Pompey: Dropping Sampson the unkindest of cuts
The business of basketball can be cruel. Just ask Ish Smith. The 76ers point guard has played on nine teams during his six-year career. You can also ask Jahlil Okafor. Eight months after selecting him third overall, the Sixers entertained conversations with other teams regarding his availability.
NEW ORLEANS - The business of basketball can be cruel.
Just ask Ish Smith. The 76ers point guard has played on nine teams during his six-year career. You can also ask Jahlil Okafor. Eight months after selecting him third overall, the Sixers entertained conversations with other teams regarding his availability in a trade. The Boston Herald, citing a source, reported Friday night that the Boston Celtics had a blockbuster deal in place to acquire the center that was eventually pulled off the table. Multiple league sources later shot down that report, one doing so emphatically.
And you can ask JaKarr Sampson. He was perhaps the most beloved Sixer the last two seasons. With his limitations, the 6-foot-9 guard/forward would never be confused with any of the league's upcoming elite players. But the second-year undrafted signee out of St. John's was the epitome of what the Sixers want in a player: tough, hardworking, defensive- minded, relentless, and a great person.
The Sixers could have hung on to him as an end-of-the-bench player for seasons to come. His traits also made him a valued locker room guy.
The team, however, waived him Thursday night to make room on the 15-man roster for Joel Anthony, another player they are expected to waive.
The Sixers acquired Anthony, a former Detroit Pistons center, and a 2017 second-round pick from the Denver Nuggets in a three-team trade Thursday with the Pistons and Houston Rockets. Anthony is expected to be released. The Sixers hope to be able to re-sign Sampson, assuming he clears waivers by 5 p.m. Sunday.
But just the way things went down disappointed some of his teammates.
Sampson flew here with the team from Philadelphia on Thursday morning. He participated in the afternoon practice at the Smoothie King Center. After returning to the team hotel, Sampson received a call from his agent to learn that he had been waived.
So how do you get players to "trust the process" when they are told that the hardest workers and best locker room guys are going to be rewarded, and then this happens?
"It's always hard to waive anybody, much less a guy that's busted his tail to be the best player that he can be," general manager Sam Hinkie said of Sampson. "That's exactly the kind of people we like to work with."
But the Sixers will tell you that all of their players are taking advantage of their opportunity to play in the NBA.
"They all work hard," Hinkie said.
From an assets standpoint, one could argue that the Sixers upgraded in value. That's because they basically traded for Anthony in order to get a second-round pick, which is an improvement over an undrafted free agent such as Sampson.
I'm not buying that.
One needs to take into account what a player brings to a team and how he interacts with that squad, regardless of draft status. Again, Sampson is far from an NBA rotation player on most other teams. Yet he still managed to start 50 games. Some of those starts even came at the point guard position for the former college power forward.
Yet the Sixers had decisions to make at the trade deadline.
"I think people think there might be real interest in some of the players we drafted," Hinkie said. "But there's been a lot of interest in even the undrafted players. Robert [Covington] is one of those and Hollis [Thompson] and T.J. [McConnell], who accepted his role this year and really performed for us."
The Sixers kept those three and made the tough decision to part ways with Sampson. Maybe it's just for the time being, assuming he clears waivers and the Sixers pick him back up. If not, he's just another cruel causualty of the business of basketball.
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