Jonah Bolden
By Stuart London
What Jonah Bolden wants for the New Year: Brett Brown’s trust.
The 6-foot-10 rookie has seen drips and drabs of playing time with the 76ers, but most of his action has been with the Delaware Blue Coats, the Philadelphia 76ers G-League team. That might have been fine at the start of the season since his only other professional experience was playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel’s pro league (FYI, that club is no joke, they have their own TV series and play the top teams in Europe).
However, then-interim general manager Brown’s decision to re-sign Amir Johnson and trade Richaun Holmes to the Phoenix Suns this past summer has turned into a disastrous mistake. The bottom line is that the Sixers literally have no backup center. Johnson cannot play anymore at the NBA level and that has left the team with literally no backup for Joel Embiid.
They try to get by with Mike Muscala, a natural stretch four, and even Ben Simmons has seen some time at center. However, these are basically Band-Aids until general manager Elton Brand comes up with a replacement or Bolden gets a shot.
After playing so well against Toronto, with nine rebounds and four blocks shots just three days earlier, Brown showed he still has zero confidence in Bolden as he sat on the bench in the big game against the Boston Celtics. Players notice that and it’s not a good message to send to a young player who is showing promise.
Bolden needs to either rise to the occasion or fail, but unless he gets consistent minutes, no one is truly going to know what he can contribute. If Brown continues to give Bolden playing time in a scattershot fashion, that puts Brand in a tough spot. Does he need to go out and get a backup center or will Bolden be adequate for what is hopefully a long playoff run?
Bolden shows potential, but of course the old line is: playing potential is what gets coaches fired. Brown isn’t close to being fired, sorry for those I know who are hoping, but he has to give Bolden a chance and not just a few minutes here and there.
In the end, Bolden hopes a New Year brings more consistent playing time with the Sixers and less with the Blue Coats.