Sixers sign C Daniel Orton, waive C Tim Ohlbrecht
By Brad Rowland
It has been less than a week since former University of Kentucky center (and former 1st-round pick of the Orlando Magic) Daniel Orton was waived by the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it appears that he wasn’t out of work for long.
#Sixers sign free agent Daniel Orton and waive center Tim Ohlbrecht. Preseason roster stands at 20 players. MORE: http://t.co/60U2CJeNhP
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 16, 2013
As reported above by the team itself, the Philadelphia 76ers have signed Orton to a training camp contract, and in order to so, the team waived incumbent center Tim Ohlbrecht.
This is being billed as yet another “shoot for the stars” move for the new regime in Philadelphia, and I couldn’t agree more with that assessment. Orton is an extremely talented (read: a 7-footer who is athletic) player who lacks the necessary NBA skills to be a solid player at this stage, but if he develops, he could be a no-doubt asset in the future.
In 29 games over 2 seasons, Orton has averaged only 2.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game in 10.0 minutes per contest. However, Philadelphia is in unmitigated “tanking” mode at this stage, and adding another young (Orton is still only 23) asset is something that makes complete sense to that organization. For me, it’s tough to foresee a situation where Orton is a real, live NBA center, but for the small cost of parting ways with Tim Ohlbrecht, it’s certainly worth a shot.