Morning Sixers – Thursday, February 23rd, 2017

“Does Colangelo’s trade of Ilyasova point at all to Simmons being ready to play fairly soon? Saric is the only real 4 man on the team right now.”

— Craig

I wouldn’t read too much into that. I wrote in Last Thursday’s (February 16th) Morning Sixers newsletter that I had been told the Sixers were getting increasingly concerned over the contract Ilyasova was going to be offered in free agency and weren’t necessarily convinced he was going to be part of their long-term plans. While we all optimistically want to think this signals something about Simmons’ long-awaited debut, I think the most logical explanation is that the Sixers wanted to get value for a player who was only going to be part of the team for another 2 months, and the trade deadline created a natural point for that to happen. I still think Simmons’ debut is a bit away.
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