Seth Vigdor
Are you doubting that new Sixers’ lead assistant Mike D’Antoni will play a major role on this team long-term? Perhaps you’ll want to re-think that. A new report indicates that D’Antoni led the push to bring point guard Ish Smith back to the Sixers.
What’s becoming more apparent is that Sam Hinkie is losing control of the team, while Jerry Colangelo is putting his stamp on the organization.
Per John Reid of The Times Piscayune:
“Sources say newly hired Philadelphia 76ers lead assistant Mike D’Antoni is impressed with Smith’s abilities and wanted to get him on their roster.”
To free up roster space for Smith, the Sixers released Tony Wroten, who was plagued by injuries in his tenure with the Sixers.
Wroten took to twitter to thank Philly…
Wanna thank the whole philly community, coaching staff, and all my teammates. Enjoyed my time in philly. Going to miss my guys.
— Tone Wroten (@TWroten_LOE) December 24, 2015
And let the Sixers know that they made a mistake.
But……. Will show them what mistake they've made. #SavageSzn
— Tone Wroten (@TWroten_LOE) December 24, 2015
Though Sam Hinkie says he’s still in charge, as the days and hours go by, we see the truth. This is Smith’s second stint with the Sixers. He was first with the Sixers in February of last year, following a release from the Pelicans, and went on to close out the 2014-2015 on the team. He was let go by Hinkie and the team after the season.
Prepare to see more and more Colangelo/D’Antoni power plays in the future. This was just the start.