Philadelphia 76ers need another power forward to stretch the floor
The Philadelphia 76ers need another stretch-four on the roster.
As the season has progressed, it’s becoming abundantly clear that the Philadelphia 76ers need a big man who can stretch the floor. Near the start of the season, I wrote about how they need another 3-point shooting center, but in actuality, they need more depth at the power forward position.
The statement above may seem absurd at first considering that the Sixers have Tobias Harris, Mike Scott, Paul Reed, and even Ben Simmons who can fill the void. However, when taking a closer look at what’s happening to the team, it’s clear that there’s a need for another power forward.
The Sixers need a stretch-four.
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Tobias Harris is playing the best basketball of his career, so the need for depth is actually behind him. Scott has only played in eight games this year due to injury. In those eight games, he’s averaged 4.9 points on 25.0 percent shooting from the 3-point line. At this point in his career, Scott is looking like a third string big man or even out of the league altogether.
Reed is a rookie on a two-way contract and has been assigned to the Sixers’ G-League affiliate the Delaware Blue Coats to go play in the G-League bubble, according to Keith Pompey of The Inquirier. Despite the need for more power forward depth the team still sent him to the G-League, so obviously he’s obviously not ready for NBA minutes yet.
For the time being, 76ers head coach Doc Rivers has been splitting the backup power forward minutes between wing Furkan Korkmaz and starting point guard Simmons. Korkmaz is a liability defending opposing power forwards and it’s also asking too much of Simmons to play those minutes at the four/five spots and according to Paul Hudrick of 97.3 ESPN, Rivers doesn’t like having the rotation as if right now with Scott out.
Next. Bradley should start when Embiid is out. dark
The Philadelphia 76ers only have two options, either trade for a stretch-four or waive/trade a player to make a roster spot for a free agent power forward. Regardless of how they add depth, they need to do it.