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On Ricky Council IV, and the Sophomore Struggles that Led to his Sixers Release
By Sean Barnard
Published:
The Philadelphia 76ers officially released Ricky Council IV. This cuts their roster down to 13 players with Quentin Grimes still a restricted free agent:
Council IV went undrafted in 2023 and was picked up by the Sixers on a two-way contract. He had some really encouraging flashes as a rookie, both in the G League and across his 32 games of action at the NBA level. The Arkansas product then took a step back in his second season. Despite leading the Sixers in games played last year, he averaged 7.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists across his 17.1 minutes per game. Most concerning, his three-point percentage slipped from 37.5% to 25.8% on a larger sample size and he shot just 38.5% from the field overall. For what it is worth, this field goal percentage ranked 478th out of 558 NBA players to attempt a shot last year.
The biggest concern with Council IV was how can his athleticism and style of play be effective in a scaled-down role. But perhaps even more problematic, the 23-year-old looked increasingly uncomfortable when his level of opportunity expanded. A player who seemed to thrive in madness struggled when this exact situation played out in front of him. Council IV had plenty of chances to grab a clear role on the Sixers for the foreseeable future, but failed to do so across the injury-riddled season. It’s unfair to hold everything that went wrong last year against him, but didn’t take the opportunity and run with it, outside of a few highlight reel dunks, which made some miserable midweek games more tolerable:
From a contract perspective, the writing has been on the wall. The Sixers upgraded Council IV from his two-way contract to a four-year, full NBA deal worth $7.4 million shortly before the end of his rookie season. The deal was heavily under team control and this season’s deal, worth about $2.2 million, did not become fully guaranteed until January 10th. While there could have been a world in which the Sixers carried Council IV into the season before making a decision, Daryl Morey and the front office likely viewed this as doing right by Council IV and giving him a better chance of latching onto an NBA roster spot somewhere else.
One of the clear messages coming into the offseason was for the Sixers to get younger and more athletic. Walking away from a guy who had a case for the best athlete on roster feels like the wrong call on the surface level. But it’s totally fair to come to the conclusion that Council IV may not be an NBA player in a way that equates to winning based on last year’s sample size. He is a weird positional fit at 6-foot-6 and there just isn’t enough of a track record for him as a shooter to believe last year was a fluke. He shot 44.4% from beyond the three-point arc during his freshman year at Wichita State, but shot just 30.6% the following year and just 27.0% in his final season at Arkansas. Life on the fringes is difficult for NBA players trying to scrap their way and shooting is at a premium more than ever in the league.
The obvious pushback is to critique why 36-year-old Eric Gordon and 39-year-old Kyle Lowry remain on the roster amid these bottom of the roster changes.
For Gordon, the mistake came last offseason when giving him a player option. There was no world in which he was not back, at least until he is eligible to be traded on December 15th, unless there was a market for him out there. Gordon and the Sixers managed to work out a “If I scratch your back, you’ll scratch mine” deal, where he opted out of his player option to return on a veteran minimum. With the salary cap increasing league wide, Gordon’s contract value went from $3.4 million to $3.63 million for the upcoming season. From the Sixers’ perspective, the cap hit decreased from roughly $3.4 to about $2.4 million due to the benefit the NBA gives teams for keeping around veterans on one-year deals. Gordon playing on the Bahamas national team alongside third overall pick VJ Edgecombe certainly helped his case as well.
The critiques of Lowry returning are more fair. The Philadelphia native and Villanova product has had an impressive career on the basketball court that he wanted to end right where it started. Reading between the lines, it feels very much like Lowry wanted last year to be his ride off into the sunset season before everything that could wrong did go wrong. There is little expectation that either of these players clocks many minutes and will serve as almost entirely mentorship roles. Don’t be shocked if the “Coach Lowry” name tags on the bench are a bit more frequent this year:
13 players are officially rostered now with Grimes the last loose end. The restricted free agent market has dried up, which has been problematic for teams around the league. Josh Giddy with the Chicago Bulls, Cam Thomas with the Brooklyn Nets, and Jonathan Kuminga with the Golden State Warriors are each in a similar spot as the Sixers are with Grimes. To varying degrees, all parties would like to work out some sort of longterm deal, but with no market to bid against them it isn’t the easiest thing for the player and team to find common ground. Expect Grimes’ camp and the Sixers to continue fighting over the exact dollar figure and length of the deal, but one way or another expect him to be back in a Sixers uniform next year.
This leaves one open roster spot that the Sixers still could theoretically fill. Daryl Morey has preferred to operate with an open roster spot with flexibility in mind and the ability to try out different players. This also keeps the door open for two-for-one or three-for-two player trades during the season without being forced to release someone. It would be a pleasant surprise if another minimum contract player is added with the injury concerns on this roster in mind, but for the most part, the Sixers roster is fairly set.
The Ricky Council IV era in Philadelphia comes to an unceremonious end, but the practice of taking a chance on intriguing talents and giving them a chance to figure it out should still be praised. Morey has done an excellent job in the draft and in the undrafted market across his Philly tenure. Players like Paul Reed, Charles Bassey, Isaiah Joe, Justin Edwards, and Adem Bona aren’t what changes an organizational outlook, but they make up a much better hit rate than most general managers can boast.
I still will never forget Ricky Council IV making one of the more absurd passes I have seen and leading a comeback against the Spurs during his rookie season:
Sean Barnard has covered the Philadelphia 76ers and general Philly Sports for over six years in a variety of roles and for multiple outlets. Currently works as a Content Writer for DraftKings Network, Sixers/NBA Insider for Philadelphia's Fox Sports the Gambler, and co-host of Sixers & Phillies Digest on Youtube. Forever Trusting the Process.