Tag: Paul Millsap

Sixers free agent Paul Millsap named top 10 underrated player of decade

Philadelphia 76ers free agent Paul Millsap is ranked as one of the top 10 most underrated players of the past decade.

When the Philadelphia 76ers acquired Paul Millsap from the Brooklyn Nets in the James Harden trade, they were hoping the veteran could provide a real presence off the bench for them.

Unfortunately, the veteran in his 16th NBA season was unable to give much. He averaged just 3.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in nine games with the Sixers. He wasn’t the same player and he could not give the production he used to be able to.

However, that doesn’t mean that Millsap has had an underwhelming career. In fact, the 47th pick in the 2006 NBA draft has been terrific. He has made four All-Star appearances and has been an integral part of teams that reached the conference finals three times in his career.

Bleacher Report put together a list of the top 10 most underrated players of the past decade and Millsap appeared on the list:

To call a player with that many individual honors underrated may seem like a stretch, but Millsap’s last 10 years were better than most realize.

Over that span, Millsap totaled 8,958 points, 4,435 rebounds, 1,629 assists, 825 steals, 605 blocks and 523 threes. Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are the only other players in league history to amass those totals across any 10-year stretch, and Millsap was limited to only 140 appearances over the last three years.

Those things weren’t always flashy (though he did have some absurd dunks), but they were awfully helpful. Over the last 10 years, Millsap’s teams were plus-4.1 points per 100 possessions when he played and minus-0.4 when he didn’t.

Millsap is unsigned this offseason; teams around the league might have recognized the veteran just does not have it anymore. However, he is still a respected player and there is a small chance he can get another opportunity elsewhere.

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Stay or go: Predicting what Sixers will do with their 5 free agents

Here are some predictions on what the Philadelphia 76ers will do with their five free agents heading into the 2022 offseason.

As the Philadelphia 76ers navigate the offseason, there are only so many avenues the team can use to improve.

At the moment, the Sixers have the $6.4 million taxpayer mid-level exception they can use in free agency. They could also gain the full $10.3 million mid-level exception if they cut Danny Green. Such a move would make sense since Green will miss most, if not all, of the upcoming season due to a torn ACL and LCL.

There is also the big James Harden dilemma. The Sixers acquired the future Hall of Famer at the deadline. He has a $47 million player option for the 2022-23 season, but can the Sixers negotiate with him to get a deal done that can also improve the roster?

Free agency in the NBA will begin sometime around when the new league year begins on July 1 — no official date has been given yet — and the Sixers have five free agents according to Spotrac.

We predict who stays and who goes:

Player grades: Shorthanded Sixers fall late to Heat in Game 1 on the road

The shorthanded version of the Philadelphia 76ers fell late to the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on the road.

MIAMI — The Philadelphia 76ers knew this series was not going to be easy. To go up against the No. 1 seed in the East without your best player is a tall task for any team. Without Joel Embiid the Sixers got a little funky with their lineups and they gave the Miami Heat a bit of a battle all night long in Game 1.

Despite falling behind by 14 points early, Philadelphia battled back and they took a 51-50 halftime lead in Miami. Every time it looked like the Heat would then pull away in the second half, the Sixers would answer back and make it a game. Alas, the Heat did eventually pull away and walked away with a 106-92 victory, but the Sixers can feel good about their effort heading into Game 2. They had a lot of open looks, but they couldn’t convert.

Tobias Harris led the Sixers with 27 points and six rebounds, James Harden had 16 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, and Tyrese Maxey added 19 points. Paul Reed gave four points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Here are the player grades following the Game 1 loss:

Doc Rivers explains why Sixers played Paul Millsap over DeAndre Jordan

Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers explains why he played Paul Millsap over DeAndre Jordan on Tuesday.

PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers switched things up on Tuesday when they took on the Milwaukee Bucks in an important matchup at home. With the backup center spot still a position influx, the Sixers rocked with Paul Millsap over DeAndre Jordan.

Jordan had been the main backup to Joel Embiid since his arrival, but in Tuesday’s 118-116 loss to the Bucks, coach Doc Rivers made the decision to go with Millsap.

“They go small a lot and I think he moves better,” said Rivers. “In the first half, he was really good. Second half, I thought he struggled.”

The only stat Millsap recorded was a steal in this one in 9:26 of playing time. He did a good job against Giannis Antetokounmpo in the first half, but in the second half, the Greek Freak went off for 13 straight points when Millsap entered the game and that turned it into Milwaukee’s favor.

“I thought Millsap looked good in the first half, in the second half he struggled,” said Rivers. “I didn’t like DJ. We almost went with Paul Reed. That’s who we went between, but in Milwaukee that was a tough matchup for Paul was Giannis.”

Antetokounmpo had a wide-open dunk to end the third quarter that irked Rivers the most.

“The play I hate the most is at the end of the third, we were supposed to match up, we didn’t match up,” he finished. “We were supposed to have a guard guarding Giannis and we know we were supposed to and we allowed that to happen.”

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

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Player grades: Giannis Antetokounmpo leads Bucks past Embiid, Sixers

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Milwaukee Bucks past Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers on the road on Tuesday.

PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers returned home on Tuesday to host the Milwaukee Bucks looking to win an important matchup. The two teams had split their first two matchups and the winner of this one would earn the all-important tiebreaker in the standings in order to have the higher seed should they end in a tie in the standings.

The Bucks got off to a solid start led by Giannis Antetokounmpo before the Sixers were able to buckle down on defense and rally to take the lead. Philadelphia led for a majority of the second half, but the Bucks were able to rally late in the fourth and they walked away from Philadelphia with a 118-116 win and the tiebreaker in their possession. Antetokounmpo finished with 40 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists and a huge block on Joel Embiid for the defending champs.

