Official Announcement! Season Over! Regretting the Signing, Giving George a Max Contract but Not Harden, 76ers Are Foolish with Money
Beijing time on January 11th, the 76ers hosted the Pelicans at home. At the beginning of the game, McCollum was on fire, scoring 18 points in a single quarter, and the Pelicans ended the first quarter with a 4-point lead; In the second quarter, the Pelicans maintained their offensive state, once pulling the score to double digits. At a critical moment, the 76ers launched a counterattack, making a 12-2 run to overtake the score. The Pelicans steadied the situation with both inside and outside scoring, and at halftime, the Pelicans led the 76ers 53-47; After changing sides for the second half, both sides picked up the pace and focused on fast breaks. However, the Pelicans had better finishing ability, and finally, Alvarado's three-pointer helped the Pelicans enter the final quarter with a 9-point lead; In the final quarter, the Pelicans firmly controlled an advantage of around 10 points, and the 76ers could only surrender due to their weak offense. Ultimately, the Pelicans defeated the 76ers 123-115 away from home to win the game.
After losing to the Pelicans, who are at the bottom of the Western Conference, the 76ers have dropped out of the play-in tournament area, but there is worse news than that. Today, the 76ers officially announced that rookie McCain has confirmed his season is over. McCain suffered a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee during a previous game and subsequently underwent surgery. After today's re-examination, McCain confirmed that his season is over.
McCain was originally a strong contender for Rookie of the Year this year, averaging 15.3 points, 2.6 assists, and 0.7 steals in 25 minutes per game. After the season-ending injury, the 76ers lost an efficient scorer averaging 15 points, which made the 76ers, whose offensive efficiency ranked only sixth from the bottom in the league, even worse off.
However, compared to McCain's season-ending injury, the 76ers are now more concerned about George's decline. Recently, an anonymous 76ers executive was interviewed by a reporter: "The 76ers may know that within this contract period (4 years, $212 million), George will decline, but they probably think it's the fourth year, not the first."
George has been the most disappointing player this season. After waiting for his return, he unexpectedly delivered an average of 16.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.8 steals, 2.6 turnovers, a shooting percentage of 41.4%, and a three-point percentage of 33.5%. He has been booed by home fans in several games.
The 76ers management can be said to be a representative of being foolish with money. In recent major decisions, they have all shown amateurism. First, in the 19-19 season, with Butler's help, they reached the Eastern Conference Finals. However, during the offseason, Butler joined the Heat, and the 76ers renewed Harris with a max contract. Later, Butler uttered the famous saying: Choose Harris over me? Harden worked diligently for the 76ers for two seasons, but because they didn't want to renew him with a max contract, they chose to "sell" Harden cheaply to the Clippers. Last summer, the 76ers gave George the contract that should have been Harden's.
Just getting rid of the garbage contract of Harris, the 76ers management fell into the endless abyss of Joe Shou Xin. They should wake up, otherwise the next one to leave might be Embiid.