Tag: Justin Anderson

Pacers guard Justin Anderson yells for Sixers star Joel Embiid to be MVP

Indiana Pacers guard Justin Anderson yells his message for Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid to be named MVP.

After delivering yet another terrific performance on Tuesday to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a win over the Indiana Pacers, Joel Embiid built his case to be named MVP of the 2021-22 season. He had 45 points and 13 rebounds as he now moves into the lead for the scoring race in the NBA.

Embiid made sure the Sixers did not let this one slip away as the Pacers cut a 27-point deficit down to just five late in the game. The big fella re-entered the game and he restored order as the Sixers were then able to go on and win their third consecutive game.

In the middle of his postgame interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia, former Sixers guard, and current Pacers guard Justin Anderson cut him off to steal the mic and deliver a message for Embiid to be named the MVP winner.

There are still three games left for the Sixers so that is all that’s left for Embiid to continue to build his case to win the award. His next chance will be on Thursday against the Toronto Raptors on the road.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Explaining the NBA’s hardship exception and the free agents who signed as replacement players

Explaining what hardship exceptions and replacement players mean as COVID-19 protocols hit the NBA.

As the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to spread, the NBA has required a large share of “replacement players” to fill in for the players who are in health and safety protocols. And so far, more than 100 players have reportedly entered the league’s health and safety protocols so far this month, per ESPN’s Baxter Holmes.

But how exactly do the “replacement players” work?

Essentially, the NBA’s hardship exception allows teams to exceed the 15-man roster limit if more than three players on the roster are each going to miss extended time due to illness or injury. Typically, teams weren’t allowed to apply for the hardship exception before Jan. 5.

But starting last season, the league changed the policy to allow earlier exceptions. And as of earlier this week, effective Dec. 19 until Jan. 19, the NBA is allowing teams to sign one replacement player for each player on their roster who tests positive for COVID-19.

While there are some big names (e.g. Isaiah Thomas, Lance Stephenson, CJ Miles) who have signed as replacement players, there are lots of promising young NBA hopefuls who are hoping to use this opportunity as a chance to stick around the league.

Not all of the players below were signed through hardship exceptions and some transactions (e.g. DeMarcus Cousins and Wesley Matthews to the Milwaukee Bucks) may have happened anyway during a normal season.

But below, based on the NBA’s transaction log and reporting from the league’s top insiders, you can find a live tracker of all the players who have signed new deals with NBA teams over the course of the past month.

Sixers news: Justin Anderson, Frank Mason III to be waived by the team

The Philadelphia 76ers will waive both Justin Anderson and Frank Mason III.

The preseason is over and that means teams have to get their rosters all set to go for the season to begin very soon. For the Philadelphia 76ers, that means having to waive a few players to get their roster down to 17–15 active and two on two-way deals.

On Saturday, a team official confirmed that the team has waived both Justin Anderson and Frank Mason III before the team’s season opener on Wednesday. Anderson was here on a partially guaranteed deal while Mason III was signed to a non-guaranteed deal after Friday’s preseason finale with the Indiana Pacers. The nature of their contracts made it easy for the team to waive them.

There is the possibility that both players could end up with the Delaware Blue Coats, the team’s G League affiliate. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey reported that the expectation is that Mason III will join Delaware.

With the expectation for Mason III to head to the Blue Coats, Anderson could be joining them as well. [lawrence-related id=40394,40375,40371]

Justin Anderson notices a hungrier Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid in camp

Justin Anderson notices a much hungrier Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid to start training camp.

For the Philadelphia 76ers to go anywhere in the 2020-21 season or in the near future, the team will need stars Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid to lead the way and be at their best. The team fell flat in the previous season and it should serve as motivation.

Justin Anderson, who played with Simmons and Embiid in the 2017-18 season when they made the playoffs, notices a difference in the two superstars.

