The Philadelphia 76ers were the team that allowed Guerschon Yabusele to make his impressive and successful return to the NBA after five years playing in Europe. In fact, the team helped him increase his value, but as everyone knows, that partnership didn’t last as long as people expected.
Yabusele only had a minimum one-year contract with the 76ers last season, and thanks to the 76ers effectively rejecting any chance they had of securing his services with a new contract by not giving him a raise, the burly Frenchman unexpectedly headed to the Big Apple to join the New York Knicks in free agency.
The versatile forward was seen as a smart addition to the Knicks, who needed depth at power forward. Unfortunately for the former 76ers tweener, he is now well on his way to becoming an afterthought in New York’s rotation. Mike Brown hasn’t played much against him, and at this point there’s no telling if the stars will still align for him to play consistent minutes again for his new ball club.
Guerschon Yabusele drops out with no signs of recovery
Yabusele is averaging 9.9 minutes per game for the Knicks through eight games – a far cry from the 27.1 minutes he averaged for the 76ers last season, when he juggled both in the starting unit and off the bench.
The Knicks should play him more, but new head coach Mike Brown doesn’t seem too convinced about his current production. While his lack of playing time is suspect due to his inability to shoot the ball well, he has struggled overall. He has converted a paltry 27.8 percent of his total field goal attempts, while his 23.1 percent conversion rate from Rainbow Country has only made it harder for him to crack the regular rotation.
There’s no point in enjoying someone else’s misery, but Yabusele would have played a much more important role had he stayed with the 76ers. However, the money talks in the free agency, and with Philly coming out with a weak offer when the open market officially opened its curtains this summer, he likely still views his new deal as a key measure of success.
Hopefully Guerschon Yabusele can still turn things around for the Knicks, although the hope is that he will do that against any other team. After all, the Philadelphia 76ers wouldn’t be too keen on a revenge game, right?
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