:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/41212662/20140416_mje_bm1_855.jpg.0.jpg)
Philadelphia has made a handful of minor moves following yesterday's preseason opener. The team announced it had waived power forward Jarvis Varnado and swingman Keith Bogans, and added Drew Gordon and Malcolm Lee in their place.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Malcolm Lee and Drew Gordon have been added to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sixers?src=hash">#Sixers</a>' preseason roster. Jarvis Varnado and Keith Bogans were waived to create space.</p>— Max Rappaport (@MaxRappaport) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaxRappaport/status/519583496826675202">October 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Waiving Bogans is of no surprise, as it seemed the team would grant him freedom a la Danny Granger last season. However, it's a small shock to see Varnado go, especially this early in the preseason. He spent 23 games with the Sixers last year, and did basically what was asked of him: block a ton of shots. He averaged 1.3 blocks in just under 15 minutes of action a night, and averaged 4.3 points to go with 2.7 rebounds.
That still means Brandon Davies, who averaged 4.4 points on 5-22 shooting in Summer League, is to my bewilderment still on this team. There are zero abilities in his skill set that make him worth keeping over Varnado, and his run with this franchise is one for the record books.
Rim protection is a premium in this league, but apparently having Varnado at the end of your bench is not nearly as important when you have a power forward who does things like this:
<iframe class="vine-embed" src="https://vine.co/v/OKd1Q5e5BUL/embed/simple" width="600" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe><script async src="//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The addition of Lee and Gordon to the roster have been rumored for over a week now, but now we know the reason for the delays. Gordon did little to impress me in Las Vegas, but I'm eager to see if Lee can show off an iota of perimeter scoring that this team could desperately use.