The Philadelphia 76ers have had a lot of changes going on around them whether it is in the organization with Jerry Colangelo coming in or on the coaching staff with Mike D'Antoni coming in. Now D'Antoni has made his impact felt already as he was a big part of the 76ers acquiring Ish Smith in the trade on Thursday, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune.
On the surface the trade seemed a little strange as the 76ers had plenty of depth at the point guard position with Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten having returned from injuries, but the deeper you dig into it the more it makes sense. Philadelphia only had to give up two future second round picks to acquire Smith which is a small price to pay and D'Antoni was apparently enamored with Smith's skillset and really wanted to find a way to get him to the 76ers.
D'Antoni is now the associate head coach under Brett Brown in Philadelphia and he is known for running a fast pace offense which Smith would be a perfect fit for. Smith is one of the fastest point guards in the NBA and was having a very good season with the Pelicans before this trade. In 27 games with New Orleans Smith averaged 8.9 points and 5.7 assists and was one of their better players as they dealt with a lot of injuries early in the season.
To make room for Smith on the roster, the 76ers decided to waive Wroten in a bit of a surprise move. Wroten was coming off a torn ACL he suffered last season and had just played in eight games before they decided to waive him. Wroten wasn't playing well coming back from the injury but that likely was to be expected considering how long he was out with a major injury.
The Pelicans decided to trade Smith because Norris Cole was getting healthier and Jrue Holiday's minutes limit is expected to be lifted so Smith was likely to have a very limited role. New Orleans didn't get much for Smith but they got what they could out of him via trade right now instead of letting him just sit on the bench and let his value decline.
Due to the fact that D'Antoni pushed for this trade and Wroten was cut to make room for him, Smith should get a chance at big playing time in Philadelphia. Right now T.J. McConnell is getting the majority of the minutes at point guard for the Sixers with Marshall working his way back into form but Smith might take the lead in minutes based on this report which would leave McConnell and Marshall fighting for back up minutes.
