By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)
With training camp approaching at the end of the September, the Sixers are still taking steps to fine tune the back of their roster. Things in that department became a bit clearer Wednesday afternoon with the team releasing both its oldest and its newest members.
Philadelphia has waived forward Carl Landry and center Tibor Pleiss, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 31, 2016
Tibor Pleiss came over from Utah in the Kendall Marshall deal and was not expected to be kept. His $3.0M in dead money on the cap this season is essentially the price the Sixers paid for the pair of second-round picks they also picked up the swap.
The release of Landry, however, is a bit more of a surprise. The veteran forward appeared in 36 games for the Sixers last season, averaging 9.8 points on 55.6% shooting and 4.1 rebounds. More importantly though, Landry had a reputation as a tremendous locker room presence, even being voted the Sixers teammate of the year.
With the additions of Gerald Henderson, Jerryd Bayless, and Sergio Rodriguez this offseason, Landry’s veteran presence should still be accounted for on the roster. It would also seem the Sixers did Landry a favor by letting him go to a team without 6 young big men vying for playing time.
#NBA source: Landry 'wants to play this year to earn his next deal' & big-man minutes likely scarce with #Sixers.
— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) August 31, 2016
Best wishes to Carl Landry in the future, who for one night at least, was a MVP for the Sixers.
https://twitter.com/SpikeEskin/status/771100831877885952
With a couple roster spots opened up, the Sixers made it offical that former NC State star Cat Barber would be joining the club. We covered Barber’s game back in July when the team announced it was planning to sign the young point guard.
With Bayless and Rodriguez being paid big money to come in and hold down the top two point guard positions, it would seem Barber would have to beat out second-year man T.J. McConnell to make the team. Following a strong rookie season where he averaged 11.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per 36 minutes, and a solid summer in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, McConnell seems fairly entrenched in the back-up role. While Barber does not seem likely to make the roster, he’ll have his shot to show what he can do next month.
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