Those guys are clicking right now on all cylinders,” said Anderson. “They’re learning how to work the low-post/mid-post together. Obviously, playing with Ben before, his speed doesn’t surprise me, but seeing Jo keep up and play at that same pace has been awesome to see kind of going against those guys every day. I don’t think they’ve missed a beat, I just think that we’re seeing a hungrier Ben and Joel right now which is a great sight to see, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”

Embiid’s conditioning is something that always is a hot topic when it comes to this team, right up there with Simmons’ jumper. Coach Doc Rivers and Furkan Korkmaz were impressed with the big man’s condition on the first day of practice and having him keep up with the breakneck speed of Simmons is going to be a huge plus for the Sixers.

“I encourage everybody to get down the floor, especially Jo,” said Simmons. “He’s been running the floor, even if he doesn’t get it when he’s the first one down there, he’s getting somebody else open. So that kind of basketball just leads to easy buckets and that’s something we’re big on this year, easy points.”

The Sixers plan to put the ball in Simmons’ hands a lot this upcoming season and allow him to just get out and run. That means having the team run out on the floor and be able to give both he and Embiid the space the two of them need to operate.

Philadelphia will need these two to be the head of their attacks as the season moves forward. That means building their chemistry even more to where the two of them will be able to know each other like the back of their hands.

“Just connecting and building our chemistry in terms of where and when he wants me to cut,” Simmons said of he and Embiid. “Me reading the defense and knowing when I should and cut get to the rim, slash, or whether I’m spotting up and shooting the shot. So just reading off Jo, we’re going to continue to get better and build our chemistry on the floor, especially with this new team and new players surrounding us. I think it’s just going to be great because everyone’s really buying in.”

On top of that, Embiid is also taking the initiative to be a better perimeter defender. Not only is he willing to run in this new offense that Rivers wants to implement, but he is up guarding the ball-handler on pick-and-rolls with the help of assistant coach Dan Burke.

“He’s really bought in, he’s been a willing defender, very different than what I’ve seen in the past,” Anderson added of Embiid. “Our coaches challenge him, coach DB’s challenging him to be able to touch, and he slides in his feet. After practice, just talking to him about how he feels he’s feeling great, and for him to say he’s feeling great, also being able to be up to touch on guard guys, it just speaks to his hunger and his willingness to try to take his game to the next level.”

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Sixers guard Justin Anderson wiser, humbled after G League experience

Philadelphia 76ers guard Justin Anderson is now much wiser and he is humbled after his G League experience.

Sometimes a person really needs to be brought back down to earth. A person can sometimes be a little overconfident, and they need to experience something that will reset them and get back on the right path.

For Philadelphia 76ers guard Justin Anderson, a trip to the G League did the trick.

After playing a prominent role for Philadelphia in the 2017-18 season, he was sent to the Atlanta Hawks in the Mike Muscala deal. He averaged 9.4 minutes over 48 games. He signed with the Washington Wizards and was waived less than a month later. He did not find a home until January when he signed a 10-day deal with the Brooklyn Nets.

He then split time between the Long Island Nets and Raptors 905 of the G League in the 2019-20 season before earning playing time with the Nets in the bubble.

“A lot of guys don’t have to go through that experience in Year 5,” said Anderson. “I had an opportunity to go overseas, but I truly felt like I belong. I just think that the timing and the way the rosters were built out last year and people having their teams kind of in order, I fell short of making that roster spot on a lot of teams and I felt like, and my agent felt like, we were so close that for me, I think I needed to go in the G League and prove a few things.”

After being such a big piece in college at the University of Virginia and then earning some playing time in the early part of his career, Anderson found himself on the verge of being out of the league. He needed that time in the G League to give him that reset and get him back focused again.

“Not necessarily saying that I needed humbling, but it was a humbling experience going from flying private to having to fly commercial and driving on a bus for long hours to different cities, those things force you to grow in ways that you’ve never really known before,” he explained. “Being able to be here now is a different type of taking advantage of the opportunity. It’s just trusting the work that I’ve put in and try to be a small piece of a major puzzle.”

Anderson played well in the G League. He averaged 20.6 points and 6.7 rebounds while shooting 35.3% from deep. He didn’t go in there with a “let me score all the points attitude”, but instead with a team-first attitude to make sure he can move in the right direction again.

