Paul Reed said that he didn’t expect the Sixers to match the offer sheet he received from the Jazz earlier this month, per Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire.
The three-year, $23MM contract was designed to be more onerous for Philadelphia than Utah because it puts the Sixers in danger of exceeding the luxury tax threshold and the final two years become guaranteed if Reed’s team advances past the first round of the playoffs. President of basketball operations Daryl Morey decided the gamble was worth it to hold onto a promising young talent like Reed.
“I didn’t know what was gonna happen to be honest,” Reed said. “I was a restricted free agent, so they had an opportunity to match. Then I seen they signed Trez (Montrezl Harrell) and (Mohamed) Bamba, my agent was like, ‘It’s probably not likely that they match,’ but when they matched, I was real surprised.”
As Reed noted, Philadelphia now has a logjam of centers behind Joel Embiid. But new head coach Nick Nurse has a expanded role in mind for Reed that will go beyond playing in the post.
“He talked about molding me into a Pascal Siakam-type player,” Reed said. “Somebody who can kind of do it all. Shoot the ball, drive, pass, but right now, it’s all about focusing on my shot mechanics. That’s the start.”
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Nets guard Ben Simmons is “as healthy as he has ever been since his last year in Philly,” a source tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape (video link from NBA Today). The source also said Simmons is in the “final stage” of preparing for the upcoming season and has been able to pass every health benchmark the team has set so far. Simmons has been dealing with back and knee problems over the past two years, along with mental health issues, and only played 42 games last season.
- Assuming the Knicks have another successful season, owner James Dolan will likely talk with coach Tom Thibodeau, team president Leon Rose and other members of the front office about contract extensions, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (video link). Thibodeau is heading into the fourth season of his five-year contract, and much of the management team is on the same timeline, Begley adds.
- The Knicks will retain the G League rights to Trevor Keels, who was waived on Wednesday, Begley tweets. Keels had a two-way contract last season and appeared in three NBA games.
When does the annual Ben Simmons offseason making-a-ton-of-threes-during-pickup-games-mixtape come out?
About the same time the annual Mitchell Robinson shooting from distance in a gym with his trainer one does. Sort of a double feature release.
Nets guard Ben Simmons is “as healthy as he has ever been since his last year in Philly…”
That’s not all that high of a bar…
As soon as these players stop flopping, play any defense, start dribbling and stop hugging each other
Ben
ain’t
playing
Still waiting for Knicks to trade Fournier for Doug McDermott. Also Knicks could also sign Danny Green. Both McDermott and Green are great outside shooters.
Be(e)n sittin’ on the bench
Simmons has mostly been dealing with heart issues honestly
Nick nurse is bats*** crazy if he believes that he can turn Paul reed into pascal siakim lmao.
Reed is no Siakam. But I agree he should play the 4 more. He’s a decent FT shooter. And has a high 2pt FG percentage. Not a good 3PT shooter. But you don’t need him to shoot 3s. Defense and rebounding …..
Reed needs to play the Charles Barkley clarence Witherspoon role at pf
That’s kinda silly the Sixers matched. How often does the “mold a player” ever work that well? Serviceable for $8M isn’t exactly ideal.
Pure gold them player quotes.