![]() ![]() ![]() He also noted that the Sixers acquired McDaniels' Bird rights, which allows them to re-sign him to anything up to a max contract. "I do think he’s someone-given his size, athleticism, he has everything we need-we can build around going forward," Morey said. McDaniels is an unrestricted free agent, but Morey made it clear after the trade deadline that he didn't envision him as only a half-season rental. If McDaniels returns, he'd have a fresh start under new head coach Nick Nurse, who has plenty of experience coaching athletic forwards like him from his days with the Toronto Raptors. He wound up falling out of Rivers' rotation halfway through the Eastern Conference Semifinals, which might partially have been attributable to his midseason arrival. McDaniels stepped right into Thybulle's vacant role off the bench after the trade, but he never quite found his footing as a consistent impact player. He started in 21 of his 56 regular-season appearances with the Hornets this season compared to only three of his 24 in Philadelphia. McDaniels averaged a career-high 10.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 26.7 minutes per game on the moribund Hornets this season prior to the trade, but his averages dropped to 6.7 points and 3.2 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per game after he joined the Sixers. ![]() At the time, team president Daryl Morey described him as a "hidden gem" who had "starter potential." ![]() The Sixers acquired Jalen McDaniels and two future second-round picks ahead of this year's trade deadline by sending out Matisse Thybulle and the Charlotte Hornets' 2023 second-round pick in a four-team deal. If he's unwilling to take whatever the Sixers offer him, they could let the open market dictate his next contract. Reed is a restricted free agent, so the Sixers can match any offer sheet he signs with another team. Reed isn't likely to receive the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($12.2 million) from any team, but something in the $7-8 million-per-year range-much like what Isaiah Hartenstein got from the New York Knicks last offseason-seems like reasonable value for a high-upside backup center. Having an elite ball-handler to run pick-and-rolls with him helped simplify the game for him offensively.īackup center should be a priority for the Sixers this offseason, as they need to assume Embiid will miss at least 10-15 games throughout every regular season. He's unable to create his own shots like Embiid, but he took off when Rivers altered his rotation to pair Harden with the Sixers' second unit. When Embiid went down with a knee injury during the playoffs, Reed stepped into the starting lineup and had 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 15 rebounds (including eight offensive boards) in the Sixers' closeout victory over the Brooklyn Nets.Īt 6'9" and 210 pounds, Reed doesn't have the physical heft to bang with some of the bigger bodies at center, but his versatility makes him far more able to play a switch-heavy defensive scheme. Over the final 29 games of the regular season, Reed averaged 5.7 points on 61.4 percent shooting, 4.7 rebounds, 1.0 blocks and 0.7 steals in only 13.1 minutes per game as Joel Embiid's primary backup. He didn't supplant Harrell until after the trade deadline, but he never relinquished the backup center job after that. Reed spent the first few months of the season largely behind Montrezl Harrell in then-head coach Doc Rivers' rotation. ![]()
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