Bryan Colangelo gets it — having Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor and Joel Embiid all on the roster to start next year wouldn't be the best situation. But Sixers fans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing he's not going to trade one of them just for the heck of it.
In an interview with Sirius XM NBA Radio on Tuesday, Colangelo was candid about the Sixers' crowded frontcourt, but said there's plenty of interest from around the league in trading for one of their centers.
“We’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do with everybody, and when you look at the calls that are coming in, quite frankly, everyone’s trying to poach a big man from us,” he said.
So other teams are obviously interested. He added, though, that he's not exactly comfortable having all three guys on the roster going into next season.
"So when I say in a playful way I’m not comfortable, I think we can be a better basketball team if we could distribute that talent better, and maybe take one of those assets and address other needs on the roster," Colangelo said. "But I think right now, it’s best to say we like all of them, we want to see if we can make the most out of each of them in terms of their contributions to this team. But at the end of the day, the reality says probably one has to go at some point, but only if the deal is right.”
The Sixers' frontcourt gets even more crowded with Dario Saric finally set to sign with the Sixers on Friday, a source told CSNPhilly.com's Jessica Camerato. With the addition of Saric, they'll have eight players under contract who are at least 6-foot-9, plus Jerami Grant (6-foot-8), who can play both small and power forward. And with Christian Wood, also a power forward, doing well in summer league, it would be hard to get all of those guys meaningful minutes if they all are on the roster for the regular season.
Also, Colangelo addressed Okafor's Twitter rant in which he complained about "sources" claiming he was unhappy in Philadelphia.
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“I told Jahlil this morning at practice, I said, ‘Listen, I love the way you handled it the other day, so-called sources.' I blasted the same guy because I was a little concerned about these unknown sources that are saying we’re out shopping him," Colangelo said. "It’s completely untrue, and I would tell you that we have to listen, it’s part of my job. I have to make this roster better, I have to make this basketball team better. But to classify it or characterize it as shopping him, that’s not the case at all.”
