Category: Philadelphia 76ers Blog

The 76ers on Wednesday waived forward Carl Landry and center Tibor Pleiss, and signed guard Anthony ‘Cat’ Barber.

Barber played three seasons at North Carolina State University prior to declaring for the 2016 NBA Draft. This past season, he was named First Team All-ACC and led the conference with averages of 24 points and 39 minutes played per game. Over the course of his three seasons with the Wolfpack, the 2013 McDonald’s All-American appeared in 104 games and posted averages of 15 points, four assists and three rebounds in 31 minutes per game.

This past season, Landry appeared in 36 games (12 starts) and averaged 10 points and four rebounds in 16 minutes per game. A veteran of nine NBA seasons, Landry has played for five NBA teams since being selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 31st overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. In 513 games (93 starts), Landry holds career averages of 11 points and five rebounds in 23 minutes per game.

Pleiss, acquired from Utah on August 26, was originally selected with the 31st overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets and acquired by the Jazz as part of a three-team trade in February, 2015. In 12 career games with Utah, he posted averages of two points and one rebound in seven minutes per game.

The Philadelphia 76ers announced Thursday that the team has named Jim O’Brien and Kevin Young as Assistant Coaches, John Bryant and Alvin Williams as Player Development Coaches, John Townsend as Shooting Coach, Chris Babcock as Assistant Director of Player Development and Dr. Lance Pearson as Director of Applied Analytics.

In a related move, Eugene Burroughs, who spent the last two seasons as the Sixers’ shooting coach, has been promoted to Head Coach of the Delaware 87ers, the NBA Development League affiliate of the Sixers.

“We are excited to maintain a continuity of culture within the staff by promoting five very talented coaches from within our organization,” said Sixers Head Coach Brett Brown. “This commitment to growth and development is the foundation upon which we were also able to recruit three coaches with decades of expertise who will help move our program forward and fit seamlessly into our system.”

O’Brien, a Philadelphia native, has nearly four decades of coaching experience, most recently as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks during the 2012-13 season. He has held three NBA head coaching positions, including the 2004-05 season with the Sixers, when he led the team to a playoff appearance and a 43-39 record. O’Brien played his college basketball at St. Joseph’s University (1971-74) and attended high school at Roman Catholic.

Young has coached in the NBA Development League since 2007, most recently serving as head coach of the Delaware 87ers for the past two seasons. He previously held head-coaching positions with the Iowa Energy (2011-13) and Utah Flash (2010-11). As a player, Young starred at point guard for Clayton State University (2002-04).

Bryant also spent the past two seasons with the Delaware 87ers as an assistant coach. In three seasons prior to joining the Sevens, he served as assistant coach/head strength & conditioning coach with the Bakersfield Jam. Like O’Brien, he played his collegiate basketball at St. Joseph’s University (2001-05).

Townsend joins the Sixers after spending the past three seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies. He spent his first season as the team’s shooting coach before serving as Memphis’ director of player development for the past two seasons. Townsend has over a decade of additional experience as a shooting coach, including time spent in that role with the Toronto Raptors, Portland Trail Blazers and NBA Development League. Under Townsend’s direction, the 2008-09 Blazers shot 46.5 percent from the field, which ranked eighth in the NBA.

Williams was the Toronto Raptors’ director of player development from 2010-13. He began his coaching career after a 10-year run in the NBA, eight of which were spent with the Toronto Raptors. Born in Philadelphia, Williams played his high school basketball at Germantown Academy before putting together a standout four-year career at Villanova University (1993-97). For his senior season, Williams posted averages of 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals in 34 minutes per game as he led the Wildcats to a 24-10 record, capturing the Big East regular season title and a four-seed in the 1997 NCAA Tournament.
Babcock served as player development assistant this past season with the Sixers. He originally joined the team prior to the start of the 2013-14 season and assumed the role of assistant video coordinator, a position he held for two seasons. He spent the 2012-13 season with the San Antonio Spurs in the same role. Prior to his time with the Spurs, Babcock coached at the University of Texas from 2008-12.

Pearson spent last season in the role of coordinator of coaching analytics and special video projects, and has been working within the Sixers’ basketball operations department for the past three seasons. He spent four years at Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky as an assistant coach and adjunct professor of psychology. Pearson holds three bachelor’s degrees from the University of Kentucky as well as a Ph.D. in cognitive and neutral systems from Boston University.

Burroughs will assume the head coach position with the Sevens after spending the past two seasons as the Sixers’ shooting coach. Prior to joining the Sixers, Burroughs was an assistant coach at Marist College. He spent the previous two years as associate head coach at Penn State. A Philadelphia native, he played his collegiate basketball at Richmond University (1991-94), where he was a member of the first-ever 15-seed to defeat a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament, when the Spiders knocked off Syracuse in 1991.

