Is it time for the Philadelphia 76ers to roll with Richaun Holmes?
The Philadelphia 76ers (understandably) dropped Thursday night’s matchup with the Boston Celtics, struggling at times against an elite defense on the second night of a back-to-back. Oh, and Joel Embiid was out too.
But there were some concerns that are worth touching on. Robert Covington is still struggling to find his shot, and Amir Johnson looked bad — really, really bad.
This has been somewhat of a trend for Johnson. He has had some promising flashes, but tends to produce absolute duds on occasion. Playing a bigger role than normal against high-end defenders like Al Horford and Aron Baynes probably didn’t help his cause, but he simply failed to produce at a high level in any given facet.
Along with a number of hard falls, Johnson wasn’t able to get anything going around the rim. He got blocked a couple times, and seemed a step slow when attempting to carve out space on the block. That carried over to the defensive end as well, where Boston had a fair amount of success getting into the lane and converting when he was in the game.
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Johnson has, for the most part, shown enough to keep the cries for Richaun Holmes at a minimum this season — and Brett Brown said he will use the two situationally — but we’re getting to a point where it’s fair to ask whether or not giving Johnson the lion’s share of minutes at the backup center spot is the right choice.
Holmes looked spry, as he usually does, in his 20 minutes against Boston. That didn’t lead to anything overly impressive from a statistical standpoint, but it did give the Sixers a nice lift during a third quarter run that briefly gave them the lead at one point.
His defense is hindered by a slender frame in some cases — which is likely part of Brown’s justification for using the bulkier Johnson — but Holmes’ unique combination of mobility and athleticism is more than enough to offset that.
From highlight blocks to general versatility that Johnson lacks, we’ve seen the benefits that Holmes brings in the past. He was well on his way to eventually earning a bigger contract last season, and Brown’s desire to move so heavily in a different direction has been odd.
Johnson, who’s netting a hefty $11 million check this season, certainly has more financial importance tied to him, but Holmes is still (arguably, but not really arguably) the better player in most scenarios. That also comes with the fact that he’s 24 years old — around six years Johnson’s junior.
Holmes has a nice niche offensively as well, excelling as the roll man and showing the ability to knock down the occasional spot-up three. Johnson has shown those traits in the past as well, but seems to have dropped off this season, while his shot is nowhere near reliable at this point.
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Throwing in the younger, more energetic athlete is something Brett Brown needs to consider. We’ll likely be seeing both Johnson and Holmes getting minutes all season, but flipping their workloads around could be a necessary adjustment — especially if Johnson has more duds in the coming weeks.