The Philadelphia 76ers saw some interesting storylines in their first game of the season. Amidst a riveting win on the road, fans were treated to a historic rookie debut for VJ Edgecombe, who appeared unstoppable right from the get go, while also reveling in the brilliance of Tyrese Maxey, who seems to have signaled that his off year last season is not going to happen ever again.
Granted, there was the big, bad ugly with Joel Embiid, who put out an absolute stinker, but all things considered, the 76ers escaped with a great dub to kick off their campaign. A slew of role players played well enough for the team to compensate for the poor performance from their supposed best player, arming the team with sufficient ammo to start the year on a high note.
However, one interesting tidbit which not a lot of people are talking about is the fact that the 76ers heavily relied on Dominick Barlow. One of the team’s two-way players, he finished the night with 13 markers, eight boards, and five assists in 34 minutes of gameplay. He even started the game next to Embiid.
All of a sudden, the coaching staff has already encountered a very interesting twist that could alter a lot of lineup projections before the season began. If this keeps up, Barlow is set to unseat a handful of players whom fans believed were penciled in for stable roles.
Dominick Barlow is here to disrupt things for the 76ers in a good way
Barlow likewise saw a lot of court time during the summer league, so it is apparent that Nick Nurse and his staff are keen on giving him reasonable opportunity to showcase his skills despite the presence of other options on the roster who could even be deemed as more seamless players to integrate into lineups.
Barlow, for his part, is an active and movile big man who has a back to the basket skill set. He is not a floor spacer, yet he is agile enough to compensate for his lack of perimeter presence.
Everybody thought that it was Adem Bona who was going to get the nod for more minutes among all the backup big men, but it seems like the coaching staff is liking hat it has seen from Barlow. Heck, even Andre Drummond could only muster three minutes of court time.
Of course, this is a good problem to have for the 76ers. Hopefully. Dominick Barlow can continue improving his game, even if it comes at the cost of the other players on the roster missing out on meaningful opportunities to sniff the floor.
As they say, may the best man win.