Look, that title just sounded good and I know it doesn’t make sense. What I’m getting at is that Paul George returns for the Sixers tonight while also facing his former team. As much as the fan base would love to kick him into the sun, his insertion into the rotation can only be a positive and that was before the recent bad injury news to Kelly Oubre. He is still a positive player, especially without last year’s bout with Mallet Finger. He’s just not a star. It is what it is. We roll on to 41-41!
Where He Fits
Kelly Oubre was playing great, but recently suffered a ligament related knee injury, the extent of which is still unknown. With him on the shelf for the foreseeable future, George steps in nicely to fill his spot in the lineup. One thing you didn’t want Oubre doing was handling the ball, but that’s not true with George. For the majority of the first two months of the season, Tyrese Maxey has been logging heavy minutes mostly because he has been the only one really trusted to run the offense. VJ Edgecombe has been adequate, and Jared McCain is now technically back, but Paul George brings a deliberate understanding of how an offense should be run. Simply put, he’s a professional on a team full of young guys in need of guidance.
Despite last year’s mallet finger, George is also a good shooter. The Sixers are near the middle of the pack in 3s attempted and are shooting a very good 38% on the season, but George will only help in this regard. Oubre is shooting better this season, but he still isn’t considered very good from beyond the arc. He shoots about 5 per game at a 32% clip since joining the Sixers. George on the other hand was down last year but shoots around 38% for his career from 3 on around 7-8 attempts per game. He isn’t going to give the effort plays like Oubre, but George should help the play quality on both sides of the ball.
All of the above should help the Sixers exponentially in the 3rd quarter where they have been god awful. The 3rd quarter is to the Sixers what the Rav 4th inning is to Aaron Nola.
His Contract
You can’t talk about Paul George without talking about his contract. Technically he has 2 years left for $106m, but that forgets the player option for year 3 at $56.6m which he will 100% exercise. That’s the 2nd worst contract in the city behind only Joel Embiid. I know no one wants to hear this, but you need to forget about this right now (pay no attention to that idiot behind the keyboard who just reminded you of it). George is simply never going to live up to that deal. It also is not going away this year or next. He is here for the long haul. The best thing we can do is look at all that he can do rather than what he can’t. He is not the soul sucking uncle who is at every family function or the annoying bird you own for some reason, he does have some value, even if he is not delivering a good return on what we paid.
The Clippers Right Now
The Clippers recently snapped a 6-game losing streak and sit at 4-9. Bradley Beal was recently declared out for the season with a hip injury and Kawhi Leonard is out because he is Kawhi Leonard. That leaves old friend James Harden running the show in LA. At 36 years old, that’s not a good thing despite The Beard’s throwback 26/9/6 stat line.
Remember, these Clippers owe future draft picks to the Sixers. Unfortunately, the first one isn’t until 2028. This year though, like us, they owe their unprotected first-round pick to the Thunder. Why? Yes, that’s right…PAUL GEORGE!!! What a small world the NBA is. As of right now, that pick is #9. As Sixers fans, we like this. Not only is it funny, but it means the Clippers will not be getting any better through the draft any time soon.
The big worry is that with Harden’s and Leonard’s contracts expiring after next season, they will reload before they can bottom out in 2028. That’s a long time out. Plus, we still don’t know what is going to happen with the League’s investigation into salary cap circumvention. Knowing our luck, they will probably take away our pick instead of punishing the Clippers.
The Sixers Right Now
I came into this season without expectation. Because we owe our draft pick to OKC and because Joel Embiid and Paul George are weighing down our salary cap, we can’t tank and we aren’t contenders. What does that mean? Aim for the bushes! NO! It means we aim for the middle. At 41-41, we likely make the play in tournament and either get the lottery or enter the tournament. Right now we are 7-5. That’s a +2 in my book, good enough for 6th place. I’ll take it!
Record: 7-5 (6th in the East)
Next Game: Wednesday, November 19th at 7p vs the Toronto Raptors at home
Philly Front Office 
Leave a comment