Justin Edwards has been the poster child of inconsistency for the Philadelphia 76ers this season. After a promising rookie year where he put up a double-digit scoring average and solid production across the board, the undrafted forward is slowly becoming an afterthought on the roster, which is most certainly an unfortunate development for someone whom many penciled in for a major role with the team.
Edwards had a starkly slow start to his sophomore season, but he was slowly re-finding his shot just a couple of weeks ago when he had a stretch where he drained over 61 percent of his three-point shots. Those numbers will never hold up, but it sparked some sense of hope from the fanbase that his slump was coming to an end.
Instead, after that impressive stretch, Edwards quickly returned to being a negligible factor on the court. He canned only a single triple on his 17 attempts from beyond the arc in his last three outings, proving that his three-point shooting remains as temperamental as ever.
Justin Edwards is still way too inconsistent for the 76ers
Edwards will always be reckoned as a three-and-D role player. The 76ers tried exploring and extracting something out of his supposed shot creation skills, but the team quickly came to the realization that he is not that kind of player despite what his billing coming out of high school was.
Hence, it is vital that Edwards remains a steady force from three-point range. The 76ers have been one of the better three-point shooting units early on, but they cannot afford to have a lackluster floor spacer logging consistent minutes, especially when his production everywhere else has been close to non-existent.
With Paul George back, Edward’s minutes are going to be appropriately reduced. That does not even factor in the eventual return of Kelly Oubre Jr., who has pronouncedly outplayed him this season. Put simply, he is almost on a hot seat. Should he fail to display that level of consistency the team needs from someone with his role, he is bound to find himself on Nick Nurse’s doghouse sooner than later.
The Philadelphia 76ers are still built to win now, and the coaching staff should not hesitate from the rotation those who are lackluster in their roles, especially with the market expected to be teeming with good options this season. Hopefully, this added pressure cudgels Justin Edwards into becoming a more reliable force in his important role.