“I signed up for it. I committed to it,” he continued. “I didn’t go there saying ‘I’m going to score this many amount of points or do this in order to get called up’ I said ‘I’m going to go here and help this team get better and try to be my best in order to lead the younger guys that were on those teams.’ At the same time, it was also scaling back and taking a step back and being coached and not trying to be a know it all or whatever the case may be.”

Anderson is a guy who plays with a lot of passion and a lot of charisma and that can rub people the wrong way. When he got to the G League, he had a very important conversation with Long Island’s general manager to help him turn this around.

“A lot of credit goes to Matt Riccardi who sat me down right away and told me straight up what the league says about me, what the rap is about me, and how we’re going to fix it and how we’re going to change it,” he finished with. “To this day, he still shoots me checking in texts and he was extremely happy with what I did to help that Long Island team and that just gives you confidence to continue to pursue and keep going because I know I belong. It’s just shaping the jagged edges you could say and I think I’ve done a great job with that so it’s about pushing forward.”

Anderson would not share what other teams said about him, but he added he uses it as motivation. He now has a new opportunity with the Sixers to fill a role on this team.

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Justin Anderson credits relationship with Joel Embiid for return to Sixers

Philadelphia 76ers guard Justin Anderson credits his relationship with Joel Embiid as a reason for returning to the team.

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It is important to have close friendships in life. We all have that one friend that we can all rely on and count on no matter what is going on in life.

For new Philadelphia 76ers guard Justin Anderson, that person is star big man Joel Embiid.

Anderson was acquired by Philadelphia in 2017 in the Nerlens Noel deal and he spent a season and a half with the Sixers. Before his initial stint, he had already had a friendship with Embiid and they got closer over time.

As Anderson was finishing out his time with the Brooklyn Nets and looking for a new NBA home, he was in Embiid’s ear during their time in the bubble letting him know that he wanted to return.

“Me talking with him in the bubble, hanging out with him in the bubble, and talking to him during this quarantine and letting him know that I’m a free agent,” Anderson said as training camp got underway on Tuesday. “I want to be able to be a part of this and try and help this team win, all the things came together at the right time and I’m just thankful for the opportunity, but it’s time to get to work.”

When Anderson signed a partially guaranteed contract to return to Philadelphia, the first person who contacted him was the big fella.

“It was absolutely one of the biggest reasons of wanting to be here,” said Anderson of Embiid. “When I found out, he shot me a text and was like ‘Let’s go!’ and I was like ‘Let’s do this, man’. There isn’t really much to talk about, it’s just like any other close friend that we all have. I consider him my brother. I’ve known him for a long time before we both came into the NBA.”

As friends, Anderson and Embiid push each other to be the best they can be. In a time where the Sixers believe they can win a title, they will need the big fella to be at his best as the season goes on. That is where Anderson will come in.

“I think he’s the most dominant big in the NBA and one of my favorite things to do is push him,” he said. “I think he has [the] potential to go and make some noise this year. He’s hungrier than ever and that’s what friends do. For him, he pushes me as well to be the best and train and work hard, whatever. It’s kind of weird talking about an authentic relationship especially to people who don’t understand it. That’s my boy, that’s my dog.”

As camp continues, Anderson will have to fight for a spot on this roster, but Embiid will certainly be in his ear pushing him to be better every day. After all, what are friends for? [lawrence-related id=39660,39652,39648]

Sixers bringing back Justin Anderson on a partial guaranteed deal

The Philadelphia 76ers are bringing back Justin Anderson for training camp.

With training camp in the NBA right around the corner, the Philadelphia 76ers are finalizing their roster for camp. After bringing in Derrick Walton Jr. on a non-guaranteed deal on Thanksgiving, the team will bring back a former Sixer.

The team will sign former Sixer Justin Anderson to a partially-guaranteed deal in order to bring some competition into the gym for camp.

