Justin Anderson: The Philadelphia 76ers’ glue
The Philadelphia 76ers have played without backup wing Justin Anderson for most of the season. Here’s what the team has missed while he has sat.
The Philadelphia 76ers‘ lack of wing depth has hurt the team this season like a large thorn in their side. Other than Robert Covington and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, the Sixers do not have anyone who can guard twos and threes reliably. The lack of quality defenders and energy off the bench has contributed to blown leads in countless third quarters. The Sixers need small forward Justin Anderson to get healthy to provide a spark off the bench.
When the Sixers traded Nerlens Noel and received Anderson in return, many fans doubted whether GM Bryan Colangelo could lead the franchise to the promised land. Oddly enough, the Philly won that trade.
Noel has played in just 18 of his team’s 43 games this season due to a thumb injury sustained early in the year. He lost his starting spot at center to 39-year-old Dirk Nowitzki and competed for playing time with Salah Mejri and Dwight Powell.
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Since Anderson arrived in Philly, he has averaged 7.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 18.7 minutes per game. His defensive tallies of 0.5 steals and 0.2 blocks don’t justify his efforts on that end of the floor. His strength and athleticism make him a more effective wing defender than other backup perimeter players like TLC, Jerryd Bayless, and T.J. McConnell.
Anderson, nicknamed Simba, like plenty of other Philadelphia 76ers players, really can’t shoot. His career three-point percentage of 29.1 is pretty awful, but that’s not what the team counts on him for.
He brings intangibles to the team, similar to T.J. McConnell but with much more athleticism. He’s a team player, and although his stats don’t blow people’s minds, his hustle and love for a momentum-shifting play make him a key player on the 76ers roster.
Additionally, the rest of the team seems to love Anderson. He’s a classic “glue guy”. Just this week in London, he went to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge with Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz to watch Chelsea play Arsenal in soccer for some world-class team bonding.
He also seems to have a raw passion for the game of basketball and for his team. Even while he battled his shin injury, he would always jump off the bench first to celebrate with his teammates and he would constantly joke around with them on the bench to keep the atmosphere light and relaxed.
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The Sixers’ need something that will fix their obvious lack of wing depth since plenty of opponents have exploited that fatal flaw in the Sixers’ roster. It happens so much that blown leads have essentially become expected by fans whenever Brown’s squad gets a lead of more than 10 points.
Simba brings size, strength, toughness, energy, athleticism, and passion to the Sixers, and plenty of the players in the rotation have lacked some or all of those attributes this season. He’s not the most spectacular player by any stretch, but he brings intangibles every night that greatly benefit the Philadelphia 76ers.
Brett Brown has slowly integrated Simba back into the rotation during the past few games, and he scored six points in four minutes in London against the Boston Celtics, hitting two threes to get his points.
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More action for him off the bench makes the Sixers less vulnerable defensively when Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Robert Covington sit, and more of Anderson could mean fewer blown leads in the third quarter.