Philadelphia 76ers: Danuel House is finally in the… house
Free agency is here, Philadelphia 76ers fans: June 30th will forever be known as P.J. Tucker day.
I kid, of course, but only slightly; outside of re-signing James Harden, which is a momentous occasion, the addition of Tucker is the biggest free agent move at the Sixers’ disposal, as signing another player with a contract at an AAV of $11.67 million just isn’t possible.
Fortunately, the Sixers had another option in the Bi-annual exception, which would allow the team to sign another player for more than the vet minimum and a maximum value of $8.5 million over two years.
Confusing? Frankly, there’s nothing about the NBA CBA that isn’t, but it is what it is, and it’s just another way for the Sixers to add one more quality performer to their rotation.
With a ton of options available across the NBA, from Delon Wright to a few more suggested here, Daryl Morey had a cornucopia of capable choices from which to use his cap exceptions on, but in the end, the Philadelphia 76ers made the right call and signed Danuel House to a two-year deal worth $8.5 million. Should they have pulled the trigger back in February, when they had a free roster spot and he was between 10-day contracts with the Utah Jazz? You bet, but hey, it’s better late than never.
The Philadelphia 76ers finally got it right with Danuel House.
Danuel House is a perfect fit with the Philadelphia 76ers. He’s a good defender, a position-versatile wing, and a capable marksman from deep who attempted 67.4 percent of his 3s without taking a dribble. Had House been on the Sixers last season, in place of, say, DeAndre Jordan, the Sixers might not have needed to shrink their bench down to seven guys in the playoffs versus the Miami Heat and would have instead been able to roll deep with a two-way 3-and-D forward to cycle into the small forward spot when Danny Green suffered his season-ending injury at the beginning of Game 6.
Why, you may ask, such an uber-specific scenario? Well, because that’s exactly what happened; when the Sixers made their trade for James Harden, they freed up a roster spot that was eventually used by Jordan. Had they instead used it on House, who was released by the Houston Rockets earlier in the season and was between 10-day contracts with the Utah Jazz at the time, not only would he have instantly become a fixture of Doc Rivers’ rotation – I mean, he was 30 at the time – but would have also freed up meaningful minutes for Paul Reed and Charles Bassey to get playoff ready when it became abundantly clear Paul Millsap could no longer go.
Instead, House ended up signing a one-year, one-way contract to close out the year with the Jazz and finished out the season with the following stat line: 6.8 points and 2.7 rebounds in 19.6 minutes of action while shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 41.5(!) percent from 3 on 3.3 attempts per game.
Yeah, that’s pretty darn good indeed. Factor in House’s connection with James Harden, whom he played 102 games with in Houston while serving as one of the Rockets’ sixth men coming off the bench, and you have a player who perfectly fits Philly’s new old scheme to a T.
Next. 3 deals to send Matisse Thybulle to the Portland Trail Blazers. dark
Look, what’s done is done; even if the Philadelphia 76ers should be re-signing Danuel House instead of giving him a brand new deal, all that matter is that he’s a member of the team now alongside fellow former Rockets forward P.J. Tucker and soon, the real work begins to deliver onto the City of Brotherly Love something James Harden and company could never bring back to Houston.