76ers release Justin Holiday

The 76ers have released Justin Holiday, per Eric Pincus of Hoopsworld.

According to Pincus, more of Justin Holiday's 2013-2014 salary would have become guaranteed had he been on the roster after August 15th.

Holiday, the older brother of former face-of-the-franchise point guard Jrue Holiday, appeared in 9 games for the 76ers last saeason, averaging 4.7 points on percentages you don't want to remember.  Besides his relation to Jrue Holiday, Justin Holiday was intriguing for his length, defensive potential, and the improvement in his outside shot.  After shooting just 25% during his sophomore season at Washignton, Holiday improved to be a 41.2% three point shooter in 47 D-League games last season, although he struggled from distance in his short stint with the 76ers.

The 76ers are still over $10 million under the 2013-2014 salary cap.  The full amount of Holiday's contract for the season would have been just under $800k.  No word yet on exactly how much of that would have become guaranteed had he been on the roster tomorrow.

After a 4 year career at the University of Washington, where Holiday averaged 10.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists during his senior season, Holiday went undrafted in the 2011 NBA draft.  He averaged 17.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the Idaho Stampede last season before his call-up, and appeared on the 76ers summer league team each of the past two seasons.

I suppose the rationale is that a couple hundred thousand dollars could prove to be valuable flexibility towards the trade deadline to make a deal happen.  Or perhaps 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie has something up his sleeve sooner than that which requires the flexibility.  Regardless, I thought Holiday had the potential to be relaitvely useful, and his salary was rather insignificant.