Philadelphia 76ers Rookie Report: Limited minutes in playoffs
Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown has barely given his rookies the chance at playing time with the NBA playoffs in full swing.
The NBA playoffs haven’t been kind to the Philadelphia 76ers rookies. Shake Milton and Haywood Highsmith can’t even suit up for playoffs due to their two-way contracts. That only leaves two rookies to cover in this report and it has become clear that head coach Brett Brown doesn’t trust giving them playing time.
16th pick, 2018
In a somewhat surprising move Zhaire Smith has barely played in the playoffs, the keyword being somewhat. There was no doubt Smith impressed near the end of the regular season and with James Ennis missing game one against the Brooklyn Nets, it seemed like a prime opportunity to throw Smith in the rotation.
Instead, Brown went to Jonathon Simmons instead of Smith as the backup wing in game one. Smith played one minute to close out the one game that the 76ers have lost thus far this postseason. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise as Brown even stated to the media that Smith wouldn’t be relied upon in the postseason priory to the start of the playoffs.
With Ennis back for games two and three, Smith wasn’t even on the active roster. Brown seems to favor veterans Simmons and Furkan Korkmaz to fill out the bench over the rookie wing during this postseason run.
Postseason stats:
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/19/2019.
36th pick, 2018
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Jonah Bolden is the only rookie to get playing time in all three playoff games thus far. He got garbage minutes in all three games, but also got some legit run with the second unit in game two, as well. He played power forward and although he has struggled to score this postseason, he hasn’t performed poorly.
The surprising development that happened with Bolden was in regards to Brown’s choice to start Greg Monroe over the rookie in game three when Joel Embiid was unable to play. While Monroe, a veteran, has had very limited game action with the 76ers this year and is a big liability on defense, he was still chosen to start over Bolden.
Keeping Boban Marjanovic in the second unit makes sense, but Bolden would have been the better choice to start in Embiid’s place as he’s a better defender and proven floor spacer than Monroe.
Postseason stats:
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/19/2019.
Next. The core pieces are beginning to click. dark
It’s become clear that Brown doesn’t appear to have much confidence in his rookies when it comes to postseason play. It will be interesting if the Philadelphia 76ers head coach continues this trend as the postseason continues.