Philadelphia 76ers: 4 Most Useless Players on the Roster

The 76ers are one of the best stories in the NBA this season.  When a group of teammates come together and play hard (especially on defense) for a common goal, they are certainly capable of overachieving—and we are seeing Doug Collins get absolutely everything out of this team right now.

That doesn't mean everybody is pulling their weight, however.

As with any NBA team, the 76ers have extra bodies; some guys are just expiring contracts and some guys are just kept around for giving really good high fives after free throws.  

Without further ado, these are the four most useless players on the Philadelphia 76ers' roster.

Tony Battie

Tony Battie is nothing more than a warm, living body for Doug Collins to throw on the floor at this point in his career.

He tries, you've got to give him that, but he doesn't bring anything to this 76ers' team that they couldn't have gotten from signing another old, big dude.  With the emergence of Lavoy Allen, Tony Battie should be relegated to bench/cheerleader status once Nik Vucevic and Spencer Hawes are 100 percent healthy.

Andres Nocioni

Unfortunately for Andres Nocioni, the 76ers are a team full of athletic swingmen.

Unfortunately for the 76ers, they are paying Andres Nocioni more than $13 million over the next two seasons to be buried on the bench.

Nocioni is a great guy, Argentinia, and always moves over to give Jrue Holiday his favorite spot on the bench when Jrue needs a break; he's also one of the most useless 76ers, without a doubt.

Craig Brackins

I'm not quite sure what the deal with Craig Brackins is.

He was a good recruit going into college, he was taken in the first round of the 2010 NBA Draft (21st overall) and the Sixers gave up some useful players—Willie Green and Jason Smith—to acquire him.

So how come he's only played in 11 NBA games during his brief two-year career, with a whopping 13 total points and six total rebounds?  His career stats aren't even a double-double.

Maybe the 76ers never intended to play Brackins; maybe he tells great jokes in the locker room and they were just concerned about having a guy to keep the team loose.  Otherwise, there's no reason why a first-round pick from just one year ago should be stuck so deep on the Sixers' bench.

Francisco Elson

Let's be honest, the only reason Francisco Elson is on the 76ers is because he's seven feet tall, and seven-footers don't grow on trees (probably because they would weigh the branches down).

Though it's pretty sweet that he's actually captain of the Netherlands national basketball team, Elson has played in just three games for the 76ers this season, scored two points and grabbed one rebound.

So while I'm sure he regales the team with some crazy stories about growing up in the Netherlands during road trips, Francisco Elson doesn't bring much of anything to the table when the Sixers actually take the court.