Summary judgments: Daryl Morey wins big with Guerschon Yabusele, and will the real Bryson Stott please stand up?
Yabusele stole the show at the Olympics and now is expected to join a loaded Sixers roster. Meanwhile, here's a look at Stott's numbers and how they relate to the Phils' winning ways.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. The Phillies have an awful lot riding on who Bryson Stott turns out to be.
Check out the following sets of numbers.
The first set comes from Stott’s games from late-May 2023 to late-May 2024. Essentially, it is a consecutive year of Stott’s production, not including the postseason.
The second set is Stott’s production in his games outside of that yearlong stretch: the first couple months of the 2023 season and the past 2½ months of this season.
Set 1: May 21, 2023, through May 18, 2024:
Stott’s numbers in 150 games: .279/.349/.444 (.793 OPS), 17 home runs, 38/41 steals, 93 strikeouts, 54 walks in 608 plate appearances.
Phillies record in Stott’s 150 games played: 93-57.
Set 2: March 30 to May 20, 2023, and May 19 to Aug. 13, 2024:
Stott’s numbers in 110 games: .240/.282/.321 (.603 OPS), six home runs, 16/18 steals, 73 strikeouts and 26 walks, in 453 plate appearances.
Phillies record in Stott’s 110 games played: 52-58.
That pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?
For a solid year, Stott put up All-Star-caliber numbers at second base with a .793 OPS, 17 home runs, and 38 steals. During that solid year, the Phillies played at a 100-win pace.
Outside of that year, Stott put up well-below-average production at second base, and the Phillies played at a 76-win pace.
» READ MORE: No one is on a 100-win pace. What’s happened to the super teams?
Obviously, Stott himself wasn’t solely responsible for that 24-win gap in the Phillies’ record. There were plenty of other variables in play, both in early 2023 and the last few months of this season. Stott’s offensive struggles weren’t the cause of the Phillies’ pitching struggles during those stretches. They just happened to coincide. That’s the real reason the win disparity is so dramatic. That said, Stott is very much an X factor in this Phillies offense.
We saw it on Sunday. Both sides of it, really. Down, 4-2, in the sixth inning, Stott lofted a 2-1 fastball from Jake Irvin into the right-field seats. Brandon Marsh followed with a solo homer of his own, and the game was tied.
The tie didn’t last long. Matt Strahm and Jeff Hoffman allowed runs, and the Phillies saw their four-game winning streak snapped by the Nats. One of the biggest questions for the Phillies in the short term is what kind of hitter their young second baseman will turn out to be.
Morey’s on a roll
At the very least, the Sixers have given LeBron James something to think about.
French power forward Guerschon Yabusele stole the show in the Olympics with his viral dunk over the King in France’s gold-medal game loss to the United States. Apparently, he also stole the heart of Daryl Morey and Nick Nurse, both of whom were in Paris keeping a close eye on the men’s basketball tournament.
Bienvenue chez les Sixers, monsieur.
Yabusele, a former Celtics first-round pick who has spent the last several seasons playing overseas, reportedly is close to signing a veteran-minimum deal with the Sixers that will give Nurse and Morey the power-forward depth they’d been searching for.
It’s a move with some upside. Maybe not as much as the Sixers landed last year when they convinced Kelly Oubre Jr. to sign a veteran-minimum deal in September. But Yabusele flashed plenty of rotation-worthy tools while starting for France throughout its Olympic run. At 6-foot-8, 260 pounds, he gives the Sixers a more traditional big-bodied power forward option to go with the fleet of wings they have in presumptive starters Oubre, Paul George, and Caleb Martin, and backups KJ Martin and Ricky Council IV.
Yabusele didn’t contribute much in his first stint in the NBA. The Celtics drafted him with the No. 16 overall pick in 2016. He played in 74 games over a couple of seasons, totaling 486 minutes before Boston waived him in July 2019.
Yabusele acquitted himself well in the Paris Olympics. He averaged 23.3 minutes, 14 points, and 3.3 rebounds while competing in a tournament stocked with NBA talent. He has some shooting touch, with a career .407 three-point percentage in eight international seasons.
» READ MORE: Guerschon Yabusele joining Sixers after breakout performance for France in Paris Olympics
The Sixers probably shouldn’t be counting on any of those numbers to translate to the NBA. But it’s certainly worth finding out. At the very least, he gives them a big body who will diversify their options behind Embiid. With Yabusele, Andre Drummond, and rookie big man Adem Bona they have a trio of varied skilled sets who should give Nurse plenty of room to experiment when it comes to filling non-Embiid minutes. As we’ve seen in seasons past, there isn’t such a thing as too much depth in the frontcourt.
With the Sixers expected to carry an open roster spot into the season, the signing of Yabusele (presumably) caps a flawless offseason for Morey and Sixers ownership. They began the summer with a blank canvas beyond Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Not only did they sign George, but they built out a solid starting five with Oubre and Martin and a deep, veteran-laden bench with playoff-tested guards and some intriguing young talent in rookie first-round draft pick Jared McCain and second-year player Council. Morey has taken a lot of heat over the last year. Give the man his due.