He is clearly one of the Sixers’ good shots in the last offseason. Georges Niang thus joined Philadelphia for 6.8 million dollars over two years, and the strong winger brings “spacing” around Joel Embiid off the bench, with 9.4 points on average at almost 40% success at 3-points.
It is however a complicated season in Philadelphia, with the melodrama around Ben Simmons. Internally, the former Jazz confirms that the transfer of the Australian was experienced as a relief.
“What had happened before, with the whole Ben Simmons affair was frustrating, it’s true” he thus explained in the podcast of JJ Redick. “At the end of the day, I know mental health is real and should be taken seriously, but a lot of us came here to win. We are all well paid and we have a job to do. It’s our job, we get paid to be basketball players, and while I understand your health comes first, in the grand scheme of things, we depended on him, we depended on him to be able to win a championship.” .
For Georges Niang, who had signed with the Sixers to be able to play for the title, it was therefore particularly frustrating, and the arrival of James Harden can therefore only be positive.
“That we were able to get someone else who is of the same caliber, or even better, was like a breath of fresh air… For us, it was almost like a ‘Yes!’ we have someone who wants to be here, who wants to fit into our culture and who wants to grow with us as a teammate, as a team, and use their basketball knowledge to take us to the next level” continues the strong winger.
Impressed by James Harden
The former Pacers and Jazz player also thinks of the few “collateral victims” of the standoff.
“Andre (Drummond), who never even played with Ben, and Seth (Curry), their lives changed because someone else didn’t want to be in a place. It was a reminder that this is a business. These guys have to leave all the places they’re comfortable in the middle of a season, learn new systems, get acclimated to a new coach, a new style. It’s pretty crazy. And for me, it’s one of those moments where you go from ‘Oh, these are my guys, this is my family’ to ‘Wow, this is a business, do I really want being too close to someone because I don’t want to feel the pain of being traded or feeling betrayed’. “
Nevertheless, on a personal level, Georges Niang seems very happy with the exchange, especially since the first training sessions with James Harden impressed him and allow him to dream of the title again.
“He’s so comfortable, even on a 5-v-0 attack, he calculates the cuts and goes at real speed, he attacks as fast as he can, and sends the ball the other way…Obviously , with his hamstring, they’re gonna try to keep him out of some stuff. There was a time when we were doing multiple 5-on-0s and he would sprint to one side while we were on the court, set up with us on the system, then sprint back to the other side again. He’s just really diligent about what he does and it makes you realize that guys like him, there’s a reason they’re special. I was quite impressed. “
| George Niang | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2016-17 | IND | 23 | 4 | 25.0 | 8.3 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.9 |
| 2017-18 | UTH | 9 | 4 | 36.4 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| 2018-19 | UTH | 59 | 9 | 47.5 | 41.0 | 83.3 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 4.0 |
| 2019-20 | UTH | 66 | 14 | 43.8 | 40.0 | 83.3 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 5.9 |
| 2020-21 | UTH | 72 | 16 | 43.7 | 42.5 | 95.7 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 6.9 |
| 2021-22 | PHL | 54 | 23 | 43.3 | 39.7 | 86.3 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 2.6 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 9.4 |
| Total | 283 | 14 | 43.5 | 40.2 | 86.5 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 5.9 | |
