Philadelphia 76ers: Zhaire Smith should get James Ennis’ minutes

The Philadelphia 76ers coaching staff has to make a decision moving forward with James Ennis expecting to miss time going into the playoffs.

In the recent game against the Atlanta Hawks, the Philadelphia 76ers lost wing James Ennis to a quad injury. Not only did the club lose Ennis for that game, but now it seems that they will be without the veteran’s services for an extended period of time according to Keith Pompey of Philly.com.

This time-table would indicate that the earliest that Ennis could be re-evaluated would be around April 19th. That means the Sixers will be without his services for at least part of the first round of the playoffs. This isn’t good considering that Ennis might be the second most important bench player behind Mike Scott.

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Since joining the 76ers after the trade deadline, Ennis has averaged 5.3 points on 30.6 percent from downtown, but has shot better from the 3-point line in recent weeks. At 6-foot-7, Ennis has been a versatile defender and with his 3-point shot slowly coming back to him, he will be important to Philly’s success whenever he can return from this injury.

The obvious choice for Ennis’ replacement would be Jonathon Simmons. Simmons is a defensive oriented wing, but can’t really space the floor which is a problem for a bench unit that can’t hit many 3-point shots much to begin with. Yet despite his quality perimeter defense, Simmons hasn’t been able to crack head coach Brett Brown’s bench rotation on a regular basis. In fact, he didn’t play at all against the Milwaukee Bucks with Jimmy Butler and Ennis both missing the game.

If Furkan Korkmaz still wasn’t making his way back from a meniscus tear, then he’d probably be the main choice to take over Ennis’ role. Korkmaz has never been a good defender, but his 3-point shooting makes him a viable option to replace the veteran. It should be noted that Brown didn’t rule out using Korkmaz in the playoffs, but there’s no guarantee that would happen.

Shake Milton could be an option, but he’s on a two-way contract which means that he can’t play in the playoffs. The Sixers could waive another player to sign him to a regular contract, but their isn’t really any candidates to waive after the team just waived Justin Patton to sign Greg Monroe. The same rules apply to Haywood Highsmith as well, but he has less potential than Milton, so he really don’t make sense as a replacement for Ennis.

That would leave Zhaire Smith as the only other option to take over Ennis’ role as he recovers. Smith has shown to be able to play at a high energy level on both ends of the court and to be a reliable 3-point shooter in the small sample size of three games he’s played in. Yes, Smith will still have rookie moments, but he does make the most sense out of the available options.

In the game against the Bucks, Smith ended the contest with six points, three rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block, two turnovers and four fouls during 18 minutes. He shot 50.0 percent on two 3-pointers and went 1-5 from the field.  In three games this season, Smith has shot 2-3 from downtown. He’s also tailed two steals and blocks in those games. The potential to be a 3-and-D player for Smith is there this season.

It may not seem ideal to give a rookie who has dealt with multiple health issues major minutes down the stretch of the regular season and beginning of the playoffs, but it’s the best option for the Philadelphia 76ers with Ennis out.