Philadelphia 76ers sign Kai Jones to 10-day deal | PHLY Sixers

Philadelphia 76ers sign Kai Jones to 10-day deal | PHLY Sixers

Kai Jones 10day contract again a first round pick for the Charlotte Hornets and he played a few seasons there with the basketball team bad basketball team talented player where they take him in the first round as they try to look at some young players develop them and with

His athletic ability uh pretty raw as a player where they felt like maybe again with the coaching staff they could develop him into a a nice role player who knows maybe even more they’ve drafted a lot of bigs there from Nick Richards to uh Mark Williams from duke

As well and Kai Jones was another piece but then things just kind of went the other way and at the end of the season and into the off season that’s again that’s one way of putting it they went the other way where they had to make a

Decision where the guy was on videos dancing on I don’t know Tik Tok or Instagram wherever social media kids in their Tik Tok exactly well that’s a whole another story but he got cut he got waved and like wow this talented young player playing with a bad team where you get

Minutes to see if you can play in this league and do some things well it wasn’t enough to keep him on the roster since then he has not been picked up by a professional team he did play a couple of games with uh his Bohemian national

Team as they try to figure out some feea things there for qualifying uh for them but other than that he has not played a lick of professional basketball for the NBA for for another team overseas for the G League any of that and here we are

Right now Derek where we have the 76ers picking him up on a 10-day contract how much can he actually help this basketball team over the span of 10 days what does this mean yeah so he Kai Jones is a 23-year-old just turned 23 has played not a whole lot of basketball

You know two years with Charlotte not big minutes in either ones obviously played more in the second season than the first but was not a fixture of the rotation you know it is a bit of a weird signing because on the one hand you look at a 10-day contract say all right

They’re signing him to help now right they think they can get some minutes out of him maybe he’s he’s you know no bomba he’s not Mo Boma so you’ll have less bomba that maybe no bomba should have been our um thumbnail text that would be

The theory behind it but I just when I look at him as a player forget all of the offc court stuff forget all the maturity all that stuff when I just look at him as a player I’m not sure he’s ready to help out on the floor anyway

But I also don’t think darl m is in a spot where he is looking for a long-term project on this roster either nor would you think so given the fact that he is signing a a 10-day contract so it’s it’s makes sense in the fact that they really

Could use another Center option because moama has not been good for most of the season but on the other hand he doesn’t fit either a a help now player or a long-term project player there’s part of me that wonders like all right maybe they just gave him a 10-day contract

Because that’s 10 days where you get a chance to like be up close evaluate him see whether or not he has a chance to because there’s a lot of talk out there of his maturity of other stuff you get a chance to talk to him see him up front

See if maybe there is a chance you could fill a rooll now or see if maybe he’s somebody who’s who you’re you’re interested in long term um it’s just like an extended interview process maybe that’s what this is about I’m really interested to see whether or not he sees

The floor for any meaningful minutes here I think what I said before the show over under of 20 minutes during his 10-day contract I’m not sure I’d take the over which like and maybe part of this is there’s roster where you can only go two weeks without having uh 14

Players on the roster maybe they just needed to fill a roster spot and occupy a roster spot by league rules so why not grab an athletic big man maybe it’s just as simple as that but I guess it’s a very long-winded way of me saying my expectations are pretty

Low yeah and I would say this we can get into the actual basketball tools and talent it it’s all about as as Derek said getting to know this guy and being up close some personal with this guy Derek actually pointed me to an interview pointed us I

Should say an interview he did after being waved in Charlotte it was with a high school teammate of his and look some time has passed since then that was months ago I’m sure he’s gotten talking to by representation family friends whatever trying to get his head on

Straight after how we left Charlotte but we’re talking about a guy who sat in this interview and said he wants to be a combination of Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman he also thinks that he can be Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson yeah in one person well and then he thinks he

Can be a billionaire and build rocket ships so he wants to be Michael Jordan Michael Jackson and Elon Musk which thinks he can be a great rapper a great singer and it’s like look I I don’t I’m never going to hold someone down from you have many interests you want to do a

Lot of things that’s great athletes have a lot of free time on their hands so I’m not trying to stifle him and his creativity and who he wants to be but when you’re a guy who has scored 179 total career points and has generally shown to be let’s be charitable we’ll

Say erratic when you’re on the floor let alone off of it like I the mental side of the game has been a struggle for him at times just saying dialed in and engaged and and not taking stupid fouls and so on so forth and so I don’t see anything that suggests

That he has learned what he needed to learn from being cut he also said as part of that interview that he was asked to go to therapy by the Hornets and initially rejected it started going and then told the Hornets essentially this isn’t working for me and the Hornets said okay

This is according to Kai Jones anyway the Hornets then said well then you’re not welcome at training camp cuz they believed it was important for him to go and try to better himself and you know reenter himself after an erratic off season and so I hope that he has used

This time to re-calibrate and look within himself and see like here’s the thing where I’m coming from if you can’t be good at and focus on your actual job the thing that we know maybe he’s not good in terms of the NBA scale but good on a worldwide scale right like he’s

Been one of the 450 he was a first round pick etc etc so he’s got the talent to be there focus on that and then the rest of the stuff maybe will come at some point maybe you’ll be able to drop a a shitty mixtape down the road or like get

A picture with Elon Musk but like to sit here when you are out of the league entirely and being like yeah I’m going to be a multi-billionaire building spaceships in a combination on Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson uh needless to say I’m a little bit dubious of all

That yeah and look to your point you don’t want to begrudge guy for having big dreams but it’s one thing to have goals and to work towards those goals it’s another thing to truthfully believe that you currently are and I’m not sure I’m confident he is on the right side of

That Spectrum there he has a really good opportunity here with this basketball team because of the no bomba things that you guys talk about where they badly need frontcourt help uh they had a player in Kenny Lawson Jr who was here for a while could never get a sniff on

The Sixers roster after destroying the g-league for the Delaware Blue coats then you get the 10day contract from Darius basley never sniff the floor either as well as he was playing with the Delaware Blue coats both have S both have sent sign some non-g guaranteed

Deals with the Utah Jazz so they can get a peak because they are in a different situation than the 76ers are and that’s where I kind of look at this one with Kai Jones The Talented first round player that he was was coming out of of school taken by Charlotte but again just

Going back to all the things that both Kyle and Derek have talked about it’s you can’t ignore the off the court things but when it comes to the on the floor stuff he had a golden opportunity with a bad basketball team to really establish himself as an NBA player in

This league so where is his Focus where is his mindset of how if he wants to be that good he showed us a little bit already there in Charlotte now maybe this demotion of not being an NBA player being out the entire season and not linking up with an NBA team until March

Maybe that has done something for him because in that interview that KY was talking about he mentioned while speaking to the interviewer that he was in conversation with a lot of teams they were trying to do some feedback on them but guess what that was a long time ago

In NBA year in NBA in the NBA season and we are again in March where there are under 20 games for every NBA team team and they are trying to focus on the playoffs and the seating and all those things and no one has signed him so if

He is serious which is why he signed this contract then he again is in a good opportunity a good situation because they badly need front Court help they’re playing KJ Martin Center minutes when Mo Boma and Paul Reed are not getting anything done Mo Boma is is playing

Terrible basketball right now he has his moments but he’s playing terrible basketball Nick Batum is your Center they need front help and that’s why it was sad to say it at that time where we at least wanted to see what Darius basley could help just during that 10

Day stretch a little bit we didn’t see much from him either so I’m very curious just like these guys are curious into seeing what he actually has how much has he worked out during the time off how sharp is he he had to go through a

Workout for the Sixers to sign him to this 10day what did they see and will we get a chance to see it so again he has pretty good opportunity here uh just to be a guy to be athletic to run the floor to use his smarts out there on the floor

And not be in space as Jean said he’s probably already in the spaceship right now well we’re going to find out maybe he on the spaceship we’re going to find out whether he is on the floor or not we’re going to find out how good he is

If he plays any minute any minutes and how meaningful will they be and then again we’re going to find out if he doesn’t get men because that will tell the story also if you can somehow harness him very good athlete right and I think potentially keyword potentially which

That’s like the operative word with Kai Jones I think he could be a lob threat in a way that neither of their two current bigs are like that’s not Paul Reed’s game it is certainly not Mo bomba and so you put him in pick and rolls and

Throw it up there he can go get it that is helpful because downhill gravity like that whether it’s for Tyrese Maxi buddy hee who we’ve seen run a decent amount of pick and rolls with Paul Reed or even you know God forbid they run offense thr

Him maybe Tobias Harris you like try to run him in some actions with a just simplify it it’s like hey that guy is big and athletic you just have to throw it in a decent radius he can go up and get it and may finish years listen I’m grasing entry pass here

You what do you want from me you just go to campign man let that let him throw that L him or Kyle Lowry let them throw the lobs so I’m just trying to look at that’s that would be the hope I to your initial point you made DK I’m not sure

He even gets on the floor I do think nurse for all our complaints about moamba has shown at least a decent amount of trust in him like he’s started quite a bit and some of that is because it seems that Paul is better in that bench activity energy role how Kai

Factors into the picture I’m not exactly sure yet but look got to give him his opportunity we’ve seen guys come in here that one or all of us did not love coming in that have had moments in the sun while they’re here so maybe Kai comes in has one or two good

Performances gets another 10day we’ll see where this goes but yeah I mean if there was a lot of belief in him around the league he wouldn’t have survived on the open market this long rebuilding team would have said yeah let’s bring him in and see if goat life is what he

Believes it is no there I mean look he has enough athletic talent and enough you he gives good enough effort that I am intrigued by what he might become in four years if he matures enough and you know gets his you know he talked in that interview that we mentioned about being

A one through five and he didn’t talk about defending one through five like no he thinks he can play one through five on both sides of the floor if he gets a fmer grasp on reality I’m interested to see what he can become because he has a lot of physical tools

And he does play hard and the Sixers I’m desperate to watch any tall human being that’s not moamba so like I get it from that perspective but my expectations are sort of low on a 10day we all like the May

Kyle, Devon, and Derek discuss Kai Jones, the Sixers’ most recent pick-up, and his signing of a 10-day contract. What is the likelihood that Kai will see any minutes at all? What does he bring to the table? All those answers and more in this clip from the PHLY Sixers Podcast.

Watch the full episode here!: https://www.youtube.com/live/BxVWwcz2XWU?feature=shared

An ALLCITY Network Production

SUBSCRIBE: www.youtube.com/@PHLY_Sports

WEBSITE:
http://allPHLY.com/

BUY MERCH:
http://PHLYLocker.com

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: @PHLY_Sports
Instagram: @PHLY_Sports