Philadelphia 76ers Richaun Holmes Patiently Awaits His Turn

The Philadelphia 76ers Richaun Holmes has shown signs of huge upside. But as the team must be patient with his development, he must show equal patience as well. The team has a place for Holmes, but right now they aren’t certain what that role might become.

Being a big man on the Philadelphia 76ers is not always a good thing.  When you are a second round draft pick from the 2015 NBA draft trying to get playing minutes behind the likes of Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, and soon to be Joel Embiid, you are grateful for whatever comes your way.   The other thing?  You must make every second of your playing time count.  And for the 69th selectee of the 2015 NBA draft from Bowling Green, Richaun Holmes is doing just that.

On a team bursting with youth, 22 year old Holmes is mature for his age, and displays that same level of maturity in his approach to the NBA.  It would be easy for a second round pick to mail in the season and hope he catches on with a team with less of a logjam.  It would be easy for a player to see the record of the Philadelphia 76ers and expect that he could slide his foot off the throttle and nobody would notice. It would be easy for a young man to see the crowded front court and assume there is no place for him on this team at this time. But Richaun Holmes does things the hard way. He doesn’t cut corners. And he’s chipping away at playing time.

Holmes is a young man with good upside.  He’s making the most of his time on the court, and thanks to his family is making the best of things off the court.  But even a work-a-holic needs a trainer and mentor.  And while much is being made of the mentoring occuring throughout the Philadelphia 76ers organization, power forward Carl Landry is contributing in his own way to the development of the front court of the Philadelphia 76ers.

"I knew from Day 1 that he was going to be a good player in this league,” Landry said. “He’s a competitor, has a good basketball IQ, understands the game and spacing. He’s athletic and can run the floor, can shoot. For a big, he can post a little bit and all those things will get better over time. He’s a guy that I see running in this league for a long time. It’s hard for everybody (not playing), even myself. But you have to realize that it’s a marathon. The goal is to play in the NBA. You’ve just got to overcome situations. That’s what I put in the ear of guys like Richaun.”"

Landry is not the only one noticing.  “You just get a more seasoned type of player. His progress is better explained because of that background.” – Brett Brown describes growth of Richaun Holmes.

That progress is what is earning him an ever increasing dose of playing time.  That is, after he had injured his hamstring early in the season.   Since that time, he’s been in a rotation where he alternates playing time with Carl Landry and Nerlens Noel, and soon Elton Brand.  His minutes have remained because Noel has rotated in for center Jahlil Okafor and Holmes has slid in to play for Noel.

So far, that is enough.

“Now I’m starting to figure out my place,” Holmes said.

Holmes has been very aware of the glut of talent in the front court. He shed between five and 10 pounds of body fat before the season to improve his strength around the basket, and he’s focused work-outs towards becoming a better finisher around the rim.  With only 14 minutes per game, he averages 2.5 rebounds and 6.1 points per game.   But that is not in a steady stream of game playing either.  Sometimes he plays more.  Sometimes he sits.  But Brown only lets a player sit so long on this team.  Each healthy set of hands will get to play ball on this team eventually.

"I try not to concentrate on it and just try to focus or do what I can to help the team win, whether that’s cheering from the bench or doing something well at practice,” Holmes said. “I just try to focus on bringing a positive energy to the team and try to help us in any game any way I can. Development is extremely important. They invest a lot of time in the players here and try to get us better and make us longtime NBA players. I just have to continue to have the mindset of working hard every day in every situation and try to get better. We work on a lot of things, from shooting to putting the ball on the floor more and post moves. We work on every aspect of the game to make me a complete NBA player."

This team is developing players, team and coaches.  Eventually, minutes will be directed towards the best players on the team.  At that point in time, Holmes will likely be one of them.