No Bull, MCW saw himself as a Sixer building block
PHILADELPHIA >> By now, Michael Carter-Williams figured to be into his fourth season as a 76er, and that the rebuilding project he’d helped begin growing would be close to completion.
Instead, there he was Thursday, in the other Wells Fargo Center locker room, preparing to try to help the Chicago Bulls find their way into a postseason.
That’s how quickly his career turned, from the 2014 NBA Rookie of the Year and a foundation for the Sixers’ reconstruction to a backup utility guard for a contender. And, yes, he has often wished it could have ended better for him in Philadelphia.
“I used to think about it a lot,” he said, before scoring two points on 1-for-7 shooting in Chicago’s 102-90 victory. “I thought it was going to turn out differently since I had some success here. But the league is the league and I have moved on from it. And I’m just looking to taking steps forward and not looking back.”
Carter-Williams was the 11th overall pick in the 2013 draft before averaging 16.7 points and 6.3 assists as a rookie. But by 2015, he was gone to Milwaukee in a threeway deal that yielded the Sixers a first-round draft choice of the Lakers, by way of Phoenix. That’s the one the Sixers will collect this year, as long as it isn’t one of the top three overall picks.
In October, Carter-Williams was moving again, going from Milwaukee to Chicago, where he has made 19 starts and brought a 6.9 ppg. scoring average into the game Thursday.
“I think he’s probably more sophisticated since he’s gotten older,” Brett Brown said. “I just see a more mature player. I see a bigger person. He’s starting to fill out. He’s older, wiser, more mature, a little bit more physical with a little bit better poise, a little bit better ‘everything’ type of Michael Carter-Williams.“
Carter-Williams said he still keeps in touch with some former Sixers teammates, including Robert Covington, Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid, Hollis Thompson, Tony Wroten, Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes. But he is content in Chicago, enjoying the playoff push.
“We are all focused in, and we know we need to win,” he said. “It’s a little different. There’s a little more at stake. But every time I step on the floor, I want to win the game.” *** Dario Saric remains on a 24-minute “guideline” due to plantar fasciitis that has caused him pain in his left heel. Thursday, he shot 3-for-8 in 22 minutes, 9 seconds, producing nine points and 10 rebounds.
“I really want to play,” he said. “I really want to help the team. Twenty-four minutes: Some players can play like that, some players can’t. But it’s OK. The doctors are doing a very good job. Everybody in the organization is on the same page with how we can go forward.”
With three games remaining in a 28-51 season, Brown will do what he can to maximize Saric’s output while staying within the guideline.
“I think he has a mental fatigue as much as physical,” the coach said. “It is so crippling to him to be restricted to 24 minutes. It is so disheartening. He goes in and plays his heart out. It’s like he is gorging himself at a buffet because he is starving and the restaurant is about to close, like, ‘I have four six-minute chunks of my basketball world, where I used to play 36.’ So there is a canyon there. And that is hard for him especially. There is a disappointment that I completely respect and am with him on, and I completely understand.”
*** T.J. McConnell fell with 2:42 left in the third quarter, twisting his left ankle. He went to the locker room for X-rays, which proved negative, and he returned to the game.
Afterward, he had his ankle in an ice bucket.
“Just tweaked it,” he said. “I’ll do some treatment tomorrow and see how it goes. I caught the ball and didn’t see Jimmy Butler behind me and just kind of planted wrong and just felt pain. And I just dropped to the ground.
“You just have to let the medical staff do their job, see if you are all right. I’m in a bucket of ice, so it feels pretty numb. But I am getting better.” injured
*** NOTES >> Sergio Rodriguez missed his sixth consecutive game with a strained left hamstring. He will be re-evaluated Friday … Gerald Henderson (hip) and Tiago Splitter (leg) played despite being mentioned on the injury list … The Sixers will unveil a sculpture of Wilt Chamberlain at their Camden training complex Saturday afternoon at 1:30. Earlier, Hal Greer and Billy Cunningham were honored with similar statues … The Sixers will host the Milwaukee Bucks Saturday night at 7.