James Harden led Philadelphia with a new Sixer-high 32 points, nine assists, and five rebounds and Embiid had 29 points, 14 rebounds, and seven assists to lead Philadelphia. Tobias Harris added 22, 11 rebounds, and six assists, Tyrese Maxey had seven and six assists, and Danny Green and Georges Niang had nine each off the bench.

Here are the player grades following the loss:

Doc Rivers explains why Sixers decided to start Paul Millsap vs. Heat

Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers explains why the team started Paul Millsap in the win over the Miami Heat.

PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers had to make a decision on Monday when they took on the Miami Heat. They were shorthanded as they were without both Joel Embiid and James Harden and they got set to take on the No. 1 seed in the East without their two stars.

The Sixers were able to come away with a 113-106 upset win over the Heat at home thanks to the heroic play of Tyrese Maxey as well as Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz off the bench. Maxey had 28, Milton had 20, and Korkmaz had 18.

An underrated part of the win was Paul Millsap. The 16-year veteran earned the start instead of backup big man DeAndre Jordan and he had five points, four rebounds, a steal, and a block in 23:02 of playing time.

Coach Doc Rivers explained why he went to Millsap to start in place of Embiid.

“I just like DJ off the bench,” said Rivers. “I also thought with Shake and Furk, we needed a roller with that group. With Tobias (Harris) and Tyrese, you didn’t necessarily need the roller as much. So that’s why we did it.”

Millsap proved in this one that he can still be called upon and give the Sixers a boost in a pinch. He isn’t some hugely important piece, but the veteran from Louisiana Tech can still be helpful for this team in moments such as this one.

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

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Player grades: Tyrese Maxey, shorthanded Sixers shock Heat in win

Tyrese Maxey and the shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers somehow come up with a win over the Miami Heat at home.

The Philadelphia 76ers knew the battle they were up against on Monday night. It was the second night of a back-to-back after a late start on Sunday, they were hosting the No. 1 seed in the East in the Miami Heat, and they were down both James Harden and Joel Embiid. This seemed like it was going to be a very predictable result.

However, the shorthanded Sixers put up a huge fight and they did not back down from the Heat despite not having the heavy lifters. On a night where the Sixers were expected to be blown out, they were able to somehow someway come away with a 113-106 win over the Heat.

Shake Milton hopped off the bench and had 20 points, five rebounds, and six assists in a huge effort, Tyrese Maxey led Philadelphia with 28 points and five rebounds, Furkan Korkmaz had 18 and six rebounds off the bench, and Georges Niang had 15. Tobias Harris added 14 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.

Here are the player grades from a shocking win:

Sixers big man Paul Millsap takes a pop quiz on his 16-year career

Philadelphia 76ers big man Paul Millsap takes a pop quiz on everything he has achieved in his 16-year NBA career.

Philadelphia 76ers veteran big man Paul Millsap has had one helluva career in the league. Drafted in the second round of the 2006 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz out of Louisiana Tech, Millsap has carved out a role for 16 seasons in the league.

Millsap had a lot of success with the Jazz followed by four All-Star seasons with the Atlanta Hawks before joining the Denver Nuggets and being a big part of their success. In the 2021-22 season, he has played with both the Brooklyn Nets and the Sixers as he fills more of a veteran role these days, but there is no question that he has had a terrific career.

Millsap sat down with Sixers Wire and he took a pop quiz on his career accomplishments. This continues the quiz series that has been done with Danny Green, Tobias Harris, and former Sixers big man Andre Drummond.

With that being said, let’s get into the quiz to see how much Millsap remembers about his career:

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Sixers big man Paul Millsap out vs. Bulls due to personal reasons

The Philadelphia 76ers will not have Paul Millsap on Monday when they take on the Chicago Bulls.

As the Philadelphia 76ers return home on Monday for a big matchup with the Chicago Bulls, they will have to do so while being down a man off their bench. The loss could be an opportunity for another on the roster, however.

Paul Millsap, who has served as the backup big man behind Joel Embiid since being acquired from the Brooklyn Nets, will miss Monday’s matchup with the Bulls due to personal reasons. The veteran big man is averaging 4.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in seven games thus far in Philadelphia.

With the absence of Millsap, this could mean that new big man DeAndre Jordan could receive an opportunity to be the backup center.

Jordan joined the Sixers in Miami on Saturday, but he did not play. Coach Doc Rivers turned to Millsap again to back up Embiid as Jordan had not yet got any work in with the Sixers. Now that he has some time with the team under his belt, one can suspect he’ll get some time on Monday.

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

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Player grades: Jimmy Butler leads Heat past James Harden-less Sixers

Jimmy Butler had a big night as the Miami Heat knocked off the Philadelphia 76ers who were missing James Harden on the night.

MIAMI–The Philadelphia 76ers had to head down to South Beach to take on the Miami Heat for a tough second night of a back-to-back following a rallying win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at home on Friday. The matchup was going to be tough enough, but they then found out they would be missing James Harden as well.

The Sixers got off to a slow start on the offensive end as they scored only 14 points on 21.7% shooting in the first quarter and that was the beginning of an overall tough night. To Philadelphia’s credit, they battled and they stayed in it, but it was not enough as Jimmy Butler made big plays for the Heat in a 99-82 win for Miami.

Joel Embiid had 22 points on 14-for-14 shooting from the free-throw line and 15 rebounds, Tyrese Maxey added 17 Tobias Harris had 16 and eight rebounds, and Georges Niang added nine off the bench.

Here are the player grades following the loss: