Zhaire Smith
Position: shooting guard/small forward
Potential role: reserve
Last season was all but lost for Zhaire Smith. He only suited up for six games for Philadelphia 76ers after dealing with multiple aliments throughout the year. Despite the broke foot and bad allergic reaction, he still made it on the court which is an impressive feat in itself. He averaged 6.7 points and 2.2 rebounds, while making 37.5 percent of his 3-pointers.
Smith won’t be the first wing off the bench for the Sixers, but he should be regular minutes in the rotation. His primary purpose will be to provide high level defense and will most likely be defending the opposing team’s biggest offensive threat on the perimeter. There shouldn’t be too much expectation to produce offensively, but he should be able to be a solid offensive threat based on the small sample size from last season.
Kyle O’Quinn
Position: center
Potential role: reserve
Kyle O’Quinn’s stats from last season don’t do justice to how good he is if given consistent minutes. With the Indiana Pacers, he averaged 3.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.6 blocks, while converting 50.7 percent of his field goals. His stats last year were well below his career averages and they probably won’t improve much this season.
While it’s probable that O’Quinn will see more playing time than Pelle or Bolden this upcoming season, O’Quinn is still not going to be in a featured role or even a consistent one of the bench. In the past, I wrote about how O’Quinn’s playing time is connect to the load management of the team’s starting big men and he will only see single digit minutes most nights. Ashley Foltz of The Sixer Sense, also wrote a great piece on what to expect from O’Quinn this season.