above the rim. Cauley-Stein fits the bill nicely — he’s more of a lob threat than Reed or Millsap, and at 28 years old, he is hypothetically in the prime of his career. Rivers has long been hesitant to rely on younger players like Reed, and at 37 years old, Millsap might be too old to rely on consistently. The door is wide open for Cauley-Stein to perform and carve out a niche ahead of the playoffs.

Drafted for his unique versatility on the defensive end at Kentucky, Cauley-Stein has never quite lived up to the hype associated with being a top-10 pick. He’s a capable rim protector, but he’s not the switch-heavy, multi-positional defender many once believed him to be. That said, the Sixers play mostly drop coverage with Joel Embiid, so Cauley-Stein should have no problem adjusting systematically.

We could see Cauley-Stein as soon as Friday’s road game versus Minnesota — which happens to be James Harden’s debut.