The Philadelphia 76ers are now set to kickstart free agency with a clear goal in mind –– to find a viable solution to their longstanding dilemma with the center position off the bench. Fortunately, the team has been linked to a handful of names as of late, and one of the more recent ones is Jock Landale, who is expected to command strong interest in the open market this summer.
Landale, who split time last season with the Grizzlies and the Hawks, will definitely be highly sought in free agency by teams with pressing needs at center. The 76ers are clearly one of the expected interested parties, and from the looks of it, it indeed makes a lot of sense for Philly to go after the Australian big man.
This past season, Landale turned in nightly averages of 10.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per outing on 51.5 percent shooting from the field, which includes an impressive 38.3 percent shooting clip from beyond the three-point line. That is a pretty solid stat line for someone who registered just a hair above 22 minutes a night.
The 76ers are linked to free agent big man Jock Landale ahead of free agency
Philadelphia has the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to primarily use to lure in quality role players, so the front office has no reason not to upgrade their big man rotation. Landale, who inarguably had his best campaign this past season, will surely be a good, under-the-radar answer to their perennial issue at center.
Joel Embiid will still be missing a considerable number of games next season by design, and none of the team's current backups can even remotely fill his scoring void. Landale is no Embiid at all, but at the very least, he has some scoring juice in his game as a post-up threat who can also hit open three-pointers.
Defense is somewhat of a concern with Landale given his unremarkable laterals, but he makes up for it with his on-court smarts. He is quite good with anticipating and getting into position on the defensive end. On offense, aside from him being a scoring threat, he is also a capable passer in the high post.
The Philadelphia 76ers will have a lot of competitors in trying to sign Jock Landale in free agency, but they are certainly on the right track in keeping a close eye on him. Hopefully, they can land him this summer to finally fix their seemingly ceaseless issue at center.
Add us as a preferred source on Google