Philadelphia 76ers: 5 players to watch during the 2019 preseason

Jonah Bolden

Coming into the NBA, Bolden was pegged as a defensively versatile big man and during the his rookie year, he showed a lot of flashes of that. After Landry Shamet was traded, Bolden was easily the team’s best rookie on the roster based on his production.

Last season, Bolden averaged 14.5 minutes, 4.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.4 steals and 0.9 blocks, while shooting 35.4 percent on 3-pointers. In nine minutes of the first preseason matchup, the stretch big man had six points, one assists, one steal and two fouls.

Despite having a solid rookie year, the former second round pick had one fatal flaw that keep him from having a consistent role and hurt the Philadelphia 76ers in the postseason. Bolden lacked the basic defensive instincts to keep himself out of foul trouble. He averaged 2.3 fouls per game, which computes to 5.6 per 36 minutes. That was the third highest on the team only behind Justin Patton and Amir Johnson.

Bolden needs to become a smarter defender this season if he hopes to crack either big man rotation. If he shows he can make right defensive reads in the preseason and keeps out of foul, then he might challenge Kyle O’Quinn for minutes as the first center to come off the bench. If he doesn’t show improvement in this area, then he could be bound for minutes with the Blue Coats.