Philadelphia 76ers could use Austin Rivers on offense

The Philadelphia 76ers need to deepen their bench and adding a guard like Austin Rivers would help the franchise on offense.

It’s become a common theme for the Philadelphia 76ers that their bench unit is lacking in most areas. One of the many areas that the bench unit is lacking is someone who can create for himself. The 76ers have a roster spot available after the Jimmy Butler trade, so adding a play via free agency is an option. Luckily for the Sixers, one such player has become available, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

After trade with Wizards, Suns agree to part ways with G Austin Rivers, per ESPN sources. Rivers – earning $12.6M in final year of deal – becomes a free agent upon clearing waivers. As a veteran, sides concluded Rivers fits better on an older team that's pursuing playoffs.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 18, 2018

It should be noted that while Austin Rivers had a career year last season averaging 15.1 points as a starter for the Los Angeles Clippers, he has struggled to produce in a limited role this season before being trade from the Washington Wizards. He was shooting the second lowest percentage from 3-point land for his career at 31.1 percent. Still, his ability to score on all three levels would be something that would fortify the Sixers bench.

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Currently, the only healthy bench player that can create off the dribble would be T.J. McConnell and he mostly just drives to the paint for rainbow floaters. Landry Shamet and Mike Muscala can consistently space the floor in the second unit. Furkan Korkmaz can go off from downtown occasionally, but not on a regular basis. Having a player like Rivers, who creates off the dribble, would help balance out the offensive attack coming off the bench.

Now the argument could be made having Rivers will be pointless once Markelle Fultz returns from rehabbing from his nerve problem. However, while Fultz has a rough recovery time of 3-6 weeks, there’s no guarantee that he returns in that time frame nor that he will be able to score from outside.

The other concern about adding Rivers would be the fact that he isn’t that good of a defender. He’s never been a good defender in his career and while he can be feisty on defense occasionally, adding another minus-defender to the second unit wouldn’t do any positives for the Sixers.

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Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand has to decide if the pros of Rivers offensive potential outweighs the cons of his defense. If Rivers can improve his production from when he was on Wizards, then he could be a valuable piece of offensive fire power for the 76ers on a cheap contract.