Sixers reportedly sign Nick Young to one-year contract and are going to amnesty Elton Brand.
It appears the days of Lou Williams and Elton Brand wearing Sixers uniforms are done. And Nick Young is apparently on his way.
Sixers reportedly sign Nick Young to one-year contract and are going to amnesty Elton Brand.
Bob Cooney
The 76ers have reportedly signed shooting guard Nick Young to a one-year contract for close to $6 million and are ready to use their amnesty clause on Elton Brand, reports say.
The signing of Young, a 6-6 shooting guard, certainly seems to indicate that Lou Williams will not be back with the team. Williams opted out of the last year of his contract with the team, worth about the same amount of Young's reported contract.
Williams seems to have confirmed that idea today when he tweeted the following:
Philly, I appreciate you all. Unfortunately I will not be coming back, as an organization they decided to move in a different direction.
— Lou Williams (@TeamLou23) July 6, 2012
The 27 year-old young was a first round draft pick (16th overall) of the Washington Wizards in 2007. In 62 games last season, 40 with the Wizards and 22 with the Clippers, Young shot 40.3 percent from the floor, including 103-for-282 (36.5 percent) from three-point range. He averaged 14.2 points, slightly over his career average of 11.4 points. He is a very good free throw shooter at 83 percent for his career, but his main attribute is his outside shooting.
By using the amnesty clause on Brand, the Sixers will probably use that money ($18.2 million) on finding a veteran big man who may be able to start at the power forward position and a backup point guard. Right now Jrue Holiday is the only real point guard on the roster, though Evan Turner and Andre Iguodala could handle the ball when necessary. A true backup point guard would allow the team to not only use him when Holiday is out of the game, but move Holiday off the ball at times also.
Williams, 25, spent all of his 7 NBA seasons with the Sixers after being taken with the 45th overall pick in 2005 out of South Gwinnett High School. He led the team in scoring this past season with 14.9 points a game despite not starting a single game. For his career he has averaged 11.3 points and 3 assists.
Brand, the top overall pick by the Chicago Bulls in 1999, will turn 34 this upcoming season. He averaged a career-low 11 points this past season but was able to grab 7.2 rebounds and block 1.6 shots in 29 minutes of play.
Today's reported moves appear to be the beginning of more. Coach Doug Collins and his assistants are down in Orlando preparing for next week's summer league. President Rod Thorn is still in Philadelphia, though he will join Collins and company in Orlando on Monday.
More to come.
They should have amnestied Brand earlier and went after Hibbert. Young and Hawes would have just about covered Hibberts contract. The problem is they draft Harkless who plays a combo of Iggy and Thad Young.
They have no play makers since they let Williams leave. They need shooters and a play maker. Also Why get Hawes who plays the exact same way as Vucevic. Why not get a guy who can come in and run and block shots? Can't seem them as an imporved team. Contract wise they have a lot of flexibility and if they keep Iggy then next year he will prob. opt out and they will have a ton of cap space. I would try and trade Iggy now for young players and shooters. They aren't contending anytime soon. Get young like OKC and in 2 years they can contend.— sportsgenius99- Ryan Andersen is now a Hornet. Another one bites the dust— Xavier19
- I would have liked to see Ryan Anderson with the 76 but maybe he was to rich given the cap situation. If they want to see what Thad can do as a starter at the 4 that makes sense too. My only concern is that Thad doesn't rebound or block shots and that would be nice from a power forward. He also can't shoot the three, so that takes from his value as a small forward. I don't see Harkless doing any of those things either, and while Nick Young can shoot the three he is 6'7 and only gets 1 rebound per game. Lou Williams could have done that. I'm Interested to see how this all pans out. Jerryd Bayless would be a great addition as he is already better than Holiday, but the Sixers are enamored with Holiday and Bayless might have a hard time finding minutes here. If someone with the Sixers front office every reads any of this stuff get Bayless. He's fast, tenacious, can pass, and shoot the 3. He is a Perfect fit for the 7 6.— MrX
- Ok, So Bayless is maybe not better than Holiday :) I may have rushed to judgmen. I do think they would be a good combo though, and Bayless would be relatively cheap, if Holiday is serious about this max contract stuff.— MrX
- X, I agree with the Bayless pickup but, we would be very small but tenacious. I can't see the 76 making this move because this is a put up or shut up year for Holiday since he wants a max contract. It would be smart though to add him just in case. Good point X— sub21
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
