The Atlanta Hawks had one hole in their rotation and that was for another big off the bench. They filled that by acquiring Ersan Ilyasova from the Philadelphia 76ers for Tiago Splitter, a second round pick and a pick swap for another second rounuder.

Atlanta picked up Splitter from the Spurs in the summer of 2015, as San Antonio looked to clear space to sign LaMarcus Aldridge. Splitter has played in just 36 games (all in 2015-16) since then, as he’s battled a series of different injuries. Given his inability to play, this isn’t much for the Hawks to give up to get another big man who can help them. Atlanta also owned several extra second round picks from past trades, so they were not giving up a lot there either.

The Hawks have been getting by with Mike Muscala and Kris Humphries backing up Paul Millsap and Dwight Howard, but had turned to smaller players in recent weeks while Muscala was injured and Humphries ineffective. Ilyasova should go a long way to solving the issue of a consistent backup big. He’ll likely backup Millsap primarily, but could pair with him in some small ball arrangements. Given Howard’s proclivity to get into foul trouble, having another capable big man on the roster is always smart.

Ilyasova isn’t a great defender and doesn’t offer any rim protection, but that overlooks the things he can do. He’s a career 36.7% shooter from the behind the arc and hitting at 35.9% this year with Philadelphia. He’s also a very solid rebounder, with a career defensive rebound percentage of 19.4. He’s also annually among the leaders in charges taken, so while he doesn’t block shots, he is a decent positional defender. For a backup big man, you can do much worse than Ilyasova. 

As for long term cap implications, there are none. Both Ilyasova and Splitter were expiring contracts this year and will hit free agency. Becoming a free agent will end a long journey for Ilyasova who has played for Milwaukee, Detroit, Orlando, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia and now Atlanta since 2015.

Grade for Atlanta: B

When Philadelphia parted ways with Sam Hinkie and brought in Bryan Colangelo, the thought was that the 76ers were done eating contracts for assets in the form of draft picks. Instead we’ve seen the Sixers eat the deals for Sasha Kaun, Tibor Pleiss and Tiago Splitter all this season alone.

That isn’t to criticize this trade. Getting anything, even second round picks, for a player who is unlikely to be part of your future, and not part of any sort of present success, is good work. It is just a departure from what we all believed to be the new norm in Philadelphia.

On the court, Ilyasova had been giving Philadelphia good outside shooting and solid rebounding next to Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel. But he was blocking the starting spot for Dario Saric, who is more in the plans than Ilyasova ever could hope to be. And if Ben Simmons is to return this season, he’s likely to log some minutes at power forward as well. This trade will now free up all of those minutes to go to Saric and some combination of Robert Covington, Nerlens Noel and Richaun Holmes until Simmons is ready to play.

Splitter is unlikely to ever suit up for Philadelphia and could be bought out. As with Ilyasova, there is no long term impact on the cap because Splitter is an expiring contract. He does make slightly more money than Ilyasova this year, so it brings the Sixers just a touch closer to the salary floor as well. 

Overall, this is a smart trade that harkens back to the Hinkie days. But one has to wonder if Hinkie might have been able to squeeze some sort of protected first that eventually becomes two seconds out of a productive player like Ilyasova, versus just one second rounder and a pick swap out of the gate.

Grade for Philadelphia: B-