3 takeaways from Las Vegas Summer League: Sixers need more depth at center
Reading the title of this slide, some may think that I’m about the bash Paul Reed, which isn’t the case. However, the rest of the Sixers young center depth showed a lot to be desired in Las Vegas in Summer.
When watching Charles Bassey it was clear the young big man didn’t have soft hands as the ball would bounce off his hands on a semi-regular basis. If my high school coach Ralph Taylor was coaching the big man, he’d say he had “hands like feet”.
Outside of that issue, Bassey failed to dominate on the offensive end in Las Vegas despite having a strong showing in Salt Lake City. Consistency is an issue for Bassey on offense and that can cause problems if he has to play if Joel Embiid misses a game.
Let’s not forget about Flip Petrusev who was draft-and-stash from the 2021 draft and didn’t show a dramatic improvement from last Summer League. It’s not even clear he would be starting if he played for the Blue Coats this upcoming season. Another season overseas seems like a good idea for both sides.
Reed can be a backup for Embiid next season, but the 76ers might want to add a veteran big to play behind Reed due to Bassey’s inconsistency and Petrusev showing little growth. While they could go small with P.J. Tucker and Georges Niang, it would still be a good idea to have another veteran big man just to be safe.