NBA: New Orleans Pelicans, Philadelphia 76ers Interested in Journeyman PG Ish Smith
Journeyman point guard Ish Smith has officially signed with the New Orleans Pelicans, per NBA.com. He will be playing for his ninth team in six seasons. The Philadelphia 76ers also tried to sign the 27-year-old, according to a report by Scott Kushner on Twitter.
According to his NBA Profile, Smith started his career with the Houston Rockets in 2010 as an undrafted free agent. He was then traded to the Memphis Grizzlies. He was claimed by the Golden State Warriors the next season before signing with the Orlando Magic.
He was then traded again; this time, to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Tobias Harris deal. He was traded again in the offseason of 2013 to the Phoenix Suns, where he played for 70 games. Last season, he signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder before being traded again to the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Pelicans then waived him before playing any game with them, per NBA.com. He then signed with the 76ers for the rest of the season where he played 25 games, posting career-high averages on almost all categories. He averaged 12.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.3 steals while playing 27.1 minutes, per Basketball-Reference.com.
New Orleans currently has one healthy point guard in veteran Nate Robinson. The team is without Tyreke Evans due to an arthroscopic knee surgery and Norris Cole because of a high ankle sprain. Both guards are out for the first few weeks of the regular season while starting point guard Jrue Holiday is limited to 15 minutes per game until January because of a stress fracture on his leg last season, as reported by The Advocate.
The report noted that the addition of Smith brought the total of the roster to 15 as they recently cut Jeff Adrien, Bryce DeJean-Jones and Bo McCalebb. He was with the Washington Wizards during the preseason, playing in all of their games before being waived.
The speedy point guard played four years of college at Wake Forest University. He averaged 9.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.3 steals in 30.3 minutes while shooting 42.5 percent from the field and 30.1 percent from the three-point area, according to NBA Stats.
As for the Sixers, they still have options on the point guard position with Isaiah Canaan, Pierre Jackson, Kendall Marshall, T.J. McConnell and Scottie Wilbekin on the roster, per Bleacher Report. Sixers big man Nerlens Noel told Philly.com that Smith was the first true point guard he had ever played with in the NBA.
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