Carter-Williams sidelined vs. Pelicans
Michael Carter-Williams won't play in Monday night’s matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center because of an upper respiratory infection.
NEW ORLEANS – Michael Carter-Williams won't play in the 76ers' Monday night matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center because of an upper respiratory infection.
Larry Drew II will start in his place. Drew began his second 10-day contract with the team on Monday.
"He hasn't been feeling well," Sixers coach Brett Brown said of Carter-Williams. "He guts through the Toronto game [on Friday]. He guts through the Memphis game [on Saturday], and he looked like his energy was sapped. … It's just been a progressive illness that has finally caught up with him."
The Sixers (8-36) will definitely miss last season's rookie of the year against the Pelicans (23-21). He is averaging 15.4 points and is ninth in the NBA in assists at 7.1 per game. Drew has been a nice addition, averaging 4.7 points and 4.3 assists in 18.6 minutes of action.
Drew will start alongside Robert Covington (shooting guard), Luc Mbah a Moute (small forward), Henry Sims (power forward) and Nerlens Noel (center).
"This is what I was bred for," Drew said of getting his first start. "I'm not going to take this moment, this opportunity, for granted, because at the end of my [second] 10-day [contract], who knows what is going to happen?
"But I feel like this is great, not only for myself, but for the rest of the teammates to rally behind the fact that we don't have our starting point guard and go out there to make something happen."
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