According to Director of Public Relations, Michael Preston, the Sixers have officially announced the signing of veteran big man, Francisco Elson.
#Sixers announce signing of veteran center Francisco Elson. He will wear no. 16 and is at morning practice. The roster now stands at 14.
With Spencer Hawes and Nikola Vucevic out with injury, and Marreese Speights shipped to Memphis earlier this season, the Sixers were in desperate need for a big man. Since Vooch went down with a leg injury against the Heat Tony Battie and Lavoy Allen have been receiving significant minutes in the front court, leaving the Sixers vulnerable on the glass, which explains the team's abysmal rebounding numbers in Wednesday's loss against the Nets.
Besides the fact that Elson is seven feet tall, I have no idea how he continues to con teams into believing he's a serviceable big man, especially at his age. He has a career PER of 10.0 (5 below average) and a career DREB% of 18.5 (also below average for big men).
From reading our neighborhood D-League blog, Ridiculous Upside, I can tell you that there are better big men prospects available, but for unknown reasons Doug Collins and Rod Thorn like the veteran-ness of guys like Tony Battie and Francisco Elson.
Dan Gadzuric also worked out for the Sixers. Not only has he been a better player than Elson throughout their careers, but he's younger. If the move was for a veteran, and a veteran only, I would've preferred Gadzuric, or Dong, for comedic purposes.
The only good that comes from this signing is the likelihood of more open letters to the Frozone look-a-like.