Philadelphia 76ers bench is team’s Achilles Heel for NBA Playoffs

More fizzle than sizzle

There can be no denial that Bryan Colangelo signed both Jerryd Bayless and Amir Johnson to the Philadelphia 76ers roster. He had history with both during his days with the Toronto Raptors. Neither player has delivered much for the Sixers. In fact, Jerryd Bayless was signed to a three-year deal, and played in just three games his entire first year. Under-performance has limited him to just 39 appearances this season.

So too Amir Johnson signed up for one season. With the immediate demotion of Jahlil Okafor to the garbage chute, Johnson became the primary reserve for center. It was not pretty. Johnson started 10 games for the 76ers, and appeared in 61 contests. Despite average playing time to 15 minutes per game, his fouls remained at 2.6. Scoring, rebounding and other productive stats dropped off from a year ago.

FOR ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON RESERVES, CHECK OUT: Philadelphia 76ers need C Anzejs Pasecniks for 2018-2019 season

Veterans don’t deliver

The hope this year was for Amir Johnson to deliver some level of offense, and much greater defense, than delivered.  Jerryd Bayless was aimed at delivering a hybrid role at either guard position. Recall that the team had not yet validated Ben Simmons as a player capable of playing the point guard role. Bayless was the veteran insurance to ensure Simmons could transition to running the team’s offense.

Instead of Simmons struggling, Bayless didn’t meet expectations. Delivering 7.9 points per game was too light when factoring in his defense. If you trust the Player Efficiency Rating , Bayless is performing below that of Jahlil Okafor, who was practically given away. Apparently the synchronization of what Bryan Colangelo sees as team needs does not match what the Sixers need.  If that  continues, that’s a huge problem for the team.