Richaun Holmes’ tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers has come to an end as he was traded to the Phoenix Suns on Friday morning.
One of The Process’ beloved sons is no longer with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Not many fans knew much about Richaun Holmes when Sam Hinkie drafted him with the No. 37 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, but he quickly became a popular player mostly because of his highlight-reel dunks.
While he got plenty of minutes, even starting a few games, during his first two NBA seasons, Holmes fell out of Brett Brown’s rotation for much of last season in favor of veteran Amir Johnson.
Some Sixer fans were still clamoring for Holmes to get more playing time last season, but with Johnson returning on another one-year deal and Jonah Bolden coming over, there simply wasn’t a spot on the roster for Holmes.
Holmes endured some of the worst and best times of The Process and will get a chance to prove himself in Phoenix’s young frontcourt alongside DeAndre Ayton and Dragan Bender.
Although we’ll certainly miss his offseason tweets (#stay22uned), let’s take a look some of Holmes’ top moments from his time in Philadelphia.
5. Richaun puts Al Horford on a poster
Let’s first appreciate the Sixers’ lineup during this play in a game against the Hawks in December of 2015.
T.J. McConnell, Nik Stauskas, Hollis Thompson, Jerami Grant and Holmes. A true Process lineup.
This was one of the first plays that caught the attention of Sixers fans during Holmes’ rookie season.
At this time, Al Horford had yet to become an enemy among Sixers fans, but it is fan to look back at Holmes rising up over Horford and throwing the ball into the hoop.
4. Richaun’s double-double in Minnesota
In the early part of the 2017-18 season, Brown and the Sixers were still experimenting with ways to get Holmes more minutes. Holmes began seeing more time at the four alongside Joel Embiid in bigger lineups.
Although the experiment as a whole was not a success, Holmes did have some nice performances for the Sixers, including this in December.
Holmes played 33 minutes during the Sixers’ six-point overtime win over Karl-Anthony Towns and the Timberwolves.
This was Holmes’ second and final start of the season and he took full advantage of his opportunity. He was active on the boards and gave Taj Gibson fits on the defensive end as a lob threat that Gibson simply wasn’t athletic enough to handle.
3. Holmes goes off in regular season finale
The Sixers capped off an historic run to finish the 2017-18 regular season with a 35-point blowout of the Milwaukee Bucks that was over after the first quarter.
The starting lineup gave way to the bench unit after building a commanding lead and the reserves only continued to extend the lead.
Holmes was all over the place for the Sixers and made a season-high eight field goals in the 130-95 win over the Bucks. Holmes had several thunderous dunks as usual, but also punished the Bucks on the offensive glass, grabbing four of his seven rebounds on that end of the floor.
2. Career-high 25 points against the Hawks
When Embiid missed the final few months of the 2016-17 season with his meniscus injury, Holmes was the primary beneficiary.
Holmes started the final 11 games of the regular season and played key minutes alongside Dario Saric.
The Bowling Green grad had already posted two 24-point performances in March of 2017, but he was able to best that mark in the second-to-last game of the month against the Hawks.
As expected, Holmes’ highlights from the game are filled with dunks. But he showed aggressiveness on the offensive end against Dwight Howard and was on the defensive glass as well.
1. Back-to-back dunks against the Cavs
The most exciting regular season game of the season is arguably the dramatic win over the Cavaliers in early April, a game that was part of the Sixers’ magic 16-straight wins to close out the regular season.
While Holmes only scored 6 points in 15 minutes during the game, he provided one of the best sequences of Sixers basketball from the regular season.
After finishing off an alley-oop from a gorgeous pass from Simmons, Holmes disrupted a shot on the defensive end which led to a fast break that was capped off with Holmes running free into the lane and slamming the ball in with authority.
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That sequence put the Sixers up by 12 with four minutes left in the first quarter and paints the perfect picture for the spark Holmes can provide off the bench for a team.