Philadelphia 76ers: Ersan Ilyasova is coming back to Philly

After being traded by the Philadelphia 76ers at the 2017 NBA Trade Deadline, Ersan Ilyasova is coming back to Philly after being waived by the Hawks.

Philadelphia 76ers fans, reinforcements are on the way!

After being traded away at the 2017 NBA Trade Deadline, fan favorite Ersan Ilyasova is coming back to Philly for his second stint with the team according to Yahoo Sports.

A knockdown faceup four, Ilyasova made fans of many across the Delaware Valley with his lunch pale attitude and willingness to take on a charge. Though he played fairly well in his 53 games with the team, averaging a career high14.8 points a game when lined up next to Joel Embiid, he wasn’t viewed as a longterm piece by the team’s front office and was ultimately shipped to the Atlanta Hawks for a second-round pick and Tiago Splitter‘s contract.

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While this trade was viewed negatively by many Philly fans, as the team basically gave away their best shooter for free, it served as addition by subtraction for Brett Brown‘s squad, as it allowed Dario Saric to step into a starting role for the remained of the season, a role he still holds today

Though Ilyasova was obviously a great player on the court, his mentorship for young European players like Saric, and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot was even more important for a young team eager to start winning. His experience transitioning from the Euroleague to the NBA, and playing in virtually every possible role for a team over his first 10 years in the league, gave Saric and TLC a friendly shoulder to lean on in the locker room, and helped the pair transition from first round picks in a foreign country to a pair of legitimate NBA players, with Saric looking like a potential long-term starter.

So when the news broke that Ilyasova was working on a buyout with the Hawks, as the team deals with their own rebuilding process, it made absolute sense that the 76ers would be interested in the 6-foot-10 forward’s services.

Bringing Ilyasova back to Philly all but guarantees that the Sixers are not only ready to make their first postseason appearance in the Brett Brown era, but also make a serious push at the coveted fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, Embiid’s ultimate goal.

For the 76ers to be effective with Embiid and Simmons on the court, they need floor spacers, and in the modern NBA, a power forward who can knock down a three is a luxury few teams can bolster. And with Ilyasova back in the fold the Sixers now has two.

While this is an amazing opportunity for the 76ers to get better immediately, it does pose a question of how the team will accommodate Ilyasova addition to the roster. Currently sitting with a full 15 man roster, the team will have to either buyout or waive someone to accommodate Ilyasova return, with players like Jerryd Bayless, Amir Johnson, and Trevor Booker being the likeliest casualty.

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But regardless of who the team releases to facilitate Ilyasova return this is without a doubt a great move for the Philadelphia 76ers and could prove to be the final piece needed to make their playoff push.