Anderson played for Philadelphia for 1.5 seasons after being acquired from the Dallas Mavericks in the Nerlens Noel deal in 2017. He played 62 games during his time in Philadelphia averaging 7.1 points and 3.0 rebounds while providing tough defense. He was then sent to the Atlanta Hawks in the 2018 offseason in a deal that brought Mike Muscala to Philadelphia.

It will be tough for Anderson to earn a spot on this deep and talented Sixers team, but if he can have a strong camp and play well in the team’s two preseason games, he could earn an opportunity elsewhere. [lawrence-related id=39572,39569,39554]

Justin Anderson agrees with Joel Embiid’s praise of Jimmy Butler

Former Philadelphia 76ers guard Justin Anderson agrees with Joel Embiid on his assessment of Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler.

It’s no secret that Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid is a fan of his former teammate, Jimmy Butler. Embiid has been tweeting during the playoffs praising Butler as he is leading the Miami Heat on a deep playoff run and he has said in the past that Butler is his guy.

Another former teammate of Embiid’s, Justin Anderson, tweeted out on Thursday night that he agreed with the big fella about his praise for Butler. Anderson, who played 62 games across 1.5 seasons in Philadelphia, praised Butler for his work on the floor and all of the little things he does in order to get his team a win. Anderson tagged Embiid in the tweet saying that he was right all along about Butler.

Butler had 14 points on 4-for-11 shooting, but he did everything he had to do in order to get the Heat to a 106-101 win over the Boston Celtics to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. He had four rebounds, three assists, and four steals and his work on the defensive end was terrific. Philadelphia could absolutely use Butler right now. [lawrence-related id=37723,37720,37710]

Nets carrying chip on their shoulders after ‘everybody was laughing at us’

The Brooklyn Nets are playing with some attitude in the Disney bubble, and their record has shown as much.

Things got a little tense toward the end of Tuesday’s game between the Brooklyn Nets and Orlando Magic after Wes Iwundu fouled Jeremiah late, stared down the rookie and appeared to have a few words. That prompted Justin Anderson to step in to defend his Nets teammate.

Anderson was also there when Iwundu started chirping again as the final buzzer sounded. Now, the rest of the Magic didn’t seem interested in getting in a fight with Brooklyn, but that may have been the result of how firmly Anderson barked back at Iwundu.

And Anderson’s reaction shouldn’t come as a surprise for Nets fans, for no other reason that he and his Brooklyn teammates have shown in the Disney bubble they’re not taking guff from anyone. Whether it’s Anderson v. Iwundu, Donta Hall v. Giannis Antetokounmpo or just the Nets’ overall play against teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers, they’re tired of people thinking so little of them.

“Everybody was laughing at us saying the Nets were going to look like this and seeing things all over the internet saying we weren’t going to do this,” Jeremiah Martin said on Tuesday, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “So we just take that every day, every practice, keeping that chip on our shoulder, proving everybody wrong and showing everybody who we are.”

The question now becomes: how much can that chip do for the Nets against the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs?

Justin Anderson clear of COVID-19, taking on new role with Nets

The Brooklyn Nets had yet another player test positive for COVID-19, yet this one stayed with the team and is good to go.

The Brooklyn Nets have felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as much as any NBA franchise.

Kevin Durant and three other Nets tested positive when the outbreak hit the United States hard, back in March. DeAndre Jordan and Spencer Dinwiddie tested positive for COVID-19 when the league started testing all players ahead of the restart. Taurean Prince tested shortly before Brooklyn departed for Florida, and Michael Beasley tested positive shortly after signing with the team — which led to him heading home.

Yet another name has been added to that already long list. However, Justin Anderson — the ninth Nets player to test positive for COVID-19 — has recovered from the illness, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post:

It’s something we wanted to try and keep in-house because we weren’t quite sure when we’d be able to pass the protocols. Battling between negative and positive tests, battling between trying to make sure I got here in a car service rather than a plane to make sure I continue to follow protocol. It was just a long journey.

Now that he’s cleared the illness, Anderson has another test ahead of him.

The 6-foot-6 forward was told by Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn to be prepared to play the four and five in addition to the three, per Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News.