The Sixers Sign Sergio Rodriguez: At Long Last Point Guard?

(Apologies for that YouTube audio track. Beggars, choosers.)

For $8 million on a 1-year deal, the hometown laundry has a new lottery ticket to fill the glaring need at point guard: Sergio Rodriguez, the Spanish national and past Olympic hero.

Rodriguez is 30, 6-foot-3, a past MVP in his Euroleague for Real Madrid, and seems, well, more capable than most of the guys that have been given the gig. He was 48% from the floor, 38% from three, and with past experience at three NBA stops in Portland, Sacramento and New York. He's also an ex-first round pick from Phoenix, albeit one of those very late ones. The fact that he didn't stick in the Association back in the day is not encouraging, but guys can get better at a later age, and what the hell, anything that keeps me from watching Kendall Marshall has to be a win. Besides, he comes to town with a nickname ("El Chaco") and a reputation for flair, and for a team that desperately needs that from the backcourt, there are worse things.

Judging from the YouTube clips, he's now got a poor man's James Harden beard, good size and tolerable handle (it's a little high), and a good sense of how the game is played now, in re three point arc awareness. He also seems to be the kind of guy who teammates like playing with, judging from older NBA clips, though you won't see a lot of defense. Lots of behind the back stuff. Take a look for yourself, but he's got more than a little Ginobili in him to my eyes.

Oh, and one last thing to temper enthusiasm; they seemingly got him away from Brooklyn. Which isn't exactly as if they got him away from an NBA team. But again, for a year and $8 million, that's about as low risk as you can get for a free agent signing in 2016. Also, given the low contract length, he's probably coming in super motivated to make some of that sick NBA money in next year's free agent class. So... maybe even something of a bargain?