The 76ers have signed guard Brandon Paul.

Until we hear otherwise, we will assume this deal merely brings Paul to training camp.

Paul appeared in each of the Sixers’ six games at Samsung NBA Summer League 2016 in Las Vegas and averaged 11 points, three rebounds and two steals in 20 minutes per game. He scored 20 points (8-14 FG, 4-6 3FG) and grabbed six rebounds in the Sixers’ 108-71 victory over the D-League Select Team on July 13.

Last season, Paul started 25 of 33 games with FIATC Joventut in the Spanish Liga ACB, where he led the team in scoring with 13 points per game. In 2014-15, Paul appeared in 43 games, making 24 starts, for the Canton Charge of the NBA Development League, where he averaged 15 points, four rebounds and two assists in 26.3 minutes per contest. In his first professional season, 2013-14, Paul saw action in 22 games with Nizhny Novgorod in the Russian VTB United League, while also appearing in two games with the Charge.

Paul played four seasons at the University of Illinois prior to entering the 2013 NBA Draft. He was named Third Team All-Big Ten following his senior season, during which he averaged 17 points per game, leading the Illini to a 23-13 record and an appearance in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that the team has waived center Sasha Kaun, who was acquired in a trade with Cleveland on July 15.

Last season was Kaun’s first in the NBA. He played 25 games for the Cavs and averaged just 3.8 minutes per outing.

It is unclear if he’ll be stay in the league. He may wind up heading back overseas.

The Philadelphia 76ers have signed forward Dario Saric.

This signing was a long time in the making.

“We are thrilled to finally announce the highly anticipated signing of Dario Saric to an NBA player contract with the Philadelphia 76ers,” said Sixers President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo. “Our basketball team stands to benefit from both the on-court development and physical maturation of Dario as a professional player in Croatia and Turkey over the last few years.”

The Sixers acquired the rights to Saric in a 2014 draft-night trade with Orlando after the Magic selected him with the 12th overall pick. Since being drafted, Saric has spent two seasons with Anadolu Efes of the Turkish Basketball Super League. In 2015-16, he averaged 11 points and six rebounds over 37 games while shooting 48 percent from the floor and helped lead Anadolu Efes to an appearance in the Turkish BSL Finals. Saric improved his three-point field goal percentage to 41 percent in 2015-16 after shooting 34 percent the previous season.

Saric is a two-time recipient of the FIBA Europe Young Men’s Player of the Year Award (2014, 2013). Jonas Valanciunas and Ricky Rubio are the only other players to win the award multiple times.

Recently, the 22 year-old Saric was named MVP of the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament after averaging 14 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists for his native Croatia. He tallied 18 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two steals in an 84-78 overtime win over Italy in the tournament final on July 9.

The Philadelphia 76ers have signed guards Jerryd Bayless and Sergio Rodriguez.

Bayless’ deal is reportedly a $27 million dollar contract, over three years.

“We are very excited to add a proven veteran and skilled combination guard like Jerryd Bayless to the Sixers’ family. Jerryd’s shot-making ability and versatility combined with his professional and hyper competitive approach to the game will serve us well both on and off the basketball court,” said Sixers President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo. “Sergio Rodriguez is another experienced and solid professional that we are happy to bring back to the NBA and to Philadelphia. Sergio has competed against the world’s best point guards at both the international and NBA level, and he has proven to be a great floor leader and decision maker while finding much team success throughout his career.”

In the 2015-16 season, Bayless shot just under 44 percent from three-point range, which ranked fourth-best in the league behind only J.J. Redick (Los Angeles Clippers), Stephen Curry (Golden State) and Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio).

An eight-year NBA veteran, Bayless has appeared in 510 games (81 starts) for Milwaukee, Boston, Memphis, Toronto, New Orleans and Portland. He holds career averages of nine points, three assists and two rebounds in 21 minutes per game. Bayless played one season at the University of Arizona before being selected by Indiana with the 11th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

A native of Tenerife, Spain, Rodriguez has spent the last six seasons playing for Real Madrid in the Spanish Liga ACB. This past season, he helped lead Real Madrid to its third league championship in four seasons, as he averaged 11 points and a league-leading six assists per contest. Rodriguez was named the 2013-14 Euroleague MVP after shooting 51 percent from the field (including 50 percent from three-point range) and 91 percent from the foul line, while averaging 14 points, five assists and two rebounds over 31 games.

Rodriguez was originally selected by Phoenix with the 27th overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft. Over the course of four seasons, Rodriguez appeared in 285 games (22 starts) for New York, Sacramento and Portland. He holds NBA career averages of four points and three assists in 13 minutes per game.