Getty Jalen McDaniels
Jalen McDaniels played only 24 regular season games for the Philadelphia 76ers before leaving them for the Toronto Raptors. Following his departure, Liberty Ballers’ Paul Hudrick explained why the Sixers should look into Kelly Oubre Jr. as someone who could replace what McDaniels brought on top of his scoring abilities.
“The eight-year veteran averaged over 20 points a game for a bad Charlotte team last season. Still just 27, the Kansas product has averaged 17 points a game over the last four seasons. At 6-foot-7 and with a 7-3 wingspan, Oubre could replace some of the size and athleticism the Sixers lost with McDaniels’ departure,” Hudrick wrote.
Hudrick then added what kind of contract the Sixers can offer for McDaniels and why he’s worth looking into.
“This late in the offseason, and on just the $5 million taxpayer mid-level exception, Oubre is worth a flyer. Oddly enough, he’s sort of been good every other season, at least from an efficiency standpoint. He shot 31.9 percent from three last season on a very healthy volume (7.1 attempts a game). If he can hover around 35 percent on a decent volume, he could be a useful player.”
Despite averaging over 20 points a game with the Hornets during the 2022-23 season, Oubre has remained unsigned.
Sixers Called Out for Letting Jimmy Butler Leave
NBA Analyst Stephen A. Smith had some harsh words for the Sixers. After failing to go any further than they already have since 2018, Smith put the Sixers on blast for failing to keep Jimmy Butler.
“If [Jimmy] had never departed from Philly & he was a teammate of Embiid, the 76ers wouldn’t be on this drought where they can’t get to a conf. finals. They would’ve gotten at least to a conf. finals by this point if they kept Jimmy instead of losing him to Miami” @stephenasmith
“If [Jimmy] had never departed from the Philadelphia 76ers and he was a teammate of Joel Embiid, the 76ers wouldn’t be on this drought where they can’t get to a conference finals,” Smith said on the August 31 episode of ESPN’s NBA Today. “They would’ve gotten at the very least to a conference finals by this point if they had kept Jimmy Butler instead of losing him ultimately to the Miami Heat in free agency.”
Ever since the Joel Embiid era started, the Sixers have won five playoff series, but every one of those series was a first-round matchup. Since Butler left for the Miami Heat, he has been to three of the last four Eastern Conference Finals and has made two NBA Finals appearances.
Buddy Hield Floated as JJ Redick Replacement
During the earlier days of the Embiid era from 2017 to 2019, the Sixers had one of the league’s best sharpshooters, JJ Redick, playing right beside him. Redick’s spacing made it harder for opponents to cover the Sixers in their halfcourt offense.
For that reason, Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley explained why Buddy Hield would be worth looking into.
“Should the Sixers fail to find a star—or somehow wind up convincing Harden to stay—then an elite shooter like Hield would be a sensible target. Much as JJ Redick once did, Hield could keep the interior open for Embiid by racing around screens, launching movement threes, and demanding constant attention from opposing defenses,” Buckley wrote.
Redick put up the highest scoring averages of his career with the Sixers, averaging 17.1 points his first year with the Sixers, then 18.1 points his second.