Philadelphia 76ers: Jonah Bolden’s rise helps before deadline
Over the past few weeks, Jonah Bolden has become an important player in the Philadelphia 76ers rotation and that helps the team in the trade market.
The Philadelphia 76ers do not have too much at their disposal in terms of trade pieces, so they need players to develop into positive contributors off the bench. Jonah Bolden has improved greatly this season for the team, meaning they will not have to use their precious resources on a player to back up Joel Embiid.
Not only does Bolden provide an athletic presence in the paint, but he also can put the ball on the floor, hit a three and make a smart pass. He’s an oversized small-forward reinvented to fit today’s NBA. Standing at 6-foot-10, he is just as tall as Ben Simmons. Even Simmons, with his brilliant ball-handling and passing, has spent time in off-ball roles for the Sixers this season as Brett Brown has exited his strategic comfort zone.
Brown used to look for experience when it came to replacing Embiid whenever the big man sat. However, Brown realized today’s NBA requires athleticism almost as much as it requires skill and basketball IQ. Bolden faces 8.7 shots per game inside of five feet, allowing just 56.4 percent of those attempts to fall.
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Embiid faces 21.4 shots within five feet per game and opponents shoot 57.9 percent against him in that area, so while Bolden’s numbers may result from the fact he has just recently entered the rotation and players have not adjusted to going at him, but this number in particular should encourage the Sixers regardless of the sample size.
Additionally, Bolden boasts an impressive defensive box plus/minus of 2.0, the best mark on the team aside from Simmons’ 2.7. The Australian forward has played in just 26 career games, but the numbers he has posted in his rookie year bode well for the future.
Offensively, he still looks raw, averaging just 3.8 points in 12.7 minutes per game with a 13.9 usage percentage, a rate higher than only Wilson Chandler and Haywood Highsmith. He manages to hit 48.2 percent of his field goal attempts and 30.4 percent of his threes, so he has plenty of room for growth, but will not weaken Philly on offense due to naive inefficiency.
Bolden’s emergence means the Sixers can focus their limited resources on finding a backup point guard who can score and a backup 3-and-D wing. The team’s best trade pieces are the 2021 first-round draft pick from the Miami Heat received in the Mikal Bridges–Zhaire Smith trade, second-round picks, T.J. McConnell, Wilson Chandler, and Amir Johnson. Philly has little to work with ahead of Feb. 7th deadline.
Luckily, they can focus their tight resources on acquiring just two players instead of three to fill out their roster as the playoffs approach. With Corey Brewer‘s arrival on the roster, the Sixers do not have as pressing a need for a wing. The advent of Bolden could not have come at a better time: before he entered the rotation, Philly needed three players to fill out their bench in order to seriously contend for a spot in the NBA Finals.
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Yet with the 23-year-old Aussie’s help, the Philadelphia 76ers roster has looked as good as it has all season and the team recently beat the Golden State Warriors. If Bolden keeps up his high level of play and general manager Elton Brand makes a trade or two before the deadline, the Sixers will make some noise in the postseason.